The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services has found many failures, including that of leadership, deeply ingrained cultural issues, problems with governance and accountability and unethical conduct. It is certain that it will lead to recommendations for change and, hopefully, significant improvement in behaviour. Politics affects us and our lives much more than a single sector of the economy and a Royal Commission into Misconduct in Politics would be valuable and yield much benefit.
We all know that the same problems the Royal Commission has found in banking are magnified many times over in our political systems. There is no doubt that failures of leadership, deeply ingrained cultural issues, problems with governance and accountability and unethical conduct are commonplace in politics yet politicians seem to be untouched. It is time that they are called to account.
Given the behaviour and the effect on all of us politicians are due for scrutiny. I am sure that some oversight over our politicians and political parties would be beneficial including:
- Committee of non-parliamentarians overseeing ethical conduct of politicians. This committee should have the power to sanction, fine and even dismiss a politician for unethical conduct;
- What about a committee for political stupidity? Again made up of non-parliamentarians this committee should have the power to sanction those proposing stupid policies;
- Maybe all politicians should undertake a course of study before taking their role in parliament to ensure that they are qualified to consider, debate and decide upon proposed legislation;
- A course in ethics should be compulsory for all those seeking to get elected into parliament. Failure of the course would make them ineligible;
- Shouldn’t all politicians have to prove that they are eligible to sit in our parliament? If they are subsequently found ineligible should they not be called to account? Perhaps repayment of salaries they received while ineligible and criminal charges would make them think twice before subjecting us to their deceit.
These are just some of the suggestions to make our politics and politicians more accountable. I am sure that a Royal Commission would recommend some, if not all, of these. However, how likely is it than at politician or any political party will agree to establish the Royal Commission into Misconduct in Politics given that it would be looking into their conduct?