Two and two make one: the collapse of the State Bank of South Australia

Abstract

<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title> <jats:p>This paper is concerned with the construction of truth. The introduction gives the necessary background to the subsequent discussion of two publicly funded inquiries into the causes of the debt crises of the State Bank of South Australia (SBSA). The rest of the paper tells the story of these two inquiries using the metaphor of a circus, where the multiple reasons for the Bank's difficulties become reduced to a single truth; that of political failure. The article concludes with an epilogue saying that this truth has now displaced all others and has become metaphorically speaking a prologue for the privatisation and globalisation of the local economy.</jats:p>