Australia’s culture of complicity

From banking scandals to Gaza, our government has shown it protects power, not people, he writes Doctor Kim Sawyer.

When I first appeared before the Senate Whistleblower Committee in 1994, I talked about the problem of accomplices.

There was the auditor who prefaced his audits,“Under the instructions of senior management” but only after they are given proof of fraud; auditors who concealed a university’s staffing to cover gaps in records; Regulators turning a blind eye to financial mismanagement. I have come to learn the meaning of complicity.

The 1995 Senate investigation into 16 unsolved whistleblower cases was evidence of complicity. There were 16 suggestions; none were activated, and so was the case for most of the Senate investigations. In 2001, the Senate’s investigation into universities suggested establishing an ombudsman for universities, but this never materialized. Inquiry after investigation, universities, banks, gambling, lobbying, ASIC, no advice is being followed. Politicians are so addicted to showing off that they don’t understand their complicity.

Notification legislation is an example of this. The government claims to be a supporter of whistleblower protection, but this is all fabrication. No investigation was opened for retaliation against whistleblowers, instead a lawsuit was filed against the whistleblowers. I have been advocating for a long time False Claims ActThe most powerful act of whistleblowing anywhere. When I talked to the former attorney general Mark Dreyfus At the hearing of the Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives in 2008 False Claims ActHe said it was still too early for Australia. That was 18 years ago and probably still too early.

The situation was the same with scams. The government knew there would be trouble as early as 2020, but successive governments have failed to force banks to fix a flaw in their systems: the inability to get creditor approval. Former Deputy Treasurer in an interview in March 2024 Stephen Jones It revealed things that fraud victims already knew: there was a bug in the banks’ systems, the banks had allowed mule accounts to proliferate, the banks had allowed fraudsters to launder money through their bank accounts. More than $8 billion has been laundered since 2020. So why has AUSTRAC failed to prosecute any bank for its failure to monitor laundering? Banks, regulators and the government are complicit in money laundering.

At a recent United Nations online conference on scam victims, half the victims were from Australia. They all told the same story. Victims of fraud cannot meet with Ministers; Victims of fraud never hear back from Ministers; Scam victims thrown under the bus. The federal Labor government has always opposed paying compensation to victims of fraud. They were reluctant to do what the UK Conservative government could do as early as 2022. They are complicit in the victimization of fraud victims.

When we look at the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, we clearly see the complicity. Herzog is like the Prime Minister Anthony AlbaneseNeither has any moral backbone.

The executive officer of the Jewish Council of Australia predicted what most independent observers predicted:

“Herzog represents a state currently facing lawsuits before the International Court of Justice for allegedly violating the Genocide Convention. His public statements have been cited as evidence that he incited genocide. He supports the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank and has made racist remarks about Palestinians and Arabs, including depicting a Muslim man in the crosshairs of a gun sight during an election campaign.”

Herzog is not popular in Israel. A survey published in July last year revealed that 57 percent of Israelis were dissatisfied with Herzog’s performance, while the rate of those who were satisfied was 30 percent. Given that he is a ceremonial head of state and that Israel is involved in a war, the poll represents a verdict on his complicity.

Unlike former President Reuven Rivlin, Isaac Herzog did not challenge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Nation-State Law, which weakened the judiciary and allowed Netanyahu to postpone corruption charges.

Herzog’s greatest complicity concerns Gaza. On October 7, 2023, Hamas killed 1,139 people and took 240 hostages. 71,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023, including 20,000 children; 170,000 Palestinians were injured, many with life-threatening conditions. Of course this means genocide. Of course, this calls for condemnation.

I have written about the face of genocide before:

Awni Eldous The story we witnessed of a boy who found fame through death on YouTube. In August 2022, Awni released a video with these words.

“Friends, let me introduce myself now: I am a 12-year-old Palestinian from Gaza. The aim of this channel is to reach 100,000, 500,000, that is, one million subscribers.”

He finished his speech by saying “peace” to his 1000 subscribers. Awni and most of her family were killed in an Israeli attack on October 7, hours after Hamas gunmen charged into Israel. His video now has millions of views. The story of the cancellation of the innocents.

The government that was complicit in retaliating against whistleblowers and complicit in the victimization of fraud victims is now also complicit in what is happening in Gaza. We must never be complicit in genocide.

Maybe Albanese should watch Awni Eldous on YouTube for a refresher course on humanity.