Respect for Democratic Institutions will Help Make the West The Best

Over the last weeks, I’ve thought a lot about the importance of our State’s democratic institutions.  As set out in my previous reflection, checks and balances are a deliberate and critical aspect of contemporary democratic governance. 

This is precisely because such oversight is a balance that provides a check over government being dictated only by politics.  It is why I’ve been so concerned to see the WA Labor Government treat our Parliament with such disdain as to place their political will above the interests of the people of Western Australia.

The Upper House, for example, is sitting for the last weeks of the year.  Bills of significant scope, size and consequence are being forced through Parliament over a three week period without proper consultation and revision.  The range of the Bills covers Industrial Relations, Protection of Aboriginal Heritage, Law & Order, an onerous set of steps for Police to follow in order to control Consorting by known Child Sex Offenders and more.

In the Lower House too, the new Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act, for example, was introduced less than 24 hours after notice and a briefing was provided.  Then this Act with 309 clauses in 228 pages that required a 130 page Explanatory Memorandum was rammed through the Lower House.  Despite having the potential to affect the majority of Western Australians, with personal fines up to $1 million and up to 5 years jail, WA Labor passed the Bill without consulting most people in the community. 

Yet the Act is supposedly based upon informed consent, local decision-making and broad-based community engagement.  Even Aboriginal Traditional Owner groups have complained about the lack of consultation with them.  Already this proposed Act is to be amended in the Upper House because the usual requirement had been overlooked by WA Labor to enable cost recovery and fee for services when such amounts may be an imposition of a tax.

Labor is clearly desperate to ensure that most people in the State are unaware of these Bills.  This is blatant disregard for the critical role of our Parliament and the people of Western Australia.

Unfortunately, Premier McGowan’s disregard for our democratic institutions doesn’t stop with brazenly ramming through legislation.  It also has to do with the misuse of his parliamentary majority and the powers of Government for blatantly political ends.  We all remember when WA Labor used its majority to block an investigation into their Attorney General John Quigley’s luxury helicopter ride to a friend’s Christmas Party in Yallingup just before the March 2021 State Election. 

Weeks later, they blocked our request for a bi-partisan inquiry into WA’s housing crisis and homeless deaths.  Lastly, I’ll cite Labor AG Quigley’s intervention to stop his WA Labor colleague, Minister Roger Cook, from testifying under oath in a wrongful termination lawsuit issued by one of his former Electorate Office workers.  Instead of allowing these matters to play out as they should and promoting the interest of the Western Australian public, the Premier and his Party are using their parliamentary majority to protect the image and interests of their Ministers.

WA Labor’s misuse of Governmental power and bastardisation of our governmental institutions has been a consistent pattern of behaviour under the leadership of the McGowan-Cook duo (not the least of which is the misusing of Covid emergency powers to gut our planning laws and remove the ability of residents to have a say in planning decisions in their communities).

A common misconception is that “The Opposition” is a political construct meant as a short-hand to describe the second-largest Party in Parliament with different political and philosophical interests than the Political Party in power.  But this isn’t the case.  The Opposition is part of our Parliamentary democratic institutions.  It is an essential institution within English jurisprudence that acknowledges the need for scrutiny and sometimes restraint of those who wield governmental power.

Ultimately, the community expect that elected politicians will promote the interests of their voters and their Party, and no one would claim this to be in or of itself illegitimate. 

However, the political interests of the Parties must be secondary to the interest of the people of Western Australia.  This requires the maintenance and respect for the long-standing democratic institutions that have helped make our community strong, successful and safe.

Thank you for reading.

Dr David Honey MLA

WA Liberal Leader & Member for Cottesloe