MICHAEL MULLINS’ TINY LETTER

Bali Nine drug runners Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan are on track to be executed by firing squad during the first half of this year. A letter rejecting Sukumaran’s presidential clemency bid was hand-delivered to Bali's Kerobokan prison by an Indonesian government official earlier this month. A similar outcome is expected for Chan before a date is set for the pair to be executed together.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott stressed that Australia would make ‘the strongest possible representations’ on behalf of Sukumaran. ‘Australia opposes the death penalty. We oppose the death penalty for Australians at home and abroad’.

Abbott deserves praise for his focus on our abhorrence of the death penalty, and his avoidance of the argument that they are model prisoners who have turned their lives around, even though the evident truth of that provides a solid basis to urge the granting of presidential appeals for clemency. Such appeals make the decision to take or spare human life an act of political will, and going down this track is an uncomfortable compromise for those who believe that the death penalty is wrong per se. As a value, human life becomes relative to President Widodo’s otherwise commendable political will to combat drug addiction. It is no longer absolute.

It should be stressed that any acceptance of the death penalty as an option, is incompatible with upholding human life as an absolute value. The image of Indonesia as a mature and civilised nation is diminished, and the actions of an Indonesian state firing squad are different to those of Islamic State executioners only by degree. They signal an Indonesia turning back to a barbaric past evidenced in atrocities in East Timor (with Australian Government acquiescence), and the disregard for human life that accompanied Sukarno’s demise as depicted in the 2012 film The Act of Killing, again without opposition from Australia.

Where Abbott does not do himself any credit is in his qualification that Australia’s ’strongest possible representations’ on Sukumaran’s behalf will be subject to the need to avoid jeopardising Australia’s relationship with Indonesia. Not only does it suggest that Australia can accommodate Indonesian state barbarism (as it did under Whitlam). It is also an unequivocal declaration that opposing the death penalty is less important than the effort to stop asylum seeker boats from reaching Australian waters. We can recall the Abbott Government’s insistence in its early days in office that the boats must be stopped even if it upsets Indonesia. Indonesia was duly upset, but relations bounced back, as they always do. There is no reason to fear our long term good relations with Indonesia could not withstand strong and unqualified opposition to the death penalty. 

Further, we need to put the Australian Government’s accommodation of Indonesia in the context of its support for America’s effort to disable Islamic State and its barbarous practices. Human life as an absolute is a core value we are seeking to uphold on behalf of many innocent populations in the Middle East. If we act on our belief that killing human beings is not OK in these distant lands, why can’t we take a more decisive stand against the taking of human life on our doorstep? 

Blake Society Chair Rev Dr Rod Pattenden has written about the power of religion to maintain our ‘tribal’ differences while at the same time acting as a resource for dissolving the false boundaries in our society that hold us back from a spirit of ‘generous understanding’ of each other.

The announcement of the winners of the Blake Prize for religious art is usually a welcome demonstration of the fact that corporate sponsors recognise the role religious imagination has to play in our society. But the apprehension at Saturday’s event at the UNSW Paddington Campus in Sydney was a sign that this recognition is faltering, and that the 63rd award of the Prize may be the last.

Without a major sponsor for the past seven years the prize is in desperate need of a miracle to maintain its running costs of around $60,000. Pattenden spoke about the ‘big hole’ in the Blake’s finances that needs to be addressed.

‘In approaching sponsors, many of them recognise that spirituality is a difficult, if not prickly, subject for consideration in Australia,’ he told Fairfax. ‘Sponsors prefer their art to be popular and safe.’

On Saturday the main prize of $25,000 was awarded to Melbourne artist Richard Lewer for his hand-drawn animation that depicts the story of elderly Perth man Bernie Erikson, who survived a failed suicide pact with his wife. Lewer said he wanted to raise questions about euthanasia as a live issue in a way that did not judge the morality of Erikson’s actions.

Pattenden described the winning entry as a beguiling work that presents a complex story of love and death in a simple story-like form. ‘It invites reflection and the format is really very beautiful and the soft compassionate voice of the artist leaves us with questions to consider’.

