On cautious Labor
Leo Quinn: Obviously “once bitten, twice shy” is what is dictating the Labor approach after what happened in the 2019 election. Quite sad really, but given the bias that the likes of Murdoch, Sky, Nine etc impose on it it feels it has little alternative than to try to be as small a target as possible.
It is a shameful reflection on us that we have allowed this to happen, where Labor basically has to fight with one hand tied behind its back to unseat the worst federal government in my lifetime.
Karis Muller Sanderson: It can’t be easy for Labor to steer between the Coalition and the Greens, whether about fossil fuels, mining, huge sums spent on submarines, tanks and aircraft while the weak among us — e.g. the frail aged — are left locked in their rooms afraid and depressed, or sleeping in a car/on the pavement.
Not to mention the eternal limbo of some refugees, refugees the self-centred millionaire bop-bop champion ignored while briefly sharing their sordid accommodation.
This party needs to fight for the weak, force the rich to repay ill-gotten public funds, scrutinise bribes to marginal electorates etc. It should admit that mining, for example, no longer provides many jobs. And it needs to adopt the Uluṟu Statement from the Heart even though some of its attenders don’t think its objectives mean much without compensation.
It seems that Labor is almost as confused as the other lot.
Trevor Foster: If Labor wins the next election it will be because the Coalition is totally unelectable. Albanese, although a decent and responsible person to be prime minister, doesn’t have the forthright personality to inspire people.
Switching to Tanya Plibersek is a no-brainer. She is feisty, a fighter and a woman. She will certainly appeal to many women voters and much of the population have faith in her. She will really bruise the arses of the LNP at the next election. It’s only faction fighting in the ALP that is keeping her out. History may repeat itself.
PS: I am voting Greens this time in an attempt to boost their vote above the LNP.
On an inept Morrison government
Margot Dunaj: I suspect the feckless and self-serving behaviour of Scott Morrison and his cronies in government has caused our public service to become stuck in the mud — unable to do more than operate reactively in a state of constant crisis; fearing interference and recrimination; unable to stand up to a government that is heavily influenced by business and lobby groups (Murdoch, coal and gas, climate change inaction); and which displays and encourages rampant bullying and mysogynistic behaviour (Australia Post/Christine Holgate, Brittany Higgins).
Or has there been an exodus of disillusioned, talented people from our public service leaving it rudderless and floundering with no clear understanding of its purpose and function?
Klaus Jahn: It comes down to the “born to rule” syndrome. If you are part of a club that by definition knows better than the hoi polloi — confirmed by being surrounded by likeminded mates in your (private-) school life, privileged Young Liberal university days, “life experience”-gathering years as a political staffer serving your conservative heroes, only to end up in a powerful position where you can sack frank, fearless and experienced public servants, reduce funding to pesky university researchers and other experts and twist the financial knobs on thinking critics like ABC reporters and analysts — why would you want to change anything that could damage this self-contained ecosystem of common beliefs? Especially if after years of inept handling of matters you receive confirmation through a miracle election that you have been right all along!
It’s not just Morrison; it’s is the whole ecosystem surrounding him, up to and including his suite of “ministers for making positive-sounding announcements”.
What is lacking is giving prominence to thorough backroom work historically conducted by experienced public servants, with external real experts drawn in to flesh things out. Instead we are getting PowerPoint slides masquerading as “plans” and windscreens to look through to help us forget what we might have learnt from history or even last week’s announcements, which have by now been proven wrong, out-of-date or just ill-conceived.
I’m not very hopeful that Labor would be any better. It has been too keen to learn from its opponent’s electoral successes over the past decade.
On the other hand, Julia Gillard managed to run an effective legislative agenda with a minority government achieving a lot more positive, forward-looking steps than the current lot. Which of course gave those a lot of scope for dismantling stuff rather than thinking up something positive and forward-looking…
It remains to be seen. It is scary to think that we get the government we deserve!
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No offence to Leo Quinn, but the ALP has “fought” every election since 2010 with one hand tied behind its back. Refusal to criticise climate change deniers, refusal to publicly acknowledge attacks by corporate interests, refusal to pursue Coalition corruption scandals, an expectation that others will fight its battles – these self-inflicted wounds have festered for over a decade. At least the ALP is now at least talking about corruption. One of these days it might be ready to actually fight its opponents, some time before the environmental death spiral kills us all.
I’m a left-leaning small ‘l’ liberal and i desperately want a change of government, but I see no compelling change in the tide of public opinion. I reckon Scomo will be voted back comfortably.
Unfortunately I think you’re right. You can’t achieve any change in public opinion if the people who shape public opinion (mostly TV so-called “news” these days) never give you any airtime. That, coupled with the apparent greed and stupidity of the electorate in general, makes Albo’s row a pretty hard one to hoe.
