 | Chris Wright |
Chris has spent many years in the pharmaceutical industry and is semi-retired. | |
It’s probably all been said but that astonishing ascent of the Member for Lalor Julia Gillard has nailed yet another nail in the coffin of our long cherished democracy.
Again, the power-crazed toe-cutters of the Labor Party were unable to muster the restraint required to allow an elected comrade see out the full game.
The bitter hatred (which is often factional but not necessarily in this case) that lurks behind closed doors was just too much. In the end those who read from the Graham Richardson manual on dealing with personnel superfluous to current requirements acted with rare brutality and “Kevin 07” became “Kevin gone to political Heaven” in a blink.
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Thank goodness the titan of Canberra, the indomitable Laurie Oaks, forced the Member for Lalor to at least display a degree of nervousness regarding her role in rolling the boss.
So, we now have a Prime Minister and two State Premiers (Keneally & Brumby) who are yet to face an election, which would give them the right to occupy the offices they currently have no moral right to enjoy.
This circumstance is blight on our democracy.
Whatever the presumed faults, personal idiosyncrasies, polls or backroom intrigue that brought down Kevin Rudd he was our serving Prime Minister and deserved to be accorded due respect and tenure.
If these political assassins treat a Prime Minister in such a manner what hope do we have as mere mortals? And let’s not kid ourselves, we are treated as idiots by government.
I mean fair dinkum, is Barak Obama going to be callously marched out of the White House carrying a cardboard box with his desk calendar and family snapshots just because the hatchet men aren’t happy with his performance in dealing with BP?
No, of course not.
It should not escape most that one of the main reasons Kevin 07 knocked off Little Johnny is the fact he was not aligned with a faction and therefore not subject to the rampant insider dealing so ingrained within the Labor Party. Also, Kevin 07 was certainly able to get traction with the Christian vote due to his preferred Sunday pastime. This sort of escapes me a bit, as we are truly a secular society. Well, this writer likes to think we are anyway. After all, the very impressive Josh Frydenburg is now the member for Kooyong, which is of course the bastion of Liberal heartland.
Perversely, Kev’s replacement is a member of the Socialist Left and is an Atheist to boot. The contrast could not be greater and most voters should rightly be appalled that they have been duped.
Kevin Rudd had the less than endearing habit of saying; “You know what” before launching into his own peculiar version of “Polly-speak”. The new PM has followed suit but has dropped the “What” and settled for telling us; “You know”.
Take this little grab, for example; (discussing her Atheism)
“But during my adult life I’ve, you know found a different path”.
Or; (commenting on the Christian vote)
“Look, I’m, you know, worried about the national interest, about doing the right thing by Australians and I’ll allow, you know, people to form their own views on whatever is going to drive their views”.
Well, Madam Prime Minister, we don’t know what you know, nor do we know what you plan to do with the knowledge of what you know. However, I’m sure we are all seriously tickled pink that you are of a mind to allow us the freedom of our own views.
What a wonderfully magnanimous gesture, one I’m sure we all cherish as we slowly come to realize that in spite of the recent emotionally violent coup d’etat we still do in fact live in a free country.
In a few short days the Labor Party lost an amount of credibility that will be hard for many to recover from. This situation was helped along of course by the timely outburst by Kristina Keneally that declared gay people to be “sinners”. Her uncle (by marriage), Tom Keneally AO must have wondered if his enthralling and provoking non-fiction work of 1998, “The Great Shame” has taken on a whole new meaning……..one wonders if discrimination is becoming de rigueur rather than passe.
One suspects that one of the genuine icons of Australian history, Peter Lalor, would be appalled that the occupant of the seat that bares his name engaged in seditious behavior not similar to those who charged him with treason.
After all, his famous speech of 1854, which included the Eureka oath, makes a complete mockery of the notion that many of our politicians have any of the values so apparent in some of their forefathers.
"We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties"
As for the election, bring it on and let us demand a fair go is given to those elected by the voters, and that the will of the people is never again taken lightly by those who place their own naked ambition above all else.
Chris Wright.