Politicians and public servants play Australians for fools

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The political class in Australia has truly ‘jumped the shark’.

Last week, Celia Perkins, Deputy Secretary of Security and Estate at the Department of Defence, opened a public Senate committee hearing by reading a prepared statement that attempted to prohibit the reposting of Defence evidence on social media and the reproduction of the likeness of Defence officials outside the formal parliamentary context:

“For the record, the Defence witnesses appearing before the committee today are pleased to take your questions. But they do not consent to the reposting of our evidence to social media sites or the reproduction of our likenesses for the purposes outside the framework of the Parliament and the transparent public proceedings of this committee”, Perkins said.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
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