In the meantime, this (out of this week’s Medium Weekly Digest):
https://aninjusticemag.com/let-it-rip-was-the-worst-possible-strategy-we-couldve-chosen-6690af78453b
exposes a situation in the USA which is almost exactly the same as the one which has developed here. That is the tendency to regard Omicron as no worse than a bad cold. It is always a really good idea to remember the following, which I quote directly from the article:
Remember that. In this country, the public health has been used as a weapon in the political debate. The politicians don’t give a damn about ordinary people. They just want office. Granted, Albo’s lot will probably be marginally more socially responsible than the current shambles. But don’t hold your breath hoping for any great changes. The last politician who made a real effort in the area of social justice was Gough Whitlam. Look what happened to hom.
Nah. The anger is palpable. Unfortunately no landslide for labor. The cross bench is going to win this one. Our choice is stallion or gelding. Depends on the palmer vote.
A larger cross bench is essential to prevent either B1 or B2 obtaining a majority and running riot.
The danger is that out of spite/desperation the duopoly will form a Lib/Lab national government – given that both are beholden to the same owners & donors.
It doesn’t appear that the writers contributing to this article know very much about the top qualities of those that make up the Labor team. One only has to watch Senate Estimates and see the searing skill, particularly of the women there. There are top quality people in the House as well, Chalmers, Jones, Julian, Andrew Leigh, Tania Plebersek, Tony Burke, etc etc. Albanese is a man of conviction, compassion and a strong believer in a fair and just, humane society. I’ve heard him almost daily on live pressers in sicisl media. He might not be charismatic, but charisma is not trustworthy. Labor returned to Government is essential for this country’s survival and well being. Some decent Independents including the likes of Rex Patrick will make a very strong Government with strong cross bench support on issues of probity, integrity in Government with ICAC, and an effort to address climate change. To think of a return to Government of this motley moth eaten lot with Morrison is unthinkable. Howard certainly was never inspiring but he stayed a long time clearing the way for this disgraceful wrecking Government. Labor has all the qualities for mature Government.
I read with interest the observations of Karis Muller Sanderson; I recall attending a Labor Branch meeting after the crushing results in May 2019.
There was a lot of posturing, excuses and reasons presented to account for Labor’s demise.
I advised the meeting that it was time to recognise that the Grenns are Labor’s mortal enemy. Bob Brown’s convoy through Labor heartland single-handedly accounted for the loss of most of those winnable seats.
Greens are consummate spoilers, no policies, no hope of ever forming Government and a bulwark to democracy.
Hear bloody hear.
Here
I agree the convoy was a stupid idea and I know the greens won’t get in. On the other hand why would I vote for Labor? Their environmental credibility was shot to pieces when they voted with LNP on fracking. Their housing, education, labour policies as they’re currently written aren’t worth a damn. I don’t have a top notch independent in my electorate, so I’ll probably vote green unless Labor can put forward some gutsy policies I can vote for, but I’m not holding my breath and they’re leaving it bloody late!
Greens evidence of ‘virtue signaling’ of not the left, but the right…. blocking Labor’s ETS, Brown stating that he admired Menzies, was a young Libs member, the Adani convoy did not help while his latter day comments on immigration and population growth…..
International students should not be offered any pathway to residency (go back to where you came from and help your nation vs. Oz locals/students jetting off abroad for work?), and citing more recently (without credible scientific support and/or taking a heuristic shortcut) that population was key environmental issue; so does the fossil fuel supported neo-eugenics movement behind radical right libertarian socio-economic policies that bypass regulatory constraints on fossil fuels.
At worse the Greens are a ‘broad church; like the original Liberal Party, ageing members and too easily swayed by pseudo-science and nativism…. not unusual.
In a related parallel universe, a German Greens original member was August Haußleiter, very much of the ‘right’, while in pre WWII Germany 90% of the environment or conservation movement were Nazi Party members vs. 10% in general population……
Greens can have the vision and ideas but are not in the reality of the social environment and will never have government.
Agree.
Politics is a long “Tetris” game, and the Greens are a boutique puppy party, that want to run and rush before they can herd – and that scares the flock.
I’d like to see them trained, to “riding shot-gun” on Labor (like Maremma sheepdogs, left to watch over a flock) in a minority government – if the Labor sheep won’t recognise how much they need them.
When fighting on multiple other fronts the Coalition, Murdoch, their own factional fronts, I don’t understand how Labor can justify opening another against the Greens – when a lot of voter’s want to see them co-operate more closely. For each to bring a bit of balance, diversity and widening of horizon, as well as a tempered maturity to the other.
Let’s face it – no one party has all the answers – no matter what those party animals think.
The greens started from disaffected labor voters. Had they called the party anything other than the greens, they might have a chance. They are not so much spoilers but far too many right brainers (arty) in the hierarchy, just needs some heavy hitting left brainers to instill discipline and direction. The ALP are no better or worse than the greens, just bigger and more organised.
As with Trevor Foster I will be voting green. They have policies I can agree with and in my electorate are running a candidate I think will make a difference. Labor’s siding with LNP on fracking and our almost unheard of local candidate Justine Elliot might have something to do with it as well…