Tag Archives: Society

Australian Election: Democracy’s Problems Run Deeper Than Spin

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[Published by On Line Opinion, 2 Sept.]

The big winners in this election are the Greens and Informal.  The informal vote rose by more than the Liberal vote, and between a fifth and a quarter of first preferences (counting informals) did not go to the major parties.  Clearly the message from many voters to the major parties is “a pox on both your houses”.

The reasons for this alienation run much deeper than deposed leaders, poor communication, shallow spin, backroom boys, misleading and mendacious claims and stilted performances.  These are all symptomatic, but the real problems are the ossification, lack of principle and systemic corruption of both major parties.

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The Australian Labor Party is Dead

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[This was published by On Line Opinion, 12 May.]

Isn’t it time we declared the Labor Party officially dead?

The party has become a façade, an empty shell, a Faux-Labor Party.  It lost its vision long since.  It has forgotten why it exists.  It has no purpose, other than to gain power for the egos that inhabit it.

Lacking a vision, Faux-Labor is purely reactive.  Lacking a vision, it cannot frame issues to its advantage.  It cannot seize the initiative.  Caught awkwardly in its opponents’ framing, it is forever on the back foot, only ever able to be less bad, never able to proclaim a noble goal and pursue it.  Its collapse in the polls is surprising only for its speed.

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Where is the Bold Leadership?

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This was published by New Matilda, 22 Jan 2010.

The Republican victory in Ted Kennedy’s former senate seat in Massachusetts may seem a long way from Australia, but there are similar forces at work in both countries.  So far, no major political party in the Anglophone world has been willing to directly challenge the right-wing ascendancy of the past three decades, and we continue to pay a heavy price for their timidity and lack of vision.

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