Politics and science are very uncomfortable bed fellows — even at the best of times.
Witness the Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) program which has evidence of strict political control at the expense of scientific freedom.
Wrong-headed … as I have pointed out. From the State Government’s point of view, I dare say, they wanted maximal control exerted over zoologists and veterinarians.
After the scientific meeting to discuss the devil facial cancer in October 2003, I realised that the government was not going to follow the conventional veterinary approach to investigate this new animal disease in Tasmania. The government cannot claim ignorance in this convention.
May 2004 saw the premiere of natural history film-maker David Parer’s documentary on the devil — Terrors in Tasmania. At the screening one of the DFTD government scientists told me privately of the concerns for scientific independence of the research because the Government had effectively employed all devil researchers in the State. Another government scientist asked me to encourage someone to list the devil as a threatened species. Little wonder that none of these matters were raised by them at the after-screening discussion — their controller was present.
DPIWE has always been a deeply politicised agency and the decision in the early 1990s to combine primary industries with environment into a mega-department was completely politically motivated. Department scientists on the government’s pay-roll realised this all too well and it has created a constant tension between the honesty of science and the perception of politics.
The State needs to employ well-trained scientists to underpin state legislation covering environmental protection, land management, threatened species, animal health & welfare, pollution control. Yet all too often, as FOI applications prove, science-based reports & assessments are modified, manipulated and corrected by political managers further up the bureaucracy. Science is corrupted for political ends and the scientists on the pay roll usually cop it sweet!
Truthfulness will overcome bullying
Many professionals within the agency know of and use the term ‘golden hand-cuffs’ to define a life of virtual intellectual imprisonment in the employ of government. The term has visions of captivity and bondage and yet with the prospect of remuneration under restraint.
Imagine how that ethos affects staff morale and efficiency. Imagine what it does for public policy!
As a former scientist who worked for 17 years in this mega-department I can confidently say that solidarity and truthfulness can and will overcome bullying, harassment and intimidation. Don’t allow science and truth to be abused, manipulated or altered. You are entitled as scientists, even within a government system, to have the truth correctly and honesty reported.
Tasmania has some statutes that protect public servants who know and report cases of improper conduct or detrimental action by public officers and public bodies or cases of workplace bullying, intimidation or harassment. They are the Public Interest Disclosures Act 2002 and the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998. I would encourage all public servants to read these statues.
I know from my own experience that ‘protection’ and ‘justice’ under the rule of law can be very lofty sentiments and yet can be rather hollow in practice. Some public servants will never trust these systems to provide protection for those who speak up and out against corrupt behaviour, mismanagement, threats to public health, safety or environmental harm, bullying, intimidation or harassment.
There is a saying that has become a great personal friend to me — ‘The world can be a place of evil, not because of the evil that some do, but because people who know the truth, do nothing.’
