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The Forum > Article Comments > Stability starts now > Comments

Stability starts now : Comments

By Peter Vallee, published 8/9/2010

A Charter of Political Accountability would spare us the repellent sight of independents gorging at the taxpayers’ table while pretending to be on a diet.

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Hooray. At last, a proposition that can provide genuine reform, instead of the timid cosmetic tinkering that is nothing more than a parliametary version of "let's pretend".

I have aired my views on this a number of times on this forum, and it is good to finally find some support. Accountability - real, tangible, written-down-and-signed accountability - is the only way to return to some form of genuine democracy, where the parliament accurately reflects the will of the people.

To have any impact, there needs to be a genuine political will behind it. In other words, the right for a constituency to sack (withdraw the mandate from) their representative, should they vote against a policy to which they had committed, or for a policy that they had committed to oppose.

For issues that surface "mid-stream", or for which no commitment has been made, they are legitimately on their own to decide which way to vote.

But apart from that, they should be absolutely required to do what they promised to do, when they presented their policies in order to become elected in the first place.

Mind you, pigs will fly before politicians will give us back that power.

Just sayin'.
Posted by Pericles, Wednesday, 8 September 2010 9:41:41 AM
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Yeah, good luck with that.

"Who shall guard the guards?"

Parliaments are a primitive form of information-processing technlogy from the days when, in order for the people to have input into the making of laws, they had to vote for a guy to physically get on his horse and travel to a central place of deliberation.

That excuse is long gone. All that is left is the legal corruption of rampant unprincipled pork-barreling.

Accountability in terms of profit and loss has its limitations, but political accountability is a contradiction in terms. The entire purpose of going into politics is so as to spend other people's money without being accountable.
Posted by Sienna, Wednesday, 8 September 2010 9:52:50 AM
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I am at a loss as to grasp how a Charter of Politcal Accountability can do us any good at all, given the parlous lack of decent policy from either major party prior to the election.

When the major parties cannot run on anything better than stopping the boats and citizens assemblies, just what is there to hold them accountable for?

Surely the whole point of the negotiations with the Independents is that we now have a raft of options that did not exist prior to the election, including a stab at badly needed reforms.

This new paradigm may or may not work. But what is certain is that the old one certainly wasn't working, the major parties were a complete disgrace, and now they are a good deal more accountable they they ever have been before.
Posted by briar rose, Wednesday, 8 September 2010 10:09:03 AM
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<< After the calling of an election, all parties should have one week to declare their policies, and then be limited for the rest of the campaign to explaining, promoting and costing them. >>

Sounds eminently sensible Peter.

Afterall, the big parties have both got a well-developed charter, a well-developed sense of doing the right thing for the country and a clear vision of what is needed and a proven methodology for moving efficiently forward, haven’t they?

They are afterall long-established professional organisations with lots of smart people in them.

They don’t really want to make up policies on the hop or dish out big gobs of moola during election campaigns in order to bribe voters to support them, or to implement new policies that the electorate knew nothing about before an election, do they? They only do these things because, well…. because….um….the other party does them and therefore they have to in order to compete!!

So I’m sure that if a charter of political accountability was presented to them, they’d jump at it.

.

Yeah right!!

As Pericles says;

<< To have any impact, there needs to be a genuine political will behind it >>

And therein lies the reason that it will never work! ( :>(
Posted by Ludwig, Wednesday, 8 September 2010 12:22:34 PM
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What about some accountability from media with leaked stories, they should devulge their origin so they can be checked out.
Posted by 579, Wednesday, 8 September 2010 3:31:24 PM
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On the matter of parliamentary reform, the discussion paper for reform to the public register of lobbyists is at http://lobbyists.pmc.gov.au/discussion_paper.cfm (link at the foot of the page). I thought it was particularly interesting or at least ironic that the lobbyists have suggested (during their round table consultation with the government) that they form an industry association for themselves to lobby on behalf of their industry. John Warhurst's take on it is here http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2010/07/nit_20100716_1815.mp3

Comments for input into Joe Ludwig's discussion paper are open this month although two separate dates are published for the deadline. http://www.smos.gov.au/media/2010/mr_382010.html
Posted by Rosie Williams, Wednesday, 8 September 2010 4:30:58 PM
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