Political wastelands and the idealism of democracy

tyr·an·ny

[tir-uh-nee]

arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority.

Synonyms: despotism, absolutism, dictatorship.

Do you feel the despair in the air? Do you hear the growing chorus of discontent, state wide and nationally? 

More than two years ago a little man in Queensland proclaimed his desire to follow his reign as Lord Mayor of Brisbane with the Premiership of Queensland.  Campbell Newman had already shown his “think big” colours as mayor with his “Trans Apex” project for 5 tunnels under the city. History has shown that this was a dream not supported by reality.

After the opening of the much vaunted but severely under-used Clem Jones tunnel, RiverCity Motorways went into receivership.  Investors will never see a return on their investment. The tunnel was completed on-time and on-budget but, due to incorrect predictions of traffic volume, has been an economic failure.

The Airport Link tunnel faced similar problems when the share price collapsed as investors discovered the predicted traffic flow was fantasy and tried desperately to divest themselves of worthless shares.  Traffic forecaster Arup, acting for the developer BrisConnections, predicted 135,000 vehicles a day. Airport Link went into receivership in February 2013 with an average daily traffic use of only 47,802 vehicles.

The Go Between Bridge was estimated to serve 20,300 vehicles a day, but the highest number of vehicles to use the bridge in the first year after opening was 15,783 in March 2012.

Legacy Way, the latest part of the project, was predicted to be used by 24,000 vehicles a day – but traffic projectors tell a different story.

Prior to the state election in 2012 the LNP’s stated intention was to “get Queensland back on track”, which, it said, meant “restoring the economy, easing the cost of living and cutting government waste. It means planning properly to build better infrastructure and improving health, police, education and other frontline services.” This year, a pre-budget report issued to Newman’s government by the Australian Industry group showed that, far from restoring the economy, LNP is moving backwards. “Our research found 63 per cent of Queensland company CEO’s expect general business conditions to be weaker in 2013 than 2012. This compares to a national figure of 52 per cent, some 11 points higher.”

In the lead up to the 2012 election LNP waged wars on many fronts, always hyped by spin.  According to LNP, Labour was planning on cutting 41,000 public servants – but that figure was proven to be spin. After the election LNP went on to cut 14,000 jobs – 9,000 more than Labour had ever proposed, despite Newman, in a December 2011 interview, suggesting any reduced numbers would come through natural attrition rather than job cuts.

Everything the Labour state government did was challenged by LNP, with Campbell Newman at the helm.  An electorate which bought the LNP spin threw out the Labour government and gave free reign to Campbell’s despotic ambitions.  The electorate was warned by Anna Bligh that Newman would become a 'slash and burn' Premier whose cuts would impact on essential frontline services such as police, nursing and teaching, as well as on the environment. Time has shown her to be right on the money. Queensland’s LNP state government continues to break promises, lie, spin and thumb their collective noses at not only those who didn’t vote for them but also those who did, and their disregard for the environment is shameful.

Fast forward to the run up to the 2013 federal election, and history repeated on a national level, aided by a fawning Murdoch press.  The personal attacks on Julia Gillard mirrored and then magnified a thousand-fold those on Anna Bligh.  The Libs wasted no opportunity to heckle the federal Labour government, and Murdoch media headlines trumpeted calls not just to the Liberal faithful but also to those it felt were borderline and feeling disenfranchised in any way.  The drubbing the federal Labour party got in the polls echoed the defeat in Queensland.

And then the new federal government began breaking their promises, just as the Queensland state government had done. Déjà vu.

The subsequent shameless backflipping and reverse tactics have left the country numb with a sort of shock, as if the voters had no idea this betrayal was on the cards.  In only 100 days the Abbott government has shown that it doesn’t give a damn about parliamentary procedure, the environment, the economy – which, when they took power, was one of the best in the world – or, frankly, anyone but themselves.  They have offended Indonesia, China and Sri Lanka and failed to immediately fly flags at half mast on the death of Nelson Mandela, as the rest of the world did.

