Vol 90 Issue 2 APR–JUN 2019
Democracy before dollars
The problems with money in Australian politics and how to fix them including: Dr Alan Finkel AO
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P r of E m m a J o h n s t o n A O
State of the Nation: The Human Factor
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P r of J oo - C h e o n g T h a m & m o r e
Antarctica:
More important than ever
Our Decomposing Democracy
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CONTENTS
AQ
Vol 90 Issue 2 APR–JUN 2019
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The Human Factor
The problems with money in Australian politics and how to fix them
The problem of refugee immigration
State of the Nation Dr Alan Finkel
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More important than ever: Antarctica – the last frontier Prof Emma Johnston & Dr Tony Press
IMAGE CREDITS: Please see article placements
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Democracy before dollars:
From the archive: 1939 Max Rudolf Lemberg
Prof Joo-Cheong Tham
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Our decomposing democracy
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References
Geoffrey Robin
COVER IMAGE: © Feodora Chiosea
APR–JUN 2019
AUSTRALIAN QUARTERLY
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AQ
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Australian Quarterly
his edition ‘hits the selves’ only days before the Morrison government is set to hand down their early budget, opening the door for a quick-fire election. Australia will have decided on the fate of the Coalition government before we at AQ have another chance to comment.
But it only takes the barest inclination of foresight to predict the inevitable battlegrounds. Whether or not Morrison and Dutton decide to have another crack at their withered Medivac scare campaign in the wake of the Christchurch massace, the election will be about asylum seekers. The Banking Royal Commission is likely to continue to hold popular currency with voters, underscoring the role of money and influence on both sides of politics. Climate inaction will be trumpeted as action from a scientifically bankrupt Coalition, and Labor will try to please everyone and satisfy no one. Voters’ actual desires will be ignored. It feels like history repeating. Many people have already drawn the parallels between the escalation of refugee rhetoric with the infamous ‘Children Overboard’ election. The climate will be the real loser as the hottest summer on record fades from memory. And as always, Labor and the Coalition are in lock step over any effort to reign in the power of money in politics. This AQ tackles many of these fundamental democratic issues, including what can be done to reverse Australia’s slide into plutocracy, and whether much of the voter dissatisfaction is due to the country’s bloated constituencies. We also take an unsettling dive into the archive to look at how Australians were discussing ‘The Refugee Problem’ in the very days before WWII began. If you feel the need to escape the election madness, we travel to the frozen continent to find out why it is more important than ever, and what the new Antarctic Science Foundation will be doing to support critical Antarctic science. And we are very honoured to have Australia’s Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel AO, contributing to AQ for the first time! If you haven't already, you can show your support for AQ by liking us on Facebook (@AQAustralianQuarterly) and on Twitter (@AQjournal)
Grant Mills
Editor-at-large Notes for Contributors AQ welcomes submissions of articles and manuscripts on contemporary economic, political, social and philosophical issues, especially where scientific insights have a bearing and where the issues impact on Australian and global public life. All contributions are unpaid. Manuscripts should be original and have not been submitted or published elsewhere, although in negotiation with the Editor, revised prior publications or presentations may be included. Submissions may be subject to peer review. Word length is between 1000 and 3000 words. Longer and shorter lengths may be considered. Articles should be written and argued clearly so they can be easily read by an informed, but non-specialist, readership. A short biographical note of up to 50 words should accompany the work. The Editor welcomes accompanying images. Authors of published articles are required to assign copyright to the Australian Institute of Policy and Science, including signing of a License to Publish which includes acceptance of online archiving and access through JSTOR (from 2010) or other online publication as negotiated by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science. In return, authors have a non exclusive license to publish the paper elsewhere at a future date. The inclusion of references and endnotes is the option of the author. Our preference is for these to be available from the author on request. Otherwise, references, endnotes and abbreviations should be used sparingly and kept to a minimum. Articles appearing in AQ are indexed ABC POL SCI: A Bibliography of Contents: Political Science and Government. The International Political Science Abstracts publishes abstracts of political science articles appearing in AQ. Copyright is owned by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science. Persons wishing to reproduce an article, or part thereof, must obtain the Institute’s permission. Contributions should be emailed to: The Editor at info@aips.net.au
