Jack Waterford
John Waterford AM, better known as Jack Waterford, is an Australian journalist and commentator.
Jack's recent articles
7 June 2021
Government rorting is now the Australian way of doing business
Australia has moved to a deeply corrupted system of doling out consultancy contracts to mates by pure discretion, in circumstances which in the classic Morrison style are compulsively secretive, and vague in sums and contract terms.
1 June 2021
Public servants as courtiers rather than stewards
Phil Gaetjens, former Treasury official, former boss of Scott Morrisons private office and now head of the Prime Ministers Department is an unusual public servant who seems to have accepted that he is never going to be regarded as any sort of detached public servant independent of the government of the day.
31 May 2021
The probity standards public servants walk past are the ones they accept
Phil Gaetjens is not the only senior public servant who can be relied upon to see things in the governments eyes, even when being asked for an objective opinion. Theres all too much advice coming to government which is masquerading as independent judgment but has merely been pre-arranged to appease, to the point where some independent reports are being reworked in ministers offices.
25 May 2021
Advice being tailored for political, not medical, need
Scott Morrison has repeatedly reiterated that all decisions in relation to Coronavirus public health measures have been taken in accordance with medical advice. But the advice itself has frequently been considerably less than transparent, even as he has had medical officials standing alongside him, giving every appearance of having crafted his words and drafted his decisions.
23 May 2021
All too convenient to blame the Health bureaucrats
Caroline Edwards, Associate secretary of the Commonwealth Health Department may have seemed churlish in refusing to accept that her departments efforts in organising coronavirus vaccinations, essentially under her control, had been an abject failure.
18 May 2021
The path to petty tyranny and public poverty
The new style of government, and the growth of spending by unaccountable discretion, owes as much to the pandemic as to the personality and secretiveness of Scott Morrison. We are on a path to petty tyranny and public poverty.
17 May 2021
The way, the truth and the life of Reilly
A few weeks after the First Fleet stopped at Port Jackson and disgorged a representative collection of thieves, cheats and vagabonds, the British House of Lords began the impeachment trial of Warren Hastings, the recent Governor-General of India for the East India Company, accused of looting the wealth of India on an epic scale -- certainly more than all of the convicts and prisoners of Great Britain were capable of stealing in their lifetimes.
11 May 2021
No room for the poor at the Pentecostal table
To the core coalition supporters, any call for higher taxes for richer people is invariably exciting the politics of envy. Any undue stress on the sufferings or disadvantage of the poor involves identity politics. Any sustained attack on established ideas -- including racist, sexist or ageist ones -- often involves political correctness gone mad. Radical right provocateurs, especially those who claim for themselves victimhood status after being attacked for their ideas, say they are being deplatformed. None of these labels has much meaning as such, other than as abuse. Those who scream about it most are themselves most likely to...
10 May 2021
The devil in the detail of identity politics
If anyone was in any doubt about whether Australian politicians speak the same language, or swim in the same ocean, it would be worth thinking about labels of identity politics. Or political correctness.
4 May 2021
Morrisons miracle appointment
Scott Morrison took a risk - no doubt a calculated one - in talking frankly and personally at a conference of fellow Pentecostals - but I am not going to criticise him for doing so. The risk was that he would be criticised for mixing matters of church and state - perhaps in some way of misusing his political position to somehow further the interests of his sect. For some secularists indeed, merely confessing to religious feelings might deepen their personal dislike for him.
3 May 2021
Morrisons day of reckoning may bring down his temples
Its all very well to have a prime minister who believes that he has been anointed by God for his task, and is thus above some of the checks and balances imposed by law and by custom on the mere mortals who have preceded him. Experience and the career so far of Donald Trump suggest, however, that a day of reckoning will come when either human chicanery or an act of omission by God deprives him of his mandate. Even assuming he goes with good grace, it is doubtful that the structures and styles he developed in government can or...
27 April 2021
What have our governments done to tackle rates of Indigenous custody?
From one perspective one could see the conviction of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd as a triumph of the American justice system - a proof, somehow, that American police are accountable to the law, that bad police practice, having its roots in racism will be found out, and that the jury system will get things right.
26 April 2021
America needs to re-invent its police
The George Floyd case triggered a new wave of protests in the American Black Lives Matter movement, but the cause and the protests have been there for years.
20 April 2021
Will secrecy trump justice for murdered Afghans?
Thousands of Australian men and women fought in Afghanistan and Iraq without being in breach of any of the rules of warfare, but one can imagine that whatever pride they have in their personal and military accomplishment is muted by their knowledge that a small minority face credible charges of murdering civilians and other war crimes.
19 April 2021
Our MPs and Generals hope we forget the foolish Afghanistan war and the wounds it left on our honour
The aftermath of the Brereton inquiry into war crimes committed by SAS soldiers involves much more than continuing efforts to prosecute. It also involves findings of the degree of culpability of officers at all levels above the non-commissioned soldiers accused, as well as the whole culture of the SAS, perhaps of the whole army.
