Here’s a conundrum.

Can you trust the veracity of a “public information campaign” promulgated by a government which previously said it would never launch it?

That is the question facing WA voters as they consume online, radio, print and television ads encouraging them to support the proposed sale of Western Power — a message we are paying $275,000 for the privilege of receiving.

The Government’s decision to bill taxpayers for the campaign rather than the Liberal and National Parties is festering as a sleeper political issue less than three months from a State election which will turn, in part, on the contentious privatisation.

Integrity is important in this debate because not only is Colin Barnett asking us to believe his previous concerns about the security and reliability of a privately controlled energy grid no longer apply, he is also asking us to forget his previous stance on government advertising.

Publicly funded advertising has long been a thorny political issue in every jurisdiction but, put simply, it is reasonable to bill taxpayers for messages about their duties, rights and policy changes affecting them, while political parties should fund ads designed to gain popular support for their election platform.

Or to quote the relevant Premier’s circular to the public sector on the topic: “Government generally has the obligation to raise awareness of a planned or impending initiative, encourage usage of or familiarity with government products or services, and encourage social cohesion, civic pride, community spirit, tolerance or assist in the achievement of a widely supported public policy outcome.”

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That last part is critical because we don’t yet know if the public policy outcome in question is widely supported and can’t know that until the election at which the Government seeks its mandate.

So is it a government decision or an election promise?

Well, both. After stating categorically in the Budget that the Government would not decide on the privatisation until after the State election, Treasurer Mike Nahan and Colin Barnett have fast-tracked it and Cabinet, with the Nationals support, has endorsed the move.

But there is no question it will only happen if the Government wins the election.

Barnett is acutely aware of the murky waters he is steering his ship through. In March, when Labor Leader Mark McGowan sniffed the political wind and asked the Premier in Parliament whether he planned a public campaign on Western Power, Barnett replied: “No. I have not agreed to that. I know it has been suggested, but that is something I have not yet agreed to and probably will not agree to.”

Camera Icon Mike Nahan, along with Colin Barnett, has accelerated the privatisation of Western Power. Credit: Steve Ferrier The West Australian.

His reluctance to justify the move then may well have been rooted in his near rabid objection to similar advertising while Opposition Leader.

In September 2004 he moved a motion calling on the Gallop government to “stop wasting taxpayer funds on partisan and political advertising”.

“The Government has run a series of advertisements, particularly over the past 12 months, that are highly political and aimed at boosting support for Government policies,” he thundered.

Barnett took particular aim at advertising guidelines introduced by the “unethical” Geoff Gallop justifying public advertising designed to “encourage social cohesion, civic pride, community spirit, tolerance or to assist in the achievement of a widely supported public policy outcome”.

“What a load of waffle that is! Talk about the wordy premier. It is absolute waffle. Anything could be put through that. There is no strictness in those guidelines,” Barnett goaded, blissfully unaware that a decade later an identical circular would be issued to the public sector in his name.

In the same debate, Nationals tyro Brendon Grylls got to his feet to support the motion. He claimed then the definition of political advertising was a campaign in support of a decision which had been made, and cited newspaper ads in support of mining in the Ludlow tuart forest.

“If those advertisements had appeared before the Cabinet decision, they may have served to inform the public,” Grylls argued. “The advertisements were placed after the decision had been made and after the trees came down. The ads can be viewed only as political advertisements that are trying to push the Gallop government’s position.”

Circumstances have a habit of changing previously held positions and all the chatter is that the usual campaign donations to the Liberal Party are decidedly thin on the ground given the tight economy and Barnett’s battles with the business community.

Labor, of course, does not come to this with clean hands from when it was last in office and the Government can point to significant savings on advertising, media and public relations costs compared with its predecessor.

For now, Labor is howling over what it sees as a blatant cash grab and, for the record, these are its standards in Opposition. Shadow treasurer Ben Wyatt has vowed in office to claw back the cost of the Western Power ads from the Liberal and National parties, and has suggested legislating to hold back equivalent funds paid to political parties under the Electoral Act.

There is nothing wrong with public awareness campaigns, it’s just that if they stray into political advertising, then the relevant parties should pay.

Barnett justifies billing the public for the Western Power advertisements largely on the basis that this is something that governments have always done and, on that score, he’s right.

But past wrongs don’t justify similar conduct in the present.

Particularly in this case, when the Western Power campaign cloaks itself in integrity by presenting itself as pure fact. If that’s the basis of your argument, the last thing you’d want to do is call your truthfulness into question by going back on your word.