Geoff Davies' Home Page

The Threat From Within

19 May 2002

The Government’s budget hype on border protection and terrorism is a distraction from the real threat to Australia. We are not threatened by a few boatloads of desperate refugees. Nor does the main threat come from terrorists flying hijacked planes or spreading contagious diseases. Rather, the biggest threat to our way of life comes from within, and it comes from those who are sworn to protect us.

Our democratic system comprises many institutions and customs, and their preservation and good repute are essential to such continuing health as democracy enjoys in Australia. In this regard, the successive Howard Governments have recklessly trampled or overtly attacked any democratic institution that has threatened to inconvenience their pursuit of power. These actions subvert democracy.

Mr. Howard used distortions and fear-mongering to mislead and alarm the Australian electorate in the lead-up to the last national election. The fairness of our most basic democratic institution was seriously compromised.

A deliberate avoidance of truth deserves to be called a lie. Mr. Howard knew before the recent election that there were doubts about the children-overboard allegations, because he is reported to have told a press conference that he would enquire into the matter. How did he do this? By asking the family cat? It is clear that the truth could have been readily established. It is also clear that everyone knew that Mr. Howard didn’t want to be told the truth, so as to preserve his last, desperate, mendacious defence that he hadn’t been told.

The crucial parliamentary principle of ministerial responsibility has been violated: Mr. Howard and two of his Ministers supplied incorrect information to Parliament and the people, failed to pursue the truth diligently, failed for months to correct the record, and failed to resign.

Asylum seekers have been demonised in many ways, but especially by the false claim that they acted illegally by seeking refuge in Australia and by the baseless claim that terrorists could be hiding among them. The Howard Government has done nothing to counter these distortions and lies, but rather has cultivated them through careful use of rhetoric. A naval term for asylum seekers is “potential illegal immigrant”.

Concentration camp is a term that applies to any guarded enclosure for the detention of particular groups, including refugees. For people desperate for refuge from horror, Woomera is a desolate and dispiriting place. The detention centre there is surrounded by razor wire and guarded by a foreign mercenary organisation. It is reported that asylum-seeker inmates are subjected to petty and dehumising indignities. Inmates are reported to have been moved to other camps without notice and without being told where they are being taken. Such treatment would violate the human rights even of convicted criminals. Inmates are reported by professional counsellors to have become clinically depressed to the point of being suicidal.

The Howard Government has assaulted our democratic system in other fundamental ways. A High Court judge has been viciously and baselessly accused, with the Prime Minister’s connivance and participation, escalating a consistent refusal by the Government to defend the courts from attacks by right-wing elements in and out of Parliament.

The last Howard government spent hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars on blatantly partisan-political pre-election advertising campaigns. The armed forces have been politicised by appointing compliant senior officers and by employing the forces in a sordid, inhumane and election-related campaign against a trumped-up foe. The separation of church and state has been blurred by the contracting of government services to religious organisations and by the appointment of an archbishop as Governor General. The independence of the public service has been compromised by individual employment contracts, by performance bonuses, by a reduction of the role of the Public Service Board and by threats of legislation to imprison for leaking compromising information. The independence of universities and academics have been compromised by chronic underfunding, by direct interference and by attacks on academic job security.

Freedom of expression, already seriously limited by the concentrated ownership of Australia’s media, has been overtly diminished. A chorus of right-wing allegations of ABC bias accompanied savage cuts to the ABC’s budget and a spiteful and counter-productive gutting of Radio Australia. Meanwhile, the commercial electronic media purvey a systematically biased, glaringly incomplete, trivialised and sensationalised parody of national and world affairs.

It was in this climate that Mr. Howard’s favourite Sydney radio station and talk-back hosts were caught blatantly violating their responsibilities by representing paid advertising as independent commentary. For this they received a slap on the wrist. The ABC Board and the Australian Broadcasting Authority have been politicised beyond the point of uselessness: they are part of the problem.

Australia’s precarious independence in the world is being betrayed. Such good repute as we have had has been squandered by Mr. Howard’s stone-hearted and self-serving treatment of asylum seekers and aborigines. His foreign policy comprises a sycophantic devotion to U.S. global bullying, even as the U.S. kicks farm-support sand in our faces. The zealous pursuit, by both sides of politics, of the pseudo-scientific free-trade ideology is abrogating Australia’s sovereignty. Our governments’ powers are being usurped by those of faceless, unelected and unaccountable World Trade Organisation committees serving global corporate warlordism.

The recent budget merely confirms that Mr. Howard is taking Australia down the road to a police state. He has left himself no alternative. His regime was bankrupt and despised before he resorted to the age-old ploy of fabricating an external threat. Australia’s social fabric continues to unravel. The vaunted economic management skills of Howard’s governments are belied by the past two years’ big-taxing and vote-buying sprees. The claimed health of the economy is a smoke-and-mirrors illusion, based not on Australians’ well-being but on misleading indices, calculated inequality and expanding exploitation that sooner or later will collapse the economy upon itself.

The only way for John Howard and his henchmen to cling to power is to steadily escalate their campaigns of vilification, fear, authoritarianism, manipulation and intimidation. To avoid sliding into fascism, we Australians must assert our common decency and decisively reject both the Howardites and their appeasers among the so-called Opposition.


