Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Stephen Charles and Catherine Williams, Scribe Publications, $32.99.
This book is disturbing – and it’s meant to be. The authors have listed a series of corrupt activities charting a decline in the integrity of Australian public and political life.
The subtitle – the case for a genuine national integrity commission and other vital democratic reforms – speaks for itself. The authors explain what we need to do to expose political corruption, uphold accountability and restore trust – and why we need to do it now.
Stephen Charles is a former Judge of Appeal in the Supreme Court of Victoria and Catherine Williams, a research director of the Centre for Public Integrity.
Over the last few years, instances of federal government spending taxpayers’ money to gain improper political advantage in elections have continued, with many hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on the Community Sport Infrastructure Program and the Urban Congestion Fund.
As Stephen writes: these electorally targeted pork-barrelling exercises are better understood as political corruption, which can take many forms but essentially involves dishonest conduct that undermines trust in our democratic political process.
Keeping Them Honest points to the crucial absence of a federal integrity commission to expose corruption in government and public administration, and to hold wrongdoers to account.
Catherine reveals: there is an overwhelming need to deal with the dark side of Australia’s political system. The hidden influence of political donors and lobbyists, including the revolving door between lobbyists and former ministers; the absence of controls on electoral expenditure and political advertising; and the cavalier, unregulated expenditure of public money.
It’s a revealing and compelling case for a strong national body to expose political corruption, uphold accountability, and restore trust – and why the country needs it now.
Charles and Williams make an informative and convincing case for the establishment of a strong national anti-corruption body and the enactment of other vital democratic reforms.
