I have a shock for any politician, public servant or political advisor found by the courts to be misleading the public about the dangers of their power and gas policies — they can be jailed.
Back in 1995 the parliament of the day passed legislation that they hoped would never be necessary against ministers of the crown. I have been alerted that in the 1995 Federal Criminal Code under Section 137.1 in Chapter 7 there is a section entitled ‘Good administration of government’.
We have a situation in Australia where a group of politicians and their advisers are putting at risk the jobs of tens of thousands of Australians and vast losses in the community by their power and gas policies.
In simple terms, the provision of false or misleading information or documentation when performing the duties of office as a public servant, an employee of the Government or holder of public office or, even, as a private citizen testifying before a Parliamentary Oversight Committee is a serious offence. The penalty is very clear — 12 months imprisonment.
The lack of action is certainly criminal. We need to bad third party gas exports, install domestic reservation and “use or lose it” laws. It can’t happen soon enough.
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
