the choice come september

It occurs that with so much of the pending election conversation in Australia focused on the celebrity death match of Julia versus Tony, it would be easy to forget that the office of Prime Minister is not actually an elected position, at least not directly.

No doubt leadership at the top is a factor in choosing a government , even with a parliamentary system, but if we turn our attention away from the race between Gillard and Abbott that's being handicapped daily by the pundits and the polls, we might be able to take a closer look at the actual policies and achievements of the two dominant political parties. 

Stripping away the personalities and styles of these two leaders, neither of whom appear to be very popular with the voters, forces us to focus on the substance of the political debate, and gives us all a better idea of the government we can expect from Liberal or Labor in conjunction with their coalition partners.

Here's one perspective on the core differences that separate the two sides based upon their accomplishments and their stated objectives. Judge for yourselves.


LABOR
・Sponsored an Economic Stimulus Package of government spending, in the face of strong opposition from the Coalition, and as a result saved Australia from a recession during the Global Financial Crisis
・Resisted pressure from the Coalition and the share markets to make massive cuts to the budget in the face of falling revenues, revenues largely reduced by the strength of the Australian dollar, and as a consequence avoided the economic disasters witnessed in Europe from 'austerity' approaches that were posed as the only solution to the GFC
・Transforming the educational system through long overdue reforms suggested by the Gonski Review, including a large increase in spending and an overhaul of the imbalance in government subsidies between private and public schools, reinstituting the basic concept of the “fair go” for all children in Australia, irrespective of their parents' wealth and abilities to pay expensive school fees
・Created the National Disabilities Insurance Scheme to help guarantee a decent standard of care for Australians with disabilities
・Raised the old age pension to a liveable standard
・Introduced Paid Parental Leave that is means tested
・Invested in roads, ports, and infrastructure projects in desperate need after years of Howard government fiscal restraint, and neglect
・Fixed the Murray-Darling River System
・Put a Price on Carbon, and in the process encouraged investment in alternative energies, reducing the national carbon footprint by 8.5% in just six months, all without damaging the economy as the Opposition had predicted in a massive scare campaign
・Improved relations with China while maintaining a strong relationship with the United States
・Created the National Broadband Network that will provide all Australians with the kinds of internet speeds that will be the hallmark utility of a global economy in the next decade, while eliminating a decaying copper network that is increasingly expensive to maintain and incapable with a Fibre To The Node alternative proposed by the Coalition of delivering the data speeds required for Australia's economic future
・Created a Super Profits Mining Tax that takes a portion of the billions in profits by multinational corporations made from removing the nation's finite natural resources and uses it to cover the costs of badly needed infrastructure
・Did all of this as a minority government under constant attack by an Opposition who resisted its every initiative with strong private support from the powerful vested interests of the Murdoch press, which controls 75% of the Australian media landscape, and the multi-billion dollar mining sector
・Has still not endorsed same-sex marriage as many of its progressive party supporters have encouraged
・Under relentless pressure from the Opposition on immigration, has reinstated offshore processing of asylum seekers, and while increasing the number of visas granted to refugees, has taken a stronger stance on detaining those attempting to immigrate by boat, excluding the Australian mainland as a migration zone

LIBERAL - NATIONAL COALITION
・Plans to scrap the Gonski school reforms
・Plans to repeal the Carbon Tax, and abolish the Department of Climate Change, in line with the party leadership’s belief that manmade climate change is a myth
・Plans to repeal the Mining Tax
・Will create an alternative to the current National Broadband Network that features retaining the ageing Telstra-owned copper wire from junction Nodes to individual homes at increasing annual costs for the copper maintenance, while producing far lower data speeds that will limit e-commerce and prevent competition from international media providers from breaking Foxtel's local monopoly with their cable system
・Proposing their own parental leave scheme that will not be means tested, giving as much as $150K a year to executives on leave with the birth of a child
・Plans to make massive cuts to the public service sector, as much as 12,000 jobs lost through attrition in the first year of government
・Plans to sell government owned media outlets ABC and SBS to the private sector giving even greater strength to the Murdoch-monopolized national media
・Made a relentless public outcry to “Stop The Boats”, illegitimately branding asylum seekers and political refugees as illegal immigrants, and exploiting as well as encouraging a climate of racial tension in the country that demonises New Australians in the process
・Continues to oppose same-sex marriage and to prohibit votes of conscience in the caucus