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Editor: Grant Mills Assistant Editor: Stephen Burke Design and production: Art Graphic Design, Canberra Printing: Newstyle Printing, Adelaide Subscriptions: www.aips.net.au/aq-magazine/ subscribe enquiries to: Stephen Burke, General Manager, AIPS, PO Box M145, Missenden Road NSW 2050 Australia Phone: +61 (02) 9036 9995 Fax: +61 (02) 9036 9960 Email: info@aips.net.au Website: www.aips.net.au/ aq-magazine/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/ AQAustralianQuarterly ISSN 1443-3605 AQ (Australian Quarterly) is published by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science. This project is supported by the Commonwealth Government through a grant-in-aid administered by the Department of Finance and Deregulation. ACN 000 025 507 The AIPS is an independent body which promotes discussion and understanding of political, social and scientific issues in Australia. It is not connected with any political party or sectional group. Opinions expressed in AQ are those of the authors. Directors of the Australian Institute of Policy and Science: Leon R Beswick (co-Chair) Andrew Goodsall Maria Kavallaris (co-Chair) Jennelle Kyd Suresh Mahalingam Peter M McMahon Sarah Meachem Peter D Rathjen
STATE OF THE NATION
State of the nation
The Human Factor
Let’s imagine for a moment that we’re meeting as guests, at the annual family barbecue, in Uncle Bob’s backyard. The topic will turn, as it always does, to family history. A few of the retirees will mention, as they always do, that they’ve looked into it. And we’ll be surprised, as we always are, to discover that we’re probably in line to the throne, and certainly descended from royalty. Then someone will reveal that she’s just received the results of her genetic ancestry profile… a gift from the kids, for her birthday… and suddenly we’re all comparing notes on what percentage of our family genome is Neanderthal DNA.
ARTICLE BY: Dr Alan Finkel
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es, it’s the Brave New World of direct-toconsumer genetic testing – and it’s coming to a barbecue near you. Already, the companies that offer the service turn an estimated $100 million in annual global sales. On some estimates, the market will climb to at least $300 million in just five years’ time. That growth has been kicked along by some very determined marketing. My staff even spotted at least one
IMAGE: © Staff Sgt. Nicole Leidholm - U.S. Air Force
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More important than ever: Antarctica – the last frontier
You have to go to the end of the Earth to find the place where science holds a central role in governance. That place is Antarctica. While the lofty ideals of the Antarctic Treaty are often tested by pragmatism or opportunism, Antarctica’s central role in our planet’s future, and the science that is done there, is more important than ever. As the importance of Antarctic science increases, the cost does, too. There is a pressing need to develop new ways to build on Government funding and support the scientists doing some of the most important research on Earth. ARTICLE BY: Prof Emma Johnston & Dr Tony Press
image: © Chris Wilson-Australian Antarctic Division
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Democracy before dollars: The problems with money in Australian politics and how to fix them There is a deep paradox at the heart of representative democracy: it is a form of rule by the people that distances itself from the people. The central justification for representative government is popular sovereignty. As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims, ‘(t)he will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government’.1 Yet as representative, not direct, democracy,2 there is structured distance between ‘the people’ and those who exercise governmental power. ARTICLE BY: Prof Joo-Cheong Tham
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he aspiration of representative democracy is that this distance is bridged by strong mechanisms of accountability and responsiveness, as well as an ethos based on the public interest, all of which seek to ensure that government officials rule ‘for the people’. The obvious risk is that this distance becomes a gulf and that public officials govern for a few, rather than ‘for the people’ – that an oligarchy operates rather than a democracy. It is a startling fact that many Australians believe – and increasingly so – that government functions as an oligarchy. Survey evidence shows that perceptions that ‘[p]eople in government look after themselves’ and ‘[g]overnment is run for a few big interests’ have risen significantly since the 2000s, so much so that in 2017 more than 70% of respondents agreed with the first statement and more than half with the second.3 And since 2016, there has been a 9% increase in perceptions that federal members of parliament are corrupt (85% saying ‘some’ are corrupt, 18% responding that ‘most/all’ are corrupt).4
Capitalism vs democracy These perceptions of oligarchy would have surprised Plato who had Socrates say that ‘democracy comes into being after the poor have conquered their opponents, slaughtering some and
Our decomposing democracy As Australia’s population expands, citizens are losing their political power and influence. Unelected officials and political party fringe-dwellers are gaining ascendency. Individual Federal Members of Parliament, struggling to meet the demands of their electorates, increasingly are relying on opinion polls, marketing and the campaign management strategies of their party machines.
