killarava2day
Ex-Bluelighter
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2001
- Messages
- 9,927
Peter Costello should practise what he preaches
June 9, 2004
Jesus was above all a dissident, a fact the Treasurer would do well to keep in mind, writes Clive Hamilton.
The Howard Government's willingness to smother dissent poses a threat to the democratic process in Australia. Like individual citizens, community groups are being worn down and are increasingly reluctant to engage in the democratic process because they no longer believe that they can make a difference.
There is a pattern of attacks on the independence of various institutions and non-government organisations that provide checks on the power of government.
The Australian public service has been transformed radically from one that understood it had a duty to serve the public to one that simply takes orders from ministers. While once there was scope for competing ideas, and senior bureaucrats would warn ministers that certain actions were contrary to the public interest, there is no place for contending views today. Sycophancy is the order of the day.
The military has a proud reputation for providing fearless advice to the government while maintaining strict loyalty. The separation of the political and military spheres was always respected, indeed, fiercely defended. Yet during the children-overboard affair, highly respected officers were gagged or "verballed", and there is now a deep resentment within the armed forces over the way they have been politicised.
Earlier this year Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty warned the public that, on the basis of his expertise, the risks of a terrorist attack on Australia were higher than ever as a result of our intervention in Iraq. The Government browbeat him into issuing a humiliating retraction.
Early in its term, members of the Howard Government hit out at the so-called "judicial activism" of the High Court, targeting judges it disagreed with. In the face of virulent attacks on the integrity of the High Court by right-wing commentators, the Attorney-General refused to defend the court.
Justice Michael Kirby has spoken out on a range of human rights issues and for his troubles he was the subject of a scurrilous attack on his character by Liberal senator Bill Heffernan in Parliament. The message was clear: speak out and suffer the consequences.
So much has been written about the suppression of the independence of the ABC that it hardly needs comment. So worn down is it after the constant badgering from Canberra that ABC news and current affairs are now only a shadow of their former selves.
Finally, a report published by The Australia Institute in 2001 identified widespread disquiet among university teachers and researchers about the deteriorating state of academic freedom in Australia.
Three-quarters of the respondents to a survey of academics in the social sciences said that academic freedom had declined over the previous four years, that is, since 1996. Many expressed disquiet at the erosion of their freedom to teach what they thought best and nearly half said they were reluctant to publish contentious research results, especially if these were critical of the institutions that provided financial support for their research.
There appears to have been a systematic attempt by the Howard Government to reshape Australian society, to remake it in the image of the economics textbook, in which we are each imagined to be no more than self-interested consumers.
In this world, the market values of self-interest, profit maximisation, radical individualism and competition prevail.
In this world, the public sphere is increasingly dominated by the private sphere, and public values of reciprocity and altruism are driven out.
Last year, Peter Costello gave a lecture in which he said, in contrast to totalitarian regimes such as Saddam Hussein's Iraq, which punish dissent, he upheld the value of a tolerant country that allows dissenting views to flourish.
He bemoaned the disengagement of people from their communities and praised voluntary groups for their role in building social capital, trust and civic engagement.
He asked: What can government best do for the non-government sector, and answered: "The first thing is the very important maxim for government, 'Do no harm'."
Well, preventing others from doing good is doing harm. Gagging human rights charities from attempting to strengthen protections, or closing down aid organisations that lobby governments to increase the aid budget, or browbeating welfare agencies into silence is doing harm. Threatening to revoke the charitable status of organisations that engage in advocacy is doing harm.
Last week Mr Costello called for greater Christian faith as the answer to the decline of moral values represented by rap music and drug barons ("The moral decay of Australia", on this page last Tuesday).
But whatever he may say in a speech to a religious meeting, for nine budgets wearing his Treasurer's hat he has relentlessly promoted the belief that we should not rely on our fellow citizens, and certainly not the Government, in times of need but should be self-reliant.
Despite record rates of economic growth, life for the disadvantaged in Australia has become harder. But Mr Costello tells us that charity and welfare hand-outs only make people dependent. And we now know that if NGOs criticise this view they are threatened with loss of funding.
Jesus was above all a dissident, and he paid with his life for speaking out against the injustices of the powerful of his day. So instead of making worthy appeals for a rediscovery of Christian values, perhaps Mr Costello would do less harm by giving a greater voice to those who represent the marginalised and disadvantaged and those who cannot speak for themselves.
