The fragility of democacy

The report by the Victorian Ombudsman into the operation of the public service under premier Dan 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 in Victoria. There was only very limited access to him, even by most colleagues and senior public servants. Those who were prepared to speak ‘off-the-record’ reveal an administration that was totally controlled by the premier’s office.

The fact that Mr Andrews had more personal staff than the Prime Minister and the NSW 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 alternative views.

Creeping totalitarianism infected Victoria. It became highly centralised and unaccountable. 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 Suburban Rail Loop as 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 development of 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."

Although Ms Glass has made a series of recommendations about future activities, it is of concern 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 hirings could not be substantiated.

The new premier could not even name how many people are employed on her staff.

In the Federalist Papers, a collection of documents foundational to the creation of the United States, James Madison posed a question critical for 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, there are many external forces that 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 a 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.”

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 merely 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 continueFirst published in the Epoch Times Australia.