Des Houghton: Media has become a toothless watchdog

HAVE journalists become a pampered elite too busy looking in the mirror to expose wrongdoing? Who stole our passion, asks Des Houghton.

WHY has the media gone soft? Has the community’s faithful watchdog lost its teeth?

As the banking scandal unfolded, the blame game began. And deep within, I heard a warning bell tolling. How on earth did we let them get away with it?

We knew banks were bastards long ago. And there has been smoke around the financial planning industry for a decade. Why did we wimp it?

Have journalists become a pampered elite too busy looking in the mirror to expose wrongdoing? Who stole our passion?

It’s an uncomfortable truth that our reporting of corporate malfeasance has been soft, with too few notable exceptions.

AMP is under the gun for misleading the nation’s corporate watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, over its collection of fees. Perhaps it was a sign of the contempt the industry has for the regulators. AMP has “unreservedly apologised” and faces possible criminal charges. It is a battle that will drag on for years and will become a lawyers’ picnic.

The media has gone too easy on the big banks.

The Commonwealth Bank has been accused of flouting anti-money-laundering laws. It admits it was late to disclose 53,000 suspect ATM transactions, some involving suspected terrorists.

We heard Commonwealth Bank customers also lost millions of dollars due to dud advice from financial planners. About 20 NAB bankers were sacked after issuing home loans based on incorrect or incomplete documentation. All four banks were accused of manipulating a key interest rate benchmark.

The scandal has damaged the economy, and given capitalism a bad name.

CBA’s market value has fallen by $13 billion since the royal commission was announced. The big four banks and AMP combined have lost $28.5 billion in value.

So how on earth did government regulators fail to identify the criminal activity and shortcomings exposed by the Hayne royal commission?

If the media dropped the ball, so did APRA, ASIC and the RBA.

There was some good reporting of banking bastardry by Fairfax, the ABC and News Corp before the royal commission. However it was not sustained. I was left wondering whether the journalistic spirit had been hijacked by political correctness. Or have we been distracted by “progressive” causes?

A seasoned editor urges me not to be too hard on the media. He says searching questions about corporate wrongdoing are too often greeted with legal threats. And the kind of “robust” whistleblower protections proposed by former senator Nick Xenophon have been put on the backburner.

What other scandals go under-reported?

There is stronger evidence of unlawful price gouging by solicitors. Each year the Legal Services Commission receives dozens of complaints about overcharging. There are further complaints about unspecified “ethical matters”. What can it mean?

One wonders how legal firms would fare in a royal commission like the one entangling the banks. And why stop there?

There are whispers about conflicts of interest in the real estate and insurance industries. There is evidence of medical malpractice, including botched surgeries that have left people maimed or dead.

Journalism’s biggest failure, however, may be its reluctance to chronicle the rise and rise of crypto fascism in the union movement.

Extortion, corruption and violence flourish under our watch. We have not done nearly enough to reveal how the more militant unions pose a threat to civil order.

The CFMEU operates by threats and coercion, and the media seems too timid to take it on.

And we have not spelled out the costs they impose on the taxpayer with unlawful strikes to projects as diverse as universities, public hospitals and motorways.

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union is the worst offender. It operates by threats and coercion – not my words but those of Justice Richard Tracey in the Federal Court.

Media scrutiny of its operations has been soft.

In his report to Parliament, royal commissioner Dyson Heydon said: “The conduct that has emerged discloses systemic corruption and unlawful conduct, including corrupt payments, physical and verbal violence, threats, intimidation, abuse of right of entry permits, secondary boycotts … and contempt of court.”

Heydon concluded: “The sustained and entrenched disregard for both industrial and criminal laws shown by the country’s largest construction union further supports the need for a separate building industry regulator to enforce the law.”

It seems to me the media dropped off the story almost as soon as the inquiry ended.

This will not disappoint the snivelling Left opinionistas who are apologists for corrupt unions.

Some are even happy to wear the union’s intimidatory regalia into the newsroom and march alongside, unsavoury unionists on Labour Day.

Last month during a union trespass case, a Federal Court judge, Justice Berna Collier, said lawbreaking had become “normalised” in the militant construction union. The courts have recently found the union guilty of unlawful stoppages and intimidating and coercive conduct on Brisbane building sites.

The union regulator, the Australian Building and Construction Commission, seems to be making steady progress. It was set up by John Howard in 2005 and abolished by the Gillard government’s workplace minister, Bill Shorten.

If Shorten becomes our next prime minister – and it appears he will – he has pledged to abolish the ABCC. So Labor has a plan for union thuggery. They will legalise it.

Where is the outcry from the media?

Why have journalists turned a blind eye to this story?

Rocky the conservation detector dog

Turtle killers outfoxed

ONE of Queensland’s great environmental battles seems to have been won, thanks to this handsome English springer spaniel. Rocky is a detection dog trained to sniff out fox dens. Foxes feast on baby turtles and before Rocky was recruited they had wiped out 70 per cent of the hatchlings at Mon Repos, Bundaberg. No hatchlings have been eaten in the three years since Rocky arrived, says his handler, Tom Garrett. Once he detects a foxhole, a carbon monoxide gas bomb is rolled into the lair. And the splendid creature doesn’t restrict his hunting duties to foxes. “He can locate a wide range of animals, including dingoes and wild dogs, rabbits, and even cats,” says Cass Hayward from Reef Catchments, a natural resources management group doing great work in the region.

On trial

A DEPLORABLE fake news campaign has begun suggesting the Heydon royal commission into trade union corruption was a damp squib. Ignore it. Dyson Heydon QC found evidence of widespread corruption in the union movement. He revealed slush funds, secret deals between unions and employers, the rorting of union members’ money, and generally appalling conduct. Multiple officials have been convicted of crimes ranging from fraud and blackmail to perjury and obstructing officials. The CFMEU has had more than $14.9 million in fines imposed in recent years. And 70 of its representatives are still before the courts. Union officials are still facing charges including workplace breaches, corruption, blackmail, theft and fraud.

Squib that roared

The Heydon royal commission also recommended a number of changes to the laws regulating registered organisations. The Turnbull Government has implemented 29 of them, and a further 13 will be implemented by legislation currently before Parliament. This is despite a campaign by the ACTU and its media cheer squad. Perhaps the commission’s biggest success was the Registered Organisations Commission to provide some transparency. Union fat cats hate it because they don’t like scrutiny. The Australian Building and Construction Commission was restored and corrupting benefits legislation was introduced. I’m happy to report that industrial disruption has plummeted since the ABCC was brought back. But there is danger ahead. Right now, $750 billion worth of construction projects are planned or underway across Australia. These projects, along with the jobs and economic prosperity they generate, would be at risk if the ABCC was abolished. Shamefully, Bill Shorten has pledged to do just that.

Best cabernet

THE French wine world is in shock after an Australian family winery won the trophy for the world’s best cab sav this week at the Concours International des Cabernets in Lyon. Taylors Wines’ The Visionary Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 triumphed against cabernet from France and elsewhere. Judging panel president Laurent Derhe said The Visionary had “a superb, sparkling garnet robe”. He added: “This is a flawless, modern cabernet that will please immediately.” Taylors’ managing director, Mitchell Taylor, says the award is a tribute to Australian winemaking. “Australian wines are quickly growing notoriety overseas for their immediate freshness, generous flavours and diverse styles,” he says. “To receive the award for world’s best cabernet against the goliaths in France is a testament to the consistent quality of Australian wine.”

Irritant of the week

THE divisive and unnecessary tree clearing laws that attack land ownership rights and turn farmers into criminals.