Scandal or governance?

Chris Berg makes the point that politicians concentrating on scandal are not concentrating on policy.

A shadow minister who doesn’t talk about their portfolio area so they can pursue the story of the day may be rewarded with some brief media coverage. But they will have done nothing to mount a case against the government. Nor will they have endeared themselves with the electorate. Voters pay more attention to policy. Policy matters. Peter Slipper’s text messages don’t.

There is a lot to like in that passage. Yet I’m not convinced that voters do pay more attention to policy than scandal. But policy does matter. Of course, it matters a lot over the long haul.

But scandal matters over the long haul too. Not necessarily individual scandal but the propensity for scandal. Alan RM Jones explains:

The scandal gripping Gillard’s premiership isn’t merely about her questionable professional conduct as a lawyer. It’s a more serious affair because the allegations of “routine” (as the PM dubbed it) wrongdoing go to the heart of Labor and its most powerful union masters. Who controls the AWU controls the Labor government and The Lodge.

At some point the Gillard government will disappear into the page of history taking scandalous individuals with it – yet the processes whereby scandals are generated will remain. To be fair, Peter Slipper is not a problem that can be blamed on the union movement – he was a long-time Liberal member of Parliament, so they have their issues too.

So while I’m in agreement with Chris Berg that good government involves policy development, Alan RM Jones’ point that good policy requires good governance structures is also correct. The fact that the Gillard government is bogged down in scandal suggests poor governance and consequently an inability to generate good policy.