Newman in Queensland and Abbott federally continue to claim their “mandate” at election for the changes they are making, but no-one gave them a mandate to destroy the environment, take money from schools and claw back pay rises from pre-school educators, change parliamentary procedures that they themselves often used to their own advantage when in opposition, reduce frontline public service roles or feather their own nests at the expense of taxpayers.

The attitudes displayed by Newman and his cronies in Queensland and Abbott’s bunch of slash-and-burn upstarts in Canberra constitute an arbitrary and unrestrained exercise of power and a despotic abuse of authority.

Tyranny is alive and thriving under the Libs/LNP.  In any other workplace an employer could get rid of an employee who treated the “company” with such contempt.  Why, in an alleged “democracy” is the same redress not available to the employers of these politicians, Australian citizens?  Do we really have to wait until this mob completely destroys everything before someone will take definitive action to stop them?

Political colours

My dad was political blue through and through.  He was brought up in a time of New Zealand Labour’s Michael Joseph Savage and Peter Fraser.  I never knew why, with such a red childhood, he became so blue.

Dad was a joiner by trade, and a self-employed builder doing alterations and additions and the occasional spec house most of his working life.  When he was in his early 20s he lost all the fingers off his left hand in an argument with a skill saw, but the lack of fingers never stopped him – he had stumps and he used them to very good advantage.

As a working class man with a wife and 5 kids to support, I would have thought Labour would have been his natural bent. Perhaps it was because National’s Sid Holland, Keith Holyoake and Jack Marshall led the country from 1949 right through until 1972, with only a 3 year break from 1957 to 1960 when Labour’s Walter Nash took the reins, that dad became blue. 

His conservatism didn’t seem to reflect in our everyday life. He supported capitalism but never owned shares. He built both of the houses I lived in as a child and teenager, as well as much of the furniture.  He was hands on with everything from upholstery and car repairs to fixing mum’s sewing machine or washing machine when they broke down. We were not poor, but neither were we affluent.  Affluence doesn’t come easily to a family with 5 kids on one income from a self-employed tradie, but we had good food on the table, happy childhoods and the occasional holiday at the beach.  Maybe dad thought his ability to provide these things for his family was due to the stability of 20 years of almost continuous blue government.

I became politically aware in 1970, my first year of high school.  During 1970-71 I, like many of my school mates, took part in anti-Viet Nam protests and began to actively question dad on his political beliefs. When Norm Kirk was elected for Labour in 1972 I celebrated, while dad grumbled about where the country was going to end up.  He was grudgingly tolerant though, until Kirk died suddenly in August 1974 and Bill Rowling took over.  Dad hated Rowling with a passion, and celebrated when “the Weasel” lost the election to National – and Robert “Piggy” Muldoon – in 1975. The subsequent 9 years under Muldoon’s fiscal control polarized the country, but dad remained staunchly blue.  I moved out of home in 1975, but our political spats continued every time I visited and escalated during the violence of the 1981 Springbok rugby tour, when dad’s anti-red sentiments seemed to lose all sense of reason.

When Labour won the 1984 snap election with David Lange at the helm, dad was incensed.  He felt the country had betrayed Muldoon.  He simmered, mostly quietly, occasionally loudly vocal – often when I wound him up – and celebrated when Jim “Spud” Bolger led National to election victory in 1990. 

By now, with most of his kids moved out of the family home, dad spent much of his down time in front of either sport or politics on the TV. When the politics got too much for him he would storm out of the lounge and vanish downstairs to his workshop where he would either make or fix something to settle his turmoil. 

In 1991 he had a new nemesis – Winston Peters, who was fired from the National Party and formed his own NZ First party in 1993.  Dad’s passion against this man was probably even more than his passion had been against the Weasel, and he railed against NZ First’s election wins in 1996 when they held the balance of power in parliament. Although Peters’ coalition with National gave blue the reins of government, dad felt Peters betrayed everything he stood for.  He celebrated when NZ First lost a lot of their seats when Labour won the 1999 election under Helen Clark.

