Graeme Watson - Captured Courts And Tribunals A Threat To Democracy

In his first speech since retiring, and in light of the Fair Work Commission’s ruling to reform Sunday penalty rates in the retail and hospitality sectors, Graeme Watson spoke on his more than 10 years’ experience as Vice President of the Commission.

Recently described as ‘one of the most brilliant industrial lawyers of his time’, his letter of resignation to Employment Minister Michaelia Cash outlined that in his view the operation of the Workplace Relations system was undermining the objects of the Fair Work Act of promoting national economic prosperity and social inclusion. His letter led Peter Costello to liken him to Samson in the Bible — ‘shaking the pillars of the system to bring it down on the heads of the Philistines’.

Overt capture of independent courts and tribunals is a feature of undemocratic societies, dictatorships and autocracies. It undermines a key element of democracy, the rule of law.

Alarmingly, there is clear evidence of this undermining of some of our pillars of western democracy. But capture is even more damaging when it is covert, hiding behind an air of legitimacy and independence. Society needs to be ever vigilant to this threat. Interference and capture needs to be exposed and eliminated — not avoided for fear of committing the same vice of interference. Scrutiny and holding our institutions to account based on the fundamental principles of democracy are obligations we all share.

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