The first step on the pathway to redemption for any alcoholic is to admit that they have a problem. It is the well known Step One on the Alcoholics Annonymous 12-step program.
Unfortunately when it comes to pork barrelling our political leaders won’t even admit that they have a problem. They won’t even take step one on the pathway to political redemption.
The latest revelation of (mis)use of taxpayers dollars for blatant partisan political advantage was revealed in yet another Auditor General report into spending just before an election. It was released earlier this week. This time, commuter car parks was the pork barrelling of choice. And guess what, 77 per cent of the funding went to Coalition seats, with a further 10 per cent targeted at key seats the Coalition hoped to win at the last election.
In short the Auditor General was scathing, noting that decisions were not merit based and the department didn’t do adequate due diligence before ticking off on decisions which originated in the political sphere. The result was poor public policy decision making and wasted spending.
The Coalition took submissions from MPs and candidates, and the politics of the decision making process didn’t get any better after that. Just like the sports rorts scandal, the Morrison government was at it again, allocating millions of dollars of taxpayers money in a partisan way. On this occasion, $660 million.
In any other climate the (mis)use of our money for blatant partisan gain would grab more headlines. But not in the midst of the pandemic and all the issues associated with the vaccine rollout and hotel quarantine.
The worst part of this sorry tale isn’t that politicians try and seek partisan advantage. We know that. It is unavoidable. Both sides do it. It is the fact that when caught, and called out by someone with the independence and credibility of the Auditor General, they ignore the findings. This denialism is on the rise in modern politics.
Instead in recent budgets the government has cut funding to the Auditor General’s office. At a time when extra money was being thrown almost everywhere else. Payback for it doing it’s job, calling out the government.
Just as in the case of the sports rorts scandal, the responsible minister defended the (mis)use of money by pointing to the fact he can allocate the money pretty much any way that he likes under the rules. That is true, and yes the Auditor General noted that. But that’s part of the problem frankly. A big part of the problem.
It is a major reason why this government can’t get past step one on the road to recovery when it comes to reliance on pork barrelling. Because the Coalition in government won’t even acknowledge that the rules it relies on to spend taxpayers money for partisan advantage must change, because they lead to unacceptable outcomes.
The political class set up the rules that allow them to make non-merit based decisions with poor policy processes which aren’t outside the rules. That doesn’t mean those decisions are appropriate. It simply means they are not illegal when they should be.
It’s high time the denialism ends and the government acknowledges it needs to clean up its act.
Peter van Onselen is the Political Editor at Network 10 and a professor of politics and public policy at the University of Western Australia and Griffith University.
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