I guess it takes a whistleblower to understand just what another whistleblower has been through! And make no mistakes about it, that’s exactly what Bob Cheek has been — a public whistleblower.
He’s lifted the lid on the dark and unseemly side Tasmanian politics.
Regrettably, it doesn’t end in the Parliament of Tasmania either. Mr Cheek has effectively made a huge ‘public interest disclosure’ that exposes the culture of power, privilege and arrogance in our State — at its highest levels of polity.
And it seems that culture is not averse to lying, deceit and cover up. Sadly and all too often in this little State we see new examples of someone mad enough to try to make a difference — tell it how it is — rather than keeping the lid on a cosy, comfortable and well-heeled life-style of the rich, power-hungry and sometimes the maniacal!
We don’t often see a warts & all exposure on this under-belly of public life. That’s because there’s an unwritten lore that expects compliance, that’s code for ‘you don’t dob in on your mates’.
But what happens when an individual finds him or herself in a culture that is operating unethically and without proper checks & balances? What happens when a naïve new kid on the block finds him or herself in one of those cosy ‘mates’ or ‘old boys’ cultures?
There are two options for the new chum — go with the flow (hear no evil/see no evil/speak no evil) or stand up for what you believe in.
The regrettable thing about Tasmanian public service is how pervasive and entrenched these arrogant cultures are. But these cultures have an inherent instability built into them because they rely on total solidarity and heaps of subterfuge to keep them going.
They demand total loyalty — not to the institution or the department — but to the hierarchy of power. That’s where money plays a big part in the compliance code … money rules!
Courageous Bob has broken all the hidden rules. They probably loved some of his ideas — because these cultures greedily covet new ideas — but they don’t like free thinkers. You pay the price for that.
Mr Cheek, you have done Tasmania a great service. My prediction is that no one will sue you because that would do exactly what they do not want — further exposure and a greater deterioration in the public’s confidence of their democratically elected leaders.
David Obendorf is a veterinarian with his own whistleblower experiences
