On the gravy train: Venality and a misplaced sense of entitlement are corrupting democratic institutions in contemporary Australia

Government, Media, Politics

On the gravy train: Venality and a misplaced sense of entitlement are corrupting democratic institutions in contemporary Australia

Oct 23, 2024

Goldfish jumping into a bigger tank.Opportunity, rise and improvement concept.

Crikey’s recent revelation that some 170 politicians and media commentators have had overseas trips fully or partly funded by particular interest groups, shines a spotlight on a deeply embedded problem in our political and media institutions. Coalition figures appear to be the most frequent beneficiaries of this duchessing.

It’s regularly reported that this or that politician was (or is) having a grand old time sipping champagne with the current in-crowd at the Melbourne Cup, or with beer in hand whooping it up in the members’ stand at the footy, or in some other flashy venue, usually hosted by the self-important, the dubiously wealthy, and the indefensibly privileged. This points to a prevailing culture of venality and a sense of entitlement characterising too many MPs.

The Crikey report also makes it disturbingly clear that the largesse extended by particular interest groups to MPs goes much further, with certain lobby groups facilitating overseas travel to places of global interest.

And it’s not just politicians gobbling up the generosity of those who seek to shape attitudes and perspectives on what is happening in the world today. Journalists are also all too willing to jump on the gravy train, enjoying similar benefits to those showered on politicians. Paint it however you like, the fact is that this behaviour borders on bribery – perhaps it is bribery!

MPs’ or journalists’ attendance at flashy venues, or indulging in subsidised overseas trips, is never unambiguous. Would they be receiving these invitations if they were ordinary citizens? Of course not. While some of the overseas travelling might be defended as fact-finding missions, donors invariably anticipate a favourable dividend on their investment. Too often donors’ expectations pay off, sometimes handsomely.

For example, in the case of MPs or journalists whose trips to Israel are being paid in part or in full by private organisations, those organisations are likely to expect the MPs or journalists to advocate for Israel’s right to engage in what for many thoughtful people around the world is a genocide being conducted against innocent civilians, including children, in Gaza and Lebanon.

First politicians: Should they be receiving favours from would-be influencers?

If MPs are photographed rubbing shoulders with the latest gaggle of celebrities and their hangers-on in the Birdcage during the Spring Racing Festival in Melbourne, or at a similar glitzy event, they give the appearance (which may in fact be the reality) of disdaining ordinary voters’ struggles with cost of living pressures, unaffordable housing, employment insecurity, etc. As they saying goes: The optics are not good! But neither is the reality.

Supping publicly and ostentatiously with the great and famous is precisely the kind of behaviour that is deepening the very serious disconnection between citizens and their MPs – a disconnection that is a real and present danger to the country’s democratic institutions. For example, it helps inflame populist resentments among those struggling to make ends meet and who feel their representative couldn’t care less. MPs should be spending much more time in their electorates advocating for their constituents, not living it up among the glitterati.

Second journalists: Is truthful reporting endangered by private funding of travel and/or when entertainment is on the cards?

When journalists accept free or subsidised travel and benefits from private lobbyists and particular interest groups, are they being subjected to what may be termed “soft bribery”? Are their reports and analyses going to be objective or properly balanced? For example, will they provide evidence of war crimes by those with whom their donors are allied? Will they dare to be critical?

There is a widespread view among media analysts that the various Murdoch media are providing unbalanced analyses of Israel’s wars against Hamas and Hezbollah – or to put it more accurately, against the Palestinians. How many of their journalists and commentators have been plied with travel funding or other bounties by pro-Israeli interest groups to defend or report favourably on what the IDF is doing in Gaza and more recently in Lebanon? And possibly in Iran? The Murdoch media monster has become one of the most ideological news outlets in the history of modern journalism.

In short, there is an over-all picture coming into ever sharper focus of monied private interests malevolently influencing Australia’s system of representative government and simultaneously corrupting media reporting and analysis. What is to be done?

Our political representatives should not be accepting full or partial funding from private individuals or groups for anything, whether it’s overseas jaunts or for entertainment purposes. Voters should be demanding that a ban on private funding of MPs of any kind should be rigorously regulated by a reformed NACC with real teeth – just as election campaigns should be free of private funding. If they want to go to a Grand Final or a Grand Prix, they should pay for themselves and attend as private citizens.

The generous salaries that MPs receive mean they are well situated to fund their own research trips abroad. Indeed, their perks of office generally include allowances for fact-finding travel abroad. Moreover, in Canberra MPs have access to the services of the parliamentary library which employs one of the finest research groups in the country. Democracy is not about having a good time; it’s about serving the people.

Meanwhile, all media organisations should be required to be totally transparent about their connections with private funding organisations, while ensuring their reports and analyses are balanced and as objective as possible. A regulatory body, also with real teeth, is badly needed to ensure that legislated requirements of transparency, balance and objectivity are strictly adhered to.

The gravy train that presently travels so unrestrictedly along the highways and byways of Australian politics, and right through the media, is taking the country on a ride to nowhere.