THE ‘CULTURE’ in the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA) is broken. 

Mick Palmer apparently says so.  The ALP says so.  So too does the Anglican Church, some opinion writers and a whole bunch of the department’s clients.

But it is apparently not the fault of the Minister.  “If there is a failure for which the Minister is not directly responsible, it’s not fair to say the Minister should lose his or her head — that’s a fair principle,” says the Prime Minister.

“I think ministers should go when plainly they have been directly responsible, and I think ministers should be in difficulty if their continued presence is an embarrassment to the Government. I don’t think that could ever be said of Mr Ruddock or Senator Vanstone.”

So, by the Prime Minister’s logic, the Minister is not directly responsible for that which occurs within his or her department, and the criterion by which the Ministers’ competence is determined is whether they become an embarrassment for the Government.  Forget right and wrong.  Forget due process.  Just manage to keep your head below the firing line and you’re there for the life of the Government.  That’s why ministers get the big
taxpayer funded salaries;  to deflect embarrassment away from the government.

Neither, apparently, is it the fault of the Head of the Department.  As we now know, the bureaucrat who presided over the discredited ‘culture’ within DIMIA has since been awarded the highest order which can be given in this country, the Companion of the Order of Australia, and presented with a coveted diplomatic position well away from the domestic media spotlight. 

Little chance then of his continued presence proving ‘an embarrassment to the Government’.  And he leaves the department with the carefully worded endorsement of the Prime Minister.  “Bill Farmer has been a very loyal and professional and very effective person in the Department of Foreign Affairs, and he’s also led Immigration during a time of unprecedented strain on the resources of the department”.

Just where does the back stop with this government?  How low can they push the level of accountability for spectacular blunders like those at DIMIA over the past couple of years? As low as they like, apparently.  Kim Beazley told the National Press club on April 13 that his opposition would return to the traditional role of holding the government to account.  “We should be tested on how we perform our real role in the Westminster system —  giving the Government curry when it does the wrong thing”, he promised.  Right.  So who is accountable for the DIMIA Debacle and what is the ALP doing about it?

Where’s the curry, Kim?

Code of conduct

Isn’t it time we started talking about government accountability?  We should demand a ministerial code of conduct that does not resemble the ozone layer in the magnitude of the holes it contains for ministers to step through.  It should be a code which requires ministers to accept responsibility for the performance of their departments; good and ordinary.

It should measure the performance of the minister across a range of criteria which include public,  client and stakeholder satisfaction.  It should promote ethical and transparent decision making, and decry blatant political maneuvering. It should state clearly, and reinforce, the apolitical nature of the role of departmental staff.

Maybe (heaven forbid) we could measure each department against their stated Client Service Charter.  DIMIA’s charter is, in light of their recent performance, very amusing reading).

If the barely recognisable parliamentary opposition is afraid to push for such a code of conduct, we should establish 150 of our own electoral committees to assess the performance of each elected representative.

Perhaps there is some merit in not blaming Ruddock or Vanstone or Farmer for the deplorable state of the ‘culture’ of DIMIA.  Perhaps we should be focusing not on the ‘culture’ of one department, but on the ‘culture’ of this government.  Who then accepts accountability for the ‘culture’ of deceit, arrogance, nepotism and politicisation of the previously apolitical institutions of this country?

“One extra hot curry for the small chap with glasses sitting alone at table one.”

If only we had a chef.

Rosinante Quixote (a latest bio is on its way)