My dad died on 24 June 2001.  He never changed colour, not once, in his entire life, but although he was blue from head to toe he never, despite our political arguments and dialogues, tried to influence any of us in our political direction.  I often wondered, in the years after his death, how this intensely blue man must have felt at times to know that at least one of his kids was the proverbial “red under the bed”.  I think he would have been very proud that I had the courage of my own convictions, just as he had had for so many years.

Bludger or Battler? Tell me Mr Abbott

Dear Mr Abbott

In October I read a Sydney Morning Herald report which said that, following your election, you had met with NZ Prime Minister John Keys but ruled out any fairer economic rights for Kiwis living and working in Australia.  The report noted that:

"Nearly 55,000 New Zealanders moved to Australia last year alone but, unlike Australians moving in the opposite direction, they do not get access to a variety of social services even though they have full work rights and pay full taxes.

Nor are they able to achieve permanent residency unless they possess certain skills in shortage.”

That is me, in a nutshell, Mr Abbott.  I have lived and worked in Australia for 8 years.  I have paid taxes, supported Australian causes and charities, made some wonderful new Australian friends.  But, through matters entirely beyond my control, my circumstances have changed.

In July, Mr Abbott, I was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm (subsequently found to be two).  In September my employment was unexpectedly terminated. Because I am on a surgery waitlist I have been unable to get full time or permanent work that will in any way make use of my experience and qualifications.  And it seems I can’t even get a “lesser” role because I am “over-qualified” so they worry I won’t stay.  Even though I am in my late 50s and need to work.  Do you know how soul destroying that is, Mr Abbott, let alone to apply for job after job and not even receive a “thanks but no thanks” response?

Centrelink advises that I am not entitled to any sort of benefit or assistance. None at all. Because I am a Kiwi.

I researched a bit more, because I was sure that the Australia I loved when I moved here couldn’t be so heartless.  The National Welfare Rights Network has a printout that confirmed everything in the SMH report.  Other reports further added salt to my wound, and even stuff.co.nz noted the disparity:

“… New Zealanders who move to Australia are considered temporary residents upon arrival. They can work and live in Australia indefinitely - a right afforded only to Kiwis - but they cannot access many social security payments, including unemployment benefits.

To gain the same rights as Australians have in New Zealand, Kiwis must apply for permanent residency and meet strict skill requirements.

It has been estimated as many as half of the New Zealanders who have migrated to Australia in the last 12 years are ineligible for permanent residency.”

Catch 22, Mr Abbot. I am in limbo.  I have no income, I am unable to become a permanent resident, my age and circumstance of birth are entirely against me.  Therefore I can’t become a citizen.  The changes which happened on 1 July 2012 to the permanent employer sponsored visas adversely affected any possibility of my getting citizenship that way when I was still gainfully employed.

I contributed to your country for 8 years, Mr Abbott, and I am unable to get anything in return when I need it most.  Can you possibly imagine, Mr Abbott, what it felt like when Centrelink confirmed I could become homeless and I still would not qualify for any sort of assistance? None at all.  Because I am a Kiwi.

"Home", for me, is Brisbane.  I love it and I don’t want to move.  That would be very difficult anyway, as I have two senior rescue dogs which I adopted, and I have no intention of abandoning them.  But I am weary of the inequity, weary of the insinuation that Kiwis are bludgers, weary of fighting a fight that we ex-pat Kiwis just don’t seem able to win while politicians like you, Mr Abbott, control the situation.

So please tell me what I should do, Mr Abbott.  Because I no longer know.

The lucky country?

I borrowed the title for this post from John Watson's contribution to this morning's SMH. John's article is a very timely reminder of the increasing selfishness of people who live in a country with the highest median wealth in the world. 

The size of our houses - amongst the largest per square foot in the world; the obscenely enormous and wasteful symbols of power in the Parliamentary Triangle in Canberra; 1,500 golf courses throughout the country (frequented by corporate types whose clientele pay for them to play rather than work, despite them calling their games "networking opportunities"); wastefully lavish corporate events put on by wastefully lavish corporate entities; political free-for-all spending - if you're a politician, of course, and it helps if you are in the party in power. These same wasteful corporate types cry woe when they are asked to support a struggling charity, saying their corporate charity aid is decided by head office the year in advance and there is nothing left in kitty. Yet they will financially support a political party.

