Week of doom in Australia's political sky
By Dewi Anggraeni
MELBOURNE (JP): From where I see it, someone has cast a black spell on the Howard coalition government. How else could one explain such an unprecedented political disaster, where ministers and senior advisers fell out like flies in one single week?
While Prime Minister John Howard was probably still wondering whether he had waken up physically entering a soap opera, where people seem to hop from trauma to trauma, the Opposition could be forgiven for thinking that all their Christmases had come at once. So far, two ministers from the National Party and one minister from the Liberal Party, together with three ministerial staff members -- two of whom were from the PM's office, have fallen victim to this sinister spell.
The spell took the form of a check on ministerial travel expenses. Allowances of US$240 a night for overnight stays in capital cities, $124 in other cities and $109 elsewhere are given to ministers while performing their duties. Reasonable and far from extravagant in anyone's language.
On Sept. 23, Laurie Oakes, a journalist from the Nine Network revealed that John Sharp, the federal transport minister, had repaid $6,555 in travel expenses.
The story behind this mysterious repayment goes back to the period between March 1996 and January 1997, where the minister claimed a travel allowance of $21,904 for 144 nights away from his home in the New South Wales city of Goulburn.
In May, when the Minister for Administrative Services David Jull announced that all travel allowance details would be made public, Sharp amended the figure to $15,349 for 97 nights. It turned out that on 47 of the 144 nights he claimed to be away he was actually at home. It appeared then that minister Jull did not notify the Prime Minister's office about receipt of Sharp's amendment check for $6,555. This revelation drew calls from the Opposition for Howard to sack Sharp for defrauding taxpayers' money and Jull for covering up the fraud.
Sharp denied he had acted dishonestly, claiming that he had made an honest mistake. In a television interview on ABC's 7:30 Report, the minister explained that since he had not filled out claims regularly, when he had made claims for 10 months, he had inadvertently included nights when he had been at home.
It was no doubt a likely story (no sarcasm intended), however in politics, at least in Australian politics, once a mistake is found out, you are gone. So last Wednesday, Sharp, who had been touted as a candidate for National Party leadership, and friend and fellow minister Jull, were forced to offer their resignations which the PM accepted.
A big blow to the ministers and a deep embarrassment all around, because Howard, who has always said that his government is based on honesty and integrity, had to suffer the indignity of being seen as not in control of his ministers' performances.
As if that were not painful enough, last Thursday, the Opposition alleged that Peter McGauran, the minister for science and technology, also had irregularities in his travel claims. The relentless spotlight then fell on the minister who had the door of inner ministry only a few steps away.
On the same day, like a ghost who came back to haunt its enemy, a signed statement from John Sutherland, the chief of staff of the former minister for administrative services David Jull, arrived at the PM's desk.
The statement suggested that in May, Sutherland, who later also resigned, had indeed brought up the subject of the repayment of travel claims by ministers with two of the PM's advisors, Grahame Morris and Fiona McKenna. The PM promptly called his staff and departmental staff to establish whether his office was implicated.
Grahame Morris, the PM's loyal senior advisor, who had served Howard for 20 years, said he had no recollection of any such conversation. Fiona McKenna, the PM's chief of staff, said she had a vague recollection of some conversation, but that there had been no substantial discussion in detail. Unfortunately for them, there were records within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet of discussions between the Prime Minister's office and David Jull's office on the issue.
Convinced that his own office had been implicated, the PM terminated the services of Morris and McKenna "with great regret".
The ball of doom was still rolling. On that same afternoon the Minister for Science and Technology Peter McGauran admitted to Parliament that he had made two incorrect travel allowance claims and that his office had paid for a charter flight not directly linked to his work. And last Friday he resigned his portfolio.
When all the heads have rolled down the hill and the dust settles, one would not help but wonder, what has all this achieved? Did the government want to prove that it had cleansed all the impurities and therefore regained its mandate to govern, so to speak?
In all seriousness, the amount involved is so small in the grand scheme of government, that it might be useful to ask, is the code of conduct imposed by the PM realistic? Does it allow for honest mistakes?
On the other hand, a periodical bloodletting may be necessary to remind ministers and other members of parliament of the responsibility they have over taxpayers' money.
In the meantime, the real business of governing the country has been seriously disrupted, and the wounds will no doubt take a long time to heal.
The writer is a freelance journalist based in Melbourne.