4 posts tagged “democracy”

What a shocking week for the good ship Lost Cause otherwise trading as the Liberal Party of Australia.

Here is a summary of the week so far

• the Shadow Treasurer fallout when it was revealed Joe Hockey was not the first choice
  
• Tony Abbott attacking the Pensioner handout as too much money for the oldies after the whole Aged Care platform was based on Labor being so miserly.
  
• Liberal Cory Bernardi losing his job for bagging Christopher Pyne in a newsletter then refusing to withdraw.
  
• Malcolm Turnbull immediately contradicting Andrew Robb over the emissions trading scheme.
• John Howard giving a high profile speech confirming he is still Livin in the 70's (hence the YouTube clip attached)
• Attempts to destabilise Alan Stockdale as the party President (he has decided to stand again anyway)
  

I believe it comes down to the party forgetting what the term "Liberal" really means. They seem to be looking backward to the Howard years thinking they can live in John's fantasy world and eventually the Voters will forget the inaction and think of them as The Good Ol' Days.

This might take a while.

They also seem to think they need a new Messiah to lead them to the Promised Land when what they really need is to show the Voters they are willing to heed their concerns. They seem to think the last election result was an aberration. That the Voters can be scared into the "Do nothing" approach favoured by the party on all manner of problems facing the country.

Tactically they show themselves as disconnected from the real world and much more interested in positioning themselves within the structure of the party than in showing any sort of expertise in Financial or Governance matters. They certainly don't seem to know what policy they are following when Turnbull keeps contradicting his Shadow Ministers.

A little history lesson is in order and they don't have to travel too far back in time to see what is required. How did Kevin 07 win? He didn't oppose everything like Bomber Beasley tried to do. He sidestepped the Howard attempts to pin his position and relied on Party discipline to not rock the boat. I thought this was a huge effort for Labor but that looks like a picnic compared to the current Liberal fiasco.

With the lack of real action on Climate Change and the attack on our freedom via Net Censorship it's not as if Labor is unassailable but you have to LISTEN to the Voters and conduct yourself as if you are a viable Government in Waiting. The current situation shows a party who still have to learn what Democracy really means.

Meanwhile the Costello smirk gets wider and wider.He is enjoying the punishment he has delivered to the Party for not supporting him. Every time a reporter asks if he wants to run the party the smirk returns. Never anything definitive. He can walk away from the Party tomorrow and point to his responses and defend his position. The very same thing if he stands to lead the Party. Nope. He is just enjoying the shipwreck and happy to keep the unrest simmering along quietly.

With Costello unable to summon the courage to lead and without the good grace to announce his retirement he keeps the Party in disarray just when the country needs a strong Opposition. With the Libs looking for another Messiah, they can't shake him loose in case he is "The One". It's time they grew up and accepted life in Opposition and started rebuilding a Party that appreciates where the Voters fit into the system.

Time for a little Regicide and a rebuilding. You can't row your way off the rocks when you are still tied to the pier.

There can be no doubt that taking effective action against Global Warming is going to require vision, strength, and a sense of purpose from our Political Leaders. They are the folk who make the decisions that really count. Our role, in this unfolding drama, is to make sure our “Leaders” are very aware of our concerns and honour their responsibilities.

In Australia, up until this point in time Kevin Rudd was going hard at the problem and was doing things in exactly the right way. With a concerned population keen for some intelligent action, he got stuck into getting some studies done including one by Professor Garnaut and called for input from all interested parties. Rather surprisingly, the “thinking hard” approach rather than knee jerk reactions sent the Opposition apoplectic. It seems a party hell bent on waiting for America (aka doing nothing) would still rather have a nervous response than deliberate sensible decisions.

The excellent news here is that this approach is still very well received with the voters but last week I was amazed to see Kevin Rudd deliver a carbon reduction of a mere 5% of year 2000 levels by 2020 with a ramp up to 15% if everyone comes on board. That’s about as likely as George Dubya Bush winning Mastermind with the English language as his special subject. It’s also well short of the UN sponsored summit in Bali a year ago where a call was made for a 25 to 40% cut. Embarrassingly at that summit Rudd stood with George Dubya Bush against the target although he said we were waiting for the Garnaut report.

Under Professor Garnaut’s study, the limit was preferred as a 20% reduction from year 2000 levels by 2020 and even this reduction still has massive environmental damage factored into the big picture. The good Professor admits he has written off the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef and expects levels of damage to the Kakadu Wetlands, Alpine regions, and the Murray Darling Basin as well as a heavy impact on agriculture. Presumably the softer targets will mean even worse news for the environment and dare I say the economy.

Along with the low target we now discover that part of the plan for stimulating the Economy involves ramping up the coal carrying capacity for shipments to China.

