WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.760 from the politics discipline at the University of Adelaide, 2 00:00:02.900 --> 00:00:06.280 and I'm going to be chairing today's session. 3 00:00:06.520 --> 00:00:10.800 And I'm very pleased to introduce to those of you who don't know her, 4 00:00:11.120 --> 00:00:12.180 Dr Sarah Madison. 5 00:00:12.680 --> 00:00:18.880 Sarah has a long history of being both an activist and a political scientist. 6 00:00:19.420 --> 00:00:24.220 Some of you may remember, for example, in her other activist life, 7 00:00:24.220 --> 00:00:33.160 her being a very successful spokesperson for WELL for many years. 8 00:00:34.300 --> 00:00:41.040 She's also, as an academic, responsible for publishing a number of works 9 00:00:41.040 --> 00:00:46.480 which look at the intersections between political science and activism. 10 00:00:47.300 --> 00:00:52.520 And as you'll have noticed from her brief description 11 00:00:52.520 --> 00:00:54.200 in the Festival of Ideas, 12 00:00:54.220 --> 00:01:01.380 her first work, for example, Activist Wisdom, did precisely that. 13 00:01:02.140 --> 00:01:05.680 She's also published, edited recently with Clive Hamilton, 14 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:10.760 a very, very good book on silencing dissent, 15 00:01:11.460 --> 00:01:15.020 which I must admit I'm using a great deal in teaching 16 00:01:15.020 --> 00:01:18.880 and in my own research that looks at the silencing of dissent 17 00:01:18.880 --> 00:01:20.520 under the Howard government. 18 00:01:20.780 --> 00:01:24.200 And she's here today to talk to us, 19 00:01:24.220 --> 00:01:30.520 on the general topic of troubling times, dissent and democracy. 20 00:01:30.960 --> 00:01:33.820 And Sarah will be speaking for about 25 minutes 21 00:01:33.820 --> 00:01:36.380 and will then have 15 minutes for questions. 22 00:01:36.720 --> 00:01:38.880 So I'm pleased to hand over to Sarah. 23 00:01:43.220 --> 00:01:47.680 Thanks, Carol, and thank you all for coming out on a fairly wild 24 00:01:47.680 --> 00:01:49.460 and windy Adelaide morning. 25 00:01:49.520 --> 00:01:51.300 Thanks for turning on your best weather for me. 26 00:01:52.980 --> 00:01:54.200 I'd like to begin this morning with a few words 27 00:01:54.200 --> 00:01:57.580 about the traditional owners of the land that we're on this morning, 28 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:01.220 the Kaurna people, and particularly by acknowledging the strength, 29 00:02:01.320 --> 00:02:05.100 resilience and capacity of Australia's indigenous peoples, 30 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:09.080 particularly in what are very troubling times indeed for them. 31 00:02:11.060 --> 00:02:14.360 In 2004, I co-authored a discussion paper published 32 00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:18.380 by the Australia Institute, also called Silencing Dissent, 33 00:02:18.500 --> 00:02:20.720 subtitled Non-Government Organisations 34 00:02:20.720 --> 00:02:21.760 and Australian Democracy. 35 00:02:22.540 --> 00:02:24.180 The paper documented the fact that the Australian people, 36 00:02:24.180 --> 00:02:24.220 who were the most vulnerable to the threat of non-government, 37 00:02:24.220 --> 00:02:27.520 It also documented the experiences of around 300 non-government organisations 38 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:31.800 that expressed some very strong views about the way in which governments, 39 00:02:32.040 --> 00:02:36.360 but particularly the Howard government, subdued their often critical voices. 40 00:02:36.880 --> 00:02:41.800 They reported tactics including bullying, intimidation, public denigration 41 00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:44.180 and the threatened withdrawal of funding. 42 00:02:45.380 --> 00:02:49.580 Sometimes these threats came directly from ministers or from ministers' offices. 43 00:02:51.480 --> 00:02:53.560 The report made for pretty grim reading. 44 00:02:54.180 --> 00:02:57.800 It raised some worrying questions about the health of Australian democracy. 45 00:02:58.260 --> 00:03:00.800 And although it was largely ignored by the press, 46 00:03:01.080 --> 00:03:04.180 it did spread like wildfire through the NGO community. 47 00:03:05.040 --> 00:03:11.700 And it was from the success of this paper, or the resonance that this paper had on the ground, 48 00:03:11.840 --> 00:03:16.640 that grew the book, Silencing Dissent, that I edited with Clive Hamilton. 49 00:03:17.380 --> 00:03:21.900 And it is some of the issues raised in that book that I want to discuss with you this morning. 50 00:03:22.660 --> 00:03:24.160 The contributors to the paper, 51 00:03:24.180 --> 00:03:25.300 and the authors of the book, 52 00:03:25.300 --> 00:03:28.720 document the many ways in which the Howard government has been responsible 53 00:03:28.720 --> 00:03:32.420 for progressively dismantling the democratic processes 54 00:03:33.180 --> 00:03:35.540 that create the capacity for public debate 55 00:03:36.180 --> 00:03:38.520 and accommodate dissenting opinions in Australia. 