US president Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that said “The buck stops here”. Truman understood that elected representatives in executive office are responsible for the decisions governments make and accountable to the people they represent.

Harry S. Truman, an accidental president who knew about accountability.

Call me old-fashioned, but that’s how democracy should work – yet Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton continually thumbs his nose at such requirements.

In just the past week, Dutton has failed to meet legislated reporting deadlines regarding significant national security legislation, ignored requests from the Commonwealth Ombudsman, the Australian Human Rights Commissioner and national media outlets, and hidden a taxpayer-funded review of the Department of Home Affairs from the public.

This comes on top of his attempts to pretend that the $423 million debacle that is the Paladin contract for services on Manus has nothing to do with him – he’s just the minister, for heaven’s sake. He’s also trying to hide reports done by KPMG and Ernst & Young that might just show how shambolic, farcical and wasteful the Paladin mess is.