<< back to archive index Date: 8th October The Obscene Auction Leaves the Problems Untouched 2004 Federal Election Special The 2004 Federal Election campaign has seen the major parties promising the world in an obscene auction that would see the Australian economy plunge into the red. As the Chaser team accurately observed this election campaign has even made the proverbial drunken sailor blush! The Democrats NSW Senator Aden Ridgeway has run a terrific grass-roots campaign, but has not been given much media coverage. Aden has been travelling the state constantly talking to people and hopefully this good face to face campaigning will stand him in good stead on election night. It would be a tragedy if Australia’s only indigenous Senator were done over by the Labor/Greens coalition. This would also be ironic as both those parties profess to support indigenous rights. The major parties’ campaigns have shown no vision. The major issues have barely been addressed and the media have acted as long winded commentators on a football grand final, with no real analysis of content or omitted content. Iraq has not featured in the campaigns of either Labor or Liberal. It has only come as a footnote in the last days because of the final report of the UN weapons inspectors who found no weapons of mass destruction. The Prime Minister refused to apologise for sending Australia to war on a false premise. No one was surprised. The Democrats have maintained a position of opposition to the invasion of Iraq and will continue to campaign on that basis after the votes have been counted. The refugees have been so ignored that they have had to go on hunger strike to get attention in the last week of the campaign. The disadvantage of the Aboriginal people has also not been addressed. Neither major party has addressed the rebuilding of the Block, which was recommended by the NSW Redfern Inquiry. It should have been funded 50-50 by Federal and NSW State governments. Bob Carr was not going to put in his bit, and the Federal parties with bribes of $3-6 billion each for everything but were not going to commit their $12.5 million to Aboriginal housing. Mark Latham’s pitch for the health grey vote was a bold move. Free hospital treatment for the over 75’s is laudable, but once again not thought through. Unless the number of beds in Australian hospitals is doubled, younger people who need treatment will miss out at the expense of the over 75’s. The plan is not sustainable, and does not address the key issues of Federal-State cost-shifting, or public and private resources. Labor continues the foolish subsidy to private health insurance. See the article on this site on How to Fix the Health System if you want to know what should have been done! Education has degenerated into a class struggle not seen since the bad old days. Under Howard the wealth private schools will continue to be overfunded. Labor has made a pitch to those all-important aspirational voters by taking from the rich and giving to those who would like to be rich. He has not stopped most of the subsidy to private education, just lopped off a few tall poppies. The public school system once again gets lost in the clamour for votes. Universities are also left to struggle being forced to take more fee-paying less intelligent students to balance the books. Labor has offered concessions on HECS, but none have dared to return to the Whitlam days of proper funding, no fees and admission on merit. Once again no vision for the future. Labor’s lack of support for gay marriage uncovers once again a pandering to the Christian elements within the Labor party. This was one of the bitter pills that the Greens had to swallow when they signed up to the Labor/Green coalition. The Democrats continue to stand firm in their support for gay marriage. The Liberals have aggressively pursued a US style scare campaign. The sinister doctored photos of Mark Latham, with the “Learner” plate, warning of a blow-out of interest rates under a Labor government were distasteful. The Labor party to their credit did not respond in kind, but it should be noted that interest rates were running at 12% when Mr Howard was Treasurer. We have also seen the rise of the Greens. They have hitched their wagon to the Labor party in what is now almost a second Federal coalition. The Greens have ignored Labor’s record on Iraq, anti-terrorism laws, refugees, gay marriages, lack of support for the ADI site in Western Sydney and their lack of progress on real reform in health and education as stated above. The view that the Greens will hold the balance of power in the Senate is actually wrong. Even if the Greens win the five seats as some have predicted then the Liberal/National and the Labor/Green coalitions will have the same number of Senate seats. This will mean that the Democrats, even with only 4 remaining senators, will have the balance of power. This will be a very significant time. New South Wales NSW is going to prove to be the Achilles heel for Labor in this election. The Liberals have targeted Mark Latham over his alleged financial mismanagement while Mayor of Liverpool Council. The bigger story in the west is the Orange Grove debacle. There are many small shopkeepers and their customers who are very angry with the Carr Labor government. Labor obviously realises the problems with Carr and has kept him right away from any campaigning in NSW. It was stated as a disadvantage in the ABC feature on the marginal seat of Eden Monaro. With polls very confusing, we can only hope that voters retain their good sense and the Democrats Senators are re-elected and Howard is not returned.

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updated: October 17, 2004