56 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:45.340 The book argues that the apparently unconnected phenomena of attacks on non-government organisations, 57 00:03:45.960 --> 00:03:48.360 the politicisation of the public service, 58 00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:50.480 the stacking of statutory authorities, 59 00:03:50.980 --> 00:03:53.420 increasing restrictions on academic freedom, 60 00:03:53.420 --> 00:03:55.060 and control over universities, 61 00:03:55.440 --> 00:03:58.840 the gagging or manipulation of some sections of the media, 62 00:03:58.980 --> 00:04:02.260 and the politicisation of our military and intelligence services, 63 00:04:02.620 --> 00:04:08.280 together form a pattern that poses a grave threat to the state of Australian democracy. 64 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:13.420 The mass of material that our contributors have gathered together in that book 65 00:04:13.420 --> 00:04:18.260 presents a picture of a systematic strategy by the government 66 00:04:18.260 --> 00:04:22.580 to mute opposition to government policy and to control public opinion. 67 00:04:23.900 --> 00:04:28.720 The tactics used in this silencing of critics are diverse. 68 00:04:28.960 --> 00:04:32.380 They include the withdrawal or threat of withdrawal of government funding, 69 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:36.280 threats to destroy the financial viability of organisations, 70 00:04:36.880 --> 00:04:39.540 including threats to their tax status, 71 00:04:40.080 --> 00:04:44.020 the appointment of party functionaries or friends to key positions, 72 00:04:44.460 --> 00:04:48.100 strict interpretation of laws governing the release of information, 73 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:51.500 and in particular the targeting of individuals. 74 00:04:52.320 --> 00:04:56.560 So while we're not suggesting that there is any written strategy 75 00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:01.140 or any particular dirt unit designed to coordinate the silencing process, 76 00:05:01.620 --> 00:05:07.600 we do argue that the Howard government is pervaded by an intolerant and anti-democratic sentiment, 77 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:11.060 one that is at times given an ideological justification 78 00:05:11.060 --> 00:05:16.900 and which reflects a belief that it has the right to behave in any way that it sees fit. 79 00:05:18.220 --> 00:05:20.020 Those are some pretty strong claims. 80 00:05:20.180 --> 00:05:21.480 So let me mention some of the things that I've said. 81 00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:24.400 I'll use the evidence outlined in the book to support that argument. 82 00:05:25.460 --> 00:05:28.620 First let's consider the attacks on individual citizens 83 00:05:28.620 --> 00:05:33.620 that have been employed with increasing frequency by the coalition government in Canberra, 84 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:36.140 often under the protection of parliamentary privilege 85 00:05:36.140 --> 00:05:38.560 in order to avoid being sued for defamation. 86 00:05:39.160 --> 00:05:42.880 The targets are most likely to be individual experts 87 00:05:42.880 --> 00:05:45.640 who are critical of controversial government policy. 88 00:05:47.420 --> 00:05:50.460 Certain members of the government appear to have been allocated 89 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:51.920 a back dog role. 90 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:58.360 In recent years this job seems to have fallen mainly to Tasmanian Senator Eric Abetz. 91 00:05:59.500 --> 00:06:03.040 In a range of forums, but most notably in Senate committees, 92 00:06:03.400 --> 00:06:08.020 critics of the government have found themselves subject to blistering personal attacks 93 00:06:08.020 --> 00:06:14.420 by Abetz, who deploys his staff, presumably at the expense of the public purse, 94 00:06:14.660 --> 00:06:19.360 to uncover aspects of critics past that can be used to denigrate them. 95 00:06:21.480 --> 00:06:26.920 This tactic was used to great effect in an attempt to silence academic experts 96 00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:31.480 who were critical of the government's controversial changes to industrial relations laws. 97 00:06:32.420 --> 00:06:37.200 In 2005 Abetz referred in the Senate to Professor David Peetz, 98 00:06:37.340 --> 00:06:40.180 a professor of industrial relations at Griffith University, 99 00:06:40.580 --> 00:06:43.240 as, quote, a trade union choir boy, 100 00:06:43.440 --> 00:06:47.060 who apparently engages in moral equivocation over terrorism. 101 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:51.280 The same material on Peetz was again used 102 00:06:51.480 --> 00:06:55.120 earlier this year, this time by the government's new attack puppy, 103 00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:59.200 Joe Hockey, in his attempt to discredit Peetz's research 104 00:06:59.200 --> 00:07:02.260 on the impact of the Work Choices legislation on women. 