Political parties claim to offer transparent government while electioneering but invariably do not provide it once in government. They then to use their best endeavours to hide information that could damage their reputations and prospect of re-election.
Public officials and the executive arm of government are required by legislation to be transparent in their decisions. See, for example, section 7 of Victoria’s Public Administration Act 2004, which sets out ‘values’ public officials are to adhere to. It requires them to demonstrate integrity by being honest, open and transparent in their dealings; and requires them to demonstrate accountability by working to clear objectives in a transparent manner.
The problem is that this cannot be enforced by ordinary folk, decisions by public officials cannot be reversed on account of the official failing to be transparent – so public officials who fail to be transparent, even after information has been requested, face no adverse consequences. And our courts do not require public officials to adhere to the values set out for public officials to adhere to, so the requirement for public officials to be transparent is simply ignored. This is clearly contrary to society’s wishes.
The problem we, as a nation, face is however a much bigger one. Politicians and public officials are so determined to hide their wrongdoing, their criminal activities, that they prosecute people who alert the public to that wrongdoing, that criminal activity, and our courts, as puppets of government, incarcerate them.
We should take heed of the statement by Edward Snowden that: ‘When exposing a crime is treated as committing a crime, you are being ruled by criminals.”
We, as a nation, depend on the courage of whistleblowers to keep those in government (and in the corporate sector) honest, and to ensure that they adhere to our laws. So, we need to give people a strong incentive to uncover and report fraud and other criminal activity. Rather than silencing and incarcerating whistleblowers, we should celebrate and handsomely reward them.
A CLA government will:
- Ensure that whistleblowers get a handsome share of any money’s recovered and fines imposed and celebrate them as heroes,
- Establish an annual award for the person who has uncovered the largest fraud or other criminal activity, which award will be the most prestigious by government and the winner’s portrait will be hung in Parliament House, and
- Ensure that the investigating authority has the necessary powers to do their job properly, which will in include the power to ‘follow the money’ through trusts, companies and so on.
CLA would like everyone in Australia to recognise that a path to early, comfortable retirement is to blow the whistle on, uncover and report, fraud and other criminal activity – whether by public servants, politicians, business executives, or criminal networks. Once that happens Australia will end up with less corruption than any other country in the world. Legal corruption will plummet once CLA separates State and the economy – because then politicians will have nothing to offer big-business. Other legal corruption will plummet once whistleblowers alert the public to such corruption. A CLA government will then find a way to stamp it out.