Gareth Ward, member for the NSW electorate of Kiama, and former councillor of Shoalhaven City Council, is one hard working politician, seemingly having devoted his life to the cause.
I don’t think he always makes a positive contribution to public debate.
While this is a very local piece I have aimed to present as fair and complete an account as possible, following the Journalist Code of Ethics.
MEMO TO GARETH WARD MP:
IT DOESN”T HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS
The nature of modern day public debate, as conducted through the media, is frequently a deeply unsatisfying experience. Politicians and others with a view to express are asked questions which are often treated as optional, merely an opportunity to spruik the party line. When things are sticky a common default position is to attack the underlying motives of those asking questions. This is easier when there is some complexity associated with the issue. Such as political donations.
The South Coast Register recently hosted a debate-of-sorts between Mark Corrigan and Gareth Ward. Ward is the hard working, well known and well regarded MP for the state electorate of Kiama. Corrigan, a resident of Vincentia, is much less well known but equally well regarded by those who know him. He is also a friend of mine. As this debate-of-sorts went along others joined in over a few weeks, before it ran out of steam, leaving interested observers little the wiser, possibly just a little more jaded with politics.
It started with a letter-to-the-editor Corrigan wrote on the subject of transparency of political donations. The essence of Corrigan’s letter was that although everyone agrees increased transparency is a good thing, actions in the Liberal Party are inconsistent. Here, transparency has been diminished through the practice of donations being made through the party structure. He gave examples of donations to the state election campaigns of Ward and Shelley Hancock, Liberal member for South Coast, along with details of Ward’s 2008 Shoalhaven City Council campaign.
The Register published this on-line on 6 May 2014 and gave Ward the opportunity to respond, with both Corrigan’s letter and Ward’s response published in the paper on 7 May.
In 450 words of manufactured outrage Ward managed to ignore the issues raised, while dismissing Corrigan’s letter as “yet another attempted smear”.
Ward pointed out that Corrigan had not acknowledged that he had been a candidate “against my party at the last state election” and that he “actively supported the campaign of opposing council candidates during my time on Shoalhaven City Council”. To this, Corrigan essentially says ‘yes, but so what’.
Also, Ward told us, that Corrigan had “previously worked in the offices of NSW Greens MPs”. Entirely untrue, Corrigan said in response, noting this was sounding a bit like a 1950’s McCarthy inquisition.
And on top of that Ward said Corrigan had “made several baseless and spurious complaints to council’s Code of Conduct Committee during my time on council”. To this, Corrigan says that Shoalhaven’s General Manager considered none of the complaints to be baseless or spurious.
All of these alleged actions, according to Ward, mean that the issues Corrigan raised have no validity, are not to be taken seriously. Anything Corrigan has to say should not be trusted and it’s time for him to put up or shut up.
Corrigan provided a comprehensive on-line response to Ward. I’ve summarised his key points above. If you’ve followed this story this far you owe it to yourself to get to the end and be able to come out of it with a clearer view. So please do some follow-up reading. The links make it easy for you.
You might also form a judgement about my response to this debate-of-sorts, or why I have chosen to write this. Personally, I am affronted that an elected representative, any elected representative, would attack someone because of their interest in political matters – for being an active citizen. In an age where people are switching off from politics efforts should be made to re-engage, not alienate.
Ward points out he chairs the NSW Parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters. This seems to suggest he should be seen as beyond reproach. In the same way that the former police minister – who resigned over allegations at ICAC he had been involved in political donations – should be seen as beyond reproach?
Ward goes on to tell how he has “fought against corrupt and inappropriate practices every day of my political life”. Of course “inappropriate” practices are in the eyes of the beholder. Some might say its inappropriate for an elected representative to avoid relevant issues politely raised and launch personal attacks. I’d be one of them.
I asked Ward – by email on 6 June with a follow-up on 10 June – whether he feels that Corrigan’s response adequately deals with his (Ward’s) concerns. He did not respond. In a phone conversation on the afternoon of Friday 13 June he told me while he respected my right to ask questions he had no intention of answering them, adding he ‘started work early and finished late’. He also knew I was “affiliated with the Labor Party”. Which is wrong.
In the way of these matters further comment followed, in print and on-line. The majority was more or less favourable to Corrigan’s position, questioning why Ward was not responding to the issues. On 9 May G. Thompson of Shoalhaven Heads felt Ward’s “rambling reply was heavy on personal vilification of Mr Corrigan but totally bereft of argument”. Shoalhaven Greens councillor Amanda Findley moulded the issues Corrigan had raised into a couple of question about electoral funding in a letter published on 14 May. A couple of weeks later correspondent S. McDonald of Bomaderry drew a long bow, questioning whether Liberal Party lobbyist Michael Photios had any role in the election campaigns of Ward or Hancock. These kept the issue alive a little longer and were rewarded with put up or shut up number two from Ward who, in a letter published on 28 May, said he had complied completely with the law and had no questions to answer. Which may be why ignored a further letter from Findley on 4 June.