105 00:07:03.700 --> 00:07:07.140 Abetz also attempted to tarnish the credibility and independence 106 00:07:07.140 --> 00:07:12.620 of another industrial relations expert, South Australia's own Professor Barbara Pocock, 107 00:07:12.780 --> 00:07:17.480 by accusing her of keeping secret her alleged links to the trade union movement. 108 00:07:18.080 --> 00:07:21.460 In responding, Pocock exposed the tactic of referring to the work choices 109 00:07:21.480 --> 00:07:24.720 of the government, referring to financial support from one's self, 110 00:07:24.900 --> 00:07:29.020 in this case trade unions, while failing to mention that she had actually received 111 00:07:29.020 --> 00:07:30.780 more funds from business and government. 112 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:36.600 Abetz has also proved willing to launch verbal attacks on organisations 113 00:07:36.600 --> 00:07:37.860 as well as individuals. 114 00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:42.860 In addition to those one might expect the government to criticise, 115 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:48.580 Abetz has even threatened the RSPCA for campaigning against live sheep exports. 116 00:07:48.940 --> 00:07:51.060 Now the argument here is a little tricky to follow. 117 00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:57.280 But basically, because the ALP has a policy of giving exporters five years 118 00:07:57.280 --> 00:08:00.580 to improve animal welfare standards in the live export trade, 119 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:04.200 according to Abetz, the RSPCA was, quote, 120 00:08:04.280 --> 00:08:08.180 effectively campaigning in favour of the ALP and against the government. 121 00:08:09.500 --> 00:08:14.600 Abetz said he was considering measures to improve the organisation's accountability, 122 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:20.440 especially considering whether such organisations should continue to benefit 123 00:08:20.440 --> 00:08:22.740 from a tax deductibility for donations. 124 00:08:24.500 --> 00:08:28.360 Now I don't mean any of this to sound as though I have some sort of obsession 125 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:30.920 with Erica Betz, I can assure you I do not. 126 00:08:32.600 --> 00:08:37.740 But it is interesting to consider in some detail the work of just one member 127 00:08:37.740 --> 00:08:41.380 of this government in silencing dissenting individuals and organisations. 128 00:08:43.180 --> 00:08:47.840 But this work of silencing non-government organisations is far more widespread 129 00:08:48.440 --> 00:08:49.840 than the work of just one man. 130 00:08:51.160 --> 00:08:54.920 The methods used by the Howard government to transform the landscape 131 00:08:54.920 --> 00:08:59.840 of non-government organisations are of particular concern to me and in this book. 132 00:09:00.500 --> 00:09:05.160 Over the last decade a clear division has emerged between favoured organisations, 133 00:09:05.760 --> 00:09:09.700 which receive large sums of federal government money and are represented 134 00:09:09.700 --> 00:09:15.740 on various influential public bodies, and those on the outer who refuse to toe the public line. 135 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:19.780 The former, the tamed organisations, as we call them, 136 00:09:19.780 --> 00:09:24.220 such as the Salvation Army, which saw its own zero tolerance approach 137 00:09:24.220 --> 00:09:27.840 to substance abuse taken up as government policy to the detriment 138 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:33.140 of the established harm minimisation approach, now exercise disproportionate influence 139 00:09:33.140 --> 00:09:34.300 over government policy. 140 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:37.560 They also enjoy lucrative government contracts. 141 00:09:38.360 --> 00:09:42.640 Certain individuals who lead these tamed organisations have been appointed 142 00:09:42.640 --> 00:09:45.440 by the government to prestigious positions of influence. 143 00:09:46.920 --> 00:09:49.760 On the other hand, NGOs that refuse to toe the public line, 144 00:09:49.780 --> 00:09:51.900 which are used to genuflect to the government, are made to suffer. 145 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:58.060 They are subject to threats of defunding, public attacks and exclusion from consultation processes. 146 00:09:59.780 --> 00:10:02.260 There is a frightening example that illustrates these tactics. 147 00:10:02.840 --> 00:10:07.480 In July 2006, the Medical Journal of Australia published research 148 00:10:07.480 --> 00:10:10.540 by three academics at the Australian National University, 149 00:10:10.860 --> 00:10:15.540 arguing that the free trade agreement between the United States and Australia 150 00:10:15.540 --> 00:10:19.120 may give foreign companies the right to process blood, 151 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:23.060 donated by Australians, and that processing abroad could jeopardise 152 00:10:23.060 --> 00:10:26.240 the safety of blood products used in Australian hospitals. 