Extract from the ABC Drum
Opinion
Posted
With its single house of Parliament and
history of political malpractice, Queensland is especially vulnerable to
the misuse of political power.
In form, Australian
parliamentary elections are a seat-by-seat contest between individual
candidates. In practice, most candidates represent a political party,
and Queensland elections are a "no-holds-barred" contest between two
entrenched parties, the Liberal National Party and the Australian Labor
Party.The dominance of those parties is consolidated and reinforced by public funding based on past electoral results, which provides them with a significant financial advantage over smaller parties and new parties, which of course both major parties support.
The people who control whichever of the two major parties gains the most seats in a state election - who aren't necessarily elected members of Parliament - control Queensland.
There are almost no formal legal limits on the power which they exercise through their control of Parliament.
However, whatever modern professional politicians might like to think, that is only part of the story.
Australia and its component states are democracies; that is to say, communities in which power is ultimately held by the people collectively. ['demos' the citizens living within a particular area and 'kratos' meaning power or rule.]
In a representative democracy like Queensland, the peoples' collective power is exercised on their behalf and for their benefit by their elected agent, the Parliament.
Parliament's mandate is to use its power for the "peace, welfare and good government" of Queensland in accordance with the State's Constitution.
The political party which controls Parliament cannot legitimately cause it to exercise its power for the benefit of that party or its supporters and camp-followers.
These ethical constraints are fundamentally important although legally unenforceable. They can only be enforced through the political process. Queensland voters now have an opportunity to do so.
During its brief term in power, the present government treated the community with contempt.
From behind a populist facade, it engaged in rampant nepotism, sacked, stacked and otherwise reduced the effectiveness of parliamentary committees, subverted and weakened the state's anti-corruption commission, made unprecedented attacks on the courts and the judiciary, appointed a totally unsuitable Chief Justice, reverted to selecting male judges almost exclusively and, from a position of lofty ignorance, dismissed its critics for their effrontery.
Because of Queensland's chequered political history and the behaviour of the current government, all political parties were recently asked to acknowledge good governance obligations expressed in very simple terms; that is, to:
- make all decisions and take all actions, including public appointments, in the public interest without regard to personal, party political or other immaterial considerations;
- treat all people equally without permitting any person or corporation special access or influence; and
- promptly and accurately inform the public of its reasons for all significant or potentially controversial decisions and actions
It is effectively telling voters that, if it is elected, it will do as it pleases; in effect, it will continue the behaviour which marked its first term and led to its heavy losses in recent by-elections.
It would be sheer folly for anyone concerned to live in freedom in a democracy to vote for a political party which refuses to accept that there are limits on the proper exercise of democratic political power.
Tony Fitzgerald AC QC was chair of the Fitzgerald Inquiry. View his full profile here.
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