Australian Politics
Apr. 11th, 2022 10:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcpipAn election has finally been called for Australia, and a new government will be determined on May 21st. Because we don't have truth in advertising laws for Federal elections (something I have argued for years), I thoroughly suspect that the campaign will be very dirty, especially in its final weeks. Unlike the last Federal election, where the government was able to engage in a campaign of "Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt", I don't think that will fly this time around. Albanese is a strategist, who is presenting a moderate plan whereas Morrison is trying to present his record. Unfortunately for Morrison, people know his record. We know his lies as they are well documented. We know that this is a government whose economic record is among the worst in the OECD. We know his fervent denial of the seriousness of climate change, his holidays amidst the bushfires, his cloth ears to the worst of sexist abuses, the nepotism, and the weak Federal action during the pandemic. We are sick of his incessant laziness; "I don't hold a hose", "It's not my job", etc. We are sick of him. We are sick of his lies. We are sick of his laziness. We are sick of his incompetence. We are sick of his lack of leadership, we are sick of his lack of integrity. We are sick of ScottyFromMarketing who is only interested in a photo opportunity and self-promotion to acquire and keep power.
It is far from the powerful halls of Canberra, but tonight I attended a Albert Park branch meeting of the Labor Party, as a new member to the branch. People know that, like most things, I don't hide my politics. As much as I subscribe to anarcho-socialist ideals, I am also very much a pragmatist from a welfare-class background, and as the classic poem says, I'm just too old to rat. I am pleased to say that the meeting at the South Melbourne Railway Hotel was quite packed; the rather beautiful restaurant section was entirely filled with almost fifty people present (I learned to count heads very early in politics) with Tony Wood, Energy Program Director Grattan Institute, giving a very practial presentation on net zero carbon emissions (which dovetailed quite nicely with my own project). I found myself at the table with the Minister for Health, Martin Foley, whom I've known for a couple of decades now and meeting convenor and MLC, Nina Taylor, who I've known for a somewhat shorter period of time. But outside the formalities of the meeting I found most of my conversation being with Wesa Chau, the Party's candidate for Prahan and who comes with an impressive list of achievements. We joked about how I started in politics and have since moved to computer engineering and she followed the opposite path; but at the end of the evening we both agreed that we had chosen our paths with a common and primary motivating thread; to reduce suffering and make the world a better place.
It is far from the powerful halls of Canberra, but tonight I attended a Albert Park branch meeting of the Labor Party, as a new member to the branch. People know that, like most things, I don't hide my politics. As much as I subscribe to anarcho-socialist ideals, I am also very much a pragmatist from a welfare-class background, and as the classic poem says, I'm just too old to rat. I am pleased to say that the meeting at the South Melbourne Railway Hotel was quite packed; the rather beautiful restaurant section was entirely filled with almost fifty people present (I learned to count heads very early in politics) with Tony Wood, Energy Program Director Grattan Institute, giving a very practial presentation on net zero carbon emissions (which dovetailed quite nicely with my own project). I found myself at the table with the Minister for Health, Martin Foley, whom I've known for a couple of decades now and meeting convenor and MLC, Nina Taylor, who I've known for a somewhat shorter period of time. But outside the formalities of the meeting I found most of my conversation being with Wesa Chau, the Party's candidate for Prahan and who comes with an impressive list of achievements. We joked about how I started in politics and have since moved to computer engineering and she followed the opposite path; but at the end of the evening we both agreed that we had chosen our paths with a common and primary motivating thread; to reduce suffering and make the world a better place.
