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Post election review of government accountability
The Albanese Government signed off on a code of conduct for ministers in 2022 saying it was committed to integrity, honesty and accountability and would act in a manner consistent with the highest ethical standards. It would also have due regard for fairness, responsibility and the public interest but has it?
Electoral funding law reform
Touted as the biggest changes to Australia’s electoral funding laws in decades, the electoral reform bill was passed in February after just 2 hours of debate. The disclosure threshold for donations drops from $16,000 to $5,000 (a backdown from the original $1,000) but donors will still be allowed to donate to all the branches of each political party. Near real-time disclosure was agreed, self-financing candidates will have caps on contributions and donations disguised as membership fees will be capped. However, an ‘overall gift cap’ of $50k could allow parties to accept almost $450k/year from a single donor and $90 million can be spent per party nationally - effectively no change. See here for more on this.
America
As AUKUS demonstrates, our governments were willing to forgo both accountability and the public interest when it came to a deal with America, a now very shaky deal on three nuclear-powered submarines costing a staggering $375 billion and rising, for which there is no guarantee of delivery. Our downpayment was $800 million but the questions are where will the money be found, where was the cost/benefit analysis for this deal and how well does it serve our national interest?
America unilaterally bombed three sites in Iran on 22 June which, according to the Trump administration, were on the verge of producing nuclear weapons. America then destroyed 6 Iranian airports and numerous aircraft on 23 June, part of Israel’s ‘right to self-defence’. The Prime Minister is silent on these acts though they breach international law and likely constitute international crimes.
When America invaded Iraq on much the same rationale, Prime Minister Howard committed Australia to a war in which fictitious weapons of mass destruction were the justification. Despite weapons inspectors’ advice and the overwhelming public opposition to that war, there was no accountability or constitutional requirement for parliamentary approval. A government with high ethical standards would not invade or support another country on such spurious grounds.
The Foreign Minister says Australia supports the US bombing raids to stop Iran getting nuclear weapons but again, there is no proof nor justification for the follow up pre-emptive strike on airports and aircraft, couched as self-defence.
Meanwhile, Gaza has been reduced to rubble, sixty thousand Palestinians are dead and survivors are starving. The Prime Minister condemned Israel for blocking aid and signed a joint statement with UK, Canada and NZ to this effect but balks at criticising the US for threatening forcible relocation of the people of Gaza, another potential violation of international law.
President Trump is hostile to international law and routinely threatens the territorial integrity of world states - so far Greenland, Gaza, Canada, and the Suez Canal - and he routinely flouts the US Constitution, making him an ally we can no longer trust.
Climate action
Closer to home, cost of living was a central issue in the Federal election but what was missing from Labor’s substantial list of election policies was action on climate that would deliver a renewable energy target of 82 percent by 2030. In 2023-24 emissions rose, if only slightly. The Climate Change Act 2022, Powering the Nation and Rewiring the Nation plans, the vehicle efficiency scheme, the capacity investment scheme, and a very modest tightening of the Safeguard Mechanism are inadequate in meeting the target.
So how have governments been able to claim otherwise? LULUCF – Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry – is a deal insisted on by Australia under the Kyoto Protocol and allows us (and other countries) to count greenhouse gas reduction from soil sequestration, forest growth and less land clearing. In fact, 90% of the claimed drop in overall emissions is due to LULUFC but the land use ‘changes’ are not permanent, highly variable and a smokescreen for real and lasting decarbonisation.
Rebates for electric vehicles have ended and cars are bigger and heavier than any time in the past. The Prime Minister rarely talks about cutting emissions and his energy minister gave the go-ahead to dozens of coal mine extensions and recently two new greenfield mines in Queensland operating out to 2055.
Gambling winners and losers
How ethical was it for the Federal Government to back down under pressure from the sports betting industry after the Prime Minister promised a complete ban in 2022 on ‘reprehensible’ gambling advertising?
According to Reuters Australia’s parliamentarians accepted $245,000 in free tickets to sporting events at the same time they were supposedly considering the advertising ban. Minister Rowland, now Attorney-General, accepted a $19,000 donation from Sportsbet. Weak and complicated measures were introduced after the 2025 election such as No gambling advertising or promotion of odds permitted from 5 minutes before the published scheduled start of play, etc.This doesn’t however apply to horse and greyhound racing and or signage on players’ uniforms. And get this! You need to make a complaint to the broadcaster if you think they have broken the rules because, presumably, ACMA (the regulator) won’t be watching.
Per-capita, Australians lose more on gambling than any other country in the world, thanks to saturated gambling advertising. $34 billion is expected to be lost to the gambling sector in 2025. The Government should be accountable for the effectiveness of laws that allow such harm.
Gambling and alcohol are now known to be significant factors in violence against women but still, governments are reluctant to act. There are currently no restrictions on the delivery of alcohol to adults at any time, day or night. In Victoria some pokie venues will now have to close between 4am and 10am with promised limits on spending to $100 by 2027 but why wait? Addiction to gambling extends to all governments bar WA. The Victorian State Government’s budget for poker machine tax revenue for 2024-25 shows a rise to $1.407 billion compared with $1.373 billion in 2023-24. For NSW, it is $2.3 billion.
Whistleblowers and FOI
There has been no movement on urgent whistleblower protection or freedom of information reforms like adopting a right to information and transparency on policy decision-making. A bill was introduced in February by Senators Pocock and Lambie to establish a whistleblower protection authority but passage is unlikely without Government support.
The great hope for accountability was the NACC but in 2 years, all that has been captured is a poor woman in the public service who misused information to help her brother-in-law out with a job application. Commissioner Brereton had a significant conflict of interest over robodebt but, shockingly, remained deeply involved. An investigation of robodebt royal commission referrals is to be led by deputy commissioner Kylie Kilgour, with former high court justice Geoffrey Nettle acting as chief adviser. However, there has been no response to calls for legislative reform to stop ongoing failures in social security payments and no statute of limitations for Federal debt recovery.
Integrity, honesty, fairness, responsibility and the public interest are at the heart of accountability but governments have yet to meet these standards.