153 00:10:27.660 --> 00:10:31.560 Now, the Red Cross Blood Service, which collects all blood in Australia, 154 00:10:31.780 --> 00:10:36.360 is the NGO that has a duty to ensure the integrity of blood products 155 00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:39.820 is beyond question, and it is the most authoritative source 156 00:10:39.820 --> 00:10:42.000 of public information on blood safety. 157 00:10:43.160 --> 00:10:47.460 But when the ABC's PM program ran the story about the free trade agreement, 158 00:10:47.680 --> 00:10:49.100 it reported that it had a problem. 159 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:51.220 It approached the Red Cross Blood Service for comment, 160 00:10:51.380 --> 00:10:53.120 but was told that, quote, 161 00:10:53.260 --> 00:10:56.100 no one was available for comment because the Federal Government, 162 00:10:56.260 --> 00:10:58.360 which contributes two thirds of its funding, 163 00:10:58.580 --> 00:11:00.820 had ordered it not to speak to the media. 164 00:11:02.680 --> 00:11:06.520 The Red Cross has come under sustained pressure from the Federal Government 165 00:11:06.520 --> 00:11:09.280 to say nothing in public about blood safety 166 00:11:09.280 --> 00:11:11.500 that might contradict the government's position. 167 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:15.640 When it had raised similar concerns three months earlier, 168 00:11:15.760 --> 00:11:16.960 before it was gagged, 169 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:19.000 the credibility of the Red Cross itself 170 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:22.160 was attacked in the Daily Telegraph by Piers Ackerman, 171 00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:25.280 who claimed it had caved into the demands of, quote, 172 00:11:25.340 --> 00:11:28.080 militant homosexuals in the 1980s, 173 00:11:28.100 --> 00:11:32.740 thereby causing many Australian haemophiliacs to contract HIV-AIDS. 174 00:11:33.620 --> 00:11:35.840 The Federal Government gag on the Red Cross, 175 00:11:36.020 --> 00:11:39.140 almost certainly orchestrated by the Prime Minister's office, 176 00:11:39.420 --> 00:11:42.960 has meant that the public is being denied important and accurate 177 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:46.440 and impartial advice about an issue of public health. 178 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:51.080 So how do they get away with it, and why are they so effective? 179 00:11:52.100 --> 00:11:55.040 The government's techniques have in part been effective 180 00:11:55.040 --> 00:11:58.320 because those inclined to protest are cowed by the threats. 181 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:03.420 Those who criticise the government are often subject to intense pressure. 182 00:12:04.680 --> 00:12:09.640 In doing this work, the government has a close cabal of supporters in the media 183 00:12:09.640 --> 00:12:13.740 who rarely miss an opportunity to disparage critics of the government 184 00:12:13.740 --> 00:12:15.600 as hysterical Howard haters. 185 00:12:15.880 --> 00:12:16.420 The government has a strong sense of responsibility for its actions, 186 00:12:16.420 --> 00:12:17.340 and it is a strong sense of responsibility for its actions. 187 00:12:17.340 --> 00:12:20.800 This criticism is intended to protect a powerful elite. 188 00:12:21.340 --> 00:12:26.260 The names of those who serve this role are well known, I'm sure, to most of you, 189 00:12:26.340 --> 00:12:30.600 and in a circle of ideological warriors comprised of Andrew Bolt, 190 00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:35.260 Paddy McGuinness, Miranda Devine, Janet Albrechtson, Piers Ackerman, 191 00:12:35.460 --> 00:12:39.780 and others including Keith Windshuttle, Christopher Pearson and Gerard Henderson. 192 00:12:40.440 --> 00:12:43.220 Together with talkback radio host Alan Jones, 193 00:12:43.220 --> 00:12:47.820 they form a syndicate of right-wing commentators who are favoured by the Howard government, 194 00:12:48.060 --> 00:12:51.900 not only because they share a similar ideological position, 195 00:12:52.260 --> 00:12:55.660 but because they are vituperative and unrelenting critics 196 00:12:56.220 --> 00:13:01.800 of anything vaguely left of a centre that has moved a long way to the right in recent years. 197 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:08.700 The result is that over the last 11 and a bit years of the Howard government, 198 00:13:08.900 --> 00:13:13.100 it has become increasingly difficult for critics like me, 199 00:13:13.220 --> 00:13:19.980 to be seen as anything more than what this syndicate refers to pejoratively as Howard haters. 200 00:13:21.160 --> 00:13:28.060 During this time, a disorganised and ineffective opposition has allowed Howard's style of politics to dominate. 201 00:13:29.260 --> 00:13:34.300 He's known as the Teflon Prime Minister because despite various scandals 202 00:13:34.300 --> 00:13:39.720 like missing weapons of mass destruction, vicious lies about children thrown into the ocean, 203 00:13:39.880 --> 00:13:41.660 nothing seems to stick. 