Clive Hamilton is executive director of The Australia Institute (www.tai.org.au). This is an edited extract of his address to the "Communities in Control" conference in Melbourne this week.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/08/1086460293197.html
June 9, 2004
Jesus was above all a dissident, a fact the Treasurer would do well to keep in mind, writes Clive Hamilton.
The Howard Government's willingness to smother dissent poses a threat to the democratic process in Australia. Like individual citizens, community groups are being worn down and are increasingly reluctant to engage in the democratic process because they no longer believe that they can make a difference.
There is a pattern of attacks on the independence of various institutions and non-government organisations that provide checks on the power of government.
The Australian public service has been transformed radically from one that understood it had a duty to serve the public to one that simply takes orders from ministers. While once there was scope for competing ideas, and senior bureaucrats would warn ministers that certain actions were contrary to the public interest, there is no place for contending views today. Sycophancy is the order of the day.
The military has a proud reputation for providing fearless advice to the government while maintaining strict loyalty. The separation of the political and military spheres was always respected, indeed, fiercely defended. Yet during the children-overboard affair, highly respected officers were gagged or "verballed", and there is now a deep resentment within the armed forces over the way they have been politicised.
Earlier this year Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty warned the public that, on the basis of his expertise, the risks of a terrorist attack on Australia were higher than ever as a result of our intervention in Iraq. The Government browbeat him into issuing a humiliating retraction.
Early in its term, members of the Howard Government hit out at the so-called "judicial activism" of the High Court, targeting judges it disagreed with. In the face of virulent attacks on the integrity of the High Court by right-wing commentators, the Attorney-General refused to defend the court.
Justice Michael Kirby has spoken out on a range of human rights issues and for his troubles he was the subject of a scurrilous attack on his character by Liberal senator Bill Heffernan in Parliament. The message was clear: speak out and suffer the consequences.
So much has been written about the suppression of the independence of the ABC that it hardly needs comment. So worn down is it after the constant badgering from Canberra that ABC news and current affairs are now only a shadow of their former selves.
Finally, a report published by The Australia Institute in 2001 identified widespread disquiet among university teachers and researchers about the deteriorating state of academic freedom in Australia.
Three-quarters of the respondents to a survey of academics in the social sciences said that academic freedom had declined over the previous four years, that is, since 1996. Many expressed disquiet at the erosion of their freedom to teach what they thought best and nearly half said they were reluctant to publish contentious research results, especially if these were critical of the institutions that provided financial support for their research.
There appears to have been a systematic attempt by the Howard Government to reshape Australian society, to remake it in the image of the economics textbook, in which we are each imagined to be no more than self-interested consumers.
In this world, the market values of self-interest, profit maximisation, radical individualism and competition prevail.
In this world, the public sphere is increasingly dominated by the private sphere, and public values of reciprocity and altruism are driven out.
Last year, Peter Costello gave a lecture in which he said, in contrast to totalitarian regimes such as Saddam Hussein's Iraq, which punish dissent, he upheld the value of a tolerant country that allows dissenting views to flourish.
He bemoaned the disengagement of people from their communities and praised voluntary groups for their role in building social capital, trust and civic engagement.
He asked: What can government best do for the non-government sector, and answered: "The first thing is the very important maxim for government, 'Do no harm'."
Well, preventing others from doing good is doing harm. Gagging human rights charities from attempting to strengthen protections, or closing down aid organisations that lobby governments to increase the aid budget, or browbeating welfare agencies into silence is doing harm. Threatening to revoke the charitable status of organisations that engage in advocacy is doing harm.
Last week Mr Costello called for greater Christian faith as the answer to the decline of moral values represented by rap music and drug barons ("The moral decay of Australia", on this page last Tuesday).
But whatever he may say in a speech to a religious meeting, for nine budgets wearing his Treasurer's hat he has relentlessly promoted the belief that we should not rely on our fellow citizens, and certainly not the Government, in times of need but should be self-reliant.
Despite record rates of economic growth, life for the disadvantaged in Australia has become harder. But Mr Costello tells us that charity and welfare hand-outs only make people dependent. And we now know that if NGOs criticise this view they are threatened with loss of funding.
Jesus was above all a dissident, and he paid with his life for speaking out against the injustices of the powerful of his day. So instead of making worthy appeals for a rediscovery of Christian values, perhaps Mr Costello would do less harm by giving a greater voice to those who represent the marginalised and disadvantaged and those who cannot speak for themselves.
Clive Hamilton is executive director of The Australia Institute (www.tai.org.au). This is an edited extract of his address to the "Communities in Control" conference in Melbourne this week.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/08/1086460293197.html
Damn these shrooms!).
