The Political "Joke" - Democracy, the Rule of Law & Dirty Deeds

The politicians have strategically corrupted and dumbed-down government in their own best interest, with dire implications for society.

They are appointing people to chief executive positions who are functioning politically, rather than professionally.?This means that government is not upholding the?rule of law; and that law is being enforced at the discretion of politics.

You may have heard the Prime Minister say during the Christian Porter affair that we have a?rule of law; and that?law is king.?This is true.?The?rule of law?is the mainstay of democracy.?It provides for the proper functioning of representative government; and ensures that the state’s / peoples’ interest prevail over vested interests.?It gives the people real political power, and mitigates the risk of politicians doing dirty deeds under the table.?

To uphold the rule of law means to ensure that law prevails over politics. Chief executives are responsible for upholding the rule of law within their respective jurisdictions.?This applies just as much to political chief executives as to public service chief executives.?Political chief executives have political, and administrative functions. They have political functions as elected representatives, and administrative functions as chief executives.?Public service chief executives only have administrative functions: they do not have a political function.

Nevertheless, the chief executives in many Australian government administrations - if not all - over recent decades, have functioned politically, rather than professionally: they have used the law as a vehicle to get wherever they wanted to go, without, in any real way, upholding the?rule of law.?This means that chief executives have been operating outside the law / breaking the law; that government has been functioning principally in the best interest of the ruling political class; that vested interests and individuals receive consideration dependant on their political influence - this has spawned the lobbying industry - and that Australia has had a very weak form of democracy for decades.?The general public get little more than the power to pick the colour of the corruption.

Chief executives make an administration reactive, at best, and disaster prone, when they function politically.?Governments need to appoint experienced professional people to administrative positions in their competency fields, and sack them when they preside over poor / unwanted outcomes, in order to function in the people’s best interest.?This is partly due to our common law legal system, which is based on conventional professional practice, and partly due to the foresight for proactivity coming from professional experience.

In other words, the politicians are doing dirty deeds under the table, and redistributing wealth towards the ruling political class.?They are producing social decline as people with little political power are pushed into poverty.?The implications include: injustice, crime, drugs, homelessness, violence (including domestic), elder and child abuse, suicides, social unrest etc.

You may have heard the sayings: democracy has the political and professional classes working together in the people’s best interest: the political class and vested interests will work together in their own best interest when governments do not uphold the?rule of law.?

I was there when the Queensland Government rolled over to the dark side in the late 1980s and early 1990s.?They said that professional people could not manage: that they were hamstrung by conventional practices.?They wanted people who could look at things in a different light, and would take advantage of the available opportunities.?

They would not listen to the argument that people needed experience in a competency field in order to manage, in a classical/professional sense, the work going on in that field, quite irrespective of their qualifications and experience.?It was quite clear that they wanted managers who would function politically, rather than professionally.

In the end, they brought in some of the biggest rogues that you will ever see.?All they did was bend and break the law.?They did dirty deeds under the table and played in the shadows.?They turned executive management into a corruption machine; and gave influential people whatever they wanted - even things they did not ask for - and shafted anyone who got in the way / fell out of favour.?Justice and law enforcement were part of the joke.

They made some politically connected people incredibly wealthy.?This corrupted and divided the political parties.?They, in turn, stopped government from rolling back over.?Public service chief executives became politically more powerful than Ministers.?Some were politically more powerful than Premiers.

Inquiries were used as lightening-rods to protect politically powerful people during political storms, wherever possible.?The strategy wasn’t that successful during the Fitzgerald Inquiry owing to Tony Fitzgerald taking it upon himself to broaden the terms of reference.?The Inquiry was set up following a mega-storm started by reporter Phil Dickie.?A figure central to the Inquiry said that it was suddenly closed down once Tony got the Police Commissioner’s - Terry Lewis' - scalp.?There were other chief executives who should have gone to jail with Terry, Leisha, Don and Brian.

The Fitzgerald Inquiry and the governments response were little more than a political patch for a much bigger problem.

The situation in Queensland has deteriorated since that time.?The word on the street is that the government appoints people to public service chief executive positions who commit to giving Ministers whatever they want.?If this is the case, they are all corrupt.?This is consistent with my experience. I have worked with government, on and off, since pre-Fitzgerald days, and have found it difficult to find anyone in a senior position who made any real attempt to uphold the?rule of law.?They have openly said to me: “It may be the right thing to do, but, so what!”.?The chief executives really are a law unto themselves. There is little wonder why the corruption, disasters, deaths, devastation and staggering waste has dogged government for decades.?

Wikipedia suggests that 92% of Queensland’s jailed politicians have been prosecuted since the Fitzgerald Inquiry (1989). The list is however not up to date.?The politicians would have us believe that the increased rate is due to the formation of the (now) Crime and Corruption Commission. This is the perception. The Commission is however little more than a political tool. Justice and law enforcement have always been part of the joke. Politics rather than the law dictates who gets prosecuted - only those out of favour go to jail.?There is little wonder why the people seek justice in a different coloured jurisdiction.

The increased rate in politicians going to jail is due to the politicians having more power and opportunity than that afforded by law.?You will have heard of the saying: power and money corrupts.?This is why the law limits the politicians’ power and opportunity.

It will take statesmen and stateswomen to roll government back over. They are professional politicians who rule in the state’s/people’s best interest.?They actually uphold the?rule of law: They are not pretenders: They do not play in the shadows.

They appoint experienced professional people to administrative positions in their competency fields; and sack them when they preside over poor/unwanted outcomes. They are prepared to appoint people to key positions who are willing to speak out for what is right regardless of personal consequences, and irrespective of their political persuasion - and support those who do speak out.

Government is very big business. It needs very competent professional people in administrative positions in order to function as required by law.?The more competent the chief executives, the better the outcomes.?