Opinion: Broken system as institutions let citizens down

From church and state to the courts, institutions everywhere are failing to safeguard our interests, writes Des Houghton.

We are in trouble.

There is a crumbling faith in the very institutions set up to protect us.

The courts have let us down – badly.

The law must work for everyone, or the law is a fraud.

Courageous barrister Andrew Lyons did a public service when he said he showed Queensland’s civil justice tribunal had repeatedly failed to stop cruel and oppressive decisions made by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission.

Lyons’ research found the QBCC had trampled citizens’ rights and the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal had backed the regulator most of the time.

Lyons said QCAT members had made errors “that were easily discernible but favourable to the QBCC”.

His exposé is about to get a lot more interesting.

Meanwhile, the hospital system is also broken. There is a shortage of beds and the Health Minister seems to blame people for getting sick.

The Crime and Corruption Commission erred by wrongfully punishing a set of elected councillors.

All power corrupts.

That same dictatorial crime watchdog assiduously avoided investigating misconduct in the public service.

CCC chairman Alan MacSporran

I have great sympathy for readers who tell me how their legitimate complaints are dismissed or sent back to the very departments and agencies accused of wrongdoing in the first place. This CCC “devolution” principle has failed.

It leads to cover-ups and lengthy delays, with public servants failing to meet reporting deadlines and the CCC failing to admonish them.

The system is broken. Resentments are festering.

Most of us, however, will probably regard failures in our institutions as little irritations. It is not until we become personally ensnared in an injustice caused by official neglect or wrongdoing that we suddenly feel a need to draw daggers.

There is much unlawful intimidation and harassment in the public service, especially woman-on-woman bullying among teachers and nurses. Yet the CCC and the departments turn a blind eye.

State freedom of information units make a mockery of the phrase, blacking out tens of thousands of pages in Right to Information searches.

Your #righttoknow is trampled. Then again, this is a minor irritation to most of us.

So where do you go for enlightenment? A university or a church, perhaps? Or our national broadcaster or Ray Hadley, Alan Jones or Peta Credlin?

Our higher education institutions (not all, but many) embrace pig ignorance, trashing free speech.

Scott Morrison’s approval rating has bounced back.

Our timid clergy (not all, but some) are afraid to engage the public debate on abortion and assisted suicide. Their churches have become havens from where they can preach to the converted without fear of criticism.

A Newspoll this week found Prime Minister Scott Morrison was a more likeable, caring, decisive and trustworthy leader than his rival.

And on the question of who has the stronger vision for Australia, ScoMo now has a commanding lead of 70 per cent to 54 per cent over Anthony Albanese.

It is the highest level of support for a prime minister in over a decade.

The poll was a surprise to me because of the bad run the Prime Minister routinely gets on the ABC, and quite often on Channel 7 news.

ABC journalists (some, not all) frequently adopt a sneering tone when reporting on Morrison and the Coalition. ScoMo’s minor faults are magnified, and his achievements downplayed.

Still the Prime Minister is popular. Does this suggest the ABC has become remote to many of those who fund it?

Parliament is another institution that has let us down.

This is especially so in Queensland, where ministers defiantly refuse to answer any questions and where the Opposition struggles to land a punch.

Bureaucrats, meanwhile, build walls to hide the truth.

An army of taxpayer-funded spin doctors drawn mostly from the Labor Party and union movement churns out propaganda that successfully blunts the best efforts of our investigative journalists in print and online newspapers and the ABC.

Shannon Fentiman in Parliament

Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman jumped on the domestic violence bandwagon this week, waving the woke flag as Minister for Women and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence.

She covered no new ground.

“We have also seen in recent months a groundswell of women, marching all over Australia, saying ‘enough is enough’,” she said, announcing a taskforce to promote “safety and justice” for women.

It got me thinking. Will the taskforce headed by former Supreme Court judge Margaret McMurdo dare turn a spotlight on the Education Department and Queensland Health, where Labor unions and their friends in high places have allowed bullying to occur on a grand scale? Will she probe violence and harassment of women by unionists?

Christian Rowan highlighted some problems in Parliament recently. The shadow education minister said our teachers often struggled in workplaces “that are harmful, unsafe, and ultimately detrimental to their own health and wellbeing”.

He spoke about WorkCover claims published in The Courier-Mail. In an eight-month period between July 2020 and February 2021, over $28 million in injury claims were paid out. Rowan said there were more than 2300 physical injury claims totalling over $22.6 million, and 250 psychological claims totalling over $5.4 million.

There were around 5000 incidents where teachers had been attacked with or without objects. It’s another shocking story that the State Government has successfully buried.

But for most of us, I guess it’s just a minor irritation.

Des Houghton is a media consultant and former editor of The Courier-Mail, Sunday Mail and Sunday Sun