	The Threat From Within 19 May 2002 The Government’s budget hype on border protection and terrorism is a distraction from the real threat to Australia. We are not threatened by a few boatloads of desperate refugees. Nor does the main threat come from terrorists flying hijacked planes or spreading contagious diseases. Rather, the biggest threat to our way of life comes from within, and it comes from those who are sworn to protect us. Our democratic system comprises many institutions and customs, and their preservation and good repute are essential to such continuing health as democracy enjoys in Australia. In this regard, the successive Howard Governments have recklessly trampled or overtly attacked any democratic institution that has threatened to inconvenience their pursuit of power. These actions subvert democracy. Mr. Howard used distortions and fear-mongering to mislead and alarm the Australian electorate in the lead-up to the last national election. The fairness of our most basic democratic institution was seriously compromised. A deliberate avoidance of truth deserves to be called a lie. Mr. Howard knew before the recent election that there were doubts about the children-overboard allegations, because he is reported to have told a press conference that he would enquire into the matter. How did he do this? By asking the family cat? It is clear that the truth could have been readily established. It is also clear that everyone knew that Mr. Howard didn’t want to be told the truth, so as to preserve his last, desperate, mendacious defence that he hadn’t been told. The crucial parliamentary principle of ministerial responsibility has been violated: Mr. Howard and two of his Ministers supplied incorrect information to Parliament and the people, failed to pursue the truth diligently, failed for months to correct the record, and failed to resign. Asylum seekers have been demonised in many ways, but especially by the false claim that they acted illegally by seeking refuge in Australia and by the baseless claim that terrorists could be hiding among them. The Howard Government has done nothing to counter these distortions and lies, but rather has cultivated them through careful use of rhetoric. A naval term for asylum seekers is “potential illegal immigrant”. Concentration camp is a term that applies to any guarded enclosure for the detention of particular groups, including refugees. For people desperate for refuge from horror, Woomera is a desolate and dispiriting place. The detention centre there is surrounded by razor wire and guarded by a foreign mercenary organisation. It is reported that asylum-seeker inmates are subjected to petty and dehumising indignities. Inmates are reported to have been moved to other camps without notice and without being told where they are being taken. Such treatment would violate the human rights even of convicted criminals. Inmates are reported by professional counsellors to have become clinically depressed to the point of being suicidal. The Howard Government has assaulted our democratic system in other fundamental ways. A High Court judge has been viciously and baselessly accused, with the Prime Minister’s connivance and participation, escalating a consistent refusal by the Government to defend the courts from attacks by right-wing elements in and out of Parliament. The last Howard government spent hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars on blatantly partisan-political pre-election advertising campaigns. The armed forces have been politicised by appointing compliant senior officers and by employing the forces in a sordid, inhumane and election-related campaign against a trumped-up foe. The separation of church and state has been blurred by the contracting of government services to religious organisations and by the appointment of an archbishop as Governor General. The independence of the public service has been compromised by individual employment contracts, by performance bonuses, by a reduction of the role of the Public Service Board and by threats of legislation to imprison for leaking compromising information. The independence of universities and academics have been compromised by chronic underfunding, by direct interference and by attacks on academic job security. Freedom of expression, already seriously limited by the concentrated ownership of Australia’s media, has been overtly diminished. A chorus of right-wing allegations of ABC bias accompanied savage cuts to the ABC’s budget and a spiteful and counter-productive gutting of Radio Australia. Meanwhile, the commercial electronic media purvey a systematically biased, glaringly incomplete, trivialised and sensationalised parody of national and world affairs. It was in this climate that Mr. Howard’s favourite Sydney radio station and talk-back hosts were caught blatantly violating their responsibilities by representing paid advertising as independent commentary. For this they received a slap on the wrist. The ABC Board and the Australian Broadcasting Authority have been politicised beyond the point of uselessness: they are part of the problem. Australia’s precarious independence in the world is being betrayed. Such good repute as we have had has been squandered by Mr. Howard’s stone-hearted and self-serving treatment of asylum seekers and aborigines. His foreign policy comprises a sycophantic devotion to U.S. global bullying, even as the U.S. kicks farm-support sand in our faces. The zealous pursuit, by both sides of politics, of the pseudo-scientific free-trade ideology is abrogating Australia’s sovereignty. Our governments’ powers are being usurped by those of faceless, unelected and unaccountable World Trade Organisation committees serving global corporate warlordism. The recent budget merely confirms that Mr. Howard is taking Australia down the road to a police state. He has left himself no alternative. His regime was bankrupt and despised before he resorted to the age-old ploy of fabricating an external threat. Australia’s social fabric continues to unravel. The vaunted economic management skills of Howard’s governments are belied by the past two years’ big-taxing and vote-buying sprees. The claimed health of the economy is a smoke-and-mirrors illusion, based not on Australians’ well-being but on misleading indices, calculated inequality and expanding exploitation that sooner or later will collapse the economy upon itself. The only way for John Howard and his henchmen to cling to power is to steadily escalate their campaigns of vilification, fear, authoritarianism, manipulation and intimidation. To avoid sliding into fascism, we Australians must assert our common decency and decisively reject both the Howardites and their appeasers among the so-called Opposition.