The fact that our Prime Minister is happy to talk about who he would turn gay for on Rove, but won’t answer a serious question about gay rights on Q and A should be a warning sign to us all.
Whilst Kevin Rudd works hard to cultivate the image of a lightweight talk show host, we should remember he is actually a player in the most ego driven business in town – the perfect storm of parliamentary democracy.
In fact, his title awards him status of biggest and best on field in a ruthless industry which demands people with large egos, plies them with attention to feed their distended self-esteems and treats them like royalty as they make laws and spend our money on our behalf.
It’s a world of high stakes, backstabbing and intrigue. Just ask Kim Beazley who was ruthlessly undermined by Rudd, or John Howard whose mind Rudd boasted he enjoyed playing with. Kerri-Anne Kennerley he ain’t.
Tough as it is, democracy works so long as it’s countered by a solid force of accountability and the requisite checks and balances required to maintain equilibrium.
That’s why some politicians engineer media personas where they are treated with all the rigour, responsibility and expectation of a B-grade celebrity. Quite simply, it upsets the balance of accountability by encouraging soft, lazy questioning and vacuous popularity contests rather than tough interrogation and liability for their decisions.
Clever politics, but before you know it hubris creeps in. Symptoms include hyperbole, arrogance and overstepping boundaries and once it takes a hold, this fundamental character flaw leaves those afflicted atop a very slippery slope. Sure signs are already starting to emerge that the two most powerful men in the country are afflicted by hubris tempting Nemesis – the goddess of retribution.
Clamouring to share in the glory of then PM John Howard’s economic halcyon days, Rudd in 2007 boldly declared there ‘no slither of light between us when it comes to budgetary policy’. The following year Rudd wrote in The Monthly that John Howard’s economic and budgetary policies were part of neo-liberal conspiracy which precipitated a global economic meltdown.
The capacity of the Kevin Rudd to present such an absurd and intellectually inconsistent message is one thing. But to actually expect people to buy it suggests he believes he is above mortal accountability, a portent of hubris.
But breathtaking superciliousness is not confined to the Prime Minister. Treasurer Wayne Swan’s own departmental website still archives a press conference given by his predecessor Peter Costello. In it, Costello makes reference to Swan’s forced resignation from the Labor frontbench in 2000 following an investigation by Criminal Justice Commission.
The investigation centered on Swan’s admission he passed cash to another political party in a ‘brown paper bag’. The Australian Electoral Commission later referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police. Was he guilty of breaching the Electoral Act? The AFP never found he was innocent of that charge. In actual fact, an AFP spokesperson is reported as stating “I can’t say there is no case to answer, but no further action will be taken.” Nonetheless, Swan pumped with arrogance and bluster waltzed back onto the front bench as though he’d just returned from a parliamentary delegation to Tonga rather than been the subject of a criminal investigation.
It was a convenient fallacy to assume that the absence of criminal charge meant he was innocent, but the results speak for themselves. This year he engaged a more sophisticated technique – focus on your opponent’s error (the email) when defending the substantive but much less clear-cut issue (misleading parliament) – to secure his survival as Treasurer post ‘Utegate’. It’s the equivalent of arguing over the colour of a paper bag rather than the cash within it.
The point is that politics is serious business and deserves to be treated as such. For the Prime Minister to find twice as much time to go on Rove than be subjected to serious questioning on the ABC’s Insiders may be clever politics. But it is also worrying sign of arrogance and contempt for accountability.
Equally, encouraging bombastic rambling by Ministers during Question Time instead of answering questions neuters the Opposition and reduces its opportunity to hold the Government to account. Pretty smart tactics that the polls indicate are paying dividends. But like it or not, these sorts of tricks unsettle the fine balance required for effective functioning of Westminster democracy.
We are now at the point where the Prime Minister has taken to rewriting swathes of history and the Treasurer says ‘it’s not exactly the right question’ in response to an accusation he is not answering one.
As sure as Nemesis follows hubris, every question not asked or answered is an opportunity for arrogance and ego to triumph over sound policy and effective governance. For a poll driven administration this is proving to be a winning formula, so don’t expect less acting or more accountability from the Rudd government anytime soon. Unfortunately for us, when the party’s over and Nemesis comes to give what’s due, democracy demands we’ll all pay for it.
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