Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Freedom of Information (Removal of Conclusive Certificates and Other Measures) Bill 2008. Here in Australia we enjoy a very healthy democracy. It has endured since Federation without any civil wars or major crises in terms of democracy. That is leaving aside Western Australia’s late entry to the Federation—I think Western Australia also considered departing in the 1930s—and every now and again we hear from North Queensland that they would like to depart or at least form a separate state. We will also forget about 11 November 1975 and that attack on democracy by Sir John Kerr.

Leaving aside those things, Australia is in fact one of the five longest standing continuous democracies in the world. When citizens head to the polls, governments come and go without a shot being fired. It is not the bullet or the ballot, as Malcolm X talked about in one of his famous speeches; in Australia it is just the ballot for all. We have universal suffrage and no blood is shed when governments come and go, although there are a few tears from departing members of parliament. Basically, it is a very healthy democracy. We should be proud of it and we should strive to protect it and uphold it.

The recent elections in Afghanistan give us pause when asking what democracy is about. It was a great achievement for a desperate country, but also what a tragedy it has been—people risking life and limb to vote, and I mean literally risking limb. I heard media reports that the Taliban had threatened that people who had ink on their fingers—the ink used to mark the fact that they had voted—would then lose those fingers. That is a strong contrast with Australia, where if you do not vote you receive a fine. Maybe if we severed the fingers of people who did not vote we might get even closer to 100 per cent attendance on polling day! I do not think that we will go down that road. It now seems that it will be months before the result of the election in Afghanistan is known, as accusations of fraud, vote rigging and many other shenanigans are investigated and, eventually, resolved.

In contrast, I turn to Australia: obviously, we can be very proud of our very healthy democracy in Australia. It is a democracy on display in this House, where schoolchildren can visit and normally do not hear any swear words or see any untoward behaviour and where members of the public can come and watch democracy in action. It makes for a very healthy exchange of ideas. A healthy democracy also relies a lot on journalists—and I turn to an empty press gallery—as well as other individuals and community groups, who must be able to access government information. A healthy democracy relies on our government being transparent, open and accountable, always, to the people. Without this transparency even democracy can breed secrecy and corruption.

Looking back to my darker days, under the Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen government in Queensland, this was unfortunately the reality. There was no culture of transparency—or even of democracy given that we had a gerrymander in certain parts of Queensland—and this bred secrecy and, eventually, corruption. Thankfully, a few good men and women had the courage to stand up against this atmosphere—resulting in the Fitzgerald inquiry. I thank the foresight of some of the government ministers of the day for signing off on that inquiry. I am not sure they knew what they were signing off on but it was certainly a courageous decision. The Fitzgerald inquiry shone a blowtorch on the Bjelke-Petersen government and since then Queensland has thrived as a progressive, open and accountable democracy. Undoubtedly there is definitely more work to be done, but I certainly have faith in one of my local state members, a lady by the name of Anna Bligh, the Premier of Queensland, and in the steps she has taken to ensure that the Queensland government remains accountable, transparent, progressive and open.

Government cover-up and secrecy also breeds cynicism in the community, and, frankly, the last thing we as politicians need is more cynicism about politics. I am not sure where our ranking currently is compared to lawyers and used car salesmen, but I know that we always hover around the bottom.

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