Journalists tend to dismiss whinges from politicians about the way the media trivialises and sensationalises, but after the past fortnight, I have some sympathy.
All attention in the ACT was given to some idiocy over cannabis law which would have affected virtually no-one and not had any influence over the way the ACT or Australia is governed.
In the meantime, there were three Australian legislative firsts which will probably influence governance elsewhere and two major changes to the ACT’s constitutional set-up _ none of which made Page 1 and none of which got more than a cursory mention in the electronics.
All have a common theme of less power for the Executive and more power for the people.
If I were a pollie in the circumstances I would be very cross. Worse, I would be tempted to say, why bother with important and difficult structural and constitutional matters let’s reduce politics to soap opera because that is the only way to get recognition.
Anyway, for those who may have missed them, the following were the ground-breaking changes: whistle-blowers legislation; Bill of Rights; entrenching the voting system; prompt payments by government.
The whistle-blowers legislation, called the Public Interest Disclosure Act, gives protection to public servants who expose what they see as corruption or waste (whistle-blowing). Anyone engaging in reprisals will be subject to a year’s jail and or a $10,000 plus civil action. Investigating agencies will have to give progress reports to the whistle-blower. Substantiated complaints and remedial action are tabled in the Assembly.
The Act, proposed by the Liberal Party, goes well beyond the provisions in the Public Sector Management Act. The new legislation is an Australian first. It is important for good governance because the history of public administration is littered with examples of public servants attempting to expose corruption, incompetence and wastage being black-listed, transferred and victimised and for the complaint to be pigeon-holed. Now senior officers vicitmising whistle-blowers do so at their personal peril. It will make the Executive more accountable.
The Bill of Rights, proposed by Labor and being steered through by Attorney-General Terry Connolly, was tabled in the Assembly for public discussion. It is an Australian first. Key rights are listed. Courts are instructed to prefer interpretations of laws that are consistent with those right. The Attorney-General is to warn the Assembly if any proposed law is inconsistent with those right, but the Assembly is not bound by the Bill of Rights.
The theory is that when it has been in force several years and the sky has not fallen in it can be entrenched by referendum to bind the Assembly. Once again less power for the Executive and in this case less power for the legislature. It will be both a fundamental constitutional change for the ACT and ground-breaking stuff for Australia.
Connolly said that some individual rights are inalienable (that is cannot be given or traded away) and that legislatures and executives should not be allowed to infringe them.
The Hare-Clark Entrenchment Act, if approved by referendum, will ensure that a simple majority of the Assembly cannot alter multi-member electorates, compulsory voting, 17 members or Robson rotation and will prevent any kind of party-line voting. These things can only be undone by referendum or a two-thirds majority in the Assembly (in other words, bipartisan support for machinery changes). It will stop future majority governments tampering with the electoral system for their own advantage.
A lesser Act passed last week was the Liberals’ proposal to make the Government pay its contractors on time or suffer interest payments, just like the way the Government charges us.
In all, the changes were mostly possible with minority government. Sure, lack of majority government in the ACT has thrown up highly publicised quirks, but its has also provided some less publicised but important moves away from the corporatist, “”government-knows-best” philosophy and move power from the Executive to the people. And the trend is likely to continue next Assembly with citizens’ initiated referendums still on the agenda.