Democratic government is founded on the idea that decisions of government should reflect the will of those people eligible to vote and to vote, you must be a citizen of Australia and a resident in the electorate in which you are voting.
It is people not corporations, lobbyists, or advocacy groups who should have the right to expect government decisions to be in the interests of the nation. Neither should government decisions advantage one group or interest over another.
This is not always the case. Vested interests employ methods, such as political donations, lobbying, lavish corporate entertainment, offers of subsequent employment and threats of hostile publicity to persuade governments to make decisions that are in their interests rather than those of the electorate. The outputs they seek range from favourable tax treatment, through ineffective probity controls and improper use of ministerial discretion, to specific legislation that benefits the perpetrator, all contrary to the interests of the electorate.
In many cases these are simple acts of corruption, whose effects, while ethically abhorrent, are limited to a specific piece of government decision-making or a single instance of misuse of taxpayer funds. In others they become systemic and last for many years. It is these that can be labelled State Capture.
Government decisions that are clearly not in the public interest:
Fossil fuel companies
- Minimal payments for exploiting Australian resources
- Subsidies for diesel fuel
- Destructive exploration permits continuing to be granted
- Export of gas resources sanctioned without regard to Australian needs or prices
- Environmental legislation blocked or emasculated.
Gambling companies
- Inadequate limits on advertising
- Inadequate enforcement of gambler protection laws.
Military industrial complexes
- Huge expenditures with no public justification
- Contracts that bypass due process
- Unreasonable cost of government procurements
- Avoiding prosecution for war crimes.
Religious organisations
- Obstacles to legislation desired by the electorate (gay marriage, abortion…)
- Exemptions from anti-discrimination legislation
- Unjustifiable subsidies for Christian schools.
Murdoch media
- Allowing hundreds of millions of dollars of in-kind political support to be spent on publishing in print, television and online to influence public debate in a way that is not aligned with majority electorate opinions
- Permitting an extraordinary (unique in the Western world) degree of industry concentration so that their large following intimidates governments into not crossing them
- Social media ban for children introduced by government against the advice of childhood experts but in the interest of traditional media.
Consulting companies
- Many contracts costing in excess of an inhouse alternative and undermining the public service’s capacity to do the work themselves
- Outsourced work does not need to comply with public service ethical responsibilities
- The public’s right to know about the contracts they are paying for is blocked by claims of ‘commercial in confidence’.
Qantas
- Refusal to allow Qatar Airways to enter Australian market
- Slow to penalise gross misrepresentations to customers and failures of service.
We say state capture must be arrested by tackling each of the techniques being routinely used to overwhelm and corrupt the state.
- Increase the visibility of influence. In most Australian jurisdictions, we don’t easily see the huge extent of contact that occurs between peak industry groups, consultant lobbyists and visiting executives on one hand and ministers, parliamentarians and bureaucrats on the other. Publishing ministerial diaries as well as real time publishing of political donations (including through third-party vehicles) with proper exposition of donor identities is required and readily achievable.
- Slow the revolving door. State capture is systemic and well organised by people who have an established relationship with one another. It involves repeated transactions often on an increasing scale. This is now a whole industry in its own right. There must be controls (most obviously, mandated ‘cooling-off’ periods) on individuals moving to lucrative employment positions between political office, the public service, lobbying groups and powerful industry players.
- Make the rules effective. Codes of practice must apply to everyone (not just registered lobbyists) engaged in a lobbying task; codes should be enforced; penalties for breaching must be a significant deterrent (i.e.: significant in terms of the money already involved in lobbying).
- Control highly funded PR campaigns. Controls are needed on corporations gaining social license through investment in highly visible social and community infrastructure, cultural and sporting events as well as running media campaigns (typically resorting to misinformation and disinformation).
- Strengthen our institutions. Stop the gradual process of hollowing out and repurposing institutions established to serve the public good. These include public services, corruption commissions, auditors general, law enforcement agencies and courts.
Our policies on campaign finance, donations, lobbying and parliamentary Codes of Conduct aim to provide more detail on how we believe some of these matters should be tackled.
Democratic government is founded on the idea that the will of the people who are eligible to vote must be reflected in government decisions.