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The state of VictoriaIVictoriaAmid football fina ls, the spring racing carnival and the opening of the new tollway system,is heading for elections. Moira Rayner looks at the condition of democracy andcivil liberties in Premier Jeffrey Kennett's 'Victoria on the Move'.FF KENNETT's popularity has never been of the Bolte years, and the small '1', social- cosying, though critics are quickly labelledhigher, especially among young voters and democratic liberalism of Hamer and Cain. disloyal, selfish and un-Victorian, andyoung males in particular, in the newer Victoria was the cradle of a liberalism which dismissed. His government's willingnessouter suburbs of Melbourne. His has been a used state intervention to achieve equality to seek out major events, such as the Grandremarkable metamorphosis. Even as he led of opportunity, so important to liberal Prix, and create new projects, such as thethe coalition to its massive landslide into philosophers such as John Stuart Mill. Since Docklands stadium, City Link and Crowngovernment in 1992, Kennett was widely 1992 that public infrastructure, established Casino, has invigorated business (and aseen as a clumsy, impulsive politician, pronecertain chauvinism). The Victorian premierto gaffes, personal abuse and intemperatehas also embraced multiculturalism (one ofgestures. (He would rather we forget hishis most attractive acts was his genuineinfamous mobile phone conversation withrejection of One Nation policies), supportedAndrew Peacock in which he described hismoves to liberalise laws to allow the termipoliticalcolleague, John Howard, in four-nally ill to die with dignity, and (off and on)letter words, and his repeated interjectionsadvocated drug law reform. He is,when Joan Kirner, then Minister, spoke inT of course, a minimalist republican.the Victorian parliament, that she was a'stupid woman'.) Even as her LaborEMOSTPROFOuNoeffectsofthe Kennettadministration was definitively rejected byreign, however, strike at the heart of goodthe people, in 1992 Joan Kirner was still bygovernance. These transformations arefar the people's preferred premier.complete and probably cannot be undone.Now, as the celebrity premier, with hisIn the name of small government, freecarefullycrafted 'rough-diamond' mediamarket policies, and individual choice, noimage, heads into his third electoral contest,area-not even justice-h as been leftand an undoubted third win, it is hard tountouched. Paradoxically, the effect has beenrecall (and younger voters simply don't)an increase in central government controlthat this was the man dismissed as aand regulation, largely under the personal'boofhead' in the '80s and a buffoon in thecontrol of the premier himself. Even the'90s. The Teflon premier personifies hisheads of the departments report not to theirgovernment, thriving despite scandals,ministers, but to the premier, personally.professional opposition and popular protestThe greatest changes came quickly, asat the wholesale changes wrought, in justthe new administration cashed in on theseven years, in the structures of govern-atmosphere of 'crisis' which it could blameance. He has effectively silenced his critics, over 150 years of conservative administra- on Labor. But benefits-such as theboth within and outside his government tors (Labor governed for just 19 years in all) minimisation of state debt through publicandhisparty.Hehasnoheirapparent:there has been dismantled. The 'conservative' asset sales and the efficiencies ofis no sign that he has any plans, or another social and political culture which saw privatisation, corporatisation and restrucplace,to go . Jeff Kennett's face is an icon, as Melbourne described as 'grim city', the turing of the public sector-have come atNicholas Economou and Brian Costar home of Protestant wowsers and a bastion the cost of accountability.remark in their introduction to The Kennett of social conservatism, has gone with it. The changes to the public sector and toRevolution (UNSW Press, 1999), of 'the It is timely to review what Kennett has industrial relations have been immense. Inmost robust example of the way the Liberal wrought. reframing the employment market, forParty of Australia's approach to govern- The most obvious change is the example, Victoria abolished the old awardment and politics altered under the personification of government in one man. system and Industrial Relations Commisinfluenceof neo-classical liberalism'. Victoria has a new verb: to be ' jeffed'. Jeff's sion in 1993, then simply handed over itsAs Costar and Economou write, the foibles, now he is so powerful, seem amusing, own new system to the Commonwealth inVictoria of 1999 has thoroughly cast off reportable, and almost endearing. The 1997. In the process, it abolished its owntraditionalliberalism, both the paternalism bullying tone has softened into cajoling and (not particu lar! y tame) creature, the20 EUREKA STREET • SEPTEMBER 1999
