It is the logic of our times,
No subject for immortal verse
That we who lived by honest dreams
Defend the bad against the worse. – C.D. Lewis.
“Defending the bad against the worse” is hardly the most inspiring political credo. Yet that is exactly what many Australians will be doing when they cast their vote tomorrow. As disillusioned as they may be with Labour over issues ranging from carbon tax inertia to asylum-seeker “solutions” to mining tax deals, they don’t doubt that a Coalition government would be much, much worse.
Julia Gillard seems to be trying to tap this impulse with her warnings about the closeness of the election. “Ok, so you’re all fragile and disillusioned and some of you are still feeling sentimental about poor old Tintin, but it could be so very much worse! You could have Tony Abbott as Prime Minister!”
And it’s true, of course. Tony Abbott would be worse. Much worse. And in ways that may not become apparent until he’s safely in the Lodge (if he decides to live in the Lodge – Canberra’s a long way from the surf, after all). But there are glimpses already – in the talk about Centrelink “reforms”, about the reintroduction of full-fee paying domestic tertiary education places (which imples a regulation of the numbers of HECS funded student places, or what would be the point), the shrill alarms over asylum seekers – these set the tone.
Australia under an Abbott government would be starkly divided into winners and losers – and the losers would be held entirely responsible for their own misfortune. To some extent, it was ever thus and ever will be. But an Abbott Liberal government will be nakedly punative and disciplinarian.
The Gillard government, of course, is no subject for immortal verse. But we, who lived by honest dreams…
Note – before every literature wonk on earth leaves comments, I know C.D Lewis was – well, dodgy, in feminist terms - and treated the women in his life horribly. But doesn’t that verse sum up the mood?
8 Comments
Can we not postpone the election until we get some candidates who are interested in more than being picked winners?
I agree that a Abbott government would be a disaster for those least able to fend for themselves in a cutthroat world – and perhaps all of use in the, not unlikely, event of a GFC Mk2. But I won’t be blaming those who appear to be about to shoot themselves in the foot by voting for him.
The blame needs to be sheeted home to the most politically inept government of the post war period. It came to power with enormous goodwill in the expectation that it would do great things for the country after 12 years of the divisive, do-nothing Howard and blew it big time.
At no time did Labor appear to have a clear strategy of were it wanted the country to be. I had thought that it’s ‘Howard lite’ stance ahead of the 2007 election was a clever election strategy. But it turned out that was exactly what it was offering.
It had no vision, very little purpose, and even worse, no courage. Add in a chronic unwillingness/inability to sell the things it did get right and it’s not surprising that Labor is in as much trouble as it seems to be.
I hope we’re both wrong and the Government manages to just sneak back, but I fear the country won’t get off that lightly. Perhaps our only hope is that Abbott will be such a disaster that his government implodes quickly.
if (god help us all) The Mad Monk gets in, the only glimmer of hope from a catastrophic situation is:
1) we have a good chance of going into a really bad recession, with rising unemployment and falling house prices. The red-necks and aspirationals will never again believe that the Libs represent their interests, and the myth of Liberal superiority in economic management will be forever consigned to the rubbish bin.
2) with the governments approval ratings in single figures, Lib headquarters might panic again and install Malcolm Turnbull (who has more vision than Lib or Lab put together).
3) Greens will continue to increase in popularity. As the horror of Lib refugee, education , economic and environmental nightmares turn into reality. The Greens in the senate wil be the only thing that save us from a much much worse fate, cementing them as a truly visionary and moderate 3rd party in Australian politics.
That said, thinking of this outcome leaves just a little bit of vomit in my mouth.
Abbott’s book is ok. Cheap remaindered copies are selling at Basement Books in Sydney. I think they cost around $5. And check this out …
http://planetirf.blogspot.com/2009/09/opinion-mad-monk-no-more-abbotts-battle.html
And why do you think the Naked Priest is likely to be PM tomorrow night? Backed by his strange group of Howard relics, some possibly dead (Ruddock)?
Because climate hysteria put him there. As I predicted late last year on Crikey, the climate cult -both the Believers and Deniers- created a febrile, ummm, atmosphere in which Turnbull was effectively colonised by the ALP. Vast, damaging and pointless schemes threatened. This empowered the Right. The Crikey reaction was predictable: the Libs would self-destruct and the Greens would triumph (eg. by-elections in Higgins and Bradfield). Savonarola Hamilton raged towards apoplexy. The abuse heaped on me for rejecting this fatuous scenario was collectable. Retained for future educational purposes.
The Gillrudd govt. botched its well-intentioned schemes: Green loans, insulation etc. Why? Because the political class knows nothing of the building industry, which is a rort inside a pipe stuck up the arse of the body politic. Look at the CVs of the political class: student politics-lawyer/union official-staffer-MP-Minister. An incestuous, ignorant clique with the skills of a low-rent lawyer. The sheer banality of Julia Gillard hypnotises. Look at the deceitful ads of the next Liberal member for Wannon: shows a shiny farmer’s ute with the moleskinned candidate banging on about his “property” near Hamilton. But Tehan’s from Hawthorn. Son of a Kennett minister. Never been to Wannon in his life. His hastily-acquired “property” is no farm. It’s a 20 acre block.
“Australia under an Abbott government would be starkly divided into winners and losers” says Hussein. What stupidity. It already is. Abbott’s contempt for worker’s rights is self-evident, but his rise to power is a function of sanctimonious excess/incompetence of the Left/Greens. Abbott is a symptom of the wider malaise. Reform of the political system requires confronting the toxic sociology of both sides of politics. Latham, in his oafish way, is aware of this.
And yet Frank you demonstrate so ably how deserving of that abuse you are.
“But an Abbott Liberal government will be nakedly punative and disciplinarian”
What a remarkably partisan, blinkered and frankly hypocritical statement.
It’s the complete denial induced lack of insight to their own silliness that is utterly breath-taking about leftist progressives.
Unfortunately for us all what has eventuated is the belief that neither side of government is anywhere near capable of keeping us truly informed of their plans. Tasmania Jobs