Picture: Courtesy Herald Sun
Yesterday, 28 July, a new Premier for Victoria, Ben Carroll, was appointed, and a couple of announcements ‘right off the bat ’ had some merit. But with all these types of announcements, the devil will be in the detail and the application; at least there should be some credit for recognising the problems.
A cynic may say that these announcements are a blocker to the criticism in the media of this Government and are the two major issues that are ‘cutting through’ with the electorate.
Unfortunately, in the vein of the announcements, there was a big miss.
The first major announcement was the Premier’s intent to appoint a Royal Commission into the Big Build criminality that has been widely made public for years.
Although this may steal some of the Opposition’s thunder, that’s politics.
The value of this Commission will not be known until we see the terms of reference, and, given the previous inquiries of this nature set up in recent years, they each seem to have been politically expedient, and even findings are selectively applied; therefore, we have some scepticism for an outcome that properly addresses community concerns and whether those responsible are held to account, which paradoxically, is not a ‘strong suit’ for this Government based on past performances.
So, what may on the surface appear to be a bold move may in reality be another whitewash in the making.
To give the Royal Commissioner scope to investigate the circumstances properly in the best interest of the State, the role of individual politicians and Public Servants in any corruption must be included in the terms. Otherwise, the best we can expect is that some low-hanging fruit may get plucked.
We will wait and see the Terms of Reference with interest.
The second and probably the most significant, for direct impact on all Victorians, was that the new Premier announced having called the Chief Commissioner before his press conference to advise that the Government would support the Police both financially and legislatively.
This will no doubt have a positive impact on policing resources and give the Chief Commissioner the flexibility to instigate more proactive activity preventing crime before it happens, and this would be warmly welcomed by all Victorians, who would rather not be victims of crime.
Although very encouraging, we should not get too excited until we see positive actions. It may be just political manoeuvring so the failure of law enforcement in this State can be blamed on the Chief Commissioner rather than the Government.
The old, ”It was not us, it was him over there,” retort applies.
The Big miss from this announcement was that the other call the Premier should have made was to The Hon. Sonya Kilkenny, the Attorney General (AG).
The major problem is that no matter how much money the Government throws at the Police, it is all wasted if the hard-working Police are continually thwarted by lenient sentencing and other legal paralysis in the Courts. The inefficiency of the Courts is also a disgrace and works against good jurisprudence.
The first move must be for the Courts to be told to accept their responsibility for the crime tsunami caused by their failure to enforce the Law.
Announcing that the crisis of the Courts is to be addressed by the AG, whereby the performance of jurists is made accountable and enforceable by a Judicial Review Panel, would go a long way to reducing criminal activity. Under the present system, criminals hold sway in court proceedings at the expense of victims.
The pendulum has swung too far to socialist philosophy and needs a substantial correction.
Accountability for individual and organisation-wide performance is one of the most serious issues facing the Government and the various arms of Government, with a correction starting at the top being the most effective.
Until employees of the Government accept this and are managed and promoted based on performance and ability, all political protestations will be of little value.
Political nepotism never works in the best interest of the State or the people that pay for their lack of service, us.
The failure of successive administrations of this State has been not to recognise that failing to hold State employees to account (as happens in the private sector) for performance is a ‘slap in the face’, and a demotivator, for those who are genuine hard workers contributing to the State’s fortunes.
Individual and corporate accountability may be a seismic shift, but one that will pay dividends not only in performance but substantially to the budget bottom line for this State.
Premier Carroll, we wish you well.
