Trust underpins the workability of many of our long-standing institutions.
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Over the last several decades we have seen a severe decline in trust in our institutions in Australia.
We have seen the long running reports of issues of institutional child abuse. This abuse, and a flawed and failed response to it, was not just in the churches but also in organisations such as the Scouts.
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The accounts we heard from victims were distressing and the documentation of the inadequate response form the institutions was devastating.
We heard about institutions, supposedly committed to child wellbeing and support, that actively supported child abusers.
We heard how they protected the abusers and victimised the already traumatised children. We heard how the Catholic Church, when pursued through the courts for damages by victims tried to argue that they could not be sued, because they were not a legal entity.
They seemed to think that Christ's advice to "suffer the little children" actually meant that they should make the children suffer ... again and again and again.
We have seen our political leaders fail in our trust. Whether it is funding for a gun club in Wagga Wagga or targeting grants in regional areas more towards the seats held by one party or even giving out public funds without tenders, or sacking a council general manager without telling us why.
Every time they fail us, at whatever level, there is another chink in that fragile animal ... public trust.
When public trust is eroded, we all suffer. Good public policy does not get the support it deserves because we do not trust the people putting it forward.
This leads to queries and suspicion about motives and questions about who will really benefit from the decisions.
People become suspicious because there have been significant donations to political parties from businesses and individuals who stand to gain from decisions.
One example of this is the donations to a number of parties by fossil fuel companies.
Despite the best science available telling us that we need to move away from coal and gas, is it any wonder that both government and opposition support more coal and gas projects when they receive so much money from the industry.
The media has, over the last few days, been full of stories about former PM Scott Morrison secretly signing himself into ministerial responsibilities in Health, Finance and Resources without even telling his colleagues.
One of the key messages here is that not only can we not trust them, but they can't trust each other.
No wonder that organised crime think it is okay to syphon off billions from the NDIS.
Bring on a federal anti-corruption body that is retrospective and has real teeth!