Corrupt heads of government whose terms are marked by sleaze and scandal frequently receive more media attention than those known for public probity. Scott Morrison, Australia’s prime minister from 2018 to 2022, is now in the spotlight for secretly appointing himself to a number of ministerial positions between March 2020 and May 2021.
‘This is the kind of petty activity we would mock in a non-democratic country,’ Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on August 15. ‘ Scott Morrison was running a shadow government,’ he revealed, promising an immediate investigation into what he called an ‘extraordinary’ and ‘unprecedented trashing of our democracy’.
The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet informed Albanese that Morrison served as joint minister for health, finance, treasury, home affairs, and resources in the two years before losing power in May. A number of ministers and secretaries in his government, including Karen Andrews, who held the portfolio of Home Affairs, were unaware that Morrison had secretly taken over their portfolios. Andrews has requested that Morrison resign from the House of Commons.
In March 2021, Morrison’s government—now perceived to be long on sleaze and short on substance—had to deal with a public outpouring of rage over sexual encounters in parliament, after a female official revealed that she had been raped by a senior colleague in a minister’s office. Kate Jenkins, Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner, exposed the toxic workplace culture when she discovered that 37% of people in parliamentary workplaces had experienced bullying and 33% had experienced sexual harassment.
Exposing the dark side of parliamentary politics and the opacity of decision-making at the highest political level by Prime Minister Albanese and others in authority demonstrates courage and faith in the system. Only a strong democracy, such as Australia’s, with strong institutions can take the risk of exposing the rot within the political power structure in the hope of cleaning it out.
Post Your Comments