Fed: A year of disappointment in our institutions
By Mike Hedge, Senior Correspondent
MELBOURNE, AAP - Rarely has society been required to place as much trust and faithin its institutions as it is today.
And rarely can that same trust have been so severely undermined as it has in the past year.
Trust in government, in business, in the church, even in sport, has been betrayed andpublic faith shaken to its core.
A clear illustration of the erosion of public faith in leading institutions has beenthe often hostile focus on the Queen's representative in Australia, Governor-General DrPeter Hollingworth.
Doubts were raised about Dr Hollingworth's handling of the child sexual abuse issue,the Bali bombing and the Melbourne Cup.
The difficulty with the vice-regal office may have been accentuated because Dr Hollingworth'spredecessor, Sir William Deane, happened to be one of the best there has been.
Dr Hollingworth, of course, straddled another institution whose status has been loweredin many eyes: the church.
It was in his former role as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane that he was accused offailing to act on known cases of child sex abuse.
As Governor-General he tried to suggest that a 14-year-old victim, and not a priest,was really the culprit.
Of similar concern was the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney George Pell who, as well asbeing accused of covering up sex abuse by the clergy, was accused of molesting a youngboy some 40 years ago.
An inquiry cleared Dr Pell.
But the church still suffered enormous damage from other, acknowledged breaches bypriests of the most sacred of trusts.
In the business world, what little remaining public faith existed continued to be kickedaround in the inquiry into the HIH insurance collapse.
The continuing revelations of gross excesses among the company's management kept confidencein business at an all-time low, although it was worse in America.
Over there some of the biggest companies in the world were found to be run by liarsand thieves who, along with their auditors, cost investors billions of dollars.
As incredibly unprincipled as the behaviour of HIH bosses appears to have been, theinsurance industry probably lost out to the bankers as the least trustworthy group inAustralian business.
The banks, as usual, made money by the truckload over the past year, their desire tosqueeze out another dollar matched only by their unconscionable behaviour towards staffand customers.
As branches closed around the country, thousands of bank workers lost their jobs andmillions of customers were inconvenienced.
But the bottom line grew, as did the multi-million dollar executive salaries.
Politicians came out of the year without their reputations noticeably enhanced.
Prime Minister John Howard provided an exception when he caught the nation's mood overthe Bali bombings.
Mr Howard dropped the political charade at a commemorative service in Bali, speakingwith eloquence and compassion and at the same time treating his political opponents withdignity and respect.
But other episodes like the "children overboard" affair continued to remind the electoratethat public servants were as trustworthy as their political masters.
Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan also did little for the reputation of Australia's politicians.
His attack on High Court judge Michael Kirby was gratuitous, spiteful and a breachof the trust placed in elected officials.
Senator Heffernan found a rival late in the year in NSW state MP, the Reverend Fred Nile.
The former Festival of Light convenor who is probably Australia's most notorious homophobeended the year looking like a racist.
His burblings in NSW parliament about banning Muslim women from wearing traditionaldress because it might hide terrorist weapons would have startled any reasonable observer.
The past year was also remarkable for the revelation of a new and wide reaching betrayalin an area more relevant to most than politics or religion.
For many Australians sport is a sacred thing.
That's why the behaviour of the management of the Bulldogs rugby league club was so despicable.
The club, which was on top of the Sydney premiership, was found guilty of breachingthe salary cap and forfeited all of its points.
A few months later a similar thing happened in Melbourne at the Carlton AFL club.
At Carlton the No.1 culprit was John Elliott, the high profile businessman who hadbeen president of the club for 20 years.
Elliott lost the job in a boardroom coup after which it was found one of the game'sproudest clubs was in danger of going under.
And to cap off the year of the sell-out, former cricket captain Ian Chappell tippeda bucket on Sir Donald Bradman ... but maybe The Don deserved it.
AAP mh/jlw/sp/cd
KEYWORD: INSTITUTIONS YEARENDER
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