The Age At It Again
It's hard to believe, but the opinion writers in both versions of the Age have come to knock the Bracks government of late. The
latest instalment,
State cabinet looking old, complacent, by Jason Downling hits home on how Steve Bracks has failed, or lacks the confidence to, promote new blood into the higher levels of Cabinet.
Nine months out from the 2002 state election, the Premier reshuffled his cabinet as a "blueprint" for the future and to "strengthen the Government's focus". He should have done the same this time.Instead, lame duck ministers who will either retire at the next election or are unlikely to retain their seats in cabinet will be selling policies to the public that they will not be around to implement or be held accountable for. The Premier has sacrificed renewal and accountability for an image of stability. As one senior Labor strategist observed last week, "we don't want the public thinking about change".[...]If anything, there has been a concentration of responsibilities in about six senior ministers, despite the cabinet expanding from 18 to 20 - a concern for a Premier looking towards a third term.[...]Does the Premier not believe any of his less burdened ministers were up for the task? Is the reluctance to introduce new blood into the cabinet a sign he has little confidence in his 15 parliamentary secretaries or his 51 backbenchers? How deep does this Government really bat?
Voters will have to wait until after the next state election to find out. Steve Bracks will be forced to make ministerial changes if he wins in November.Labels: Media Commentary
Neo-Con: Brackswatch
Neo-Con: BrackswatchOur thanks for the link on your homepage, we will return the favour
Labels: Brackswatch, Media Commentary
The Age Goes To Town: The Undemocratic Premier
Normally, Team Brackswatch tries its best to paraphrase, and sum up articles to make a point, because, like most, we think long diatribes are boring and drawn out. But Paul Austin's effort in
The Age today has us collectively nodding our heads.
(Our
Bold)
The contempt with which the Bracks Government treats the Victorian Parliament is something to behold. Trouble is, so few Victorians actually do behold it that the Government seems to believe it can get away with it.
The list of this Government's offences against the Parliament is long: it ensures the Parliament sits infrequently; when Parliament does sit, the Government seeks to ensure that the political "news" of the day happens elsewhere; and the one period of each sitting day when the public and press galleries are likely to be well populated, question time, is treated by the Government too often as its plaything and too rarely as a means of seriously reporting to the people on the activities of their representatives.
The list is hardly unprecedented, but the point is that Steve Bracks promised something better. During the 1999 election campaign, Bracks, taking the usual licence of opposition leaders, said of Liberal premier Jeff Kennett: "If he could pass a law to outlaw elections, the premier would do it . . . If he could close down the Parliament completely, rather than the least number of sitting days he has now, he'd probably do that as well. Imagine if he is re-elected with a big majority and what he'll close down next - not only no debates, probably no Parliament." A year into his term in office, Bracks was still talking up the ideal of a rigorous Parliament. Issuing a policy in October 2000 on "ensuring openness and probity in Victorian Government contracts", Premier Bracks said: "We believe that government is only doing its job properly if it allows the Parliament, the community and the auditor-general to scrutinise its activities and hold it to account."
But, as so often with this Government, the fine words were not matched with firm actions. In the election year of 1999, when Victoria was ruled by that anti-democratic Mr Kennett, the Parliament sat for 37 days. In this election year of 2006, with Victoria ruled by that champion of democracy Mr Bracks, the Parliament will sit for 38 days. Opposition Leader Robert Doyle, unsurprisingly, accuses this Government of paying lip service to parliamentary democracy. But his argument is backed by figures showing the Parliament sat for 15 fewer days during the first six years of Bracks than it did during the last six years of Kennett.
A "sitting week" for the Victorian Parliament means Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday only. A "sitting day" can be so short as to leave you wondering whether it was worth turning on the lights: on April 4 this year, the upper house convened at 2pm and adjourned at 5.23pm.
On the days when the Parliament does sit before lunch, Bracks often absents himself from the building during the morning to make the Government's good-news announcement of the day at a TV-friendly location. Then, during question time from 2pm, he arranges for a Labor backbencher to ask him a "Dorothy Dixer" question about said announcement so the Premier can bring the Parliament up to speed.
As for the idea that ministers should account to the people via the Parliament for the allocation of public money and the good governance of their portfolios - well, sometimes the very concept appears foreign to this Government. Space permits only one example, but readers inclined to trawl through Hansard (www.parliament.vic.gov.au) will quickly find others.
During question time in the lower house on April 4 (the same day as the upper house sat for a little over three hours), Opposition health spokeswoman Helen Shardey referred minister Bronwyn Pike to "reports that the Wangaratta area manager of Rural Ambulance Victoria was allowed to resign after it was discovered he had forged signatures to get jobs for unqualified mates". Shardey specifically asked Pike: "Why has this man still got a car owned by Rural Ambulance Victoria, and why are Victorian taxpayers still paying to put petrol in it?"
