The government�s exclusive advertisement placement company has engaged in deeply unethical behaviour, which shames the government, corrupts our democracy and insults the people of Australia (Whatever it takes: the Howard Government’s cash for comment play).

 

The government�s response? Another insult to Australian voters: no comment. Perhaps I should have offered cash for a comment?

To recap, US multinational Universal McCann is the government�s exclusive contractor for placing advertisements. It works for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet�s �Government Communications Unit�.

A Universal McCann document to the government leaked to ALP communications spokesman Lindsay Tanner detailed a cash for comment deal with regional newspaper groups. If a newspaper published a �telecommunications feature� which ran Communications Department propaganda as an independent report, the government (ie the Australian people) would buy an extra one page advertisement as a �reward� for duping the Australian people.

After Tanner released the document in Question Time yesterday, the communications minister Daryl Williams said the deal �was not going ahead� and refused to answer any questions, including whether the decision was taken before or after the leak.

Today, he would only say, �it�s not going ahead because it�s not normal government practice�. Do you believe him? Why would anyone believe him, since he still won�t answer any other questions? Like:

 Who gave Universal McCann the authority to so compromise the government and betray the people?

 If the government had not authorised such scams, would the Universal McCann contract be reviewed or rescinded?

 Had the government ever done a cash-for-comment deal before?

 When was the decision taken to knock back the deal, and by whom?

These blokes have something to hide, yet again, and their tactic, as usual, is to say nothing and hope it goes away.

How disrespectful to voters can a government get?

Universal McCann did not call me back yesterday after I gave its investment director Lesley Marriot details of the matter and sought comment. So I rang her again today. She said I should speak to Chris Taylor of the �Government Communications Unit�.

So Universal McCann was not prepared to comment on its activities? The only person who could comment was Universal McCann�s managing director Nick Nicholls, she said. I�ve left a message with his personal assistant asking him to call.

You�ll never guess Chris Taylor�s response when I rang. �We�re not prepared to comment�.

Why not? �We don�t comment on government business.�

So why are you called the �Government Communications Unit? �Because we work for the government on their communications.�

I thanked him for his disrespect to Australian voters.

Dear Mr Howard, government is NOT a business, it�s a trustee relationship between the government and the Australian people who elected it to represent THEM, not you.

It is alien to any democratic idea of government that it use the people�s money to deliberately mislead it by disguising propaganda as news. That�s something corporations without ethics do.

There is a long pattern of conduct here. The Howard Government believing it has no obligation to the Australian people to be ethical and accountable in its dealings with the people whose interests it is supposed to represent.

This insidious behaviour has infected the Public Service to the extent that it sees itself as working only for the government of the day, discarding its higher duties to the public it used to serve by ensuring that government dealings are ethical, consistent, and fair.

The last time I encountered such stonewalling on a matter of clear public interest, where the public has a RIGHT to know what�s going on, was when the Australian Electoral Commission refused to say why it excused Tony Abbott from disclosing the donors to his �Honest Politics Trust� (see, for example, AEC claims secret political donations no business of voters.) It is still refusing to do so, although I hope an FOI request I submitted a while ago will provide an answer.

If you would like information as a voter on the government�s cash for comment strategies, contact Daryl Williams, Universal McCann or the Government Communications Unit. I hope you have better luck than I’ve had.