Millionaires and billionaires get richer, the poor get poorer, the divide widens, and the federal government decides it's okay to cut foreign aid but it's also okay to raise politician's salaries.

And even if you are a hard worker in the middle rank or lower down the ladder, it's just tough if you happen to lose your job due to redundancy (often not legitimate anyway), internal restructure (often a nice corporate way to avoid paying redundancy) or simply because the boss decided, after years of loyal service, that you're no longer really that valuable. He doesn't care, he'll still get paid. 

One wonders how some of these people actually get any sleep at night. But John Watson nailed that, too. "It seems we can live with a world of obscene disparities, as long as we imagine our lives, careers and successes are all our own work. If others struggle, that's their fault, their own mistakes, or lack of skills or work ethic."

Our own mistakes. Apparently being made redundant is our own mistake. Apparently losing our job because the new manager didn't like us is a lack of work ethic. The corporate type can then happily return to his golf course, sup his beer or wine paid for by his company or happy new supplier, and bemoan the lack of "good" people in the world.  Except him, of course.

John Watson's article wound me up considerably, because I agree with every word of it.  Australia has become an incredibly selfish, ignorant and arrogant nation, and the current government epitomises that. Wealth is not for sharing, instead it is to be returned to the wealth generators - the people who need it the least. The environment is not for saving because the same wealth generators need it to generate more wealth. And foreign aid is non-essential, so cutting it will cause no problems. At least, not in Australia.

Don't expect anything better from this government. If you happen to be one who voted for them, maybe you'd best start praying to whatever god you worship that you never find yourself in altered circumstances, because they won't help you. They're too busy helping themselves.

FFS... and all that

Social media is great.  Really.  Mostly.  Okay, sometimes.  Like when you find out first about breaking news via Twitter or FB and beat the Murdoch and Fairfax papers to it.  Don’tcha just love that those outdated print media only run out once a day?  The world is all over that stuff by then.

So it really annoys me – yes, really – when newsworthy stuff that appears in my newsfeed is followed by so many completely un-newsworthy and unintelligent comments… “WTF?”, “Say wah?”, “FFS.” You get the picture.  Yep, I too have been guilty of the odd FFS or two.  But usually only until I delve a little deeper and read the linked report and do a bit more research.  Which, unfortunately, so many morons on social media can’t be bothered doing.

Like a recent “breaking news” story which happened across my feed because someone had passed it to someone who had passed it on because it was so important, only to turn out to be 2 years old.  Yes, it was important, but not in today’s context.  It garnered the usual flurry of “WTF”s and “FFS”s, but very little intelligent comment, and no-one seemed to have realised – or cared – that the story was 2 years old.

Then there are the oft-seen complaints in comments that “the link won’t open for me”.  So Google it instead! Doh!  What are we, your computer technicians or something?? Man, if you can’t find shit yourselves maybe you shouldn’t be allowed to be in charge of technological equipment.  Like D.U.I. (Driving Under the Influence), we need a category for these turkeys – maybe M.I.C. – Moron In Charge.

And my personal favourite?  “This information is great but needs to be backed up by research.”  What is that crap, designed to make the writer look intelligent?  Maybe that is the intention, except I can Google and find the relevant research, why can’t you???  M.I.C!

Social media has had a huge part to play in changing the way we interact with the world around us, but it is only as good as the people who use it, and, frankly, I would hate to see it reduced to the same lowest common denominator as the MSM.  The quantity of information is huge, and it is up to individual users to filter it, but it is all too easy to ignore or bypass stuff that really is important when you get fed up with reading the crap that follows it.  So do yourselves a favour – read the articles and links that interest you – really read them – then do your own research to fill in the gaps, and then, only then, make an intelligent comment to add to the discussion.

And if the M.I.C.’s still persist, quietly leave the page and find somewhere that doesn’t have so many of the MFs.