It is not just the Australian economy that has been in enforced hibernation during the COVID-19 pandemic but also our politics. Some of the hibernation of the latter is explicable, either because of social restrictions caused by the demands of the health concerns or because of deference towards the extreme urgency of dealing with the crisis and the consequent pressure on our state and national political leaders. But much of the political hibernation was unnecessary or exaggerated and ultimately harmful to our democratic way of life.
The origins of the hibernation lie in the immediate primacy given to government over parliament during the pandemic. The federal and state parliaments were immediately gutted and replaced in practice, and in the public imagination, by the new National Cabinet, led by the Prime Minister. Other less well-known bodies were also created such as the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission, chaired by former Fortescue Metals CEO, Nev Power.
The whole nation became fixated on the progress of the pandemic in Australia, especially on our progress in flattening the curve. The main public faces were government leaders, their health ministers and health officials. There was little room for critics and and/or opposition. Some debate ensued about the appropriateness of certain health-related measures and about specific controversies, especially in relation to the cruise ship, Ruby Princess, and the aged care facility, Newmarch House, where the worst outbreaks occurred. Belatedly a full independent commission of enquiry was called by the NSW state government into the Ruby Princess fiasco.
When the attention shifted to economic recovery measures the focus initially remained on the roll-out of the federal government’s measures to combat business failure and unemployment through doubling the Job Seeker benefit and then introducing the Job Keeper payment to keep the bulk of employees on the books of their employer and out of the unemployment statistics.
After early bipartisanship, enforced by the circumstances, the Labor Opposition was increasingly emboldened to join in public questioning of aspects of the Job Keeper program, especially the exclusion of many categories of workers, such as casuals and foreigners, from the scheme. The questioning extended to the likely duration of what was an initial six-month government commitment.
Political hibernation extended beyond the parliament and the political parties to the media. The latter depends for much of its political coverage on the operation of parliament. When it shut up shop much of the life blood of political coverage by the media was shut off too.
'Fortunately, Australian politics is now rising from its enforced slumber. This awakening has several ingredients.'
The Prime Minister’s lengthy reports to the nation after meetings of the National Cabinet so dominated the political agenda that anything else became an afterthought. The ability of journalists to raise other issues was squeezed out. Their queries were too easily dismissed by the PM as inappropriate and old-style media politics.
The parliament did is best to oversee the activities of government during the pandemic through its Senate Select Committee on COVID-19, chaired by Labor Senator Katy Gallagher. But it was hamstrung.
The committee’s public hearings showed that the primacy of government over parliament had led to flagrant inattention to due process and transparency. Reasonable queries about the operations of the National Cabinet and the COVID-19 Coordinating Commission were fobbed off by senior government officials as if they were not in the public interest. Yet clearly they were.
Fortunately, Australian politics is now rising from its enforced slumber. This awakening has several ingredients. Firstly, some contentious pre-pandemic issues, such as the sports rorts affair, are now back on the public agenda. The PM has questions of accountability to answer. Secondly, the debate about the targeting and duration of the government’s economic recovery measures is becoming more robust. This debate now extends to larger issues such as the size and shape of our immigration intake. Thirdly, there is growing awareness of what new legislation, such as the ASIO bill, might be quietly eased through parliament under cover of the pandemic if the community is not alert.
Politics in the best sense is returning to normal. To do so it first needs the federal parliament, which should not have been filleted in the first place, to be fully functioning. More will then follow.
Fortunately, the return of robust politics may be accelerated by the demands of the Eden-Monaro by-election, following the retirement of Labor’s Mike Kelly. This by-election will be a test of our mettle in various ways, including finding an acceptable style of political campaigning. It will bring together local concerns about bushfire recovery and severe economic downturn with larger national themes such as climate change and the proper role of government in our post-pandemic lives.
John Warhurst is an Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University and Chair of Concerned Catholics Canberra Goulburn. He is a PC 2020 delegate from the Archdiocese of Canberra-Goulburn.
Main image: Exterior Parliament House Canberra (Alex Proimos/Flickr)