SUBVERT THE MESSAGE BY SHOOTING THE MESSENGER

Former US president Lyndon Baines Johnson - apocryphally - once confided to an aide he was planning to make some particularly heinous allegations against a political opponent.

"Are the allegations true?" the aide asked. "I don't know," the president replied, "but I'm sure going to enjoy watching him deny them."

Making an allegation and knowing that some of the mud will stick is an old political tactic that will always be with us, as distasteful as it is. But in Australia, there has been an unwritten rule which states that while politicians may be fair game, the integrity of public servants should not be questioned without very good grounds. That's a convention which has, sadly, been thrown out the door.

Last week, the senior frontbencher Andrew Robb argued that the mid-year financial statements had "a smell of manipulation about them". He knew full well this document was prepared by the Treasury, so he was effectively accusing the Treasury of political manipulation.

In doing so, he was acting in the tradition of LBJ. He knew this would be an allegation impossible for the Treasury to disprove. But he also knew his comments would dominate the airwaves and the seeds of doubt would be sown in the public mind.

Mr Robb's excursion into bureaucrat bashing is the latest example of a disturbing trend in the Liberal Party since it went into opposition. When the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recommended FuelWatch, several members of the Opposition questioned Graeme Samuel's integrity, sniggering that he must be manoeuvring to get reappointed as the ACCC chairman. Never mind that the ALP had not expressed an interest in FuelWatch before the recommendation. Never mind that the recommendation was being developed before the change of government.

We've heard Opposition senators say the sworn evidence of the Treasury Secretary, Ken Henry, did "not have the ring of truth about it". We've heard Liberal MPs accuse the Reserve Bank of manipulating interest rates for political purposes. It is clear from this sustained pattern of behaviour this is a carefully orchestrated campaign of attack based on the premise that you undermine the message by undermining the messenger.

Henry, Samuel and RBA governor Glenn Stevens all serve the government of the day. All were appointed by the former government. All continue to serve the people through the elected Government.

They are not political. Henry was an adviser in Paul Keating's office. Samuel once held office in the Liberal Party. But whatever political sympathies they may have once had have been put aside to do their job, as should be the case.

Over its 12 years in opposition, the ALP played hardball. But it resisted the temptation to personalise politics by attacking public servants.

This rule is important for a number of reasons. First, it is important for people to have confidence in their public institutions. Of course, the heads of these organisations need to be held accountable for their performance. But the integrity of the staff of these organisations should be questioned only when there is clear evidence of wrongdoing.

Simply floating the possibility of a lack of honesty by senior public servants is not acceptable. At this time of heightened concern, when confidence is so important, this is of particular concern.

Second, senior public servants are not well paid compared with their counterparts in the private sector. If talented people know their integrity will be impugned for base political purposes, it will be even harder to attract and retain them.

The attacks on senior public servants smack of a party still coming to terms with being in opposition, a party which believes it is born to rule.

The Liberal Party needs to realise the people who loyally served Australia through the Howard government years are entitled to do their jobs without their honesty being questioned.

If these attacks on our senior public servants don't stop, they will say more about the Liberal Party than they do about any public servant.

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