IT MAY well be that the context in which it became necessary to appoint the Parliamentary Salaries Review Committee has been forgotten. Or perhaps it is remembered, but an excess of hubris has determined that the public's concerns are of no import. But it is unfortunate that a Special Parliamentary Group has rejected a recommendation from that committee that members of the House of Representatives should declare all their sources of income and earnings.Over the past few years, there has been much concern about whether Parliamentarians, Ministers of Government, other elected officials and public servants were either being adequately compensated or feathering their own nests. When that is added to the general perception of rampant corruption throughout all levels of the public service, the question of openness and transparency should not be treated lightly.
Under the Corruption (Prevention) Act the Government requires nearly all public sector employees and their spouses to sign statutory declarations each year outlining their incomes, assets and liabilities. Members of the House of Representatives have long been required to table an annual accountability report.
But there is no good reason to believe that our elected representatives are any less susceptible to corruption than civil servants, or that that the policeman or customs officer is any more likely to be venal than the persons who sit in Gordon House.
Nor are we so naïve as to believe that a simple declaration by itself gives the full picture. As an example, the recently-slain Donovan 'Bulbie' Bennett, who was not a public servant but who benefited by providing 'contractual services', is reported by the police to have had considerable resources and assets amounting to at least $100 million, many of them in the name of his relatives. His is hardly a peculiar case.
We do not believe that the Parliamentary Group's decision is the right one. It is not in sync with a culture of transparency and openness to which various Government spokesmen claim they are committed.
Regrettably, in the absence of information, rumour and speculation gain traction undercutting the goodwill and trust necessary for cooperation and good governance.
MPs and senators need to remember that they are servants of the people. By virtue of having decided to enter public life, they have ceded some rights to privacy. It goes with the territory. The decision not to give full declaration is a bad one and should not be adopted. Unless, of course, there is something to hide.
