There has been a great deal in the Press of late, in relation to questions being asked of the former Premier of NSW, Gladys Berejiklian in relation to her relationship with the former member for Wagga, Daryl McGuire. Whilst some part of the issue may be about who makes decisions and why, some parts of the matters raised seem beyond the pale and nobodies business. Now some people may be unaware of park barreling, but it has been going on since democracy was invented, and whist not of itself a good thing, generally we live with it in the margins, and call it out when it gets a bit over the top.
Gladys Berejiklian had a secret relationship with Daryl McGuire. The are both adults, they are allowed to have friendships, and whatever that friendship entails is their business not mine. On the Today show Karl Stephanovic exclaimed, with a degree of salivation ‘gee, it’s hard to watch’, as the played a replayed the testimony from Daryl McGuire before ICAC as he was asked ‘Did you have intimate relations with Gladys?’ Frankly I don’t think the question should have been asked. It has already been established that they had a relationship, and that frankly is all that need to be established. I also don’t think the question should have been answered.
There are two grants at the centre of what is being discussed, One for a Gun Club in Wagga Wagga which I think Daryl McGuire may be a member of, and one for The Wagga Conservatory of Music. Both these grants happened against advice from the bureaucrats. And of course the inference is that the personal relationship was leveraged in order to push the grants through. The inference in this is that Departmental Advice should be the overriding concern, and that all political decisions are suspect. Following Daryl’s resignation from parliament in relation to other suspect dealings, the by-election in Wagga was politically important and both sides will have wanted to put fruit on the table to encourage local support.
The assumption in thinking that ‘Departmental Advice’ is untainted by political and other considerations is of course entirely flawed. There are all manner of considerations that result in distortions in this kind of advice. Much of that of course is not deliberate, but structurally embedded in the need to document and categorise and account for actions. Generally this involves some sort of metric. This can often be more backward rather than forward looking, and can often be heavily biased by what is not contained within the metrics to consider. Interestingly as well there is noted that the public sector (3rd division) is generally regarded as leaning to the left. This is not a criticism, but rather an acknowledgement of the situation.
In a democracy we elect people to represent us in parliament and to make decisions. We do not elect them to be rubber stamps. We do not elect bureaucrats and they do not represent us. My concern is that if the bureaucrats ultimately make the decisions, and the politicians are simply play things to rubber stamp those decisions, then we have ceased to be a democracy.
The valid questions that can, and in this case probably should, be put to Gladys Berejiklian are must simply be, what was your reason or reasons for making sure these grants went through despite departmental advice to the contrary. She herself seems to have gained nothing personally from the decision, and Wagga went to an Independent following the resignation of Daryl McGuire, so if it was an exercise in Pork Barrelling, it seems to have failed. I do not want us to get to a position where our elected members cannot make decisions, have a life, and even at times make the odd mistake.
Trust should clearly be at the centre, and politicians and bureaucrats can both be very good at spending other people’s money like a man with no arms, and as if it was their own money. There should be a care and a concern that we the people get value for our money, and in all honesty, we often feel like we don’t. That being said, I would rather those decisions were taken on our behalf by those we have elected.
Philip Barrington 