11 March 2005
DECLINE OF HONESTY IN PUBLIC LIFE A CONCERN
Democracy demands a degree of honesty and compassion in politicians and the courage of the media to report the truth, refugee barrister Julian Burnside argued at the annual Uniya Lenten Seminar held in Melbourne recently.
Mr Burnside offered the view that Australia was in the process of becoming a very different society given the disregard for honesty that now seemed to be widely accepted. He asked the audience to imagine what it would be like if the Government was honest about its conduct and the Opposition and media had a bit more spine.
"Imagine if he [Prime Minister Howard] had said at the 2004 election: 'My government locks up innocent people. We treat them cruelly, because we don’t want to encourage their type. We have power to gaol innocent people for life. I will not help the Bakhtiyari children at Christmas time because I don’t have to. I will only show compassion for popular victims.'
"Imagine how different things might be if we had an honest Opposition. Too timid to take a stand, the Labor party has spent the last 8 years nodding passively at every failure of human rights, every bit of dishonesty, every erosion of basic rights."
"Imagine also how different things might be if the press in this country had shown some spine over the past few years. Many – perhaps most – journalists in Australia today shy away from unpopular truths", he said and contrasted the extensive media coverage of Cornelia Rau's case, an Australian resident with mental illness held in immigration detention for nearly a year, to the ignoring of many stories of torture and ill-treatment of non-Australian residents in detention centres. He argued that in presenting an unbalanced view of Australia’s conduct, the media had engaged in its own form of dishonesty.
Ultimately, he argued, Australians will come to realize that they have lost something significant and that "honesty matters".
Mr Burnside offered the view that Australia was in the process of becoming a very different society given the disregard for honesty that now seemed to be widely accepted. He asked the audience to imagine what it would be like if the Government was honest about its conduct and the Opposition and media had a bit more spine.
"Imagine if he [Prime Minister Howard] had said at the 2004 election: 'My government locks up innocent people. We treat them cruelly, because we don’t want to encourage their type. We have power to gaol innocent people for life. I will not help the Bakhtiyari children at Christmas time because I don’t have to. I will only show compassion for popular victims.'
"Imagine how different things might be if we had an honest Opposition. Too timid to take a stand, the Labor party has spent the last 8 years nodding passively at every failure of human rights, every bit of dishonesty, every erosion of basic rights."
"Imagine also how different things might be if the press in this country had shown some spine over the past few years. Many – perhaps most – journalists in Australia today shy away from unpopular truths", he said and contrasted the extensive media coverage of Cornelia Rau's case, an Australian resident with mental illness held in immigration detention for nearly a year, to the ignoring of many stories of torture and ill-treatment of non-Australian residents in detention centres. He argued that in presenting an unbalanced view of Australia’s conduct, the media had engaged in its own form of dishonesty.
Ultimately, he argued, Australians will come to realize that they have lost something significant and that "honesty matters".
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