The Blake includes a poetry prize and a Human Justice Award, which was awarded on Saturday to another Melbourne artist – Hedy Ritterman – for her depiction of 96 year old Richard with his hands on a museum plinth holding a belt that is his only possession that survived his World War II incarceration in concentration camps (pictured).

Works such as this command our attention and deep reflection, and they defy our society’s demand for commodification. Our fickle politics of the past few years shows that the majority of Australians are prepared to gloss over serious issues such as how to answer the life and death needs of the refugees whose lives have been disrupted by the wars we wage. 

Politicians are driven by opinion polls, and most corporate sponsors are inclined to follow their lead. The Blake is looking for sponsors and philanthropists that value the asking of difficult and unpopular questions.

Among silly season news stories in the media this year is the trivialising treatment of Greens Senator Larissa Waters' deadly serious call for parents to avoid buying Christmas toys that gender stereotype their children.

She quotes a No Gender December campaign coordinator's declaration that 'women mow lawns and men push prams, but while we've moved on, many toy companies haven't'. Waters says apparently harmless child gender stereotypes can adversely affect self-perception and career aspirations, and even end in domestic violence that echoes the bullying many have experienced as children.

Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi heard about the media release and thought his fellow senator had 'consumed too much Christmas eggnog'. He said: 'To say you're giving a boy a truck or a hammer is somehow leading to domestic violence and gender pay gaps is simply bizarre'. He had in mind the so-called 'gender wars' of the 1970s, rather than all the work that has been done to identify the causes of young people committing suicide.

Meanwhile there was a mixed message from the Prime Minister, who sniggered and joked about political correctness as he uttered the cliche 'let boys be boys, let girls be girls'. But then he was spot on when he went on to declare: 'Above all else, let parents do what they think is in the best interests of their children.'

Of course all devoted parents work hard to make sure their children are 'happy little Vegemites'. Mostly, thoughtful choice of appropriately gendered toys, clothing and other accoutrements, helps to give children a sense of psychological fulfilment. These things often have them feeling one with their environment and not on its margins. 

Parents put love before dogma in supporting their children to come to terms with who they are with respect to gender. Dogma refers to social norms and expectations in the various sectors of society. Tony Abbott's utterance 'Let boys be boys, let girls be girls – that's always been my philosophy' is  an expression of dogma. It is, to turn his slur on himself, politically correct. 

Dogma is part of a deductive process that does real harm to people who don't measure up to expectations. Dogma judges and excludes them. They feel alienated from family and various social groups and units of society and develop a sense that their life is unworthy. A logical consequence of that is that they can be driven to thoughts of suicide. 

The Church is often perceived to put dogma before love, and the desire to redress this was behind discussion that took place at the Synod on the Family, reflecting Pope Francis' 'Who am I to judge?' approach to acknowledging and affirming diversity.

'Who am I to judge?' has become a catchphrase very much identified with the pontificate of Pope Francis. It can also act as a reality check formula for parents of children struggling to establish gender identity. 

Parents must understand that choices of toys for Christmas that are based on dogmas such as 'blue for boys, pink for girls' do not necessarily make their children contented or help them to grow into fulfilled adults. It's much better if parents are able to discern what really makes their children happy and to act on that, even if it means that they themselves end up on the margins of society.

Dempster did not name the manager, but last Monday the incoming Director of Radio Michael Mason told a meeting of Radio National (RN) staff that they would suffer disproportionately because the ABC had to ‘reshape the network for the digital future’. He went on to announce extensive cuts to RN’s specialist programs.

RN is the home of specialisation at the ABC, and religion has been one of its signature specialisations, because of the public broadcaster’s ‘cultural diversity’ charter obligation, and the fact that, often and increasingly, there is a deeper religious or spiritual explanation to what is happening in our world that eludes most, if not all, other mainstream media.

