Spin, secret and pass the ball. These are the approaches that Team Albanese increasingly uses instead of taking responsibility for improving the work of government.
A hallmark of Labour’s election victory was supposed to be the improvement of government after the events of the Morrison years.
However, the gap between what the new government says and what it promised before the elections is growing.
This week the Prime Minister became embroiled in a war of words with an anti-domestic violence campaigner. He tried to put the weekend saga behind him by saying that what really matters is the actions taken to curb the scourge of domestic violence. Few would disagree.
However, when Daily Mail Australia revealed that of the 500 domestic violence caseworkers promised as part of a $165 million funding allocation two years ago, only 17 had been confirmed as active and were now actually working, the Prime Minister used morning radio to dismiss the discrepancy.
Anthony Albanese (above) sinks into his own ‘can’t stand a moment of hose’ after blaming states for domestic violence policy failure.
Remember when Scott Morrison (pictured) didn’t take responsibility for managing bushfires?
Scott Morrison (center in photo) vacationing in Hawaii as Australia burned in late 2019 during the wildfires
When asked Thursday “why are there so few deployed?”, Albo responded: “Well, we’re not responsible for employing them.” That’s where ABC’s interrogation ended, with Albo blaming the states.
It was a dollar topping 101. The Commonwealth allocated the funds to state and territory governments to do this. So he just blamed them and dried his hands of the matter. The Prime Minister’s minister responsible, Amanda Rishworth, followed suit when responding to questions from Daily Mail Australia, refusing to tell us whether the dismal figure of 17 had increased in recent months.
Remember when Albo attacked Scott Morrison for his money during the bushfires? “I don’t hold a hose, mate,” was Morrison’s line. He even appeared in Labor attack ads. Is this really different?
Surely the federal Labor government is not giving up if the states, which have already received the money, do not continue to hire the promised staff? That’s just pathetic, especially when seven of the eight states and territories are Labor. Pick up the Albo phone!
Furthermore, when announcing the policy, the Albanian government insisted on the importance of the 500 new positions, in addition to providing deadlines for the delivery of workers. However, he now acts as if his responsibility for the program ended entirely when the checks were issued and mailed.
If money has gone out the door, but only 17 of the 500 new domestic violence frontline workers are actively working, how can all that money do anything to help address domestic violence? He’s sitting there. Furthermore, is this how this government casually wastes taxpayers’ money in other policy areas as well? It’s a disturbing possibility as we approach the countdown to budget week.
Then there is the horrific attack on Ninette Simons, a 73-year-old Perth woman, allegedly by a former detainee released into the community. The Commonwealth did not object to bail and the Prime Minister blamed the Federal Community Protection Board for making the “wrong decision” when it agreed to remove the former detainee’s ankle monitor.
Horrible injuries suffered by Ninette Simons (pictured) allegedly inflicted by a released detainee
“I think it’s a wrong decision on the part of the board, but they make the decisions,” Albo said. Buck passes by once again. Never mind that the government is responsible for the legislative norms within which the board operates. The responsibility of the federal government, not the state governments.
CHEAT SHEETS
There were also revelations this week that briefing notes were prepared showing bureaucrats required to answer to parliamentary committees how to avoid giving exhaustive answers.
A preventive cover-up exercise. Prepared under the Prime Minister’s nose no less – in his parliamentary office – the cheat sheets direct senior civil servants on how to act as specialists.
Before being elected Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese said that “the Australian people deserve accountability and transparency, not secrecy.” It was a powerful attack on the Morrison government deployed again and again by Team Albo in opposition.
Fast forward to today and as Prime Minister is taking the same approach, the Prime Minister’s office even put the cynical tactic in writing as a directive to bureaucrats who are supposed to be independent of their political orientation.
Albo’s office made a cheat sheet to help bureaucrats avoid responding to QT Senate estimates (Senate pictured)
There is an argument that lecturing on obfuscation when chairing Senate committees could be contempt of the chamber. At the very least, it goes against the open government principles that Albo expressed before the elections.
If this happened in a judicial process, it would be similar to altering witness statements, illegal actions, without a doubt.
Did the Prime Minister know that this memo was sent? If he did not do it, and let us hope that he did not do it, will the directive condemn him and revoke it to avoid giving exaggerated answers to the democratically elected members of the parliamentary committees? Will we find out who in his office thought it appropriate to send such a directive?