Prologue: The Result
It is done. The former regime under which we have lived for the last nine years is no longer in power. Despite the corporate cheerleading, despite the blatant bias and propaganda from the media, the Australian Labor Party will form the next government. All the king’s monkeys and all the king’s propagandists could not reinstall (off a floppy disk) the LNP. The rise of the Independents and Others (Greens etc) means that a minority Labor government is likely. That says much, does it not? The two times in the last generation that the party of the workers has been allowed to form a government they were in a minority? Granted this is not settled yet, but it does look likely.
The ALP and Political Courage
Prior to getting into the policies I hope the new government will implement, it is necessary to consider how they will govern. You may recall that very early in the Abbott government’s term, they established an institutionalised witch hunt into ‘union corruption’, which discovered precisely nothing. The Royal Commission, which had a political appointee (Heydon) overseeing it, was very much designed to find dirt on Bill Shorten. The political courage (read balls) it took to use a public institution for such brazen political purposes was remarkable. The sheer level of ‘try and stop me’ arrogance and pigheadedness underlying that Royal Commission was amazing. The LNP simply did not give a sh*t: they were going to do this so get used to it.
The ALP, in its new government, needs that same attitude. Mr. Albanese and his troops need to take that ‘No. This is the right thing to do, and we are going to do it. Try and stop us’ attitude. The difference will be where they apply it: to what ends. If you combine conservative self-assuredness (arrogance) with ALP policies, you have a potentially quite effective combination. The ALP also needs to learn how to play politics with issues, but I want to look at this in the context of specific policies. The point, for now, is that Labor cannot be timid in how it governs. The media and the LNP will both be gunning for them. The ALP cannot show weakness or timidity.
The Most Important New Government Policy: The Integrity Commission
The most important policy, one that should be put in place when political capital is greatest, is the Integrity Commission. Since corruption molds government opinion, and government opinion informs policy, this is the first issue to address. The fish stinks, as Senator Fierravanti-Wells said, from the head down. If you do not first address corruption, any and all policy is compromised. To use an analogy, purify the water before distributing it to the villagers.
In a previous paragraph I mentioned playing politics with issues. On the issue of integrity, the backlash against this is likely to be severe. But you cannot show weakness, Mr Prime Minister-elect. If the LNP and the media dismiss this Commission as a partisan witch hunt you must be ready to fight. The way you fight is simple. You ask ‘Why would the Leader of The Opposition oppose an anti-corruption Commission? As the former Prime Minister Mr Morrison used to say, if you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to hide’. Yes, play it like that. No party with a clean record would oppose such a Commission. Is this dirty? Possibly, but it is for the right reasons.
A brief comment on the nature of this Commission: it must be retrospective, it must have teeth (including subpoena power) and its funding must be in ten year blocks chained to inflation. Any and all former MPs, Senators, consultants, lobbyists, or donors of any party are not eligible to become Commissioners. The Commission would appoint fresh Commissioners for each investigation, with an overarching Chief Commissioner appointed for two years. The time has come to clean up Australian politics. If that makes the corrupt politicians screech and cry, so be it. Having a non-corrupt government and opposition matters more than some politician’s feelings and especially their bottom line.
A Looming Threat: The Media and Operation Restore Legitimate Government
The hostility of the media toward Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party was clear throughout the campaign. But the new government cannot ignore the media. In a previous post, I suggested that if Labor won the election, the media would start Operation Restore Legitimate Government the next day. The media (read Murdoch) gets to decide who governs the country, don’t you know? Oh the peasants might technically ‘elect’ the government, but we tell those peasants what to think. But they did not follow our instructions. They had the nerve to elect the other party. Well, we cannot have that. We need to get the party of legitimate government back into power.
You cannot ignore this, Mr Prime Minister-elect. The media will be gunning for you, particularly the partisan monkeys in the papers and on commercial television. The ABC may change its tune though (hear me out). The ABC is, always remember, government funded. For the last nine years, that government was the LNP, and so the ABC was little more than LNP propaganda. However, the ABC knows where its bread is buttered, and so its tune may well change. Let us be clear: I would be mortified if the ABC did the same as they did under the LNP but with a different partisan slant. But you might find that, now that it is a different government giving the ABC its funding, a slight tune change may occur. But back to Operation Restore Legitimate Government.
