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The Forum > Article Comments > Australia should develop Open Government Partnership > Comments

Australia should develop Open Government Partnership : Comments

By Kellie Tranter, published 7/4/2015

The Abbott government seems to have an aversion to informed criticism and self reflection. It seems to be run as a separate and autonomous corporation bearing the hallmarks of many religious institutions with its high priests, dogma and secrecy.

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I suspect most people would like our governments to be far more accountable and open. Unfortunately "most people" never seems to include politicians in the party holding power at the time.

I did find the references to Obamas apparent endorsement of open government interesting in light of his administrations determined fight against open government in many areas.

I don't think a practical opposition to genuine open government is the domain of either side of politics here of in any other country I'm aware of. They all seem to protect secrets not because they are genuine national secrets but because the selective control of information can help them individually and help their side politically.

R0bert
Posted by R0bert, Tuesday, 7 April 2015 9:15:09 PM
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Hi Yuyutsu,
I think we do agree on what the problem is and your comment sums it up pretty well

*whatever these bastards say I'm not listening to anyway*

A better summation of the end result of a process that destroys trust could not be found.

The problem is that you and the majority of people don't trust politicians. Why? Because they have been taught by media and by politicians themselves that to do so is to act against their own self-interest.

Our model of politics is fundamentally broken. It is derived from a social classist model that is simply not relevant to the modern age and it needs to be changed. Labor is not the party of brawny, ill-educated working class men who are fundamentally at odds with bosses and the LNP is not the party of plutocrats and wealthy landed gentry seeking to exploit the masses.

Those are both simply caricatures of convenience for the feeble-minded and they are immensely destructive.

It results in people like your friends, who are completely disengaged from the most basic exercise of their rights as citizens. Even sheep bleat a protest when the dog nips too hard.

R0bert, the keeping of secrets is not intrinsically a bad thing, however if it becomes reflexive it can not be anything else but bad. The Opposition and Government are not natural enemies, they are partners in the enterprise of running the country. They are Australia's Board of Directors in a manner of speaking. Their job is to make good decisions as our representatives and to explain to us why they have made them so we understand.

For the most part they have done a pretty decent job over the years, but they have not adapted well to the change in society that has seen the classes they grew out of smeared together and with no natural divide they have sought to create "wedges" of perceived self-interest.It's lazy and its ultimately self-defeating.
Posted by Craig Minns, Wednesday, 8 April 2015 6:22:20 AM
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Dear Craig,

We would be in luck if that was the whole problem.

Even if we had democracy and transparency in Australia along with a different political model that is not class-based, this would only alleviate marginal issues, but not get to the core of the problem.

The core problem is the coercion of people under threat of violence to follow orders and "belong" to a group of people whether they like it or not. This is what territorial-based states do and is unacceptable, regardless of their internal political mechanisms. Further, the larger the state - the larger the evil as it imposes its control over all the people who live in a larger area.

Association of people with society(s) should only be voluntary. Once people voluntarily belong to a society, then and only then it is fruitful to discuss the optimisation of their governing body(s) - until then, I would never expect the agents of violence to be honestly caring for you and me, then lack of transparency is only a symptom for they still attempt to convince the sheep among us that they care.

You assume that I was taught to mistrust by media and politicians, but this is not the case. Firstly, I do not mistrust politicians - I trust them to serve their own interests and never expected otherwise. Secondly, my political views are based on spiritual principles and the application of logic, rather than on media and politicians, to both I am hardly exposed.
Posted by Yuyutsu, Wednesday, 8 April 2015 12:28:48 PM
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