13 April 2021
Morrisons minders at the heart of his doldrums
Perhaps a day will come when the champion rorters, liars, and conscious mis-managers of public resources are before a serious corruption commission and out on their ears.
12 April 2021
Ministerial staff cant be strangled but they can be leashed
It is probably too late to throw partisans out of ministerial offices, or even to strangle the triennial increase in the number of ministerial staff, whether or not they are to be subjected to ordinary rules of civility and respect for each other. But it is not too late to set some enforceable public standards of minder behaviour and public accountability to force them into the light.
6 April 2021
Morrisons over-hyping of vaccine delivery
If the mass vaccination of Australians against the severe effects of Covid-19 proves to be a complete political debacle for the government, it seems likely at this moment that it will be more a consequence of its being over-hyped by the prime minister than of serious mismanagement of the program, or even the incompetence which is increasingly tending to accompany programs devised by new anti-public sector methods.
5 April 2021
The usual suspects and mates, making a killing from vaccinations
Australia has the right to whinge about Europes withholding of solid vaccines orders. We have done that, even as we have accepted the decision with reasonably good grace. We have to, more or less, because there is no immediate hope of reversing the decision through law courts or military invasion, and because our moral, as opposed to our legal right, is not the greatest.
30 March 2021
Sexual assault policies fit pattern of abuse of power
Three decades ago, Bob Hawke seized on Joh Bjeke-Petersens revolt against John Howards leadership of the Liberal Party with a campaign slogan which said of the coalition, If you cant govern yourselves, you cant govern the country. Obvious party disunity tends to have that effect.
29 March 2021
Womens passion and anger isnt enough to force lasting change
It is said that early in the catalogue of Morrisons mismanagement of recent issues that some of his advisers asserted the matters that had come to the fore - alleged rape, the safety of women in parliament and in the wider world - was a doctors wife sort of issue, of intense interest only to the female chattering classes, with little bite in the main electorate, particularly among women predisposed to vote conservative.
23 March 2021
The AFP clearing-house: more political than useful
Some of the AFP commissioners have entrenched the AFPs reputation as the most politicised force in the country. When one considers the NSW and Victoria Police, that is really saying something.
22 March 2021
Sexual violence makes a farce of the rule of law
One should always take great care in assuming the reliability of statistics or the factual basis of arguments and prejudices promoted by the NSW Police Commissioner, Mick Fuller. But he may have made the argument for fundamental reform of sexual violence and sexual harassment laws in suggesting, defensively this week, that only a small proportion of sexual assaults are reported to police, that of these, only about 10 per cent are developed to the point of charges against the perpetrator, and that of these, only about 10 per cent advance to a conviction.
16 March 2021
Canberra: the nation's capital in progress
One gets used to people suggesting that the whole idea of Canberra was a terrible mistake. A waste of good grazing country. A folly, an expensive indulgence, which ultimately and inevitably produced self-reproducing bureaucrats and a governing class out of touch with the lot of ordinary Australians. Perhaps they are right.
9 March 2021
Is Christian Porter fit to hold public office?
Any proper assessment of Christian Porter's fitness for office would not only properly assess the sexual assault allegations but would his performance as a politician and as a minister. It would appear his personal failings mirror his abuse of political principle.
8 March 2021
Does Morrison need Porter more than the votes of 50% of the population?
An inquest is not usually well placed to settle matters in contest. In the case of an alleged suicide, for example, the Coroners remit is to find the cause of death, not to conduct a wide-ranging inquiry. One the other hand, in cases before professional tribunals, lawyers, doctors, nurses and others have been struck off after the consideration of allegations going to their character and fitness. This is for the protection of the public.
2 March 2021
The AFP is a political tool of government.
Parliamentarians and the public already know enough about the handling of the alleged sexual assault case in the office of the Minister for Defence to make judgments about how the political system treats victims.
1 March 2021
The abuse culture comes from entitled boys from almost all the most expensive and privileged private schools - the germ of Australias ruling class.
Is anyone surprised that in this environment of contempt for the public, the disadvantaged, and for principles of public stewardship, that disrespect for women rages, and that abuse of women is seen more through the lens of political damage?
23 February 2021
The Morrison method - if you dont ask, you cant tell
Some prime ministers are more practised liars than others. Some can confuse, distract and prevaricate in such a way as to strangle the truth. Morrison, however, is a special case. He does not seem to recognise any obligation to account. He resists any scrutiny and while using words such as transparency almost everything he does is opaque.
22 February 2021
I have never seen, over 50 years, a more slippery customer than Morrison
How Prime Minister Scott Morrison feels the pain of others. For him, almost everything is a public relations problem.
16 February 2021
A grubby and corrupting traffic in misery
Commissioner Bergin's report did not devote a word to the sleazy and improper way James Packer was effectively given Barangaroo by a new Liberal Premier, Barry OFarrell. And not a word about the slew of former Labor and Liberal Party apparatchiks who moved on to make their fortunes prostituting their inside knowledge and their access to politicians.
