Political Cover-Up

There are no prizes for guessing why people doubt the integrity of what they are told by governments and sections of the media.

It’s got nothing to do with ideology or conspiracy theories because it is a direct result of the endless lies, cover ups and protection rackets that repeatedly come to light.

Yesterday we saw further evidence of this when Chris Eccles, the Secretary of Victoria’s Department of Premier and Cabinet resigned.

Whether Mr Eccles is a victim or the culprit is neither here nor there.

The entire Victorian government, and their bureaucracy, stand condemned by the collective amnesia they used in an attempt to avert blame for the Coronvirus fiasco.

That’s protection racket number 1

Protection racket number 2 exists within the Victorian media.

For months they refused to ask the Premier the tough questions, or demand the information that is essential to hold governments to account.

The two notable exceptions in this space are Rachel Baxendale from The Australian and Sky News' Peta Credlin.

Now Credlin was a tough cookie when she was chief of Staff to Prime Minister Tony Abbott and she is an insightful commentator; but her steely resolve in questioning premier Dan Andrews embarrassed the rest of Victoria’s media class.

In one brief line of questioning about phone records, Credlin cut through all the spin and denials and finally delivered some accountability.

Why is it that a single political commentator was able to achieve more than the entire taxpayer funded elites at the ABC? How is it that columns and cartoons critical of the Victorian Premier and government were censored by the old Fairfax (now nine) newspapers?

I don’t doubt that the links to this cover up go higher than Mr Eccles or sacked health minister Jenny Mikakos.

Whether we ever uncover just how far they go, will depend on whether the Victorian media continues to be willing accomplices in covering for of their preferred political team, or if they’ll actually do the job the public expects from a free press.

Fake news is not only that which is manufactured to suit a partisan cause, it is also when the real story is covered up by those entrusted with revealing the truth