The Veracity of Hope

Yesterday I threatened a friend of mine that if he called the election, even saying out loud what all the polls were telling us, I was going to blame him for any subsequent Obama defeat.

Regardless of the other factors that may have fed the result –

• an excoriating scree of unconscionable slanders against the candidate, a concerted effort to purge the electoral rolls
• a mainstream media spectrum that spanned the overly cowed and cautious to sickening and sycophantic propanganda
• and an outdated electoral system that almost demands hypocrisy between the primaries and the general election and which mandates corruption in the form of political lobbying
• a political paradigm that had shifted to the point where pundits could openly and unashamedly question the faith and loyalty of a man who’d spent most of his life educating or serving the public

– still, Jeff was going to wear the blame for a defeat.

I shut him up. I refused to let him say the words aloud, and I think the results speak for themselves.

I won this election.

Since the tragedy of September Eleventh 2001 but accelerating with the invasion of Iraq in 2003, America has been acting as a dark beacon for the rest of the world, providing a blueprint for an increase in governmental powers at the expense of individual freedom, for a choking off of accountability and democracy itself, and wrote the script for a new political debate that more than ever before did away with facts and reason. Talking points that were almost a physical assault on logic, that could stun an opponent for the vital moments it took to make them look indecisive or shifty rolled out of the White House, as did political strategies designed to divide and conquer progressive politicians near and far.

The Howard Government lapped up the excuses to slash and burn civil liberties in the name of security, jumped the train to the Iraq invasion, happily marched to the drumbeat of climate change denial, purged the rolls of minorities who didn’t like them, and hamstrung same-sex couples in order to out outmaneuver their opponents.

The Education Minister even spoke up for Intelligent Design.

Almost a year ago, the pendulum swing finally threw Howard out, but I still wasn’t sure the same would be true of the Republicans today.

But partly because there’s only so long you can keep such disparate groups yoked together, partly because of the disastrous results of their policies, and partly because of the inevitable return of the pendulum, the neocons’ seemingly unassailable place at the top of the heap foundered. But I still couldn’t bring myself to fully believe that it was going to come to an end today. There were too many factors still lined up against Obama.

Apart from the unknowable effect that race could make between polling and polling day, the true effects of the concerted efforts to literally disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of people across the USA couldn’t really be estimated.

Three and a half years ago, after having seen Obama speak just the once, at the Democrat Convention, former Saturday Night Live comic Al Franken wrote an extraordinary epilogue to one of his books that predicted this win.

It took the form of a letter written in 2016 to his grandchildren (Barack, Hilary and Joe III) recounting the time when history turned and the darkness of the Bush years gave way to a rebirth of hope and of faith in democracy. The election where America refused to be driven by the politics of fear and hatred and elected the first African American president, and a former Saturday Night Live comic who had no previous political aspirations.

Al Franken is now dead even with the Republican Senator he challenged for the seat in Minnesota.

Maybe it’s time to give in to optimism.

At The End of the Day, Mediocrity Was The Winner

So, not quite breaking news – Howard lost the election, and Kevin Rudd was around, making him Prime Minister.

Even with postal votes, it looks unlikely that I’ll be the member for Brisbane come Monday – it’s some fresh-faced newbie called Arch Bevis. I did hear him speak a couple of times during the campaign, and I’m sure we can expect great things from him. Or another seventeen years as a bum on a seat.

And in what is really a tragedy for this country, Parliament’s hardest-working, most dedicated and compassionate voice of reason, Andrew Bartlett, will leave the Senate at the end of his term next July.

On the plus side – Mal Brough lost, Gary Hardgrave lost and it’s all but certain that John Howard has too – both his seat and the country.

As much as I wanted Howard gone, I wish Rudd had actually earnt it. He said the Labor Party’s policy on this is identical to the Government’s so many times, it could have been his slogan. If he hadn’t already locked in this one –

Kevin Rudd – Slightly Less Awful.

Refugees, the death penalty, Indigenous affairs -exactly what was the difference between Kevin and John at this election?

Crumbs.

My Lucky Day

On the way into work this morning I received a message from one of my avian constituents.  On my right shoulder, narrowly missing my head – I’ve heard that this is supposed to be a sign of good luck – although that just sounds like something you might say to cheer up someone with fresh bird crap on them.

But when I got into the office, I discovered, quite by chance, that I’m on the front page of http://youdecide2007.org/

Gemma Snowden, one of the citizen journalists registered with the site, recorded the Politics in the Pub I spoke at last Tuesday, and they’ve posted my speech on this page.

Here’s the video – again reinforcing the burning need for me to get a haircut.  Preferably before I speak at the Brisbane Inner West Chamber of Commerce function tomorrow night.

I only slightly modified my launch speech for the night, and was intrigued to discover my girlfriend didn’t recognise it – so had either not been listening the first time I gave it, or the second, or either time perhaps.

BIWCC Meet the Candidate Night

 Wednesday Night, 21st November 

Brisbane Workers Community Centre – 2 Latrobe Terrace, Paddington Q 4064 (Entrance & Car Park at rear off Given Terrace)

6PM Attendees arrival for the 7PM Formal Candidate Statements, then question time
Attendees will be charged $10 . Includes Nibble plates of food. The Centre’s bar will be open.

