Dr Warwick Raverty
Even if His Excellency were loath to take that unusual step, what a message such a petition would send to the State ALP and to Mr Rudd in Canberra. And it would not really matter greatly if all these letters failed to prompt the Governor to sack Mr Lennon’s Government. I would remind you that the Gallipoli campaign that we have just celebrated and honoured was one of the great failures of military history. And yet, despite the fact that all of the courage and sacrifice made by the men and women who served at Gallipoli ended in military failure, today their actions form a major element in our Australian culture and our collective psyche. In the same way, your much smaller sacrifice of time in sending a single letter like this to the Governor could become major stand for the rights of ordinary Australian people that would be honoured by future generations. Just imagine headlines in the New York Times and The Times of London saying ‘100,000 Tasmanians Ask Governor to Sack Government’.
Speech for Tasmanians for as Healthy Democracy Public Meeting,
Tailrace Centre, Riverside, Tasmania, 29th April 2008 by Warwick Raverty
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I only have eight minutes tonight, so I will keep this very simple. The first thing that I have to say to you all tonight is that what I am about to tell you is my own personal opinion and that it does not represent the opinion of my employer. That said, I am here tonight because, in my personal opinion, I feel strongly that Tasmania is a failed democracy.
Lindsay Tuffin has just told you about the fundamental importance of truth in a healthy democracy ( Why Public Truth matters ). I could spend the next 7 minutes talking about the lies that Paul Lennon has told about me, the lies that Steve Kons has told about me and the lies that John Gay has told about me, but most of you have heard all that before. I
would certainly like a Royal Commission here in Tasmania to restore honesty and ethical standards in Tasmanian public administration. But I can’t see Mr Lennon’s Government establishing one. And in thinking about this problem and trying to find a way forward out of this mess, I started asking myself what sort of oath of office, or oath of allegiance a Tasmanian Premier might have to swear before being duly appointed.
So I did a little research on the Tasmanian parliamentary website – I am a research scientist after all! I searched using the terms: ‘Oath of Allegiance’, ‘Oath of Office’, ‘Code of Ethical Conduct’ and in each case I received the following response:
‘There was a problem with the page you are trying to reach and it cannot be displayed’
And that just about sums up the present Tasmanian Government, doesn’t it?
‘There is a problem with our parliamentary Code of Ethical Conduct and it cannot be displayed’!
But I didn’t draw a complete blank. Thanks to good old Google and Lindsay Tuffin’s remarkable publication, I discovered that a lady called Geraldine Allan, had obviously been into the bowels of the Parliamentary Library, or perhaps she had rummaged through Steve Kons’ waste paper bin in Burnie – I couldn’t find out those details – Ms Allan had managed to copy and publish a highly secret Tasmanian document. It is called:
‘CODE OF ETHICAL CONDUCT FOR MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY’
And the PREAMBLE of this document says, ‘As Members of the House of Assembly we recognise that our actions have a profound impact on the lives of all Tasmanian people. Fulfilling our obligations and discharging our duties responsibly requires a commitment to the highest ethical standards.’
Then, apparently, newly elected MHAs are apparently required to make to the Governor a STATEMENT OF COMMlTMENT which reads:
To the people of this State, we owe the responsible execution of our official duties, in order to promote human and environmental welfare. To our constituents, we owe honesty, accessibility, accountability, courtesy and understanding. To our colleagues in this Assembly, we owe loyalty to shared principles, respect for differences, and fairness in political dealings. We believe that the fundamental objective of public office is: to serve our fellow citizens with integrity in order to improve the
economic and social conditions of all Tasmanian people. We reject political corruption and will refuse to participate in unethical political practices which tend to undermine the democratic traditions of our State and its institutions.
Now I have read that Statement many times now and I can’t see the name of Gunns Limited, or Federal Hotels mentioned a single time. I would now ask anyone in this hall tonight who believes that the Lennon Government has gone even 10% along the way to honouring that commitment to raise their hand. (Not one single hand from 680 people was raised in response.)
So if these secret statements are in fact the cornerstones of Tasmanian democracy, I ask you all to compare and contrast the words and actions of Paul Lennon and all members of the Parliamentary ALP and decide for yourselves whether or not the foundations of your democracy are rotten to the core.