204 00:13:43.220 --> 00:13:46.440 In part, I fear this is because in lecture theatres today, 205 00:13:46.540 --> 00:13:51.840 I face halls full of students who don't remember a time prior to the Howard government. 206 00:13:54.940 --> 00:13:55.540 Frightening. 207 00:13:56.020 --> 00:13:59.620 They were all seven or eight years old when he was elected, 208 00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:04.440 and for them, this style of politics is just business as usual. 209 00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:08.200 But there are many others who should know better, 210 00:14:08.300 --> 00:14:11.920 but who are unable or unwilling to hear criticism of Howard 211 00:14:11.920 --> 00:14:13.200 as anything more than just a 212 00:14:13.220 --> 00:14:17.380 petty, partisan, personal dislike of the man. 213 00:14:18.340 --> 00:14:23.800 The substance behind this, our critiques, is dismissed by rhetoric such as 214 00:14:23.800 --> 00:14:26.140 out of touch elites or Howard haters, 215 00:14:26.300 --> 00:14:32.500 and public debate becomes reduced to this simplistic left-right, us-versus-them, schoolyard squabble. 216 00:14:33.380 --> 00:14:37.500 The message is that critics like me are just bitter lefties 217 00:14:37.500 --> 00:14:41.420 who are pissed off because we can't get our own issues on the agenda anymore. 218 00:14:43.220 --> 00:14:45.740 But I want to let you in on a little secret here this morning, 219 00:14:45.880 --> 00:14:49.960 and that is that I was critical of the Keating government too. 220 00:14:51.660 --> 00:14:54.660 Like many Australians, I thought that the Labor government 221 00:14:55.220 --> 00:14:59.420 had advanced their own agenda of neoliberal economic reform 222 00:15:00.180 --> 00:15:03.480 to the disadvantage of issues that mattered to me, 223 00:15:03.560 --> 00:15:07.100 like gender equality that had been allowed to slip from the political agenda. 224 00:15:08.060 --> 00:15:12.360 I was critical of the Keating government in public on many occasions, 225 00:15:12.360 --> 00:15:16.980 but not once did anyone ever describe me as a Keating hater. 226 00:15:17.700 --> 00:15:21.940 For while I may have been critical of some Keating government policies, 227 00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:27.620 my right to articulate this criticism as an engaged and participating Australian citizen 228 00:15:27.620 --> 00:15:33.340 concerned to make Australian public policy as fair and inclusive as it could be 229 00:15:33.340 --> 00:15:34.800 was not in question. 230 00:15:36.040 --> 00:15:39.440 And this is what has changed in the last 11 years. 231 00:15:40.500 --> 00:15:42.340 Sadly, to the detriment of the Labor government, 232 00:15:42.340 --> 00:15:43.340 and to the detriment of all of us, 233 00:15:43.460 --> 00:15:48.940 Howard's own revisionist view of democracy has fundamentally changed our political culture. 234 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:54.220 A clue, I think, to Howard's views on democracy 235 00:15:54.220 --> 00:15:59.240 can be found in his often stated commitment of governing for Australia's mainstream. 236 00:16:00.500 --> 00:16:05.500 In his view, those who would challenge or criticise government are a noisy minority. 237 00:16:05.820 --> 00:16:09.420 He's also described it as representing boutique interests. 238 00:16:10.080 --> 00:16:13.760 His aim is for Australians to feel relaxed and comfortable, 239 00:16:13.980 --> 00:16:17.020 a state that includes political disengagement. 240 00:16:17.540 --> 00:16:21.600 Indeed, he has said that politics should not stir the passions of the people, 241 00:16:21.720 --> 00:16:24.860 and should be kept off the front pages of our newspapers. 242 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:31.160 Applied to the media, to universities, and to the non-government sector, 243 00:16:31.320 --> 00:16:36.180 this view has overseen a decline in the range of views to be heard in public debates. 244 00:16:36.840 --> 00:16:39.040 The references to mainstream Australia, 245 00:16:39.040 --> 00:16:40.900 and to political correctness, 246 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:43.540 and the dismissal of critics as out-of-touch elites, 247 00:16:43.820 --> 00:16:48.960 has dramatically reduced the range of legitimate voices now heard in public debate. 248 00:16:50.260 --> 00:16:52.640 But there's a deeper level again, I think. 249 00:16:53.500 --> 00:16:58.520 Howard's views on democracy rest on a particular understanding of human nature. 250 00:16:59.880 --> 00:17:03.820 Howard and his colleagues believe that it is normal and natural 251 00:17:03.820 --> 00:17:07.040 for people to be the sort of rational maximisers 252 00:17:07.580 --> 00:17:09.020 described in the economic and social media. 253 00:17:09.040 --> 00:17:11.280 They believe that the human nature is a form of self-fulfilling prophecy, 254 00:17:11.280 --> 00:17:11.600 and that it is not a self-fulfilling prophecy. 