Eamon Byrnes
This provocative collection of essays contends that the Howard Government has systematically abused, manipulated and censored those who are critical of its policies. For a government determined to shape the kind of internal and public discourse that it wants to hear, democratic scrutiny, debate and dissent are necessary victims. A range of experienced commentators have collaborated with Sarah Maddison, a lecturer at the University of New South Wales, and The Australia Institute’s Clive Hamilton, to document a pattern of ‘creeping authoritarianism’ increasingly prevalent in Australia’s public institutions.
Wisely, Hamilton and Maddison are content to let the facts speak for themselves without overextending their thesis. Readers are left to decide whether this silencing of independent opinion within the media, the public service, academia, non-government organisations, and the Senate, among others, is the result of an orchestrated agenda or mere political instinct.
The facts themselves, of course, are all that is needed to paint a thoroughly disturbing picture. The first chapter, ‘Dissent in Australia’, explores two particularly frightening aspects of bullying on the part of the Government. It is revealed that the specific role of government ‘attack dogs’ such as senators Bill Heffernon and Eric Abetz is to sling proverbial mud at critics until some of it sticks. Their malicious accusations regarding Justice Michael Kirby’s sexual indiscretions, for example, succeeded in damaging his reputation even though they were proven false (8). Academic experts, witnesses in Senate inquiries, and organisations such as the RSPCA have also been subjected to vitriolic personal vilification for daring to criticise government policy.
The first chapter also introduces the government’s journalistic foot soldiers. The task of right-wing columnists such as Miranda Devine, Andrew Bolt and Gerard Henderson is to ‘echo, through (very skilful) populist repackaging, the official line of the current federal government’, while denigrating anyone who deviates from it (12). What is surprising about this already well-known fact is just how well co-ordinated their actions are. Ian Lowe’s chapter on the research community provides the damning example of an orchestrated assault, by three columnists in The Australian, on a CSIRO report critical of federal immigration policy (68). Other examples of such blatantly biased journalism and smear campaigns are offered throughout the book.
However, the Howard Government is also adept at creating a climate of fear within public institutions. Geoffrey Barker’s chapter on the public service reveals that a previously apolitical bureaucracy once renowned for its ability to give ‘frank and fearless’ advice has been transformed by undue pressure from ministerial advisers. Operating without accountability, these advisers are able to force public servants to conform to the will of ministers or else risk being victimised. The same trend is paralleled in Andrew Wilkie’s exploration of increasing politicisation in the military and intelligence services. In the ‘children overboard’ and the AWB kickback scandal as well as in the case for war in Iraq, Wilkie describes how a climate of authoritarianism and political bias can result in an obsequious absence of objective advice.
Helen Ester’s chapter shows that the integrity of the political media has been eroded to the government’s advantage. A tight lid is being kept on information about government policy. The press gallery journalist’s new reliance on official press briefings and farcically short press conferences, rather than a now intimidated public service and sheltered ministers, reduces the flow of information to wider Australia. As Andrew Wilkie writes, ‘…public agitation remains about the only potential force for positive change … but the public can only agitate about what it knows’ (193).
One of the core messages of the book is that there are a range of methods used to stifle debate. As mentioned in Stuart Macintyre’s chapter on universities, threatened termination of funding can be used as a deterrent against potentially critical research within the academic community. For Macintyre, ‘the surrender of academic freedom is far more dangerous than the attacks on it’ (48). Similar threats also force non-government organisations into adopting uncritical viewpoints. Harry Evans, a former clerk of the Senate, describes a disturbing manipulation of the parliamentary system through the government supervision of committees and an exploitation of debate termination mechanisms.
In ‘Redefining Democracy’, Maddison explores the intricacies of democracy while drawing upon the work of eminent political scientists such as Graham Maddox, Hugh Emy and Owen Hughes. With incisive clarity, she teases out the ideologies that underpin the Coalition’s transgressions of democracy. Grounded in a self-fulfilling conception of citizens as self-interested economic rationalists, Howard’s vision of a ‘minimalist’ democracy sees political engagement as necessary only if immediate material interests are affected. This application of neo-classical economic theory to democratic principles is dangerous because it allows ‘a quiet authoritarianism’ to flourish underneath a cultivated culture of apathy (33).
Several of Silencing Dissent’s contributors are well known troublemakers. Clive Hamilton is the author of the subversive Growth Fetish and Affluenza, while Ian Lowe has long been an environmentalist thorn in the government’s side. Yet, the only ideological bias dominant within Silencing Dissent is a commitment to a robust democracy. Facts are reported honestly, clearly, and accessibly. They are also supported by a range of credible sources including newspaper articles, academic papers and government reports.
However, a deeper analysis of other attacks on the Australian citizenry would have strengthened Silencing Dissent’s overall argument. While the political impacts of xenophobia and economic fear are mentioned briefly, more attention could have been paid to the rape of democratic rights under anti-terrorist legislation. Significant increases to ASIO’s powers of detention and surveillance have created a situation where civil liberties, due process and the rule of law are placed under threat. In such a paranoid atmosphere, a loose definition of ‘terrorist’ employed by the federal government can apply to legitimate dissidents and protestors (see Fish 2005). This is clearly anathema to the free expression of dissent among ordinary Australians, yet it receives little attention in this book. The final chapter realises, in a resounding turn of phrase, that ‘democracy needs champions’ (227). However, the impact of a tireless minority of activists fighting for change in Australia is barely recognised. These groups, along with notable dissenters in the public service and parliament, should also be praised for their triumph of ‘conscience over fear’ (226).
Nevertheless, Silencing Dissent strikes at the heart of an increasingly dire problem within the Australian political landscape. The sheer weight of evidence certainly makes it heavy ammunition for those firmly opposed to Howard. But most significantly, Silencing Dissent remains a brilliantly urgent and badly needed wake-up call to the Australian mainstream. Silencing Dissent reminds us that we cannot afford to remain ‘relaxed and comfortable’ in the face of an erosion of democracy that is ‘very much the concern of the average Australian’ (39). Rather, we should debate, scrutinise and act in the spirit of true democracy, and we should demand the same from our leaders.
Bibliography
Fish, W. ‘When Terrorism Outlaws Democracy’ in Rights Australia – Research and Papers, 2005 http://www.rightsaustralia.org.au/display/research_papers.html (accessed 8th August, 2007)