Well, my God, it has actually happened.
For years, it’s been clear that the collapse of institutions in Australia has turned us from Scotland of the south into an Anglo banana republic.
What was once a relatively robust politics has now been so hollowed out under the pretext of an emergency that we have a pseudo democracy.
We have an ex-military governor-general appointed by a prime minister who has advised him to suspend parliament until August, as this crisis reaches its height.
We have cabinet government displaced by a rolling COAG mashup. Now we have another “cabinet” of good ol’ boys, a bunch of CEOs, with Greg Combet along as a sort of willing hostage.
Using the general public’s widespread disenchantment with politics, and relying on a supine mainstream media and parliamentary press corps, the Morrison government has de facto abolished processes of scrutiny, review and contestation. Guatemala down under.
Labor has made a huge error — strategic and moral-political — in not raising hell about all this. Yeah, I know they voted against the closing of parliament. But only in parliament.
We need the leader of the opposition raising this every time a TV camera is put in front of his face. The fact of an actual and vigorous opposition is now all that is standing between us and a functional soft junta. The absence of such, as Labor grandee Barry Jones noted two days ago (tweeted out by Philip Adams) ensures that such occurs.
Look, I get Labor’s strategic dilemma. Australia is such an atomised, anti-political country, and the political caste is so separated from everyday Australians, that it’s easy to suspend parliament and make that look like an in-touch response to an emergency, as if politics is something you only have when nothing’s at stake.
Labor played the bipartisan thing from the start, and has confined itself to criticising on specific issues, and playing the therapy card, wittering on about anxiety, etc.
There’s two reasons for Labor to change its approach.
The first is because it’s right. Yes, it’s hard yards to sell our dog of a parliament — the Australian House of Reps is the worst Westminster chamber in the world — as actual democracy. But it’s got to be done. The material effect of a de facto abolition of the legislature, by an executive within that legislature, makes the opposition the embodiment of such democracy as we have at the moment.
We have a hopelessly ad hoc spread-prevention process (letting, of all things, a death boat through, and only introducing airport temperature screening this week) a misdirected, business-directed economic rescue package (with a bit of scripture thrown in), and hundreds of thousands of people up in arms about it.
Meanwhile, the one person who could get big media time to say this is playing Baldrick to Scomo’s Blackadder. If you can’t imagine Morrison as Blackadder, yeah, that’s how bad it is.
But the second reason to throw away the focus group findings and just act is that Labor will soon find itself snapped between a rapidly radicalising population and a strategically superior Coalition ready to jump left at any moment. Labor’s now calling for official rent and mortgage suspension. At the start of this week it was making a plea for landlords to be kind to tenants.
The rent strike movement (which this publication was the first media outlet to call for) got beyond Labor, the Greens and even the radical left so fast that they had to play catch up.
Good god, Solomon Lew is now on rent strike. When Just Jeans has gone to the left of you, check your politics (thoough Just Jeans would be a great name for a 17th century pamphleteer. Justice Jeans “Light Shining in Brunswick”).
Having been left at the centre by radical social processes — and its worth considering that Australia’s early hoarding was a measure of radical action, albeit in an atomised, individualised form — Labor could now get body-slammed by Coalition economic nationalism.
What if, in two weeks, Scomo announces a huge further stimulus package and the nationalisation of Qantas? Without Labor having proposed a distinctly left program for the next stage of the crisis? Then it’s over for Labor. The Coalition will have become the whole of politics.
Labor needs to remind itself that, in mainstream terms, it has always been the democratising force in Australian life, against perpetually, imminently anti-democratic, anti-Labor forces. And always the nation-building force, against representatives of capital eager to keep us permanently underdeveloped, and subject to UK/US dominance.
Now is the time to stand for what’s left of our democracy, and our social solidarity, and bloody represent! History, to the defeated, is not going to ask what the focus group thinks.
Another cracker Guy. Dead set gold. I’m as frustrated as you are. Screamingly so. Labor appear dead in the water waiting for someone else to perform CPR as the LNP stand ready to bring its corpse along side to use it for ballast.
