Game of Mates, How Favours Bleed The Nation

By Cameron Murray and Paul Frijters. Published in 2017.

I wrote this review years ago and kept it as a draft. This book is important to understand Australia. It explains a particular kind of corruption that does not show in international rankings, but is very much real and affects everyone living here. The most recent examples being the AUKUS submarine deal (A$375B over 30 years for 5 boats), the gas exports (unlike Norway, Qatar and other countries, we are giving most of our gas to multinational corporations for free), and the Queensland Train Manufacturing Program (65 trains for A$9.5B).

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This book is a companion to Australian TV series "Utopia" and to a lesser extent "Rake". It shows the unique corruption in Australian politics and public sector, perhaps stemming from the culture of mateship, two-party system where one party is tightly tied to the worker's unions and the other to business, but political donations from big players often are given to both parties equally, and a system of single-seat local, state and federal elections ensures that both parties always rule Australia at the same time, just in different configurations.

Quotes:
"the story how groups of 'Mates' [...] managed to rob us, the Australian majority, of half of our wealth" - page 1.

"He now robs you of a hefty part of your superannuation [retirement savings]. He dodges taxes so you pay more. You pay higher interest rates on your mortgage, higher transport costs and higher medical costs" - page 2.

"[He] is not a solitary individual who finds a corruptible politician, but is a networker, able to forge coalitions with many individuals involved in different parts of the system leading to a Mafia-type hold on individual sectors" - page 7.

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What does not work, to stop the game of mates: more regulation, more transparency.

What works: removing grey gifts, for example from land rezoning: see ACT land system; introducing a public competitor.

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A few examples, not from the book, from Queensland:

1. NGR trains purchase: a 2014 LNP contract for A$4.4 billion for 75 trains (147m long, 445 seats, 140 km/h) and 32 year maintenance.

2. Airtrain - Brisbane Airport railway link - a 35 year concession given in 2001 by the Labor government to a private company for a monopoly of public transport access to the Brisbane airport in exchange for them building the link. The cost to build was $200m. The contract is secret. The only alternative to a private train is a car. There is no bus, no bike path, no foot path. There is even no foot path to a little air museum - Kingsford Smith Memorial. The get on or off the train at one of the two airport stations costs currently $15 extra compared to a same distance travel anywhere else on the network. 1.5 million people used Aitrain in 2011.

3. "NGR accessibility upgrades" - what is primarily, an A$4.47 million for an extra toilet on each of the 75 trains, a 2018 Labor government contract.

Compare with:

Austria:
15 trains and maintenance (150m long, 526 first-class seats, 200km/h) for €0.3B:
https://www.railway-technology.com/news/stadler-rolling-stock-contract-austria/

Italy:
Six years maintenance contract for ETR 500 Frecciarossa high-speed fleet of 59 trains for €0.15B:
https://www.railwaypro.com/wp/trenitalia-awards-hitachi-rail-a-maintenance-contract/

Poland:
71 trains for €0.53B:
https://www.railwaypro.com/wp/koleje-mazowieckie-signs-emus-supply-contract/