Infuriating example shows everything wrong with Aussie politicians: PETER VAN ONSELEN pulls back the curtain on the farce that exposes their ‘one rule for them, one for us’ hypocrisy

Politicians are hypocrites, but you probably already knew that. That’s the nature of the profession.

They claim to hold themselves to higher standards than they actually do, or politicians hold others to higher standards than they would ever hold themselves to.

There are countless examples of the issues mentioned above, and they are not limited to one side or the other of the great partisan political divide.

We also know that some cross-benchers are no better, such as Teal MP Zali Steggall, who this week complained about low parliamentary standards … shortly after being forced to retract an unparliamentary remark in the House.

The latest example of hypocrisy from the current Labour government concerns the rules surrounding new legislation aimed at improving parliamentary standards for MPs and Senators, compared to the way the government is imposing new standards on tax professionals.

This comparison underlines the hypocrisy of the government: it likes to demand things from others that it does not want itself.

The new parliamentary norms laws do not require MPs or senators under investigation to disclose this fact.

The independent body investigating alleged misconduct is not allowed to release the names of suspected MPs until findings are made.

I think this is a good thing. The kind of tarring and feathering that can happen publicly when someone is exposed as being “under investigation” is career-limiting at best and career-destroying at worst. And we are increasingly seeing accusations being used as a weapon in public debates.

It is of course no surprise that politicians, when it comes to how they treat themselves, would put such concerns first. They did exactly that when they designed the federal corruption watchdog that is already enshrined in law.

Only corruption findings are made public, ongoing investigations are not. But what about the rest of us?

Is the government consistent in protecting other professions from the harm that false accusations can potentially cause?

The answer is no, at least when it comes to the new laws affecting tax professionals.

And this should concern other professionals too, because the Labour government’s unwillingness to rectify the legal atrocity it is imposing on accountants is a clear sign that other professionals could soon be subjected to the same tarring and feathering based on allegations (not findings). From which politicians have exempted themselves. It stinks of hypocrisy from Labour.

Expecting accountants under new laws to tell their clients when they are under investigation – while politicians protect themselves from a similar fate – is a clear double standard. No wonder the accountancy profession is in an uproar over the treatment they are receiving.

All 13 bodies representing 500,000 tax professionals (who would have thought there were so many! 74,000 of them are practicing tax agents) from across the country agree that this law needs to be changed. But the government ignores their concerns and has already changed the law despite the objections raised.

In the meantime, I’d like to give readers some insight into the hilarious practices behind the sausage-making process when it comes to policy-making and media relations in Canberra.

To confirm whether the new parliamentary standards legislation would allow disclosure of details of MPs and senators under investigation, I was referred to Finance Minister Katy Gallagher’s media team, which oversees these new laws.

When I spoke to her press officer and the policy advisor with expertise in the new rules, they explained to me very professionally why studies would not be made public. They emphasized the unfairness of that. They pointed out that findings would of course be made public.

Having established that this was the case, I went to the Minister responsible for the new accountant laws, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, and asked him why what is good for accountants is not OK for MPs and Senators.

His new rules for accountants specifically state that if they are under investigation, they may have to disclose this to their entire client base.

To be clear, this is not a disputed interpretation of the rules. It is in the explanatory notes to the new laws.

After such a professional experience with the Gallagher team, I was curious to see how Jones would deal with the clear conflict of principles between the treatment of accountants and politicians.

His answer? Nothing. I have known the minister for years, even had a drink and a meal together in Canberra. He responded very generously the other week on an issue that he did have an answer to.

But let’s be realistic: on this topic, where there is truly no excuse for hypocrisy, the silence was deafening.

So I went to the Prime Minister’s media team, who also gave me no answer. It wasn’t complete silence this time, just confusion and a ‘misunderstanding’ that led to me being ignored.

They thought the case was closed because Gallagher’s office had spoken to me. Finally, after much back and forth, I got the most meaningless formal answer possible: ‘These are two completely separate issues.’

Really! I appreciate that otherwise difficult to achieve clarification.

But what about the principle that applies to both examples: why should accusations be made public in one case and not in the other? The sound of silence returned.

Media units in political offices can be a colossal waste of taxpayer money, but they are growing in size and scope. Their job is often to find a way to justify what has already been announced, no matter how unjust, hypocritical or inconsistent the policy may be. Propaganda is their trademark.

Meanwhile, the government continues to inconsistently apply principles that most voters would like to see applied consistently.

It is therefore not surprising that the general public thinks that modern politicians are out of touch with reality and are more concerned with themselves than with doing the right thing.

The wisdom of the people is absolutely right in this.