Yet religion is a particular target of the ‘reshaping’, with a 40 per cent staff loss compared to 10 per cent in other RN program areas. At the time of writing, the only program to remain in its current form is Andrew West's Religion and Ethics Report, though it will suffer from the 70 per cent cut to resources for religious programs. There will be less depth in Rachael Kohn's The Spirit of Things, with its air time being reduced, and the ABC’s longest running radio program Encounter will be absorbed into a new program that belongs to the features genre.

‘Genre’ is RN management’s new buzzword, but it’s hard to fathom why. That is because it does not sit well with Managing Director Mark Scott’s ‘digital future’ vision, as long as the the widely accepted ‘content is king’ meme continues to apply to digital publishing industry practice. 

Genre is associated with form, which is opposed to content. It allows for the endless repetition of single and superficial ideas, while the principle of specialisation provides multifaceted checks and balances to guard against this. Each discipline offers a different way of looking at the world, and isolating one from others allows us to reach the greater depth of understanding required by the ‘cultural diversity’ charter obligation. 

Meanwhile the curse of digital technology is that it is too easy to publish the same thought in as many forms or ‘genres’ as we like. That’s why content is indeed king and an ABC that values specialisation is perfectly positioned to shine in the digital world. It’s just a pity that the management ‘nincompoops’ don’t appear to grasp this. 

Of particular concern is news that those managers who do understand – the guardians of specialisation at the ABC – have been made redundant or had their roles reduced. Religious TV executive producer Rose Hesp – who is responsible for Compass and the purchase of the BBC’s Songs of Praise, which the ABC is cancelling – is going, and the role her RN equivalent Jane Jeffes is being diluted.   

Rupert Murdoch has been accused of manipulating the Abbott Government to ensure the emasculation of the ABC, as payback for the support that helped it win the 2013 Federal Election. It’s not the size of the cuts that are likely to deliver what Murdoch wants, but management’s decisions in implementing them.

In a surprise move during the week, Senators Jacqui Lambie and Ricky Muir joined Labor, the Greens and other independents in passing a disallowance motion that reverses changes that watered down Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) legislation that was designed to protect consumers.

In 2012, Labor enacted the original legislation that put an end to commissions and bonuses linked to the sale of financial products recommended by financial advisers. Financial advisers were banned from receiving commissions and instead needed to charge clients – rather than the big banks – a fee for their services. 

For a short time, consumers no longer received ‘free’ financial advice. But they could be more trusting of their advisers because, like anybody in business or the professions, financial advisers look after the interests of those who pay them. This was now consumers rather than the big banks. 

But unsurprisingly, the banks were not happy with this, and successfully lobbied the Coalition Government to weaken Labor’s consumer protection legislation. The Government was able to put the banks’ wishes into law as soon as Finance Minister Matthias Cormann could persuade Clive Palmer to reverse his opposition to diluting Labor’s protections.

The battle between big business and consumer advocates over who gets to pay financial advisers has broader implications for the provision of professional services in the community, particularly in health and education. It reaches into the important issue of public trust.

A few years ago leading educators endorsed the practice of companies such as McDonald's funding numeracy and literacy programs in schools because governments did not have the funds that were needed. It goes without saying that school principals and teachers will avoid doing anything to offend those who are paying for their programs, at the very least. In all likelihood, many will put in a good word for McDonald’s, or whoever is providing sponsorship funds.

Corporate ‘partnerships’ with schools and other other organisations providing human services, such as welfare agencies, are now common. It is true that these sources of funding enable a lot of good to be done. But at every point it has to be asked who is calling the shots. The companies would not be in it if their involvement was not demonstrably serving their bottom line. Otherwise their shareholders would have good reason to revolt.

Now that cuts to the ABC are being announced, we are reminded that it is Australia’s most trusted media organisation and public opinion leader. The reason is simple – the public is paying for it. Its charter, management and staff have always been fervently opposed to sponsorship. If the ABC ever accepts advertising or other forms of sponsorship, trust will be eroded.

We need to recognise the importance of instilling and maintaining trust in all our public institutions and professional practices so that they serve the interest of the community ahead of that of big business. They're worth paying for.

The Murdoch press was reporting on Friday that Australian warships had been dispatched to ‘intercept’ the Russian flotilla ‘steaming towards the G20 summit in Brisbane’, suggesting there could be open hostilities between the two countries.