The peasants cheated the media. So, they will just have to try harder. If you thought the media was hostile to Labor during the campaign, just wait.They are bitter and angry that their preferred party is no longer in power. They want revenge. How do you deal with this? Continue the strategy of not taking the media’s crap that you used in the last two weeks of the campaign.
Conclusion: A New Start
The new government, under the leadership of Anthony Albanese, has a grand opportunity to reform Australia. Restoring Medicare, NDIS, public school funding, cleaning up corruption, action on climate and so much more. The floor, and the parliament, is yours, Mr Prime Minister-elect. If you cannot form a majority in your own right, I encourage you, Sir, work with the Independents and Others. I am not of the cynical Sam brigade which suggests that the Independents are merely Liberals in cheaper suits. You may find that some are, but go in with an open mind and seek common ground. As one of the Independents said in 2010, negotiating is in Labor’s DNA. Use this to your advantage, Sir, and form a strong, cohesive working majority if this is how government is to be formed.
Good luck, Mr Prime Minister-elect.
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An election outcome where the Greens and/or the Teals impose a much more adequate policy on climate change on Labor, is a good thing for Australia and the world.
I said it before and I say it again ( as a retired journalist of 45 years) the Newspapers and the partisan hacks they employ, are irrelevant. They have shown they have no influence any more. Same for the Commercial TV sycophants. Albanese and Labor can ignore them, or better, patronise them. It pains me to see the depths to which reporting has descended in the mainstream media.
To the contributors and commentary, take a bow. Some of what happened yesterday is down to all the great reporting, linking and writing you have done.
I couldn’t watch the coverage last night, I was afraid that Scotty would be back, just like last time.
I awoke at 3 and watched Albo’s humble victory speech. I had tears. Sure, some of that was relief, but there was also shame at how thoroughly we have been rogered by the LNP, and for most of my adult life. I hope Albo can start a new, gentler democracy again. One where the future of our children is considered once again. He can start by forcing the media to cut back its ownership, back to 20 per cent, I think, is the right number.
Again, well done Michael, Kay, Jon, Rossleigh and many others.
We can all thank the young first time voters, and the female voters who dug out the baseball bats and used them on that fossilised cabal of god-bothering, self-entitled, born to rule LNP fucktards, and what a sight is was to see. I want them to know that is was their observational acumen that saw through those cane-toads for what they are. They saw right through that unflushable turd Eyebrows Howard and the bible bashing, prosperity doctrine licking shithead deemed the Chosen One, Sir SCruntMo. . That repellent rodent Howard started the rot which has now penetrated our once welcoming society and which will take many decades to repair. Finally, with the election of an ALP government, decency will once again return to our country. I live in fervent hope that Eyebrows, Super Geebus SCruntMo Morriscum and his besty Murdoch do the world a favour and cease breathing PDQ.
We can no longer waste oxygen on shit.
It’s was like Star Wars, War of the Worlds, V for Vendetta and Clockwork Orange rolled into one movie.
Now Australia has a New Hope.
The Empire is gone.
“Alex” is going into rehab on the back-bench.
The “virus” that is humanity at it’s best is destroying “Politics” from within.
The eternal propagandist mantra of Labor BAD Liberal good has lost it’s hold on We the Voter, yesterday we were all wearing masks and standing at the foot of Big Ben.
The only thing that didn’t happen last night was an exploding Old Parliament House to complete the picture.
As long as Labor understand that THEY also lost votes, a lot of them, even though they did win seats on the back of an almighty GREEN swing, Australia will be OK.
If Albo and his team, and don’t get me wrong he has a great team behind him, think that with a majority in their own right (yet to be attained) guvvm’nt that they can go ahead with their pre election promises and NOT extend themselves they might find that they are back on the left hand benches in three years time.
Today is the beginning of a new Australian journey.
It is not just another stage of the original trip, but in a differnt vehicle and with a new driver, to destination same.
Icing on the cake ?
