- Posted by Ad astra on June 28, 2009
Cronyism refers to giving appointments of authority on the basis of friendship, or in this country mateship, regardless of qualifications, rather than through the practice and principles of meritocracy. So to accuse Labor, and in particular Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan of cronyism over the OzCar affair is wide of the mark; they have offered no appointments. Despite cronyism being a badly chosen descriptor, Tony Abbott was using it again this morning on Insiders accusing Labor of ‘capitalist cronyism’, whatever that is.
A more appropriate accusation would be that they used political power to do ‘favours for mates’. Whatever label political opponents choose to use in such circumstances, it will always be pejorative. It will be used to condemn and to seek penalties, such as an apology, or a resignation. More...