GREENS
・More progressive than Labor on any number of issues, including endorsing same-sex marriage and opposing offshore processing of asylum seekers, but effectively marginalised as a strictly environmental party and far Left of the mainstream by the press, the Liberals, and despite their working relationship in government, by Labor as well, where the two parties disagree
・Seemingly unable to gain a majority, they're forced to continue forming an uneasy alliance with Labor in order to see even a portion of their own policies realised on the environment, immigration, and gambling to name a few

Despite the perception of a growing similarity between the two major parties, largely as a result of the Liberals' attempts to position themselves more at the centre of the political spectrum than their actual policies would support, and Labor's capitulation to elements of the Liberals' more conservative agenda in order to form a government, the differences are substantial on issues that effect the environment, education, infrastructure, and immigration.

While it's easy to be drawn in by the media debate over the leadership, it's important to remind ourselves that the majority party's control of Parliament and their policies will determine what Australia will look like for a number of years to come, not who sits in the PM's chair. 

Ultimately, the Prime Minister will be the figure responsible for managing his or her party's agenda, not designing it. That work has largely been done and is there for all to see.

Whatever your political perspective, THE CHOICE come September is a significant one for Australia's future. As such, it deserves to be treated as more than the personalty contest, the good and the bad that the media's largely been serving up.

downandunder

a day at the races

It opens like a celebration. 

Out of the closets, where they’ve been waiting patiently for their moment in the sun come the costumes. An endless parade of bright satins topped with stocks of colored plumage transforms the mares. Tailored wool and silk knots polish up the stallions.

The first cocktails pass the lips before Noon, with expectations already running high. In the paddock, the curtain rises, and there’s bare flesh on display, rippled, tanned, and glistening. The suggestive glances are all hidden behind dark blinders for the moment, but the animals can still sense it. A pause for a quick calculation of the odds, and the smell of sex punctures the air. Everywhere there’s sex, or the promise of it.

Exhilaration arrives at the track before the first post. The anticipation of that quickening of the heart beat as your horse comes around the turn, the nervous sweat that starts to arrive the moment you stand in front of the wall of glass ready to place your bet, the program rolled and crushed in the hand as hooves and hot breath near the line.

For the winners, a rush to the head and fists in the air. The losers sulk back to the bar to summon more courage, then again to the cage with prayers of doubling down. This will all repeat itself.

The sun counts another walk to the gate, another start, and they’re off. Longer and longer shadows of desperation build to a seething madness that creeps in under the skin. Small mountains of spent tobacco form casual centerpieces to the empties that collect on tables scattered carelessly about by the urgency, the terrible urgency.

A confetti of sorts covers the grounds like a field of paper flowers. Spent forms, discarded slips that moments earlier held the promise of fortune are now mingling under foot with the horrible spill from hands and mouths that are becoming increasingly unsteady.

The tension mounts as the opportunities to recoup grow fewer and fewer, and already there’s evidence of those who will fight no more. They’re seated off alone, or with a partner, both in silence, mourning what’s been lost.

Toothy smiles that began the day have now all but faded. Where they still exist, they’re mostly too open, too wide and pumped up artificially by the booze, or simply there to camouflage the pain.

The fascinators have all begun to fail now among the distaff who crowd together for protection or to exchange notes on potential pairings at the after. There are those who will spin and fall, unaccustomed as they are to the mix of heat and gin, and this is where the mascara stained tears all begin their journeys South. Flocks of support staff rally round to give what comfort they can, but mostly commiseration, some cautionary tales, and another round.

By the shank, spears and swords are off crossing themselves against a grate or a barn door, or a wall, steam rising as it does for the thoroughbreds. Voices become louder, stories of the day with details of when and what went down will lengthen, and most without true endings. Your shout, and yours, and is it mine, but make no mistake, the push and the shove will arrive to rupture this company of good cheer. Some fists, blood even, but all amongst best mates, and then after slurred negotiations, all’s forgiven.

At the close of this glorious day, when the last bell has sounded, everyone and everything will be the worse for wear, but with few regrets, for there is but one carnival, one golden slipper, and there will be time for recovery, and time to reflect, and there will always be a next year, and then a next.

downandunder