According to the Australian Electoral Commission, for Senator Pauline Hanson to retain her seat she would nee 154,761 votes to gain her seat.
As of Sunday morning, she had just 84,664 and had suffered a 2.45 per cent swing against her.
Just reading the ABC news now, about the ‘Biloela family’, … “the Murugappan family, were removed from their home in Biloela by immigration officials after Priya’s visa had expired and Nadesalingam’s refugee status claim was rejected by the government” [ABC], I was reminded of the entrenched cruelty that had become a characteristic of the now-defeated LNP.
Not only to Murugappans, but other refugees locked away for years in hotels or offshore detention camps, and also, cruelty aimed at the marginal citizens of this country, the unemployed, those on the NDIS, the elderly in aged care & nursing homes, along with expats refused re-entry, people refused reunification with overseas partners or denied spouse or partner visas, as well as the cruelty of Robodebt, the cynical fearmongering and sabre-rattling, the vilification of gender-diverse citizens, the cruel expulsion of people for often minor criminal infractions to countries they had no relationship with, race-baiting ala Dutton’s agenda against African youth in Melbourne, and more, I’m sure.
And as I watched Dutton speaking last evening, listening carefully as he spoke about the pain he was feeling and his empathy for the general pain now consuming the LNP as the reality of the extent of their rejection became apparent, watching closely his body language and that of his wife & children by his side, I was swept with a strong sense of the sociopathic creature that he was; that this was about him, and his colleagues, and their relationship to power, and their loss of it along with the privileges of income and access to the echelons that ordinary citizenry are denied. His rant on how they’d left the nation a better thing than it was on their acquisition of the reins was so utterly at odds with the reality of the situation… with the camera panning to the kids and their looks of discomfort at being enforced to endure this piece of mad melodrama…
Really, he has no idea. I’m absolutely convinced he’d believe Australians made a ghastly mistake in voting the way they did, and that they still deserved to be in power.
Wishfully, I hope their consignment to the dustbin is one of a permanent nature.
Canguro
Nicely put !
I’m just hoping ‘good government’ will finally start on Monday…its only been seven years. I am at least confident it might be ‘better’.
Little Prince Timmy cried. Why? Most likely he thought he was going to there for years and years and the nasty little people dared to kick him out after seeing him for the fraud he is. No more $200k+ a year, no more rorting. I was going to use an onion to look tearful until I discovered that it had teeth marks on it
Canguro, Chris et al – Ditto ditto my reaction listening first to Josh’s bubbly pat-on-the-back of himself and his party, then Dutton’s disingenuous and clearly sociopathic complimentary if not temporarily softened plasticity and self-adulation, and Morrison’s verbose suppressed reformed projected hostility and totally delusional congratulatory conclusions – confirmed none of them are capable of insight, remorse or change other than their superficial colours, false narratives and alignments. What possible twist and spin of fate or history could they ever in this world draw the positive legacy they leave behind other than utter devastation, misery, division, corruption, anger, deep deep tragedy, regret and sadness, utterly destroying so many people’s lives aca the beautiful long suffering Marugappan family, who captured the hearts of so many Australians for the treachery delivered by these three rotten monsters.
The Marugappans like the people of Biloela experienced, symbolised the suffering of the many, not to mention the conscience and empathy of the nation in that awful space of hopelessness and helplessness all of us felt not being able to make any difference – we were all captured like hostages and held to ransom in our own country, stereotyped absurdly as bleeding hearts, lefties and security threats, not to take away one oodle, one second, one day and years of relentless suffering they have experienced, alongside all those locked up offshore, onshore, in prison hotels, detention centres or community detention unable to work, earn a living, live a life.
And yet still the ABC of all media, in the immediate aftermath today furbish these three individuals with false congratulatory, repressed apologetic preludes, portrayed ceremoniously, gratuitously as some kind of fallen champions of our nation; which tells me the ABC too has a lot more processing and private reflection to go about, walk about to get even within spitting distance of the truth! God knows where the other TV networks and News Corp are, they are probably beyond redemption this side of next 3 year term, and will likely twist and turn behind the predominant cultural tide, grief and joy and pretend they were with us all along to win back our affections – The great mainstream media delusion AND lie – make no mistake they were complicit and they will pretend or undermine when they think the nation has forgotten.
