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Government advertising lurk unveiled. Public announcements, private secrets

by Rex Patrick | Jan 6, 2025 | Government, Latest Posts

Government advertising is always a controversial topic. Is it in the public interest, or just political party spruiking at taxpayer expense? Rex Patrick on the government’s huge advertising spend.

News that the Federal Government has spent a record of $251 million on advertising last year has raised integrity questions, and accusations of vote buying.

Naughty and nice

Of course, some Government advertising is needed and there have been a number of campaigns that would squarely pass the test of being necessary and appropriate.

Defence Force recruitment advertisements, asbestos awareness campaigns and child safety campaigns fit this category. They are ads that seek to encourage individuals to do something; sign up to the ADF; avoid putting themselves in harm’s way in relation to asbestos; or, for parents to talk to their children about inappropriate touching or the inappropriateness of tweens and teens sending naked pictures to ‘friends’ and ‘internet acquaintances’.

Then there is other advertising that is little more than self-promotion. It’s “hey, look at how good a government we are” vote buying advertising.

Tax cuts and FMIA campaigns questionable

Stage 3 tax cuts changes and Future Made in Australia campaigns fit into this second highly questionable category. These campaigns were about increases in the amount on money that automatically went back into a person’s bank account when they received their pay or about a government manufacturing policy. Neither required citizens do anything.

it’s not okay just because the major parties both do it

This is victory lap advertising designed to tell what the Government has done in the hope that voters might be more inclined to vote them back into power.

This is not just the current Labor Government doing this. Coalition governments have done the same when they were in power. But it’s not okay just because the major parties both do it.

But there’s an extra smell to the Albanese Government’s approach.

Cabinet role

In order to understand the smell better, it is necessary to understand the purpose of Cabinet and Cabinet confidentiality.

Australia has a cabinet system of government. That is, a government made up of ministers, drawn from parliamentarians of the party that hold the numbers necessary in the House to pass supply bills. From these ministers the Prime Minister (PM) nominates senior ministers to form Cabinet.

The Cabinet is the central decision-making body of the executive government bound by two conventions; all members are bound to support the collective decisions of Cabinet, and the discussions in Cabinet are absolutely confidential.

All major policies of a government are approved by Cabinet and all major decisions of Government are taken by Cabinet. They are taken secretly and collectively – any revelation of a division in Cabinet (caused by a breach of secrecy) or split in solidarity can give rise to a loss of confidence in the government, which could in turn cause a vote of no confidence in the House of Representatives to discharge a government.

The secrecy of cabinet is really important; but not because of the content being deliberated by cabinet, rather because of the need for collective responsibility.

Federal Court Justice White ruled that PM Scott Morrison’s (and, flowing from that, PM Albanese’s) National Cabinet is not a Cabinet deserving of secrecy, because it is not a body which has collective responsibility; State Premiers and Chief Ministers can walk away from National Cabinet not agreeing with its decisions. (as we saw divided decisions on the closure of schools and borders during COVID).

There are, however, sub committees of Cabinet that enjoy Cabinet secrecy protections – the National Security Committee and the Expenditure (Budget) Review Committee of Cabinet are examples.

Informal and powerless

Cabinet is not mentioned in the constitution and it has no formal power – its decisions are implemented by the executive powers of the Governor-General through recommendations of Cabinet, the powers of ministers on instruction from Cabinet and through legislation (assuming a government can get the legislation through the Parliament).

Cabinet is a creature of convention only, with the membership, structure and rules determined by the PM, within the bounds of the constitution and the law.

Cabinet abuse

The lack of formality around Cabinet, coupled with its accepted secrecy status, can give rise to abuse.

Putting aside the issue of Scott Morrison’s erroneous claims as to the status of National Cabinet, motivated by his default desire for government secrecy, he provided us with a much more sinister abuse; his Governance Committee of Cabinet.

The Governance Committee of Cabinet was set up by Morrison to provide advice and oversight of governance and integrity issues, which included, but were not limited to, the Statement of Ministerial Standards and issues arising from the Lobbyist Code.

