ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the media can play an important role in motivating ministers to act ethically. It utilizes two case studies to demonstrate that the media's success can be limited and will depend upon a range of factors, including: their ability lo access information about the particular allegations and how media 'savvy' that person is. Since the mid-1980s the Australian media spotlight has been regularly turned on to the behaviour of ministerial office holders. The crisis developed when New South Wales Premier Nick Greiner agreed that a former ministerial colleague-turned-Independent MP, Terry Metherell, be appointed to a $110 000-a-year position in the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority (EPA), allegedly to create a parliamentary vacancy the government expected to win. Metherell's resignation from parliament and appointment to the EPA was announced at a press conference, on a Saturday morning, after parliament had risen for its Easter recess and when senior political journalists were expected to be on leave.
