Daily Telegraph Editorial: We need an audit, not a roll call
Malcolm Turnbull has shown time and again that he will delay before settling on a policy. That’s okay if these policies are a masterwork. Very often, they are not.
Opinion
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Resolutions reached in undue haste will often be in error. But so too will resolutions reached after extended delay, with too much time given to pondering each and every competing argument.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, as shown repeatedly during his time in office, is inclined to a prolonged consideration of matters before settling upon a final policy. That would be fine, if each of those policies was a locked-in masterwork utterly immune to all forms of political attack or changes in circumstances.
Very often, however, they are not.
The Prime Minister’s decision on the parliamentary citizenship eligibility crisis is emblematic of the Turnbull approach. The decision arrived extremely late, given that other party leaders were calling for an audit of parliamentarians several weeks ago.
As well, it isn’t even an audit. Australia has endured this entire process — and the destabilisation of Parliament through the removal or resignation of multiple MPs — and still we are not getting a complete audit of the MPs who remain.
Rather, the Prime Minister now proposes that each MP in the Senate and House of Representatives would be required to declare they are not a dual citizen by either birth or ancestry.
“What this is doing is using, essentially, the same process that we have for disclosure of member’s interest such as financial and pecuniary interests, for disclosure of this (citizenship) information,” Prime Minister Turnbull said.
“This is a Cabinet decision we have been discussing this morning. I want to say that this is not an audit. The obligation is on each member and each senator to make a full disclosure.”
But as any Australian who has followed this exhausting episode is already completely aware, the obligation on each member and each senator to make a full disclosure was already in place before their election. The obligation was implicit in their nomination, when each member and each senator ran on the basis of meeting legal constitutional demands.
“Members and senators have been put squarely on notice now and so they will be turning their mind to their own affairs and the issues of citizenship, foreign citizenship,” the PM continued. Again, they were on notice before their elections — yet several obviously declined to undertake sufficient levels of review.
Which is why Parliament needs an audit — and not a roll call of politicians announcing evidence of their own choosing.
ALMANDIN AGAIN FOR THE CUP
Betting on the Melbourne Cup is no trivial task.
In Australia, it is more of an obligation or even a responsibility. And as with all matters involving responsibility, certain research and analysis must be carried out before a final decision is made. Marmelo enters this year’s Cup as favourite.
Yet The Daily Telegraph would counsel against a Marmelo wager, given the five-year-old’s wide barrier draw. What, then, of Johannes Vermeer?
The Daily Telegraph believes, on balance, and considering all available evidence, that the Irish entry just sounds too European. Which leaves us with reigning Cup champion Almandin. This powerful eight-year-old’s record counts for a great deal. The Daily Telegraph endorses a 2017 Melbourne Cup victory for Almandin.
ANOTHER SENSELESS SLAUGHTER
Yet again, Australians are stunned by not only another shooting rampage in the US, this time killing 26 Texan churchgoers, but also by the continued defence by many Americans of firearm ownership. Defenders of the right to bear arms point to the fact that apparent killer Devin Patrick Kelley was himself fired upon by a gun owner, whose actions may have ended Kelley’s attack.
This position strikes the majority of Australians as bizarre. Surely, they argue, it would be better to outlaw private firearms in the first place rather than require their use once bloodshed is underway. Pro-gun US citizens disagree, although it strikes Australians as obvious and sensible. One reason may be the powerful force of cultural difference. Yet cultural differences work both ways. Americans are mystified by the fact that fast bowlers in cricket are not only permitted to aim at a batsman’s head and body, but suffer no penalty if that player is struck.
In baseball, struck batters are immediately put on base.
One point, however, about this difference: the laws of cricket would be instantly changed if 26 players were killed in a single morning.