Pike's "answer" occupied several minutes, but not once did she mention the area manager, or his car, or who was paying for his petrol. Even the (Labor) Speaker had to ask Pike after she resumed her seat, "Has the minister completed her answer?" Pike: "Yes."
It did not seem to occur to Pike that, while giving a brief summary of the recent history of the RAV and talking up the investment her Government had made in the service, she might have also said words to the effect that the questioner had made an allegation about serious misuse of public money and the minister would have her office or department investigate immediately and would report back to the Parliament at the first opportunity.
Perhaps we should not be surprised that the Bracks Government is happy to belittle the Parliament. After all, this Premier has shown few signs that he regards the lifting of standards in public life as part of his brief.Last month, when The Age revealed that Police Minister Tim Holding (among others) had been using his taxpayer-funded, chauffeur-driven ministerial car in a Labor Party preselection battle, some political observers thought this might be the subject of a rebuke, or worse, from the Premier. Not a bit of it. Asked his response,
Bracks said through his spokeswoman, Alison Crosweller: "Ministers, along with opposition leaders and their deputies, have access to a driver and a car which can be used at their discretion. This is the case in all other states and the Commonwealth Government."
In other words, don't expect the Bracks Government to seek to set a good example on the use of ministerial cars, and don't expect Bracks to enforce higher standards on his ministers.
Steve Bracks doesn't lament the declining relevance of the Victorian Parliament. He contributes to it.
Update: WeekByWeek gives a mathmatical explanation of sitting daysLabels: Brackswatch, Election, Legislative Assembly, Legislative Council, Media Commentary, Parliament
Doctors' Exodus
VICTORIA'S doctor shortage will worsen if the State Government fails to lift pay rates, medical authorities have warned.Australian Medical Association state president Mark Yates said unless pay increased, Victoria would lose doctors from public hospitals as they went interstate for better deals.
"Doctors are very restless in Victoria because of the lack of response that we have had from the Bracks Government," Dr Yates said.
Dr Yates said doctors in QLD and NSW were paid up to 56 per cent more than their Victorian counterparts.
Victoria has a shortage of some 900 doctors and this is expected to grow to 1500 by 2012, prompting the State Government to boost the number of medical students. However, the new students will not begin to fill the gaps until 2012, making action to attract and retain doctors a priority, Dr Yates said.
From
The AgeLabels: Education, Health, Media Commentary
Victoria must play role in tax reform
THE Commonwealth Games are nearly over. They have been well managed, great fun and the athletes have been magnificent.But have you ever wondered how the Government has been able to foot the very sizeable bill with almost effortless ease?
Well, Steve Bracks and his team have experienced one of the largest revenue windfalls in this State's history and they are actively spending it, including on the Games.
From 2000-01 to 2004-05, the Bracks Government received a revenue windfall of $17.6 billion, or a 20 per cent increase in expected revenue.
The main generator of this largesse has been the State's own taxes.
When the GST was first introduced in 2000, the tax cuts as part of the GST deal were expected to result in sharp cuts in state tax revenue. This was not expected to be recovered for at least seven years. The prediction turned out to be far off the mark. The economy boomed. The State's three growth taxes -- payroll tax, land tax and conveyancing fees -- pulled in money at a record rate. Total tax receipts were $7 billion or 18 per cent higher than expected over the past five years.
Then there was the GST. Over the first five years of its existence, revenue from the GST and other Commonwealth grants exceeded expectations by $4 billion.
In the main, the Bracks Government has done little more than maintain the status quo on tax and GST. It has twice, with great fanfare, announced tax cuts. However, these have been minor changes with little impact on revenue collections. And it inherited the GST deal and has met its commitments.
The Kennett Government undertook many reforms but did nothing on tax. It raised a number of non-business taxes to help reduce the budget deficit. It subsequently did not lower these or other taxes, so the Bracks Government inherited one of the most aggressive state tax systems.
As such, Steve Bracks has been able to do little while the money has rolled in at an increasing rate.
The Bracks Government, meanwhile, has increased receipted fees, fines and user charges by 25 per cent over the past five years. A small proportion of the revenue windfall -- $2.4 billion or 19 per cent -- has been spent on expanding the State's infrastructure base. The rest -- $15.2 billion -- has been consumed.
About a third of the windfall has been consumed on more and higher-paid staff including front-line staff. But for every additional teacher, nurse, doctor and police person hired, the Bracks Government has hired an additional bureaucrat. The remainder of the windfall has been consumed in an ongoing spending spree, including the Games.
Ron Walker has warned that we may suffer a bout of depression when the party is over. I suspect he is right.
(Mike Nahan: Herald Sun 25/3/06)Labels: Commonwealth Games, Media Commentary, Treasury, Victoria Vs Commonwealth
Connex Whinger Takes On Bracks Public Transpot Bureacracy
For all those of us who struggle with the daily commute on Connex trains,
Connex Whinger may just be our new champion.
Labels: Guest Post, Media Commentary, Transport