Employee Relations Commission, anddismissed its Commissioners, for a secondtime. ERC President, Susan Zeitz, was notappointed to the federal body-a breach ofthe doctrine which requires judicial officersto be appointed to equivalen t office in orderto maintain tenure and the public interestin judicial independence. But th e Kennettgovernment has been characterised by awillingness to eliminate statutory andjudicial watchdogs on its activities.The government has dealt with 'justice'with the same policies it has used in all itsother reform s. It has abolished independentoffices, such as the Law Reform Commission,and removed the inconvenien t powers(and sometimes the incumbents) of officessuch as the Director of Public Prosecutions.It has privatised 'justice' m echanisms, suchas prisons (leading to a 1999 coronia! inqueston excessive deaths in custody in the PortPhilip prison), chipped away the jurisdictionof the Suprem e Court (and cut out access tojudicial review entirely, in some notoriouscases), and in creased access costs andobstacles to administrative tribunals.But the greatest change is to Victoriansociety. The introduction of a gamblingculture has had a detrimental effect both onthe econom y (now reliant on its gamblingrevenue) and on social well-being, as therecent Productivity Commission Report hasrevealed. The restructuring of local government, and ch anges in the n ature andavailability of community services-healthcare and state education, particularlychan ged the r ole of n on-governmentorganisations and their capacity to advocatethe interests of the disadvantaged.This has all been possible because of the1992 election, which handed over controlof both houses of parliam ent to the executive.Without an effective opposition, withlimitation s on freedom of info rmation andthe right to seek judicial review of administrativeaction, with the growing use of'commercial-in-confidence' exemptions tothe duty to disclose public expenditure, andwith the gutting of the office of AuditorGeneral, there is now virtually no check onexecutive power in Victoria. This isunhealthy for representative dem ocracy,and is certain, over time, to lead to abuse.One of the greatest casu alties of the lastseven years has been the status and influenceof t h e m edia. Politician s m ust b eaccountable and not just through elections.Since the Victorian parliam ent no longerprovides a check on administration, the'watchdog' role of the m edia, scrutinisinggovernment's daily activities and thepolitical process, b ecomes far moreimportant. But in this, Victoria's mediah ave been remarkably ineffectual. Them assaging of th e message through publicrelations, entertainment and the advertisingfocus of the administration-the premierused to be in advertising-has been brilliant.As the new premier, Jeff Kennett justrefused to deal with journalists he regardedas not on side. In one 1994 ABC televisionreport, ABC journalist Ian Campbell shotfootage of a sad little group of reportersreduced, in their search for comment onm atters of the day, to h anging out in th eanteroom of commercial radio station3AW, scribbling notes as a loudspeakertransmitted a Kennett interview withthat station's N eil Mitchell-a scenereminiscent of Queensland premier JohBjelke-Petersen's 'chooks' scrabbling for afew grains of news. T h e media's impotencewas perhaps sym bolised by the very publiccollapse on Channel 7 by an upset anchorwoman,Jill Singer, imm ediately after sheannounced that a profiled story on MrKennett's share-dealings had been pulledm om ents before she went on air. She latergave sworn evidence that this was afterdirect intervention from the premier withstation m anagem ent.Both the m ajor Melbourne daily papershave broken stori es which, if the peoplehad reacted, could have destroyed theKennett government. Each has revealedscandals at the h eart of governmentprobity-the tendering process fo r thecasino, the detrimental effects of the newgambling culture, child protection scandals,ministerial m isuse of government creditcards, extraordinary share-dealings, andeven gross, person al ministerial m isbehaviour.Yet whatever they reported, thepublic either wasn't listening, or couldn'tbe influenced.This was a true achievem ent, within sosh ort a time. It h as been t emporallyassociated, perhaps coincidentally, withchanges in The Age, once a quality broadsheetwhich has seen several changes ineditorial direction and today has a ' tabloid'feel, a 'lifes tyle' em phasis, and a sinkingcirculation .What are we left with? A can -do,ideologically driven, undoubtedly efficien t,cen tralised, authoritarian an d, for th em om ent, unchallengeable executive whoseethos is wrapped up in the personalitypackaging of just one m an .•Moira Rayner is a lawyer and freelancejournalist.+The Inaugurallgnatian Forumconducted byJ esuit Social ServicesMelbourne's Drug Dilemma:Harm Minimisation orControl?The Lord Mayor of MelbourneThe Rt. Hon. P e t e r CostiganandBernie GearyJ esuit Social Services Program DirectorPremier's Drug Advisory Council MemberArchbishop Pel/'s Drug PolicyCommittee MemberThursday, 16 September 19997.30 pm-9.30 pmSt Ignatius School Hall326 Church <strong>Street</strong>, Richmond(Parking available behind church)Entr ance by donation:$10 adult, $5 concession/studentFor furth er infor mation, contact:John AllenDevelopmen t ManagerJ esuit Social ServicesTel: (03) 9427 7388The Centre for ChristianSpiritualityPrincipal: Bishop David WalkerAssociate Member institute of the SydneyCollege of DivinityDistance Education Programs inTheology and Spiritualityincluding:Certificate in Theology (SCD)Bachelor of Theology (SCD)Gradu ate Diploma in Chri sti anSpirituali ty (SCD)Master of Arts in Theological Studies(SCD)The Centre also offers casual Bed/Breakfast accommodati on and confere ncefac ilities in the heart of Randwick.Further Information:The AdmjnistratorPO Box 20 1,Rand wick, 203 1Ph: (02)939822 1 I,Fax: (02)93995228Email : centre@ intern et-australi a.comVoLUME 9 NuMB ER 7 • EUREKA STREET 21
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