15 February 2021
Boyos banished when Barangaroo boomerangs back
But the fact is that a reformed Crown board will be sailing full steam ahead to take up the licence from an unresisting NSW government.
9 February 2021
Unaccountable leaders set the tone for all in public service
The decline of good government has not been an accident. Those in public service are probably of much the same calibre, idealism and intellectual capacity as ever. What they are not getting is leadership - by words or by deeds.
8 February 2021
The Morrison government: increasingly an ethical vacuum
Almost weekly, the person behind Anthony Albaneses Twitter feed puts out a short statement, hanging off a recent event, calling for powerful corruption commission. A Labor Party seriously interested in winning government ought to be doing much more.
2 February 2021
Polls will narrow, especially as Morrison is open to attack on issues of probity
However, the position of deputy Labor leader requires a heavyweight. Richard Marles may be treasured by his faction, but he is virtually unknown and lacks the clout to make things happen. In Defence he couldnt make an impression on a soft silk cushion.
1 February 2021
Labor's dissembling and ducking wont win climate votes
On climate change, voters want clarity, not obfuscation; honesty, not slogans. At the last election, voters saw through Labor's mixed messaging and slapped the party down accordingly.
26 January 2021
'Australians all let us forget that we are not all free'
Until recently, Australia Day for most was just a long weekend to do nothing. I yearn for such a return. Who wants immigration ministers feeling they can decide what we should wear, and what we should be doing? That official bossiness is a precursor to a national security state and social exclusion.
25 January 2021
Patriotic ins and outs at the Australian unity jamboree
It wouldnt be late January if Australians were not being drawn into pointless national conversations about Australia Day, its occurrence on the anniversary of British settlement and the beginning of Aboriginal displacement, and what it means to be Australian.
19 January 2021
Forget the insurrection as a teaching opportunity
Heres to betting that impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump prove a political disaster for the US and the Democrats; that Trumpism emerges more popular than ever; and that the drift towards the disintegration of the republic continues.
18 January 2021
Trump, and Trumpism, at no disadvantage in the senate trial
No one should stress about whether Donald Trump has received or will receive all of his legal rights, or whether the triumph of his opponents is unfairly depriving him of the bully pulpit that his office has given him. Nor should they be concerned about the freedom of his speech. But they should be concerned about the effect of what he says, even when it involves lying, dissembling, or just plain hokum.
12 January 2021
After Georgia, Biden has no excuses but it's a long road ahead
While on paper Joe Biden has the power to force his agenda through Congress, the reality is a little different. He will need to take action on many fronts, not just the pandemic. A critical first task will be the dismantling and discrediting of Trumpism.
11 January 2021
With a booby-trapped White House, many Americans will want the nightmare to end
Biden's task of restoring unity is not merely a matter of being statesmanlike or breaking down the hyper-partisanship of recent years. It is a matter of restoring faith in democratic institutions, the media, and in facts as a basis for debate.
22 December 2020
Morrison, the man with no abiding beliefs, also lacks agenda, map or destination
Assuming that the Morrison government goes more or less to full term -- and some senate obstruction should not be enough to persuade a governor-general, even one in a witness support scheme -- to grant an early dissolution -- Morrison has probably about 15 months of economic recovery, ordinary economic management, and general steering of the ship of state before he must face the electors.
21 December 2020
Labor could beat Morrison with a bit more mongrel
Some observers think that if the Morrison government were to fall apart over the next year, it would more likely be from bad luck, an own goal, or a resumption of internal Liberal bastardries than by a hostile act of the federal Labor Party.
15 December 2020
How Morrison repeatedly baulks at the vision thing and the moral thing
The unwillingness of the Morrison government to see the 2019-20 bushfire disaster as some sort of turning point was deliberate. That refusal to provide any sort of lead, or leadership, or to show some imagination about a new economy, and a new society, was again evident during the Covid-19 crisis.
14 December 2020
Fire and viruses did not cleanse bad government
The past year was a terrible year for Australia and Australians and in many ways the worst globally since World War II. And at least for Australians, a terrible year for good, decent and honest government.
8 December 2020
Morrison pitching babies into hot bathwater
Scott Morrison is a naturally cautious, if ruthless, politician who is not prime minister by accident. Almost every significant step in his career has been carefully -- mostly successfully -- gamed with close political colleagues.
7 December 2020
Playing to the local gallery on crimes in Afghanistan
Its hard to escape the feeling that most of the heat and light generated by Scott Morrisons fury at a cartoon by a middle-level Chinese tiger cub was designed for Australian, rather than Chinese, consumption. Regardless, it could be a dangerous strategy.
1 December 2020
Australia no longer an apostle, or exemplar, of good government
The OECD is also an academy and apostle of good government and good public administration. Clean public administration, open and accountable and subject to checks and balances, including integrity commissions. These are all things that the Morrison government, with the particular support of the hard-right Western Australian faction that Mathias Cormann has led, is opposed to, in both principle and practice.