The Daily Telegraph ran with the headline ’Vlad’s naval subterfuge’, as if it was part of a Russian plot to undermine what the Telegraph termed ‘our’ G20.

Such theatrics are as much about Australian media reporting of the ships as they are about the passage of the ships themselves. Could it even be that the press was conspiring with the Abbott Government to undermine the G20 in the wake of the climate change action momentum that was established during the week at APEC? Whatever it was about, it’s clear that more serious heads needed to prevail for the G20 to maintain its relevance and Australia its credentials to host important events that do not concern sport.

The Australian Government was indeed blindsided by the groundbreaking and ambitious emissions target agreement between the US and China at APEC. The US said it would cut emissions by 26-28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2025. China pledged to peak emissions around 2030, though it will be aiming to achieve this sooner. Long-term targets present a particular problem for the Abbott Government because deeper emissions cuts would be very expensive under its Direct Action policy.

Obviously the Government feared what opposition leader Bill Shorten was pointing to when he made the optimistic suggestion that the Brisbane G20 ‘could become famous for the fusing of the economic, environmental and security imperatives for climate action’. Shorten imagined that, in the lead-up to next year’s Paris conference, we could be talking about what the ‘Brisbane Declaration’ had to say on climate change. 

Whatever the legacy of the Brisbane G20, the mostly behind the scenes conversation among leaders, and the sharing of conviction that can eventually lead to formal resolutions and action, was all important. That is what would have preceded the resolution on carbon emissions targets at APEC, and it is what many groups mindful of the condition of life for future generations, were quietly hoping for.

One of these groups was the religious leaders from Australia who signed an open letter to leaders of the Brisbane G20. They regard the earth as sacred, and insist that it is our human responsibility to protect it. They say that this requires leaders to commit to a rapid transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy, and they point out that ‘It is entirely possible to create thriving economies that are also sustainable’. 

This points to what is perhaps the new phase of climate denial – attempting to assert that investment in renewable energy is not also good for the economy, and indeed better for the economy than keeping with fossil fuels. China seems to have accepted this, while Australia has gone backwards.

If the G20 was to be properly successful, it was likely that Abbott would lose face. But it is important that advocates for climate change action did not see such an outcome in itself as a triumph. Instead of gloating, they must themselves maintain a humble posture and attempt to shepherd the Government towards the reality and opportunity that China and the US embraced at APEC.

There has been a rush to purchase shares in Medibank Private since the Federal Government’s sale offer opened last Tuesday. Just two days later, the broker allocation was already eight times over-subscribed. 

The popularity of the share float is not surprising, as past sales of government owned corporations such as Telstra have produced windfall profits for cashed up Australians able to invest. The sales are also hugely profitable for the Government, which in the case of Medibank Private expects to raise more than $4 billion. Win-win, it would seem, at least for those who can afford to participate.

But there’s an important question that needs to be asked, which is whether Medibank Private is the Government’s to sell. In other words, what are the rights of the policy holders who consider themselves members with equity in the company?

There is a view that the government merely provided $10 million seed funding for the establishment of Medibank Private, as a member equity owned entity, and that that fund allocation has since been returned to the government many times over. Ray Williams, the public servant who created Medibank Private, saysthe plan to sell the business and keep the profits is tantamount to theft.

If member ownership was to be established, possibly by a High Court judgment, the policy holders would receive an allocation of shares, as has been the case with other entities that have been owned co-operatively. Examples including the demutualisation of NRMA Insurance in 2000. 

The New Daily online publication has been campaigning to establish the fact of Medibank Private’s policy holder ownership. It has published communications to policy holders in the 1990s demonstrating an understanding that ownership entitlements were among the benefits of remaining in the fund. One policy holder considering leaving was told: ‘We would be very sorry to see you lose the equity you have built up with the fund.’ New Daily published the ‘smoking gun’ letter.