For me, it is no mere symbolic gesture that with tears of intense mourning and joy mixed floating side by side and indistinguishable, that the words ‘Uluru statement FROM the heart’ ring one heavy resonant permanent bell for what the Aboriginal people of Australia have suffered during that inconceivable, beyond-a-lifetime of 234 years underbelly of the modern insult of rejection, patriarchy and self-adulation these three Liberal acolytes will yet even now continue to deny – no leader or human stood here, none at all.
We must now learn to grieve and suffer in the shadows of and on behalf of our own ancestors and modern day equivalents, accept our part individually and collectively, embrace these tears and find the power of compassion within us to celebrate this critical historical moment of change and renewal that will follow.
At some point we must have that Treaty and a Bill of Rights, set it down so we less err to repeat these mistakes, and step forward into the new world we can create, relying not on the adversarial, on conflict, controversy, conspiracy and fear. Instead turn up the volume of our listening, empathy, understanding and tolerance, turn off the hostility and abuse, raise up our own unique experience and diversity, and pursue the contribution this can make in forging a better future for all.
I am thankful for the opportunity and space that has brought us all here.
No more slimy smirking Scummo. No more Dorothy Dixer questions at parliament question time. No more hiding behind the excuse of withholding matters of public interest on the grounds of it being a threat to national security. No more deflecting blame onto junior ministers for rorts that the ex pm was the principal architect of, hey Bridget McKenzie this is a shout out to you, Sports rorts, you remember? Morriscum (ex pm has such a lovely ring to it to be sure). No more born to rule arrogance, looking after mates at the big end of town while fleecing the less well off, the disadvantaged, all the while pretending to be their benefactor. No more Bogan wears Prada from W.A. ( at least much lower profile henceforth)
Jon,
I’m hoping that Albo doesn’t waste any time in releasing the Marugappan family and returning them to Biloela where they can rebuild the life they had before Thugspud had them picked up in March 2018 and then kept them in limbo for 4 plus years. It will boost Albo’s standing quite substantially.
GL – Agreed though one slight problem, that authority is invested in the Minister for Immigration or Home Affairs as I understand – Shadow Minister was Senator Kristina Keneally who appears to have lost the seat of Fowler she was parachuted into. Albo I presume must select someone perhaps Tanya Plibersek, Tony Burke,… (I don’t know) and then be sworn in by the GG next week. Still no reason they can’t be moved into a posh hotel on authority of PM elect, courtesy of the government till that process is completed. They deserve the very best prompt attention, as you diligently pointed out!
As for Thugspud, and now Hillsong Hawke or Karen Andrews, they have failed in their duty to do anything at all instead of prolong the suffering.
Its time for a new start.
Australia has spoken.
We need to act right now or its just more politicians talking and doing nothing!
Climate Change, Carbon Emissions, Corruption, Equal Rights for all, Gender Issues.
We have to change our dirty, filthy habits now.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/australia-found-to-be-world-leader-in-coal-power-greenhouse-emissions-20220520-p5an6s.html
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Thank you, Jon, great comment. It was Rudd that said sorry and Albo’s words rang true to me. I hope we can get that better future, for all Australians. The media have to be reformed and the ABC’s biased chair replaced. SBS too, for that matter. Every reasonable Australian has witnessed that bias and it has to stop.
There is a myriad of priorities. But let us see your parliamentary decisions on the morning shows begin interviews with one extra rort of the last 10 years eaach onday. The murrugappan shouldn’t be too difficult but changing the law that ‘born in Australia’ doesn’t mean you are australian, Why not? An early task is to get ready for the integrity commission by appointing a couple of treasury clerks to trace the path of the, who, why, when and where of the trillion debt.
Ooops my vindictive troll nature is surfacing, best I stop.
An excellent article; thank you, Dr Tim Jones. So too, all the comments submitted by each of the positive-minded writers.
I believe the contributors and the subscribers of the AIM network will develop a newfound role as lobbyists for change to
hurry this new government into their most immediate changes, as promised by our new Prime Minister-elect.