During a recent forum at the National Press Club, former prime minister John Howard bemoaned the trend towards politicians “whose only life experience has been politics”. He could have been talking about Ward. In my 2012 book on local politics I pointed out that since leaving school his only notable employment had been for state or federal Liberal MPs. His website also states he has worked for the Liberal Party fundraising group the Millennium Forum, which has been regularly mentioned in current ICAC hearings into Liberal Party electoral donations for funnelling illegal donations. For News Limited coverage of this read here. For Fairfax coverage of the same events read here. Ward says he had only a minor role at the Millennium Fund for only a short period in 2001, while he was a university student. His work primarily involved making appointments for then chairman Paul Nicolau. For Ward, whose life trajectory was crystallising – having joined the Young Liberals at age 16 and stood (unsuccessfully) for Shoalhaven City Council at age 18 – this must have been a priceless networking opportunity.
In my book I also acknowledged the high regard with which he was held by many in the community, and his “strong work ethic, only surpassed by his ambition”.
That work ethic and ambition were rewarded with strong results in the 2008 Shoalhaven Council elections and the 2011 state election. In 2008 Ward would have been likely to have been elected Shoalhaven mayor had he stood for that position. He declined, with an eye to the ultimate goal of pre-selection for Kiama. As it was, close observers of Shoalhaven Council will tell you that Ward effectively ran the show during his three years as deputy mayor. His capacity for long hours was legendary. Commitment to his political craft was total.
A 2010 law researcher’s thesis into the expansion of the NSW penal system examined social, economic, political and other issues of the new South Coast Correctional Centre. Local politicians were interviewed including Ward, then the Liberal contender for Kiama. The researcher noted both his genuine concern over the poor community consultation of the then Labor Government and his support, primarily for economic and employment benefits, of the prison. It was “in Ward’s interest that his political opponents should appear as foolhardy, incompetent and unethical as possible,” the researcher also noted. “In this way, he was able to criticise his political adversaries without criticising the SCCC itself”. You have to take your opportunities where they arise and Ward rarely misses.
On the day Corrigan’s letter was published on-line, Ward was elected to the position of deputy whip in the NSW Liberal Party, to which he was “deeply honoured” and “very humbled. Of course he didn’t miss the opportunity to remind the electorate his “first and foremost commitment was to the community”. The role of whip is, officially, one of organisational administration. In reality it has an enforcement role, ensuring party discipline. Good choice.
Only a week later in an interview with Radio 2ST broadcaster Graeme Day about turmoil in Wingecarribee Shire Council he read the riot act to Holly Campbell, a Liberal Party Councillor, telling her to “pull your socks up quick smart”. If she continued to damage the party, Ward told Day, “I will personally ensure that Councillor Campbell doesn’t have a future in the Liberal Party”.
When Mike Baird and Gladys Berejiklian arrived late to the Liberal Party meeting that saw them installed as premier and deputy, Barry O’Farrell reportedly quipped “You’re late. As a consequence Gareth Ward has been elected premier unopposed”. O’Farrell clearly had kept his sense of humour and while that may have been an amusing aside – Ward suggested it was an icebreaker in a sad meeting – it may also have been deeply instructive about Ward.
In Ward’s political worldview, where people are either friend or foe, manufactured outrage is a political tool to avoid scrutiny. Articulate and quick on his feet, many have been subject to a verbal tongue lashing or written diatribe. He comprehensively puts people who disagree with him in their places. The real trouble is, with his high profile and status in Illawarra/ Shoalhaven – and undoubtedly beyond – he has become a role model, setting the standard for other politicians. And that standard, in my view, is not what is needed.
More of Ward’s approach to those who disagree with him is evident in a recent report in the Kiama Independent about proposed CCTV cameras in Kiama. This report referred to troubles in Shoalhaven where the Council had been forced to turn off its CCTV system after a successful legal challenge by privacy campaigner Adam Bonner. In 2013 Bonner was one of a couple of activists I interviewed for an essay I wrote, trying to understand what it is that drives some people to action. I came to the view that Bonner is one of the most sincere and dignified people I have met. During his campaign he was regularly vilified by Shoalhaven councillors. In the Kiama Independent report, which referred to Bonner, Ward said he would stand up for the use of CCTV cameras, opposing “slick and sleazy” challenges to them. “If you are doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide,” he said. Reassuringly Ward-esque. Winning is the game, regardless of inconvenient facts or law.
My wish is that Ward were able to focus on his strengths, putting his energy and talents to building consensus, engaging with, rather than demonising those he sees as opponents. The only real hope I see for this is in his relative youth. There’s still time for personal growth, if he could see there is another way. But there’s the crux of the problem. When politics has been central to your life for most of it, when you have been successful to date, are surrounded by backslappers, and when you thrive in the current political trench warfare that most Australians despair of, why would you change.
I predict a bright future for the member for Kiama.
Graeme Gibson