ARTICLE BY: Geoffrey Robin
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he reason for this is that our electorates are bloating, as more and more people are crammed into each constituency. The root cause of this deterioration in our Parliamentary democracy is the limits imposed by section 24 of the Australian Constitution. Worse is to come. Australia’s booming population is estimated to double by 2066.1 Section 24 restricts the number of Members of the House of
Representatives to twice the number of seats in the Senate. This is referred to as the nexus and it can only be changed by referendum. Already the number of constituents in many electorates is more than 150,000. An Australian 40 years ago lived in an electorate of about 70,000 people, sharing the privilege of voting with about 55,000 others. If there is no reform, forty years hence, a citizen will share the electorate with some 300,000 people and would vote for a single representative alongside at least 200,000 fellow constituents. Already Australians are losing faith in
image: © Australian Electoral Commission-Wiki
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FROM THE ARCHIVE
The problem of refugee immigration
Originally published: The Australian Quarterly, Vol 11 No 3 Sep 1939 This is an edited version of the original 1939 article. To read the full article see the Current Edition page of the AQ website: www.aips.net.au/aq-magazine
Editor forward
Australia’s immigration history is rocky, yet while each wave of immigration into Australia has met with teething issues, our country is generally proud to call itself an immigration nation. But when it is refugees that are the immigrants, then modern Australia is deeply conflicted. The complex issues of refugee policy are nothing new for this country; the problems existed before the Tampa, before September 11, before mandatory detention, before governments were willing to sacrifice people-in-need by soap-boxing themselves to a point of no return and no compromise. It is therefore not surprising that Australia was debating ‘The Refugee Problem’ at what would become the most poignant moment of the modern age to be discussing immigration – in the very days before World War Two broke out. It is often difficult to draw a direct line between government policy and material human outcomes. Yet in this case the effects of refugee policies that every nation enacted are staggeringly obvious with the gift of hindsight – every person taken in was likely a life saved. On the eve of WWII, Australia was only just throwing off the yoke of The Great Depression; the scars of WWI were still raw. And the arguments against immigration were little different to the
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ones we hear howled across our current Parliament. Yet 80 years ago, the debate about refugee policy was far more nuanced and far more compassionate. And this in a country arguably less able to afford generosity. Today we are one of the richest countries, and immigration tends to be framed as a threat to our affluence, rather than with due consideration of the actual threat faced by refugees. In reading this article I wondered whether we have a greater understanding of the humanity of the people that were lost to the Holocaust, than we do for people whose lives are yet to be lost. How is this possible and how did we get here? This article went to print for the September 1939 edition of The Australian Quarterly – on the 1st September 1939 Hitler invaded Poland; on the 3rd September Britain and France declared war. The author and the article are perched on the eve of something monumental. They offer a window into the economic and cultural calculations Australia was wrestling with on the topic of refugees. It is alarming how much of this article echoes what we hear today; and yet it also offers hope that there is another way to have this debate; that perhaps there is a way to wind back the polemic…
The problem of the settlement of the refugees has two different aspects, a humanitarian and a practical aspect. Various circumstances have created an aggressive nationalism in Central Europe, which today causes the major part of the present refugee problems. ARTICLE BY: Max Rudolf Lemberg
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