We have reached a huge watershed in Australian political history.
There is now no Member of the House of Representatives in the Australian Parliament who holds a safe seat, not one, no matter what their current majority may be, not even Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten.
And neither the Coalition nor the ALP can be certain of getting more than one Senate candidate over the line in any State. Their number two Senate candidates cannot be confident of getting the required quota. And I joke not.
Some, quite wrongly, will see this as a terrible catastrophe that will ensure huge a period of very unstable government.
However, it is far more likely to provide a refreshing change in which the political establishment will self destruct and never again be able to return to its inefficient complacency and its inability to be accountable.
Above all, it shows that Australian voters have had a massive gutful of bad government and blame it on all the major parties, without exception.
Incredibly, most politicians are blithely unaware of their very uncertain future and need to be blasted into recognition by getting a brutal dose of acute voter anger.
How have we reached this incredible political crisis?
It has been brewing for a decade.
It began with disappointment that the Howard Costello years actually frittered away a decade of prosperity and failed to provide the infrastructure the nation needs, even though our roads were clogged, our power stations were in decline, we failed to store and conserve water and did not bring our educational institutions up to world standards.
The anger grew over a series of ridiculous political coups that saw us have seven Prime Ministers in a decade without voter choices ever being respected.
Now, we have a Parliament that is quite simply a hopeless rabble.
Recently, the Wentworth By-Election provided endless evidence of the wide spread discontent that is embedded in Australian society.
The Morrison Government suffered a swing against it that has never before been suffered by a government in an election for a vacant seat. They should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves as it was humiliating in the extreme.
At the same time, the votes for the ALP and Greens went backwards which simply has not happened before to Opposition Parties as they normally get a huge protest vote in their favour. There is a clear message for them to ignore at their peril.
For the first time in history, the combined votes of the Liberals, Labor and Greens came to less than 50% of registered voters showing a massive rejection of political parties as viable participants in responsible democracy.
And the issues on which those three main parties ran their campaigns were ineptly stupid and irrelevant. Incredibly, we even had Barnaby Joyce trying to make a comeback in the middle of it. The insanity of it all was mind boggling.
So, what will happen as the result of a general election, presumably to be held next May.
The Morrison Government will fall. They are without hope.
A large group of Independents will deny Shorten an absolute majority so he will have no option but to run a minority government. This will curb the power of Trade Unions to interfere in good government.
Independent Senators will indisputably control the Upper House, even though Hanson will not be among them.
Refreshingly, a large number of quality candidates are running in both Houses, more so than ever before. For example, Jane Caro will easily knock off Abbott and Rob Oakshott will return. High profile Anglican clergyman,Rod Bower, will clearly win a Senate seat in NSW and there are many others like them.
Can good government arise from all this?
Yes.
In the first ten years of Federation, the Australian Parliament did not ever have a single majority government and yet it was the best decade of government that our nation has ever enjoyed.
But, then, we had giants in Parliament like Barton, Deakin and Fisher who were superb legislators and negotiators. Sadly, no one in today’s Parliament comes within a mile of them.
But, you and I can look forward to the next Parliament being a great one. The political hacks will be gone. And good riddance to them.
Yours in enthusiastic hope.
Everald
PS. If you would like to buy my book THE MAN ON THE TWENTY DOLLAR NOTES just send me an email to compton@everaldatlarge.com. I will post you a signed copy, plus an account for twenty dollars plus postage. For an additional ten dollars, I will include a signed copy of GOONDEEN, a book in which I am one of three characters.
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Hi Everald,
Hope all is well with you. I sent you an email on 30th Oct to see if you would like to discuss this post with Graham, and haven’t heard back from you. I had originally asked for Tuesday at 10am, but have now filled that spot. Would you be available at 9.45 on Wednesday 7th?