Brisbane Inner West Chamber of Commerce The Voice of Businesses in Milton, Paddington,
Rosalie, Bardon, Red Hill and Auchenflower

PO Box 1268, Milton Qld 4064
enquiries@innerwestchamber.com.au
www.innerwestchamber.com.au

Violence Against Democracy – Australia Says No

A friend sent me the link to this video – satirising the Federal Government’s domestic violence ad campaign.

Another reminder that a fairly simple idea, executed creatively can be so much more effective than screeds of well written information.  And, of course, a telling reminder of how much damage the Coalition has done to our democracy.

Week One

So the first week of the campaign has come to a close.

Despite the election hanging over my head for most of the year, there were still a lot of things that couldn’t progress until the date was set, so Week One saw a lot of behind the scenes admin work.

But counting back over the week, this is a thumbnail sketch of what happened, with most of the boring bits removed.

Saturday 13th October: T-1, the day before the election was called – I spent a few hours as a polar bear trying to reclaim democracy – as I outlined in this post.

Sunday -from 10am it was pretty clear the PM was going to ruin my weekend – so I was putting some things together and making a slew of phone calls, before going across to the Multicultural Festival at Roma Street Parklands, much later than I hoped. I was a bit too on-edge to really appreciate it. Deborah Conway was great, though.

Monday – again, working for a Senator facing re-election, there were all the other things that needed to be locked into place, now we had an official date. After work, we had an emergency meeting at my house of my campaign team.

Tuesday – meetings about advertising, more drafting of ads for YouTube, trying to keep ahead of candidate’s surveys, on top of my day job.

Wednesday – carousing with the Australian Republican Movement (as described here).

Thursday – started off with the launch of our Indigenous policy (as outlined in this post),

– then had a lunchtime meeting about the Bill of Rights campaign, then bolted out of the office at about 5.45 to get to a meeting that I found had been postponed. So that was one early night – at least I was home home – but was up working until late.

Friday – finishing off a script for our Rights & Freedoms ad – and the first of our ads to be completed were released, which included this one about Andrew Bartlett, that I’m pretty happy with –

A Date With John Howard – November 24th

The PM dropped into see Michael Jeffery for a spot of tea, a scone or two and a smidgen of proroguing Parliament for the election on November the 24th.

So finally the race is on, properly. I’ve always been in favour of fixed terms of government intellectually, but it has only been at this election, when I’m also a candidate, that I realise just how awful the current situation is.

Advantages for the incumbent

Timing – can call a snap election in response to favourable news for them, or unfavourable news for their opposition.

Enrolment – Howard has wisely chosen not to make the timeframes as brutally short as he can under his changes to the electoral act, giving people who have turned 18 have until Wednesday to enrol, or those who have just changed address since the last election have until next Monday to update their enrolment either at the AEC or at their local post office.

Planning – can have schedules meticulously laid out working up to the actual election date. Can find out, without tipping your hand, which venues are available for functions at key times. Can book advertising ahead of time – both official party advertising and the blatantly corrupt use of taxpayer-funded government ads – in some cases, like with billboards, you can kill two birds with one stone by advertising yourself and depriving your opponents of the site, too.

An Election’s No Time For Principle – Rudd

On Tuesday morning, I was woken to the great news that Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Robert McClelland had committed a future ALP government to not only opposing the death penalty in all circumstances and in all cases, but to going so far as to forming a regional coalition in Asia to lobby for the complete abolition of the death penalty in our region.

I actually couldn’t imagine a better policy coming out of the alternative government, and when I was contacted by various media (including the Brisbane Times here) as convenor of Australians Against Capital Punishment, I roundly congratulated the ALP on this principled stand.

Within an hour of giving the interview, I heard the news that Kevin Rudd had come down on McClelland, first claiming the timing of speech – so close to the anniversary of the Bali Bombing, was insensitive, then not only reversing McClelland’s laudable position that our government would actively oppose capital punishment in all cases, not just when Australians were involved, but actually claimed there was no difference between the Liberal Party and ALP policy (here).

Yes, it was close to the anniversary of that awful tragedy and some of the Bali Bombers’ cases were in a crucial point in the appeals process, but it was also a critical point for the appeals of some of the young Australians facing execution in Indonesia over drug smuggling charges.

My Campaign Launch for the Seat of Brisbane

Today was the public launch of my campaign as the Democrats candidate for the seat of Brisbane.

I’ll post more about it later, but below is my speech.

I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet today, and pay respect to the millennia of faithful custodianship that they have overseen, and the ongoing role they play in this country today, and into the future.

 

John Howard might refuse to acknowledge the outrages done to our First Peoples in the past, and he might genuinely not know what an apology is, but I am sorry for what has gone before – some of the injustices were done with the best of intentions, and some out of naked self-interest, but I recognise that I would not be standing here and would not have lived the life I have, except for those terrible acts. And I apologise on my own behalf, as one who benefited from that dispossession.

 

Thank you all for coming along. The election hasn’t even been called, and could still be months off, and already much of the country is sick of hearing about it.

 

But what we are hearing through the media isn’t about the real choice facing the country – it’s a litany of false choices: Howard v Rudd, Howard v Costello, security v freedom, environment v. economy – when the real choice is whether we decide to spend another three years sitting back alternately applauding or complaining about the government or if we choose to get up, get involved and demand that our voices are heard.

 

The core tenet of the Australian Democrats is the belief that all people should be able to play as big a role in politics as they choose. That’s never seemed more revolutionary than it does today.