John Menadue, who has been covering the issue in his blog, says the balance sheets of Medibank Private before 1997 clearly show that the members, and not the government, owned the assets of the company. He points out that the Howard Government changed the accounting treatment of Medibank Private 1997 in an attempt to establish government ownership by stealth.

The New Daily reports that at least 60 members have lodged complaints with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission demanding an investigation into statements made to them by federal governments before 1998 that they were the owners of the health fund’s assets. There is also documentation and a petition at change.org.

Aside from The New Daily and John Menadue, there has been little media coverage or public discussion of the issue. That’s surprising, because generally the media take any opportunity to embarrass the government. 

It could be that many of us are conflicted because we want to buy as many shares as we can in Medibank Private to get a share of the windfall. Whatever the explanation, the question of justice to the fund members is less important than that of the inequity of the entire system of private health insurance. Those who cannot afford the premiums receive inferior health care, and the government’s increasing reliance on public health insurance, and continued subsidies to those who can pay, undermine Medicare, the system of universal health care that does not exclude the poor.

As if it is itself a virus, Australia’s compassion deficiency in connection with asylum seekers has spread. Our government is now unwilling to send health care workers or Defence personnel to join the fight against Ebola in West Africa.

It has its reasons. Officials have advised that a return flight to Australia would take 30 hours, long enough for a health care worker with symptoms of the disease to die. Australia has been unable to secure an ironclad guarantee from the US, UK or a European country that they would treat an Australian worker. 

But what does an ‘ironclad guarantee’ mean when the context is one of compassion between citizens of different nations? If these nations are willing to open their hearts and resources to West African victims of the Ebola crisis, why would they not be willing to also help Australian Ebola victims? The Government’s thinking defies the logic of compassion, which says that if there is a will, there is always a way.

Australia is prepared to risk the lives of Defence personnel by sending them to face danger and uncertainty in the Middle East, where the motivation is essentially border protection rather than compassion. Aside from any deaths or injuries, many members of the Defence forces will return to Australia from the Middle East suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and place a strain on mental health services for decades to come. 

This is a price Australia is willing to pay to put down threats to the existing system of international sovereignty. We label those threats ‘terror’ and are quick to wage war against them. At the same time, we are oblivious to what terrifies human beings elsewhere on the planet, when it comes to providing the help that is most needed. We have lost the ability to reach out to others in need. To use the obvious analogy from the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Australia is the priest who passed by on the other side of the road.

Upon assuming office, the Government announced that Australia was ‘open for business’ and that it would ‘cut red tape’ to ensure that international investors regard us as a good place to put their money. It’s all about making Australia – already one of the richest nations on earth financially – even richer. But when asked to reach out to people in need in other parts of the world, the Government is prepared to impose extra layers of red tape.

Other nations and non government organisations apply Australia’s ‘open for business’ mindset to humanitarian emergencies. For example the Jesuit Refugee Service emphasises flexibility and rapid response in the way that it responds to international emergencies. President Obama has acted quick to dispatch 3000 military personnel to West Africa. They will train as many as 500 health care workers a week, erect 17 heath care facilities in Liberia of 100 beds each, and much more. For its part, Australia is putting red tape in place to stop skilled individual volunteers who are willing and able to travel to West Africa.

With promised cuts to the ABC upon us, the Corporation’s friends and enemies are out in force. 

This week’s bad news for the ABC was the Government’s appointment to its Board of commercial media financial controller Peter Lewis, who conducted the recent efficiency review that is the precursor to the imminent cuts. That makes it more likely than ever that the forces of economic rationalism will control the destiny of one of Australia’s most important creative and intellectual institutions.

The good news is that Essential polling has revealed that a majority of Australians is worried about cuts to the ABC. So if the government is more driven by polls than ideology, it will go easy on the public broadcaster. As Crikey pointed out on Thursday, there’s not a lot a government can do about the ABC’s popularity and the reality that cutting its revenue would be electoral poison.

Perhaps the greatest threat to the integrity of the ABC is that its management might be tempted to also go easy on the Government, in the hope that a relatively cosy relationship might work for both, minimising both electoral fallout for the government and cuts for the ABC. 

