By Francisco Silva -
The path for Charles Cho becoming the second General Counsel of NSW Treasury was unexpected even for him. Starting his career in one of the largest commercial firms in the Asia-Pacific, a series of events led him to find his calling as a public servant. He tells the Journal about what makes a good government solicitor and the importance of ethics and integrity for the role.
In a faraway land, there is a glistening and prosperous city where people live in harmony. There are no kings, no rulers, no slaves, and everyone lives in perfect communion with each other. All this unbridled happiness is conditioned to one detail, that in the deep underground of this city, one child is kept isolated, in the dark and misery, surrounded by filth. If the child is removed, the city’s bliss will disappear, and it will slowly turn into any other city. Every adult who lives in the city knows about the child and is happy to maintain the status quo. But every time someone is old enough, they are told about the dark secret in the city and given two choices: stay and live life in paradise, or walk away and spare yourself from the weight of guilt.
Thus is the tale of Ursula K. Le Guin’s short story “The Ones Who Walk from Omelas”, used as a philosophical moral dilemma that asks the reader to choose between deontological and utilitarian ethics. In other words, the moral absolute versus the greater good. As the novella ends, Le Guin considers those who don’t remain in the city and how they are driven by their unflinching sense of integrity. “They seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas”.
Charles Cho, General Counsel of NSW Treasury, came across Le Guin’s story while taking a course at the Cranlana Centre for Ethical Leadership, but Cho incorporated it into the ethics sessions he organises for his team. Government, as in the story, has to consider the benefits and negative consequences of every decision it makes. “Do you spend it on children’s health, or do you spend it on elderly care?” Cho explains. The budget is, in his own words, an ethical dilemma, “and government lawyers play a critical role in ensuring these decisions are lawful, transparent and that the rule of law is always upheld.”