255 00:17:11.600 --> 00:17:18.260 In this view, human beings are understood to be fundamentally acquisitive, 256 00:17:19.020 --> 00:17:22.700 for whom consumption and acquisition are the means to happiness. 257 00:17:24.040 --> 00:17:27.560 Citizens are regarded as having little concern with democratic participation, 258 00:17:27.980 --> 00:17:30.620 unless it is in their own material interests. 259 00:17:32.340 --> 00:17:36.260 And this view of human nature has, I think, over the last 11 years, 260 00:17:36.260 --> 00:17:40.020 become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy amongst the Australian public. 261 00:17:40.820 --> 00:17:44.860 Self-interest, during this time, has been promoted as a virtue, 262 00:17:44.980 --> 00:17:48.560 as directing the way that good citizens should behave. 263 00:17:49.080 --> 00:17:53.700 It is now far more acceptable for citizens to see little value 264 00:17:53.700 --> 00:17:58.060 in public engagement or participation beyond their own material interests. 265 00:17:58.820 --> 00:18:02.860 Their disengagement is further exacerbated by the sorts of restrictions 266 00:18:02.860 --> 00:18:06.060 on the flow of information that we describe in the book. 267 00:18:06.900 --> 00:18:12.920 An uninformed population is, of course, far less able to hold its government to account. 268 00:18:14.760 --> 00:18:17.380 So we can see evidence for this, I think, 269 00:18:17.400 --> 00:18:20.200 if we look at Australians' views on the environment. 270 00:18:21.300 --> 00:18:23.500 According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 271 00:18:23.760 --> 00:18:31.260 in 1992, 75% of Australians described themselves as concerned about environmental problems. 272 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:35.380 By 2001, this had fallen to 62%. 273 00:18:35.380 --> 00:18:35.820 . 274 00:18:36.260 --> 00:18:41.620 And by 2004, only 57% of Australians described themselves 275 00:18:41.620 --> 00:18:43.880 as concerned about environmental problems. 276 00:18:45.120 --> 00:18:51.180 Now, during these same years, we have had a government that has gagged CSIRO climate scientists, 277 00:18:51.520 --> 00:18:56.920 attempted to silence environmental NGOs by threatening both their funding and their tax status, 278 00:18:57.180 --> 00:19:03.500 while allowing much of their climate policy to be written by the so-called Greenhouse Mafia, 279 00:19:03.540 --> 00:19:05.260 made up of fossil fuel lobbyists. 280 00:19:07.180 --> 00:19:13.080 During this same period, the Howard government itself has willfully ignored the evidence on climate change, 281 00:19:13.860 --> 00:19:19.200 preferring to believe that the science is nothing more than some ideologically driven lefty conspiracy 282 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:22.120 to undermine the free market of the mining industry. 283 00:19:23.800 --> 00:19:28.180 But as the public have at last begun to wake up to the mounting and irrefutable evidence, 284 00:19:28.460 --> 00:19:31.320 it is now, I think, the government that is looking a little foolish 285 00:19:31.320 --> 00:19:35.780 as they scramble to find a new position on climate change in time for the election. 286 00:19:37.120 --> 00:19:42.760 But this is just one example of the consequences of a government that has failed in its duty 287 00:19:42.760 --> 00:19:48.500 to maintain and preserve the democratic institutions entrusted to their care for their term in office. 288 00:19:50.080 --> 00:19:54.860 In the face of what we see as this government's abject failure to carry out their responsibility 289 00:19:54.860 --> 00:20:00.720 for protecting our democratic institutions, there are, thankfully, some signs of resistance. 290 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:04.000 And these are, of course, the way to the future. 291 00:20:05.160 --> 00:20:10.680 The last few days or weeks have thrown up a new test for a silenced Australia. 292 00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:15.920 And I cannot finish today without mentioning the latest threat to Australian democracy. 293 00:20:17.100 --> 00:20:22.980 Howard is now using his substantial political nous to create another children overboard, 294 00:20:23.400 --> 00:20:26.340 another weapons of mass destruction fixation, 295 00:20:26.580 --> 00:20:31.840 another scandalous issue in which he can position himself as the strongest of strong leaders, 296 00:20:32.100 --> 00:20:33.980 the father figure of a nation now. 297 00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:35.080 And he is now using his substantial political nous to create another child abuser. 298 00:20:35.080 --> 00:20:41.720 I am, of course, speaking about the Howard government's newly discovered emergency of child sexual abuse 299 00:20:41.720 --> 00:20:46.860 in the Northern Territory and the aptly described Trojan horse policy response 300 00:20:46.860 --> 00:20:53.220 that will see the federal government take control of land, communities and individual welfare payments 301 00:20:53.220 --> 00:20:56.840 in response to a report that recommended none of these things. 