In trying to find a solution that I could recommend to you all, I went back to the Tasmanian parliamentary web page and I read on, and I found something very interesting. It concerns the powers of your Governor. Now I am not a monarchist, but while we live under a monarchy let’s see how we might use the fact to achieve something that about 77% of people in Tasmania want (at last count) – the removal of Paul Lennon and the establishment of a Royal Commission into the activities of the present Government. This is what I read about the powers of the Governor of Tasmania:
The Governor has considerable powers but in accordance with our system of parliamentary democracy those powers are in the main exercised on the advice of the Premier or the Executive Council. But the Governor’s constitutional role is not purely formal. There are situations when Governors are obliged to act on their own initiative or exercise their own discretion. Governors also have a responsibility to ask questions of the Government of the day or require further information if it appears that there may be some doubt about the legality or procedural regularity of any action which the Governor is being asked to take. That does not mean that Governors question government policy, but they are obliged to scrutinise and raise questions about matters brought before them as part of their wider responsibility to see that the processes of government are conducted lawfully and regularly.
In essence, the Governor’s function is to protect the Constitution, secure the orderly transition of governments and facilitate the work of Parliament and the Government. In performing those functions the Governor acts both on behalf of the Government and on behalf of the whole of the State and its people.
So, there lies the best solution that I can find. You can petition Parliament until you are blue in the face – probably from inhaling rotten egg gas – Parliament is not going to grant you a Royal Commission.
However, if 250,000 people in this state, or even 100,000 people, wrote a letter to the governor along the following lines:
Your address
Date of letter
The Hon. Peter Underwood
Governor of Tasmania
Government House
Lower Domain Road
Hobart TAS 7000
Your Excellency,
I am a citizen of Australia and I am enrolled to vote in the State electorate of [insert name of your electorate]. I have become deeply concerned about the way in which the Lennon Labour Government has trampled on the commitments regarding Ethical Conduct that its members made to you in 2006. I have absolutely no confidence that the present Government will act in a manner that honours that commitment between now and 2010. I therefore humbly beseech you to exercise your discretionary powers and sack the Lennon Labour Government as soon as possible and to appoint a caretaker government comprising members of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition parties, whose sole duties shall be:
1. To call an election of the House of Assembly at the earliest opportunity; and
2. To hold a voters’ poll at the election that will as electors two questions:
a. Should a Royal Commission be established by the next Government to investigate allegations of Government and public sector corruption and procedural irregularity between 2002 and 2008 and to recommend any necessary remedial measures?
b. Should the next Government revoke the Pulp Mill Assessment Act 2007 and the current State parliamentary approval for Gunns’ pulp mill proposal and direct Gunns limited to resubmit their proposal to the Resource Planning and Development Commission?
I do not make this request lightly, but do so in the firm belief that the lack of procedural regularity in the actions of the Lennon Labour Government has seriously undermined the democratic traditions of Tasmania and its institutions to a low level that is unprecedented in the recent history of this State.
Yours faithfully,
Joan Citizen
Even if His Excellency were loath to take that unusual step, what a message such a petition would send to the State ALP and to Mr Rudd in Canberra. And it would not really matter greatly if all these letters failed to prompt the Governor to sack Mr Lennon’s Government. I would remind you that the Gallipoli campaign that we have just celebrated and honoured was one of the great failures of military history. And yet, despite the fact that all of the courage and sacrifice made by the men and women who served at Gallipoli ended in military failure, today their actions form a major element in our Australian culture and our collective psyche. In the same way, your much smaller sacrifice of time in sending a single letter like this to the Governor could become major stand for the rights of ordinary Australian people that would be honoured by future generations. Just imagine headlines in the New York Times and The Times of London saying ‘100,000 Tasmanians Ask Governor to Sack Government’.
Finally, as someone from the wrong side of Bass Strait, I congratulate you all for what you have done in the last 2 years to protect your right to clean air, clean water and healthy forests. It is easy to become disheartened and apathetic in the modern world where corporate spin and its ability to protect corporate power and vested interests against democracy seems to grow day by day. But you by being here tonight, you have shown that you have not become cynical. The world can be changed by people of goodwill like you and me standing up and defending what our parents and grandparents fought for. So give yourselves a pat on the back, get involved if you are not already, and above all, keep fighting.
What are the Governor’s powers? Read the words of Sir Guy Green: Governors, democracy and the rule of law