It consisted of Morrison himself, Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce then Micheal McCormack then Joyce again, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and attorneys-general Christian Porter then Michaelia Cash.

Issues of governance and integrity are ones that require absolute transparency. By setting up this committee all scandals including Sports Rorts, Car Park Rorts or breaches of ministerial standards could be referred to the Governance Committee of Cabinet so they became Cabinet secrets and could be buried in the vaults of the National Archives for at least 20 years.

Morrison’s dirty little secrets committee

It was Morrisons ‘dirty little secrets committee of Cabinet’ serving as a vacuum cleaner for all manner of scandal.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised higher standards of governance and transparency and he did not set up such a committee when he formed Government in 2022.

On day one of his new government Albanese did set up a new Cabinet Committee structure, and in doing so set up a new dirty little government secrets committee one dealing with the vexed issue of government advertising – the “Government Communications Subcommittee” of Cabinet.

Albo’s advertising secrets sub-committee

The designated function of the Subcommittee is to provide oversight and coordination of Government advertising. 

The Subcommittee’s members are Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, Education Minister Jason Clare, Special Minister of State Don Farrell, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister Patrick Gorman. 

The normal government advertising governance regime has been for a department to propose a brief to a minister, the minister endorses it and the Independent Communications Committee reviews it for compliance with the Australian Government Guidelines on Information and Advertising Campaigns by non-corporate Commonwealth entities.

Importantly, both the Parliament and citizens using Freedom of Information (FOI) rights could request access to the brief to the ministers, the minister’s endorsement documents and the Independent Communications Committee’s documents to conduct their own scrutiny of government advertising decisions.

But under the Government Communications Subcommittee of Cabinet regime set up by Anthony Albanese, the briefs that went to the Minister are now effectively Cabinet briefs, the minister’s endorsement is now the endorsement of Cabinet and the Independent Communications Committee is left dealing with Cabinet documentation.

All of this is now beyond the reach of the Parliament and the FOI regime.

I know this because in April 2023 I requested Independent Communications Committee documents using FOI and got a response littered with (FOI Act Section 34) Cabinet exemption claims.

Results for Independent Communications Committee documents FOI

Results for Independent Communications Committee documents FOI

The Government Communications Subcommittee of Cabinet does not deal with major policies or major decisions of Government. It’s a deliberately crafted vacuum cleaner for all manner of advertising scandal constituting abuse of taxpayer funds.

It’s a smelly road-block on integrity checking.

And a corruption incubator

Many people think that corruption by politicians involves the receipt of some form of financial benefit. But that isn’t the case.

Politicians, including ministers, are not only chosen by the people but exercise their legislative and executive powers as representatives of the people. They have a fundamental duty to serve and, in serving, to act with fidelity and with a single-mindedness for the welfare of the community’. These are not my words, rather words adopted by Justices Gageler, Nettle and Gordan in the High Court case of Day [No 2] [2017] HCA 14.

Ministers stray from their duty when they do anything which involves conscious self-interest. That self-interest includes the desire to stay in power. And when it involves the use of public money, the breach of duty turns into one of corruption.

The UniParty Reform | The West Report

No-one can say Anthony Albanese’s ministerial colleagues are engaging in corruption in spending taxpayers’ money on advertising with the goal of winning votes (note that decisions of the Government Communications Subcommittee of Cabinet need to be endorsed by the Cabinet).

That would need to be evidenced by specific facts. But those facts are not available to anyone wanting to know, and won’t be until 2044/5 when knowledge of it will be of no practical accountability use.

What we can say is that Albanese has, in a considered decision early in his reign as PM, set up a corruption incubator. He promised better, but went another way. As government advertising surges in the run-up to this year’s federal election, voters should think about that.

Rex Patrick

Rex Patrick is a former Senator for South Australia and earlier a submariner in the armed forces. Best known as an anti-corruption and transparency crusader, Rex is running for the Senate on the Lambie Network ticket next year - www.transparencywarrior.com.au.

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