302 00:20:57.500 --> 00:21:03.940 This gross and aggressive policy response has been initiated with no consultation with Indigenous groups. 303 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:07.000 And communities, with the possible exception of Noel Pearson. 304 00:21:08.420 --> 00:21:14.280 Now let's think about the silencing strategies that have preceded and permitted this situation to occur. 305 00:21:15.020 --> 00:21:17.780 Most obviously, we have seen the abolition of ATSIC, 306 00:21:17.960 --> 00:21:21.500 another case where the recommendations of a report were ignored 307 00:21:21.500 --> 00:21:25.860 while government action was simultaneously justified as a response to the same report. 308 00:21:27.580 --> 00:21:31.800 Australia's Indigenous peoples now have no national Indigenous representative body, 309 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:33.980 unless, of course, you count the hand-picked 310 00:21:33.980 --> 00:21:36.240 National Indigenous Council, which I do not. 311 00:21:37.280 --> 00:21:42.360 The abolition of ATSIC took place in a context in which discourse about Indigenous rights 312 00:21:42.360 --> 00:21:47.200 had been progressively marginalised as ineffective and symbolic rhetoric, 313 00:21:47.420 --> 00:21:53.400 in which talk of past injustices in need of address was marginalised as a black armband view of history. 314 00:21:54.580 --> 00:22:00.660 These changes in discourse also served to marginalise some of the stronger and more effective Indigenous leaders, 315 00:22:00.840 --> 00:22:03.960 whose views were recast as outdated and impractical. 316 00:22:05.080 --> 00:22:11.940 In the year 2000, over a million non-Indigenous Australians marched across the Harbour Bridge for reconciliation, 317 00:22:12.820 --> 00:22:19.620 offering up to the Howard government a decade of grassroots conversation and commitment to the idea of reconciliation. 318 00:22:20.900 --> 00:22:24.340 In response, Howard and his government turned their backs. 319 00:22:24.660 --> 00:22:31.140 They turned their backs too on report after report that documented the appalling conditions in some remote communities. 320 00:22:31.360 --> 00:22:33.960 And they turned their back on the recommendations of the Australian Government, 321 00:22:33.960 --> 00:22:37.780 which were the only recommendations that have been made during the last 11 years to address some of these problems. 322 00:22:38.820 --> 00:22:43.020 Until now, when, coincidentally, just a few months out from an election, 323 00:22:43.260 --> 00:22:46.920 the Howard Government has declared an emergency in the Northern Territory, 324 00:22:46.960 --> 00:22:51.880 and are sending in the Army, the police and a cobbled-together collection of other professionals. 325 00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:56.440 The policies are poorly thought through in so many, many ways. 326 00:22:57.280 --> 00:23:00.800 But I have no doubt they have been extremely well thought through 327 00:23:00.800 --> 00:23:03.940 in relation to seizing control of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. 328 00:23:04.860 --> 00:23:06.320 They have been in the hands of the Australian Government for a long time, 329 00:23:07.120 --> 00:23:08.300 and they have been doing this for a long time. 330 00:23:09.560 --> 00:23:13.180 But the response from Indigenous communities has been swift, 331 00:23:13.380 --> 00:23:18.160 and we can expect to see more detailed statements and recommendations emerge 332 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:22.760 from a new coalition of Northern Territory Indigenous organisations in the next couple of weeks. 333 00:23:23.660 --> 00:23:27.280 But the individuals who have come together to organise this response 334 00:23:27.280 --> 00:23:31.220 do so in the sort of political climate that I've described this morning. 335 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:33.940 Their organisations risk death, 336 00:23:33.960 --> 00:23:34.220 and they are not necessarily funding. 337 00:23:34.620 --> 00:23:38.280 Their own reputations may be trashed, as so many others have been. 338 00:23:38.800 --> 00:23:42.960 There is no institutional or representative capacity remaining 339 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:48.700 that will assist them to speak up and to be heard in the public policy debate we must have on this issue. 340 00:23:51.140 --> 00:23:54.720 Standing up to the level of dishonesty and political manipulation 341 00:23:54.720 --> 00:23:57.220 that is evident in tactics such as these 342 00:23:57.220 --> 00:24:00.440 demonstrate the triumph of conscience over fear. 343 00:24:00.440 --> 00:24:08.580 In the face of a Government that has repeatedly pilloried individuals for speaking out or for just doing their job, 344 00:24:08.760 --> 00:24:13.000 these actions take courage and a determination to let principle prevail, 345 00:24:13.340 --> 00:24:17.660 regardless of the personal, professional or organisational consequences. 