Hmm. Instead of investing in the emerging technologies we are going to prop up a dying industry, and a damaging one to boot. I can’t help but think we have a Government struggling with a consistent plan. I don’t know how the figures balance out but factoring the China coal boost against the reductions might even be a backward step for the environment. Surely investing in sunrise industries will bear more benefit to both the environment and our economic future.

The intriguing thing is working out what exactly happened here. The polls show that Kevin is popular in spite of, or perhaps because of, the destructive approach taken by the Opposition. Yet a Labor spokesman claimed the target was low to retain Government at the next election. This is clearly incorrect unless

·         There is a bit of bad news coming our way we have not heard of yet

·         The Opposition is going to embrace Global Warming and develop a policy (unlikely)

·         The Government has caved into pressure from the big players

·         Or the Union movement from the Mining Industry has put some pressure on

·         Maybe the huge work load has finally run Kevin Rudd out of puff

I’m sure there are other possibilities that haven’t occurred to me but others might suggest and some may even challenge the premise that the approach has gone soft, but if the decision is made for a political reason when the polls are looking so rosy then someone is out of touch or a smoke screen is being generated.

Looking overseas, we see an incoming President Obama who also looks promising as a bit of a thinker but I worry about the task ahead for him. The continuing announcements of a whole host of jobs being filled makes me realise he will have plenty of distractions in his new job. When you think of the mammoth task ahead and factor in Industries who prefer the free ride of the status quo, then the task is monumental indeed.

I recently added my electronic signature to the GetUp campaign to host a billboard showing our environmental concerns on a billboard that President elect Obama will drive past often. It’s a small gesture but hopefully keeps the message fresh and reminds him of the task at hand and that folk care. But how about the rest of the world letting Kevin Rudd know that you want to be able to tour the Great Barrier Reef in years to come with your Grand children?

Rather than jumping on George Bush’s case, let’s get on with getting our local pollies under control instead of letting them “Blame George” and go a little softer. Personally, I write to pollies in Labor, Liberal and the National parties. The Labor folk to encourage or challenge a decision and the Opposition parties (the main ones) reminding them they are still out of touch and how to get relevant. They don’t exist to oppose. They exist to offer a credible alternative government.

In summary, we need action to remind our pollies both at home and abroad of what we care about. We should focus on our local reps but also take the time to remind international leaders that we care what they do to their own country too. And remind them we spend money when we come touring.

We also need to not get side tracked by non-performers. Let’s get some action happening then go and deal out the penalties when we have more time.

While travelling around Oz we have seen a number of vans with names on them. It’s just a way of marking out your territory and showing your fellow travellers where you are coming from. One such label really impressed me recently.

Free Radicals.

It has a nice ring to it, I think. A little bit of Science, a touch of politics and a mission statement to boot.

Now some folk travel and simply ignore current events which is probably good for the blood pressure but does rather avoid our responsibilities to society. At a meal recently I was hit with that old chestnut “I didn’t vote because both sides are the same”. This is a cheap throwaway line that annoys me no end. It’s thoughtless. It’s lazy. It’s usually meant as the definitive answer. It’s often made by someone whose preferred side lost. And quite simply, wrong.

But more than that. At its hub it holds the death of Democracy as we now practice it. It discourages participation in the political process and ultimately removes performance requirements from your local representatives. No matter who you prefer to be holding the reins of government, you must let them know what you think. To not do this means you agree with the party line. How else is your local pollie going to know what you want?

In Australia under the previous government we had the automatic jailing of the children of folk seeking asylum. It lasted until Liberal members got so wound up that changes were made against the wishes of the Prime Minister himself. But it took time. Had more folk bothered to start writing to their local member earlier, the process would have been defeated earlier. It’s simply a matter of getting the numbers. (and having enough brains to look beyond the spin in the first place)

The same happened with fighting in Vietnam. When the outrage gets loud enough you can get a result but you have to keep your pollies up to the mark or throw them out in a civilised process.

Thankfully this comment was made by an older person rather than a younger one and that usually means that it will be ignored by the kids, but let’s hope our kids don’t fall foul of this cynicism.  We need to participate to get a responsive government and our government needs to engage us to keep the interest up.

The alternative is a growing disconnect that eventually leads to revolution when a charismatic leader emerges without the patience to play the game.

So I’ll be sticking with keeping up with current events and letting pollies know how I feel even though I’m on the road. The same goes with the blog and Letters to the Editor. It’s good to discus and revise opinions and hopefully get others motivated too. Either for or against your own view.

I don’t have a name for the van yet and pinching Free Radical seems unethical so I’ll have to come up with something new. In any case I’d be pretty disappointed if participating in the political process is regarded as radical. It should be as normal as the common cold.