In 1789, France changed forever.
The process was bloody and was far from instantaneous and Madame Guillotine removed many heads from those who had defrauded, betrayed and damaged the peasants and their families.
In the modern world, there might be revulsion at the very thought of repeating such an event in a similarly bloody manner, yet, in Australia, we desperately need to oust the current incompetent and corrupt government, which is cocking a snook at the concept of democracy and destroying the prospect of a viable future life for our children.
Our ridiculously out-of-date Constitution provides us with no means of giving the Coalition their marching orders, and, to be honest, I doubt whether we could rake together from among those whom we have elected, in all parties, a team which could deal with the current situation, while the potential damage which will be inflicted on the people and their future is truly horrendous if we do not effect change.
We cannot wait for the next election!
Over the past few decades, government has become more secretive and more self-seeking. They pay scant attention to how we are faring, while they ensure they gain maximum benefit for themselves from the opportunities open to them.
Recent revelations of vote-buying scandals have only tickled the surface of the corruption which is becoming endemic in the halls of power.
This passionate speech details clearly what we are up against and it is rare – because it is now regular practice for a government with a very slim majority, to pass a motion that “the speaker no longer be heard” only moments after an Opposition speaker has begun to express criticism of government actions.
Please take time to watch it because we need to understand the extent to which this government is subverting the purpose of Parliament!
Ask yourself – how much business which benefits the majority of the population has been conducted by Parliament since the last election?
They have just produced yet another draft bill protecting the right to practice a religion – as though a majority of the people were crying out for such a right – and it has again been generally rubbished as ill-conceived, and inappropriate.
The man whom the Liberal Party have chosen as their leader is a hollow man.
He appears to follow a cult which believes in personal enrichment being the desired proof of living a good life. The utter hypocrisy they display in then claiming to be a branch connected to Christianity – given the reported instruction of Jesus Christ that his followers should give all they have to the poor and follow him – rings so false as to be laughable.
Like many fundamentalists, these cult followers seem to lack a moral compass in terms of genuinely caring about the good of others while they concentrate on enriching themselves.
The world we all inhabit has a growing list of problems requiring immediate action.
Foremost is the need for acceptance that mankind is contributing, on a massive scale, to climate change which is being denied by too many who have the power to take effective action.
Global over-population is an issue which requires far more effort in ensuring that women are treated as equals, educated properly, involved in decision-making and encouraged to take control of their fertility.
Are we doing enough in this context?
Rhetorical question!
Those who are disadvantaged by disability or poverty are being badly mistreated by government policies, which deny them the right to feel any dignity as a human being.
RoboDebt – designed to make money for government, however illegally – and the Indue cashless welfare card, which makes money for its distributor – destroy people’s dignity without helping them to learn how to manage money.
The methods used by Human Services, to ensure that fraud is prevented, are so inhumane that they actually destroy lives.
The country which has been responsible for releasing the Covid-19 coronavirus into the world has recently become an effective dictatorship, and its government style has not been conducive to preventing the virus escaping to become a long-term global menace.
We, as a country, have allowed ourselves to become too dependent on the economic benefits of trade with China, when we should have been using our readily available sources of renewable energy to power a growth in manufacturing and recycling.
Short-term planning has plagued us for decades, due to our electoral cycles, and when we have a Coalition, which has now been responsible for government for nearly 7 years, still blaming some of its problems on the previous Labor government, you have to wonder – how can people in power behave so immaturely.
The world praised the Labor government for adopting policies which saw Australia weather the GFC better than any other developed country. The Coalition runs against the stream on this one, because their adversarial nature will not allow them to admit that a political opponent is capable of doing a good job.
Australia is very much a sporting nation, but you do not see its sporting members rubbishing their opponents the way politicians do!
Clearly, I am not impressed with the current Coalition government!!
If you asked me what they have initiated that has helped people in ways that are proportionate to their need for help, I could not think of one single thing.
Tax cuts have benefited the already wealthy.
Help for bush fire victims in desperate circumstances has been promised. There are few voices to be heard thanking the government for prompt and generous assistance. Why? Because the delay in following up the promises has added to the misery of those who have lost everything.
Sports grants were offered, and people spent many hours preparing submissions to present before the deadline. Most of their applications were put aside in favour of those deemed more politically favourable to the Coalition, some of which were not actually eligible for a variety of reasons, or were presented after the deadline.
This is merely the latest manifestation of the arrogance of a government with an over-inflated sense of entitlement and a totally inadequate understanding of integrity.
We kid ourselves if we continue to think that government in Australia is democratic.
It is not – and it will not be until we wrench the reins from the government we so ill-advisedly elected, and insist on higher levels of integrity and transparency and a voice for the people.
Our First Nations have been denied a voice to Parliament – in the land that we have stolen from them.
We only have a shell of democracy left, when an election can be swung by a corrupt millionaire who pays millions to promote lies.
In general, the few honest voices left in Parliament belong mainly to independents.
So – if, at age 84, with a crumbling skeleton and an aching back, I were to protest government corruption and incompetence by lying down in front of a bus, I would need help to get up again!
But if my doing so were to encourage people, en masse, to come forward and chase the Coalition from Parliament, I would do it in the blink of an eye!
I end as always – this is my 2020 New Year Resolution:
“I will do everything in my power to enable Australia to be restored to responsible government.”
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Hi Rosamary J36
I share wholeheartedly with most of your assertions except and especially for the need for a completely new Constitution. I’m intrigued though by your broad dismissal of the The Greens and their policies and instead support some Independents, who on the whole tend to be focussed on narrow spectrum of issues and, again in general, tend to vote with the conservatives.
