Independence Day August 24, 2010
Posted by k3nd in election, politics.add a comment
I can’t let this opportunity pass without commenting on the Australian Federal Election. Even though a hung parliament looks likely, more positives than negatives emerge from the tussle.
For far too long the major parties have gone about formulating and implementing policy without consulting the public. In many instances ramming it through without a word, whether the public is in favour of it or not. Having to go cap in hand to Independents should halt this practice, and hopefully result in better thought out policies that are not just a stop gap to get them to the next election.
The Independent Oakeshott had a novel idea. Get the best talent from both parties, plus Independents, and form a government. This may sound unmanageable, and it probably is at the moment, as we are in the groove of a them versus us mentality in regards to politics. Life is rarely black or white, but shades of grey. There are good and bad on both sides of the house. Perhaps it’s the right time to reinvent democracy, or more to the point, bring it back. This will involve thinking outside the square, which unfortunately is way beyond the capability of most politicians.
The knife edge nature of the result has the public talking and thinking about the Constitution. For once in a long time the role of the Governor General is coming into play. For an age it has been a post perceived much like a visit to the library (of the past) – you know it exists but nobody really wants to go there. The impartiality of the GG is imperative. It will be interesting to see her actions, especially if they inadvertently promote her son-in-law to the post of either PM or Opposition Leader. Rudd appointing her to that position is just another example of his poor judgement.
Finally, the vast majority of the Canberra press gallery got it hopelessly wrong. They bagged the Libs for voting down that evil Emissions Trading Scheme (just another excuse to tax the tripe out of us), saying the party would become irrelevant. They howled down Abbott for being unelectable. This election, especially, has pointed out the very poor judgement and biased attitudes of many journalists, who quite frankly, have no cred.
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