You've Got To Admit It, The Old Farts Have A Point

It's become abundantly clear these days that ministerial accountability is a thing of the past. Never do we see a minister fall for even the most obvious of wrong doings or mistakes, and we are worse for it. Thankfully two ex-PM's have spoken out in condemnation at today's decline in standards:

'IN the past two decades the constitutional principle that ministers should be held accountable for the failings of their policies or administration has been seriously undermined. No matter how grave their failings may be, ministers no longer resign.

This principle is the bedrock of responsible government. In its absence, the capacity of the parliament and the people to hold a government to account for its actions is substantially weakened.

It is 31 years since the last official inquiry regarding the principles of ministerial accountability at a federal level. That inquiry framed the doctrine for simpler times. It could not anticipate the major changes in governance that have occurred since then.

These include an enormous growth in the power of the executive, the now pivotal role of ministerial advisers, the outsourcing of many crucial government functions and the expanding influence of the lobbying industry.

The Freedom of Information Act, an important safeguard introduced in 1982, has also been undermined significantly by the practice of recent governments and restrictive interpretation by the courts.

The Canadian and British governments (of different political persuasions) have recently taken steps to strengthen ministerial accountability.

They have recognised its fundamental importance and the need to re-evaluate and fortify it so that representative democracy may function as it should.

We believe it is critical that this issue is addressed in the forthcoming national election and then acted upon by whichever party forms the new government.

We take this opportunity to urge all political parties to commit to the establishment of an independent and comprehensive review of the operation of ministerial accountability so as to modernise and strengthen it.

This is a matter that transcends party politics. It goes to the very heart of the way we are governed.'

Gough Whitlam, Sydney

Malcolm Fraser, Melbourne

Of course, off the top of my head I can easily think of a few who should have gone by now. Alexander Downer can count his lucky stars that he's part of a government which cares very little for ministerial accountability after failing to act on 20 warnings that AWB was bankrolling Saddam Hussein for example. Kevin Andrews can also consider himself charmed after the whole Haneef affair, which incidentally gets worse and worse as time goes on. And Amanda Vanstone can also praise today's decline in standards after escaping the chop when her department wrongly deported an Australian citizen and detained another due to a culture of suspicion within immigration (geez, I wonder how that grew?).

So all in all, the old farts have a point wouldn't you say?