DEMOCRACY ON THE SLIDE
FORMER corruption inquiry commissioner Tony Fitzgerald, who cleaned out bent cops and politicians in an investigation that rocked Queensland 30 years ago, wrote in more recent times that the body politic had turned rotten.
In an article in 2012, Fitzgerald talked of the need for MPs to be preselected and then voted into parliament on merit and not along party lines. Referring to growing apathy among voters, he lashed the major parties that had skewed the system.
“The role, authority and prestige of parliament, the corner-stone of our democracy, are diminished as decisions made by the party leadership are publicly rubberstamped by parliamentarians whose party membership and pre-selection are held at the whim of the party ... and vote as directed irrespective of their consciences, opinions or responsibilities to their electorates,’’ he wrote. And he added: “... since one or other of the major parties will always win, elections provide voters with only a type of Hobson’s choice.’’ The consequence was many people were frustrated and now only voted because they were legally obliged to, and knew little or nothing about candidates. The result of that was that parties in turn would gift electorates to “family connections, malleable hacks and mediocre apparatchiks’’.
The Gold Coast is witnessing a disregard for what is important locally, with one major issue – light rail stage 3A – given scant funding support by the major parties while their candidates duck for cover.
In talking to many people in Gold Coast electorates, the Bulletin has also uncovered an appalling lack of knowledge about candidates, parties and indeed – in many instances – ignorance of who the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader are.
These voters must be blessed with full tummies and blissful ignorance while someone somewhere calls the shots. They fail to realise what a privilege it is to live here and enjoy a system that offers free and fair elections. They have forgotten they have a responsibility to be aware of issues and to look for merit in debate and the calibre of candidate.
There are battlers surviving in failed states, war zones and oppressed societies who would dearly love to have our form of democracy. Look at Afghanistan, where 41 Australian soldiers have died.
Toby Ralph, a political and marketing guru who worked for the United Nations on more than 40 elections across three continents, including Afghanistan in 2009, wrote in 2014 about monitoring that poll. The book was titled Ballots, Bullets & Kabulshit: An Afghan Election, and he told the Bulletin he knew the election was rorted by those in power. His assessment was the violent and corrupt culture that had been entrenched for over a thousand years meant it would take a century to achieve the democracy and equality we enjoy here.
Therein lies our problem. Life is so good here that many have forgotten it has been hard won, and there is an onus on them to keep informed so they can make important decisions at the ballot box. Candidates too have a responsibility to ensure the electorate understands their views so voters make an informed choice, yet when we sought responses this week most candidates did not bother responding. Disgraceful.