Agree
‘….as if politics is something you only have when nothing’s at stake.’
A great point, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Labor has ben complicit in – or been compromised by – a surfeit of crap policy by the Coalition in recent years & consequently they’ve lost the power to articulate a better argument. Not forgetting that News Corp has cowered them.
To escape becoming defunct Labor needs injecting with the courage gene. They have nothing to lose by being gutsy…& everything to lose by not.
You’ve had a stellar week, Rundle, bravo.
Yes- Albo is a disappointment- I’ve never been really familiar with him but there seemed to always be a push for his leadership. I’m struggling to see why? Maybe he’s struggling to get traction in a right wing media landscape but I fear he is just sitting back, hoping the govt will screw up. We need more than that——
Spot on Guy, it’s trite to say Albo needs to grow some but the shutdown of Parliament is a step away from a fascist state and we know this mob will take any opportunity to put the jackboot on the necks of our democratic rights ( now there’s a mixed metaphor)
Unless there is serious resistance now I fear for the society which exists after this is over, not being in any way confident this mob ( or Labor) would walk back from the police state restrictions now being imposed on us.
They are being imposed at the moment for a reason. Police state? Clearly you have not ever lived in a real one with all due respect
Yes there is a reason for most measures, but not shutting down parliament. This is not a good sign. Richard C is explicitly worried about by what happens after this is over. Governments of all complexions tend to be reluctant to hand back powers once they have got used to exercising them.
Morrison is constantly saying “be careful what you wish for” – not as a warning, no. He says it so he can say afterwards “this is what you wanted” and absolve himself from any responsibility to roll back rights.
Anthony and The Crickets …… think it over.
Maybe baby, but that’ll be the day – have they got a heartbeat? Rave on not fade away, before Oh boy it really doesn’t matter any more.
Instead all we get is chirrrup chirrrup ….. more like Anthony and The Johnsons “Hope there’s someone”.
Agreed GR. If ever there was a time for a Labor renewal, this is it. Here’s a chance to fight for real change. Housing and rental regulations, nationalisation of airlines, banks and other utilities. I doubt Hawke or Keating would have been sitting back sucking their thumbs at a time like this!
Housing & rental regulations are State issues ? No? Anyways ,I’m in Vic. & the Andrews Govt is the closest thing to a Labor Govt we’ve got ,at the moment. But more than a bit worried about Scotty & the ‘Covid Club’ sending in the troops (to be under local State authority, I think ). I don’t mind if they bring their own ventilators & expertise ..just keep the guns locked up, safely at home.
State, federal, doesn’t matter to me, leadership comes from top down. Since the demise of Democrats and the perceived ‘radicalism’ of the Greens, there’s been nothing stopping Labor from moving ever further to the right. Here’s their chance to reset, let’s hope they take it.
On the other issue, a friend of a friend who’s in the ADF in Queensland has just been notified they’re being remobilised to Victoria. Interesting times…
Hawke & Keating supped the neolib Kool-Aid and made it inevitable that the Rodent would take over and extend that malignant ideology.
There is no balm in Gilead nor hope that what passes for Labor these days is worth a cracker.
True Agni, I meant more in terms that they had the strength of their convictions, the balls to go for it and the charisma to take the electorate with them. I would have mentioned Gough who, admirable though he was, after the first flush fizzled electorally. It’s said great adversity can bring forth great leadership. New York governor Andrew Cuomo seems to fit the bill in the US. I’ve yet to see it over here.
They can’t go banging the pots and pans of change together – they’ll stampede the cattle (like Whitlam did) – step by step is the way to go, one big change per term with time to reflect on how beneficial it was for the majority – and trust the next lot of your party coming through when it’s time to hand over.
Gawd klewso, I’ll never live long enought to see it!
And you won’t see it if they don’t get elected.
Even when they do :- what happened to “RC into the Iraq war” and climate change = “Greatest moral challenge of our time”?