There was a time, unimaginable now, when a cabinet minister and his wife were found by a customs officer to be carrying in their luggage a stuffed Paddington Bear when they arrived in Australia after an overseas trip.The toy, upon which duty was payable, did not appear on the minister’s custom’s declaration.And so Mick Young, minister for state in Bob Hawke’s government, stood aside from the frontbench while the matter was investigated.Peter Dutton, Michaelia Cash, Tim Wilson and Mathias Cormann.Peter Dutton, Michaelia Cash, Tim Wilson and Mathias Cormann.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen, AAPIt was 1984, Hawke, just a year into his administration, wanted no more scandal, and Young’s sacrifice was disproportionate to the crime.AdvertisementIt was, however, a memorable example of the concept of a minister taking responsibility for impropriety, even if it was inadvertent.Illustration: John Howard tried early in his term and lost seven ministers in less than a year for various sins relating to conflicts of interest and expenses and travel rorts.The current Australian government, however, has turned the concept on its head.With fast-gathering regularity, ministerial responsibility appears to have all but decayed to no responsibility.Daily now the nation is assaulted by revelations of conduct that would get the cold shoulder in a shearer’s pub.

Our government has turned ‘ministerial responsibility’ on its head