Political leaders leave us wanting
MORE painful than bungy jumping without a rope or hanging by one leg upside down from a swaying crane in a typhoon is how I feel about the looming state election.
I mean, who do you vote for when they all behave like knobs anyway?
Once taken to task over threatening a donkey vote during a moment of political despair, I eventually voted for the mob I thought would do the least damage.
But that didn’t work either, all best intentions swept aside in the usual flurry of broken promises, ridiculous decisions and spending cuts affecting those who could least afford it.
While the days of having faith in any political party may have all but disappeared, I still doggedly cling to the hope that things will change, that politicians will eventually start thinking more about the people they represent than themselves and that political correctness will die a brutal, unsavoury death.
With a state election only months off, it’s no surprise both sides have pulled out all the stops to dig dirt on each other, but none more shockingly or recklessly so than Premier Daniel Andrews.
This week, in his wisdom he directed senior public servants to ignore constitutional convention and release thousands of confidential documents over Opposition Leader Matthew Guy’s botched rezoning of land on Phillip Island in 2011 when he was Planning Minister.
Mr Guy’s mess cost Victorian taxpayers $3.5 million in an outof-court settlement.
But it was more than a little coincidental that the release of the documents came hot on the heels of yet another violent rampage involving hundreds of islander and African youth at Collingwood, and the Government’s inability to address law and order issues.
With one youth mowed down by a car, resulting in a leg amputation, cars and other property damaged and innocent residents left traumatised in a situation some likened to a war zone, not one arrest was made.
The State Government and police command apparently did not wish to be seen as “targeting a particular demographic”, and even a request by police on the ground for more resources in the lead up to the event — in which it was feared violence might erupt — was denied.
There were also reports of police command’s reluctance to focus on young African men over fears of being accused of racism, and that an overt police presence “might generate allegations of harassment”.
So a couple of hundred youths were allowed to go on a terrifying rampage of violence and property destruction and undermanned police at the scene were left with no option but to stand back and let them go.
Now, let’s call a spade a bloody shovel here.
Does anyone seriously think no arrests would have been made in the same situation had the youthful offenders been white?
Of course there would have been. Fact is, criminal behaviour doesn’t have a skin colour or racial background, and all those who engage in it should face the full force of the law.
But it seems in Victoria we draw the line when it comes to arresting youth of African descent who are engaging in violent, ugly criminal behaviour.
No arrests, no charges, so long and thanks for the memories.
If that doesn’t strike division and disharmony in a community, then having one law for one “demographic” and another for the rest certainly will.
And in failing to address the issue, no one is giving a single thought to the hundreds of decent law-abiding African Australians who have to live with the stigma and humiliation forced on them through no fault of their own by these young criminals who are continually allowed to get away with breaking the law.
But the classic came on Thursday with shocking revelations that the 80,000 pages aimed at discrediting Mr Guy and posted online at Mr Andrews’ direction also contained personal details of a Victorian mother’s medical history, financial details and even her child’s name and address to name a few appalling breaches of privacy.
As if the recent debacle in Canberra wasn’t enough, a hopelessly under-performing State Government, despite its failure to address law and order, greedy ministers ripping off taxpayers, the red shirt debacle and so on, proved its incompetence yet again.
Now, I don’t give a toss who leads the state after the next election but I do hope it will be someone with a bit of strength of character and backbone, not afraid to apply the law to everyone across the board.
As for Dan Andrews, he’s the only person I know who can dump in someone else’s backyard, before realising he owns the property.
Time to head back to the farm I reckon.