A toxic mess
THESE thoughts are not proLabor or even anti-Coalition and apply equally and in equal measure to all political parties and politicians.
Is there anything about our current Federal Government and political structure to suggest we have any chance of addressing the problems we face?
Let’s start the list of things to be done with a few of the more obvious ones: wage stagnation, supply and cost issues of energy, gender pay gap, cost of education and health care, casualisation of the work force, an unaffordable housing market and the problems associated with an ageing population.
Now I defy you to name anything that is happening on our national political scene that will come to terms with any of these critical problems.
I can hear the stony silence, the shaking of collective heads and the sheer disbelief that, well no, there’s nothing I can put my finger on.
What is occupying our self-absorbed politicians is whether or not they have dual citizenship, with at least eight current sitting members under a constitutional cloud.
Despite the fact that these people may well have been illegally sitting in Parliament under cir- cumstances that they individually control, Barnaby Joyce, Nick Xenophon and Malcolm Roberts do not feel it necessary to stand aside while their legitimacy is taken to the High Court.
For some reason, which I admit completely escapes me, we the tax payer will have the privilege of paying for this highly expensive foray into our legal systemtem to pay for their individual mistakes. Thanks guys.
The other main distraction traction to actually solving problems ms we really have is the inordinate te amount of time and effort being devoted to same sex marriage.
While important, this is is not a pivotal issue and should have been solved through acceptance ptance by now. Instead it has become a battleground for incompetentompetent administration.
The postal plebiscite e will prove nothing, supply no o additional information, cost $120 million and perhaps aps the kicker of them all, will not be binding on the he Parliament anyway.
It also will not pro- vide any answers about exactly how a Bill would be structured — so essentially, we are buying a pig in a poke.
What safeguards are there for religious freedom? That’s one question that come to mind, and another is this: Will it be called marriage or a civil union etc etc.
What is also occupying ing our self-absorbed politicians ticians of the Coalition variety y is the in- fighting between Abbott and Turnbull.
Oh dear, “the more things change the more they stay the same”. It is more than vaguely reminiscent of the Gillard/Rudd fracas we were subjected to back in the day.
As with today’s standoff and factional fighting, that hardly had a beneficial outcome for the country either, did it? When Kevin Rudd lost the election to Tony Abbott Daniel Andrews summed up exactly what I would have said. “If you can’t govern yourself, then the people of Victoria and the people of Australia will not choose you to govern for them. Over the past six years sadly, the federal Parliamentary Labor Party has resembledsemble a toxic soap opera. Unable to unite behind one leader, unable to exercise the discipline and the focus that’s necessary.” WellWel said, Daniel. Now it’s the current Coalition government that c cannot govern themselves, and whilewh this is happening they are failingfail to govern for the community or in the community’s intere interests. When Turnbull loses the nextnex election it will be 100 per centce totally self-inflicted by thoseth within the Coalition parties,p who thought they werew more important than the people they were supposed to represent. So there you have it — “the more things change the more they stay the same” and no politician seems to have learnt anything from the mistakes of previous failed and underperforming governments. That, I’m afraid, will be Turnbull’s legacy and while I don’t really care about how he will be perceived when history is written,t I do care that it is you anda me who are suffering fromfro his version of a “toxic soapsoa opera”.