Commentary
The report by the Victorian Ombudsman into the operation of the public service under former Premier Daniel Andrews is a devastating critique of the erosion of responsible government in the state.
“Two sentiments stood out—concern and fear.
“Concern at what people saw as the quickening erosion of longstanding Westminster principles of responsible government. Fear that if they spoke up, if they were anyway identifiable as having done so, their careers would be finished,” Ombudsman Deborah Glass reported.
Fear was not confined to the state’s bureaucracy. It was corralled daily by the then-premier throughout COVID-19.
The daily media conferences with their grim warnings, the lockdowns, and the excessive police responses were all used to strike fear into Victorians.
The obsessive secrecy that Mr. Andrews cultivated was compounded during the pandemic.
Almost all power was centralised in the hands of the premier.
There was very limited access to him, even by most colleagues and senior public servants. Those who were prepared to speak “off the record” revealed an administration totally controlled by the premier’s office.
The fact that Mr. Andrews had more personal staff than the nation’s prime minister and the New South Wales premier combined was a manifestation of this control.
Worse, even media staff and other staff were withheld from ministers, curtailing their ability to obtain independent advice and to put forward alternative views.
Near Dictatorship
Creeping totalitarianism infected Victoria.Even the corruption watchdog seemed powerless in the face of the Andrews juggernaut.
The Ombudsman’s report confirms the regression from the Westminster principles of government.
The $125 billion (US$82 billion) Suburban Rail Loop was an example of the attitude within government provided by the Ombudsman.
Created by a former ministerial staffer at Development Victoria, its development was kept secret from department officials and infrastructure experts.
Ms. Glass found the planning around the project bypassed normal policy development, with consultant PwC engaged to “prove up” the merits of the project.
“It was subject to excessive secrecy and ‘proved up’ by consultants rather than developed by public servants,” she said. “Its announcement ‘blindsided’ the agency set up by the same government to remove short-term politics from infrastructure planning.
“The lack of rigorous public-sector scrutiny over such projects before they are announced poses obvious risks to public funds.”
A general view of the the Flinders Street Station in Melbourne, Australia, on July 16, 2023. Robert Cianflone/Getty Images
Although Ms. Glass made a series of recommendations about how to fix the state’s political body, it is concerning that the current government will ignore her.
The response by the head of the public service in Victoria was not encouraging.
While welcoming the report, Jeremi Moule said he was “disappointed” by the “tenor” of the report, which he said had not placed sufficient emphasis on its finding that allegations of partisan hiring could not be substantiated.
The new premier now cannot even name how many people are on her staff.
How Democracy Succeeds
In the Federalist Papers, a collection of documents foundational to the creation of the United States, James Madison posed a question critical to the success of democracy.“If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
Democracy is an experiment. It has not been the normal state of government throughout most of history. Even today, many external forces work to undermine it.
Yet, we often naively assume that it will self-correct internally.
Worse, we act as if the internal checks and balances will work to prevent corruption of its processes.
As Madison added: “A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”
Detail, engraved portrait of James Madison, seated at a writing desk, circa 1800. Lawrence Thornton/Archive Photos/Getty Images
Published a week after Captain Arthur Phillip established the colony of New South Wales, Madison foresaw not only the need for various levels of government, but also separate departments of state: “The great security against gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those powers who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motive to resist encroachment of the others.”
The opposite appears to have occurred in Victoria.
How Mr. Andrews, a factional apparatchik, centralised so much power in himself is a question that will take a long time to reveal.
Although his former colleagues revolted against his attempt to continue to exert control after departing Parliament, his influence remains.
It is spread well beyond the public service. Almost every significant appointment to office in the state for the past decade has been made by the former premier.
It will be years before some of these officials, board members, state authority heads, and others are replaced.
This is not to say that the people who occupy these many offices and positions are agents of the government, or members of the Labor Party: rather it is to argue that the web of influence throughout the state is pervasive.
This is also why the failure of the opposition is so disastrous. Ineffective oppositions enable inadequate governments to continue.
Ultimately, democracy flourishes if there is a disposition towards it.
As the former professor of ethics at the University of Chicago, Jean Bethke Elshtain wrote: “Democracy is not simply a setoff procedure or a constitution, but an ethos, a spirit, a way of responding, and a way of conducting oneself.”
That disposition must be restored in Victoria.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