Regards Col
Col Clifford Producer Southern Cross Austereo T 07-4637-5111 E Col.Clifford@sca.com.au A Level 4, Easternwell Building, 10 Russell Street,Toowoomba,QLD,4350 P PO Box 111, TOOWOOMBA, QLD, 4350 Notice: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you must not review, use, disclose or distribute, the information contained in it. Please notify the sender by reply email and delete all copies of the original message if you have received it in error. We do not guarantee this email is error or virus free. If you do not wish to receive any further emails from SCA please contact the sender by reply email. This email was sent in accordance with the principles of the Spam Act by Southern Cross Austereo Pty Ltd (SCA) of 257 Clarendon Street, South Melbourne VIC 3205, Australia.
Well Everald you always come up with different slants â unlike most! Refreshing to read even if one doesnât always agree. I agree having independents of calibre would be a healthy change â but only if more stringent criteria were placed on the ability to become a candidate. Right now just about anyone who can afford it can get up. Naturally you wonât be surprised that I disagree re the calibre of Oakshott and Caro. Weâd love another good Independent in Manly! But really Everald I think our system is shot and needs changing. We donât need an upper house and if we have to have it its powers should be reduced. Somehow State Govts need also to morph into large regional entities or otherwise throw more local responsibility downward so that the people voice becomes really meaningful.
Aside from that our society is fast losing its values, fairness and ability to robustly but cleanly debate differences. For one Fred Hollows was right when he said that the LGBTI ?? mob would take over some of our agendas to the detriment of social standards/values etc. Secondly, we are fast losing any sign of enabling discussion about challenged subjects of history, morals, rights, politics, climate and so on. The first signs of a deteriorating society. When Israel Switzerland and NZ are superior to us on many counts â despite having nowhere near our resources â we should take serious note. Besides we now have a majority of the electorate no longer paying tax so what does that do for aspiration and striving? Of course I expect you to disagree but at least we have one common theme â the countryâs political mess is continuing regardless of right left or brindle. Iâm afraid the rot will continue before the fight back to restore sanity and balance can start. Some form of conflict is also sadly inevitable again! Regards carlo
Carlo Bongarzoni
Carlo Bongarzoni Associates P/L
9 Russell Street
Clontarf NSW 2093
T/F 9948 8975; 0410 335 523
bongarzoni@optusnet.com.au
THANKS, again.’Spot on’, as usual, Everald.
In my upper primnary years, a retired uncle often took me to Speakers’ Corner on the Hobart Domain, had me listen to an Independent every Sunday, on ABC local radio, and told me about BP of Scouting fame reminding the World that the Roman Senate had NO party affiliations.
Perhaps the role of the non-party politicians will again be highly respected, come May, ’19 ?
My hope and prayer is that my Son’s generation will take an interest in voting, if only for THEIR children’s sake, before our rampant greed for so much takes the communities of Earth beyond the ‘point of no return’—the forecast is certainly not looking promising, through lack of plain, old integrity, seldom heard from our leaders’ mouths—unless a Royal Commission is pending !
I live in the Philippines, but the party system here is a joke. Members switch parties/support to whichever President gets elected, so you don’t know what they really stand for. Actually, they stand for themselves, at all levels of government they see it as an opportunity to plunder. It is not a real democracy, rather an oligarchy. In a real democracy anybody can stand for election, but here unless you are a celebrity e.g. Manny Pacquiao or a member of a political dynasty, you risk your life running for office. There are many assassinations, usually by two guys on a motorbike, one to drive, one to shoot. Many vehicles don’t have number plates because the government hasn’t been able to keep up with supply for many many years (I suspect that the incumbents like it this way so they can rub out their opponents). Remember the Maguindanao Massacre? That still hasn’t been finalised in court and witnesses are either disappearing or recanting. Duterte seems to be the only one with the determination and ability to change the corrupt system. So look at the benefits of the system you have in Australia, how you have good police enforcement of the laws. If you want to see how NOT to govern a country, come to these third world countries.