346 00:24:19.540 --> 00:24:24.400 The central argument in silencing dissent is that every Australian citizen 347 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:30.340 deserves a democracy in which dissent is considered to be part of a robust democracy. 348 00:24:30.440 --> 00:24:30.740 A democratic process 349 00:24:30.740 --> 00:24:34.820 in which our universities and our broader research community 350 00:24:34.820 --> 00:24:36.820 are at the cutting edge of new ideas 351 00:24:36.820 --> 00:24:38.900 and free of ideological intervention. 352 00:24:40.020 --> 00:24:43.240 We deserve a public service and statutory authorities 353 00:24:43.240 --> 00:24:46.640 that are free to provide the sort of frank and fearless advice 354 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:48.060 that they are intended to provide 355 00:24:48.060 --> 00:24:50.300 without worrying about retribution. 356 00:24:51.340 --> 00:24:54.760 We deserve a media that is committed to and enabled in 357 00:24:54.760 --> 00:24:57.940 its work of communicating political decisions to the general public 358 00:24:57.940 --> 00:24:59.860 without bias or interference. 359 00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:04.260 We deserve a non-government sector that is properly resourced 360 00:25:04.260 --> 00:25:07.920 and unafraid to provide a critical voice in public policy debates. 361 00:25:08.380 --> 00:25:13.460 We deserve military and intelligence services that are able to place national security 362 00:25:13.460 --> 00:25:16.560 above political loyalty at all times. 363 00:25:17.140 --> 00:25:20.460 And we deserve parliamentary institutions like the Senate 364 00:25:20.460 --> 00:25:23.800 that provide an effective check on executive power. 365 00:25:25.060 --> 00:25:28.140 But to preserve and to maintain these institutions, 366 00:25:28.560 --> 00:25:30.220 democracy needs champions. 367 00:25:31.420 --> 00:25:34.560 Under Howard, Australian political culture has declined 368 00:25:34.560 --> 00:25:36.940 to the point where speaking up is the exception 369 00:25:36.940 --> 00:25:39.440 and remaining quiet is the norm. 370 00:25:40.520 --> 00:25:43.620 Over the last few years, many people have wondered aloud 371 00:25:43.620 --> 00:25:46.860 how it is that the government, and especially the Prime Minister, 372 00:25:47.100 --> 00:25:50.540 have escaped censure for creating a culture of political deception. 373 00:25:51.880 --> 00:25:55.380 We believe that this transformation of the democratic landscape 374 00:25:55.380 --> 00:25:59.700 explains how and why this government has not been brought to account. 375 00:26:00.920 --> 00:26:04.460 Beyond the limited democracy offered by the electoral process, 376 00:26:04.780 --> 00:26:07.700 there is now much tighter control over the flow of information 377 00:26:07.700 --> 00:26:10.080 that should help to keep citizens informed. 378 00:26:10.840 --> 00:26:14.200 There are fewer forums in which dissenting voices can be heard. 379 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:19.280 And there is an increasingly rigid insistence that only those anointed by the government 380 00:26:19.280 --> 00:26:20.540 should be heard at all. 381 00:26:22.520 --> 00:26:26.560 Authoritarianism can only flourish where our democracy has been eroded. 382 00:26:27.560 --> 00:26:30.960 In the normal course of affairs, most people don't think much 383 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:33.120 about the health of their democracy. 384 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:34.820 We take it for granted. 385 00:26:35.640 --> 00:26:39.060 The creeping authoritarianism of the last decade, however, 386 00:26:39.260 --> 00:26:42.300 is cause for us all to wake from our slumber. 387 00:26:44.060 --> 00:26:45.960 Democracy is a noble ideal. 388 00:26:46.140 --> 00:26:50.800 It is a prize for those of us prepared to promote and defend it. 389 00:26:51.620 --> 00:26:56.340 When democratic institutions are eroded, authoritarianism is not far behind. 390 00:26:56.400 --> 00:26:56.540 It is a prize for those of us prepared to promote and defend it. 391 00:26:56.560 --> 00:26:57.280 When democratic institutions are eroded, authoritarianism is not far behind. 392 00:26:57.300 --> 00:27:01.160 In light of this, it is time to reassert the role of dissent 393 00:27:01.160 --> 00:27:05.980 and to praise the contribution to democracy made by those who speak out, 394 00:27:06.100 --> 00:27:09.300 who engage in debate, and who criticise the powerful, 395 00:27:09.560 --> 00:27:13.240 no matter how uncomfortable it may make the government of the day. 396 00:27:13.720 --> 00:27:16.060 Because democracy is worth defending. 397 00:27:36.420 --> 00:27:37.020 Thank you. 398 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:45.860 Thank you Sarah, and thanks for giving us both an incredibly disturbing and incredibly inspiring speech. 399 00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:50.600 And also for giving us a bit of a precursor of your next book, 400 00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:54.820 which is on indigenous issues and indigenous activism. 401 00:27:55.460 --> 00:27:56.540