There are already signs of this occurring, with ABC management compliant in foreshadowing cuts to programs it considers expensive and expendable, thereby shielding the minister from public criticism and from having to justify his government’s blood-letting. Management appears, here, to be playing a politically partisan role which is certainly not in the national interest.

There is always a danger that ABC management will, wittingly or unwittingly, do the government’s work for it in a number of ways, including some that appear to be in the best interest of all Australians. For example, there is the coming week’s Mental As program blitz that is designed to promote mental health awareness. 

It is all about healing individuals, overcoming stigma, and enhancing the well-being of all Australians. Hardly anything we would want to discourage. But there is the sense that the ABC is doing what is properly the task of a government funded agency, rather than a broadcaster that usually aims to include in its programs a healthy dose of skepticism that is not compatible with such campaigns or focused messaging. 

Of course an exception can and should be made for a cause such as mental health. However there’s a good chance this will create a precedent, and the government might lean on the ABC to do something similar to push contentious causes such as the Anzac centenary next April. The revival and promotion of the Anzac myth began under former Prime Minister John Howard, and is criticised as a conservative ideological construct that is brainwashing the nation’s children.

The ABC will always have a complicated relationship with the government. Perhaps Malcolm Turnbull is mistaken when he talks up the importance this relationship when he says ‘a public broadcaster’s revenues are a function of its lobbying skills’. The Corporation is at its best when it ignores the government and focuses on its purpose and the people who are its audiences. If the people love their ABC, it won’t be necessary for its management to lobby poll-sensitive governments for funding. 

It is a regrettable reality of human nature that witnessing the suffering and anguish of particular individuals can be a source of entertainment for the rest of us. Making fun of mental illness has a long history that unfortunately continues to the present day. 

This was highlighted in the past week in the reporting of plans of the Royal Agricultural Society of WA to offer an amusement at this year’s Perth Royal Show based on the notorious Bethlem Sanatorium in London, commonly known as Bedlam.

Bethlem was known for its cruel treatment of mental illness patients as far back as the 13th century. Today it provides specialist care for more than 450,000 sufferers a year, and seeks to avoid the deliberate stigmatisation that was for so long part of its method of operation. The Perth Show attraction was to feature actors posing as disturbed psychiatric patients from centuries ago, when they were displayed as a public spectacle.

The chief executive of the trust that runs Bethlem, Dr Matthew Patrick, said in an open letter that the attraction would ‘foster discrimination and promote the perception of “scary mental health patients” which [would] undoubtedly deter people from seeking the help they need’. 

Mental health advocates criticised the Perth Show’s reinforcement of negative and inaccurate stereotypes. SANE Australia’s Jack Heath said: ‘We had thought that these sorts of attitudes or making jokes about these sorts of things had been put to bed, you know, 10 - 20 years ago, so it’s a great surprise to us.’

Mental Health Australia CEO Frank Quinlan said he was most concerned by the Agricultural Society’s ‘perpetuating the sort of idea that mental illness is something abhorrent and something that affects others and something that we should be frightened of.’

In reality, he said, mental health is something we are all close to. ‘One in five Australians experience a mental illness every year.’

The Agricultural Society has responded to the criticism by merely modifying the attraction, removing all references to mental health. However it remains to be seen whether the revised theme of ‘the outbreak of a deadly contagion’ represents much of an improvement. 

Judging from what we know, it is still a something of a freak show, stigmatising individuals and making fun of their suffering. If we ask ourselves how we should approach contagion, we might urge the physical isolation of those carrying the ebola virus, for example. But not their stigmatisation. The plight of these humans is certainly not a subject for amusement.

The Agricultural Society of WA has been around since 1831 and is apparently a respected and influential institution within the community. Its chief executive Peter Cooper claims the Show is ‘the most important community event in the State’. But his limp response to the Bethlem attraction controversy suggests the Society was more interested in appeasing critics than exercising leadership by fostering responsible social attitudes.

It could have owned the criticism and made a positive statement about understanding mental illness and how to deal with it. But instead the statement merely said the Society did not want to cause offence.