High-profile men, low-level integrity
THE State Government’s setting itself up to lose office, local pollies are doing likewise and the Australian Test cricket is set to lose millions ... and all for the same dumb reason.
The reason: They all think they can cheat their butts off — playing the public that supports them financially, emotionally and physically for suckers — and get away with it all with a dodgy and obviously insincere apology.
Vote rorts, nicking taxpayer money for private purposes, balltampering at the highest level of cricket, misleading parliament with contradictory statements … these aren’t little accidents noone meant to happen.
Incidents like these are premeditated. They’re orchestrated with a groupthink and arrogance that’s pathological.
These actions are deliberately corrupt and no amount of weaselword mea culpas after they’re caught red-handed can change the fact these people wanted to cheat.
Or the fact the only thing they’re sorry about is getting caught.
What’s even worse is the fact these crooked and corrupt actions by so-called leaders in politics and sports think they’re getting hard done by as the public rejects their crocodile tears.
I couldn’t believe it when I heard former Test skipper Michael Clarke telling Karl Stefanovic that Steve Smith, David Warner and Cam Bancroft were copping more than they deserved. Stefanovic didn’t even challenge him on it.
They just don’t get it. Neither of them. Actually, they refuse to get it.
A driver passing Dan Andrews’ media conference dropped a couple of loud F and C-bombs, letting the Premier know in absolute fashion what the public thinks of his shonky campaign funding fraud.
He still didn’t get it. He refuses to get it.
Sports Minister John Eren told parliament in 2015 it was “totally inaccurate” to suggest his electoral staff worked on another Labor MP’s election campaign.
That would be Police Minister Lisa Neville’s campaign, by the way, thanks to an Ombudsman inquiry the Government spent a million bucks trying to shut down in the Supreme Court.
Eren’s already in strife for backing “liar liar pants on fire” MP Christine Couzens over her on-again off-again support for safe injecting rooms. In parliament he’s making a right goose of himself the way he can’t explain himself.
None of them get it. They all refuse to get it.
And how about this other bloke, Marcus Feaver? He was paid $20K as an electoral officer for Geelong Upper House MP Gayle Tierney but spent 68 days campaigning for my old city council antagonist, Andy Richards, when he was running for Labor in South Barwon.
The Opposition says Feaver’s working for Tierney again and is “actively campaigning” for current Labor South Barwon candidate Darren Cheeseman.
What the hell is going on with these people?
It’s appalling how many politicians seem to think they can get away with cheating by attacking their opposite numbers for their faults and blunders.
It’s appalling how some people think our cricket cheats are just doing what other teams do.
Sorry, folks, but two wrongs don’t make a right. They never did.
Cheating might be endemic to international sport — God knows we’ve seen enough of it — and lying might be a prerequisite to politics, but that everyone’s doing it doesn’t make it right.
But I don’t know if we’ve got to the bottom of this ball-tampering saga. I’d like to know if anyone’s been placing bets on the games who shouldn’t have been.
That’s another massive issue in sport that doesn’t get anywhere near enough airplay.
And we’ve already seen enough sports figures in the gun for everything from laying bets to laying down.
So what is it about crooked pollies and cheating sports figures? Why don’t they get it? What’s missing from these institutions that hold such so much power and influence over our lives?
Why don’t they know what integrity means?
These people are representing everyday Australians. They have been honoured with a great public regard and a great public responsibility.
They are meant to be the best of our best. But they’re not. They’re shockers, which is why they can’t understand the notion of responsibility or punishment for desecrating their important community roles.
They don’t have a moral compass. They don’t understand right and wrong. They might have risen to the highest levels in their field but they’re failed at the most basic of their jobs — be honest.
Kerry Stokes says ethics or simple honesty are the building blocks of our whole society. He says business is a part of our society, and having a set of honest standards is integral to conducting business.
He’s right on the mark but unfortunately our lying and cheating pollies and cricketers have taken the Groucho Marx approach: “The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”
Is it going to change? I doubt it, not when the Government — the people in charge of educating our kids — refuses to show any interest in integrity.