"It’s just a matter of trust". At least that’s what Billy Joel was singing in the 1980’s, which you might recall was last "boom" time that created vast wealth for a small group of people. If trust was a hard currency and the bankers were politicians, we would all be bankrupt.
Now that ‘bomber’ Beasley is back on the deck of USS Labor and the spin doctors work overtime trying to find sound bites so that Alex the Down One can reassure us that no matter how much he lied to us, he was really telling the truth about that nasty Saddam and his WMDs, we are expected to put our intelligence and rationality out to pasture. Let’s recall some matters of trust that have been in the headlines over recent time.
On the ABC’s Lateline program in August 2002 the then Minister for Family and Community Services, Her Expandedness, Senator Amanda Vanstone, said, when asked about her rampage against so called "welfare cheats" that, "Families who get an overpayment … have to pay it back."
She went on to say that, if you got an overpayment by mistake, "… you're going to have to pay it back". In a moment of insight (and revelation) she told Tony Jones that she knew that family circumstances could change but in relation to claiming family or other tax benefits, "… there are also families who are underestimating their incomes. That's very clear to me. I'm the minister".
"I’m the minister" … trust me.
In relation to the issue of "welfare cheats" various social action and welfare "industry" proponents used the government’s own figures to show that while the government was telling us that there were over 250,000 welfare "cheats", less that 3,000 were found to have fraudulently claimed a benefit they were not entitled to. The rest were victims of over-complicated or unclear forms, wrong advice or other ‘administrative errors". Most were able to agree on a repayment plan for their overpayments.
These people were trusted.
Then there’s Mark Vaile, Minister for Flogging the Country Off, and the fraudulently named "Australia-US Free Trade Agreement". In February he put out a press release that said, "This historic deal offers enormous opportunities to all Australian companies interested in profiting in the world's largest and most dynamic economy". He went on to state what has been the government’s mantra on this issue. "The FTA between Australia and the United States is overwhelmingly in the Australian national interest [and will deliver] lasting benefits for generations of Australians."
Mr. Vaile (and aptly named minister whose moniker reflects one item of funeral dress) calls on us to trust him.
Move the clock forward a bit to the present and what do we find?
In relation to welfare "cheats", the new Minister for Family and Community Services, Her Lipstick and Skarfness, Senator Kay Patterson, admits the government cocked up its latest round of bribes - oops, I meant tax and other benefits - to the Australian people. Not long after the $600 per child bribe was deposited in the accounts of eligible Australian families, it was realised that hundreds of families had been overpaid due to, you guessed it, an ‘administrative error’. Did Kay, the highly paid, well-dressed one, come out all guns blazing? Did she whip the press gallery into a frenzy in anticipation of a high profile scalp or two? No. She, and her illustrious leader, Johnny the Bushman, told us that even though people had received an overpayment, "The money will not be clawed back after the election and my advice is that they are entitled to it. They've received it within the entitlements under legislation". She went on to say, "While these families have been paid in accordance with the legislation, Centrelink will be contacting them and if families consider that they have received more than they are entitled to they will be encouraged to pay back that amount".
In effect she was saying to us, we trust you. We trust that you won’t rip off your fellow taxpayers and that you will pay us back.
It seems that the 20,000 or so people who would once have been labeled tax and welfare "cheats" were now being reconstituted as law abiding citizens who could be trusted to "do the right thing". Even more, the rantings of Her Exandedness were being replaced with the well-rounded vowels of the Senator for Nice Lippy, reassuring these "cheats" that Centrelink would not be chasing them up. Not one letter. Not one phone call. Good on ‘em, keep the cash … and vote for us next time.
Then there’s Mark the Salesman and his little deal. Trust me he told us, this will be good for you.
I woke up this morning to hear the following comment on the news. The comment was from a US House of Representatives member who was extolling the virtues of the Members passing the FTA. He said that in his time in the house he, "had never seen such a pro-America, pro-worker bill come before this house". He too seemed to be saying to his constituents, trust me.
I chose to focus on these two issues because trust is fundamental to our ability to function as a society. It’s a basic condition that must be met in order for society to function properly. If the balance of the burden of trust moves to far one way or the other the system beings to teeter and unless a remedy is applied it will fail.
Our political system was built on trust. The "life is more complicated now" (better known as the Peter Garrett response) is the reason given for why our ruling party members must adhere to the party line. It’s also the excuse given as to why we must vote for the big parties.
You know who I trust most in politics now – the independents. Remember them? The parties hate them with a vengeance. They tell us that they can’t be trusted to govern with stability. We’re told that they are inexperienced and don’t understand the world. My response is that it seems that they may be the only ones who can be trusted to attempt to do something that will restore credibility to the political process and that it is the big parties that have undermined public trust by their connivance’s with the ruling class.
John Howard is visiting my part of the world today and my message to him is, I don’t trust you. I have no faith in you or your party to govern in my best interests. You lie to me. You treat me like a fool and you imperil to future of my children. I would say the same if Mark Latham was here.
As Billy Joel once sang, "it’s a matter of trust" and nothing in modern politics says to me that I should trust anyone who is so able to change their tune to suit the opinion polls or their own self-interest. The next election will be a crucial one in determining the political tenor of this nation for the rest of this century. I trust that your vote will be cast wisely.