The Greens’ policies are broadly in keeping with other social democratic parties around the world in particularly in Europe. The central pillar of which is care of the environment and sustainable policies. The governance model is based on grass-roots participation and a consultative/collegiate decision-making processes. Their policies are publically available yet I never see credible criticisms of them but endless regurgitations propagated by the right-wing MSM. Even working class people/pensioners of my acquaintance regurgitate the pejorative labels such “extremists” or “greenies” etc.
Of course, The Greens’ share of the national is around 10% and presently not sizeable enough to be in government and with a two-party system firmly entrenched. However, if they were not so readily dismissed it’s possible that they could achieve vote-shares of 30% as in some European countries.
Ha! I can’t count the number of posts I have put up on FB referencing the French Revolution in general and Madam Guillotine in particular. Of course, it’s all talk, but wishful thinking is very, VERY therapeutic!
Paul Smith: A long time ago, I was foolish enough to suggest a web-site, named Mme Defarge, with a list of those who may need to be put into tumbrills, along with a short description of their crimes. No one took notice and the idea sank without a trace. I am too old and tired to carry out this task, but hopefully some person who has the enthusiasm and finds the work sufficiently therapeutic may step up to fill the gap? We may yet hope!
I to as 82 yr old agree with most not all views!cits LNP who are violating our constitution also violate all rules of Parliament house?like last day sitting December tried pushing relgious Bill think union busting bill threw House sight unseen by opposition caused biggest furore ever witnessed as I watched Albo stated then this is a TOTALITARIAN GOVERNMENT! All was shut down! They are obssesive having their way everything? PORTER stopping discussion continually is Disgusting! He too is evil contriving to quietly try to pass Bill when nnot many sitting(late night) ensure it passes quickly quietly to.place everyone on INDUE CARDS having changed word PENSION TO WELFARE as bill be presented as WELFARE payments many members may not be aware very Aged & Veteran pensioners hidden undervthis mantle? Having researched when Pension introduced to Parliament yrs ago both LEADERS OF sides Of House REPEATED ” PENSION NEVER TO BE CALLED WELFARE” (Bob Menzies was opposition leader time? This is on HANSARD IS A LAW understand PORTER quietly sneakily changed wording to Welfare? Why? Only answer is the can only do this to Welfare? Would not have power to inflict INDUE ON AGED & VETERAN PENSIONERS otherwise? Why else legitimatly could be reason? What a sneaky Cruel callous group they are? Aged have no.idea what may be awsiting them never cope vast change to finance at 80/90yrs ageboldest in Population? SORRY FOR RANT BUT FEAR STRESS MISERY CARD worked hard all my life honest taxpaying person disregard likecwe are shitty rags to be cast aside?
All of us that read and comment on this and similar publications are on the same page,we might disagree in the margins about how to get there,but change is becoming increasingly urgent.If the Independents truly have the well being of the country at heart, then they can combine with Labor and Adam Bandt to bounce these execrable bastards out,but I doubt if they have the guts.
At the core of all this, is not enough people give a big rat’s arse,and the Liar and his cronies are using it for all they’re worth.(Which is precisely nothing)
Well said RJ, and thank you for the link to Tony Burke’s speech. I wish the clip had shown some cutaways to the Government benches so we could see their reactions to being told, in no uncertain terms, that they were cowards and gutless ciphers of a PM with no agenda and no integrity (I paraphrase a bit). I note a few apparently walked out, I would hope from embarrassment but suspect it was acute discomfort.
Harry Lime
I warm to your theme…
But-
the ‘Independents’ you talk about are, for the most part, not independent at all, but failed LNP candidates. The only one that is respectable (by which I mean ‘deserving of respect’ ) is Wilkie. The likes of Lambie are both uneducated and unintelligent, both features which indicate conservative voting. As the saying goes, ‘Not all conservative voters are stupid people but all stupid people are conservative voters.’
As usual, a lot of interetsing points, but why do you always seem to need a reference to jesu Christ in almost evrything you write?
Zali Stegall has the right idea about climate change, which is more than many ALP MP’s have. And Wilkie is the most worthy MP in the whole lot.
But in general, IMHO, the Party Political process is a total failure.
The Conservative parties are willing to work together – up to a point – but too many of then are in politics because they want to be in power, preferably a Minister and even better – Prime Minister – rather than for any altruistic reasons like actually helping their constituents.
And the apparent ignorance of the general voting public over how the political and legal systems work, says little for the effectiveness of our education system in preparing students for adult life.
As far as the Greens are concerned, they have some admirable ideas and more concern for environmental issues than anyone else, but they fail to realise that they would be better off discarding an aim for perfection and would have more influence if they were to cooperate with Labor.
As for Labor saying they want to govern in their own right, that is a new slant on cutting your own throat!
The unions are no longer a force, having won many battles and gained better conditions, then failed to realise that they needed to make sure they remained relevant with a significant membership as Coalition policies stripped those hard won benefits away.
Hawke and Keating actually started the slide into neoliberalism and we are now paying the price.
Bill Joey – we must be alert to the fact that there are too many hypocrites in the Coalition, seeking to protect religious practices, when their legislation would protect cults which are downright dangerous and from which WE need protection! This religious protection legislation is the only live issue in Parliament at present. Climate change is being ignored. Out future is at grave risk.
Who are these ‘honest’ independants? Most are as dishonest as the ‘Hollow’ man and his cohorts.
I don’t think you could criticise Wilkie. And I think Windsor and Oakeshott were honest and objective. None of the others spring to mind because they all appear to be spurned and disgruntled LNP contenders.