Mad Hatter Katter

The election has come and gone. Well, sort of. A hung parliament is guaranteed and people are still in shock about the dramatic swing in favour towards both the Liberals and the Greens. The message for Gillard is loud and clear. But time will only tell if she's prepared to listen. Though in the meantime, the 3 independents; Bob Katter, Rob Oakshott and Tony Windsor get to play "pick the government". The Greens and Wilkie have pledged their allegiance to the ALP, which at this point, puts them 74 to the Coalitions 73 (including all already pledged allegiances). But it's Bob Katter who's kicking up a media storm in Canberra. The infamous independent politician that has made eyebrow raising remarks about the appearance of women in the outback, to advocating stronger protectionist policies and government controlled interest rates, may make or break a minority government. Though while Bob Katter and I disagree on a number of issues, there are some benefits that will arise from this political mess. But firstly, on the points we disagree on. 

Apart from being a politician that is a pleasant to listen to as fingernails down a blackboard, Bob Katter can occasionally crack out a smile which then makes you wish he hadn't. After seeing his endless rambles on the 7.30 report and other programs, I've come to the conclusion that it's his policies that really grate with me. As Katter gets to be one of the lucky three to choose who is going to be the next government, a brief view of his proposed 20 point plan, submitted to both major parties, is something of an eye-opener into the 'mad hatter Katter' world of politics and policy. 

1. No carbon tax, no ETS - not being a believer in climate change, his view fits perfectly in line with the right faction of the Coalition. Thus his ability to squash any new environmental bills the Greens want to submit will make for entertaining, yet ultimately depressing politics. 
2. No mining tax - despite its numerous economic benefits and support from economists around the globe, this is another example of a politician in the pockets of the big miners. 
3. More protectionist policies - while it's always good to make sure Australian industries are not swamped by overseas competitors, such staunch and rigorous protectionist policies would cripple other industries ability to access free trade deals (like mining!), let alone raise the cost of imports, which would add to inflation.... and the list goes on. 
4. Greater government control of interest rates and the lowering of the dollar - I agree with the point our dollar should be lowered, but government intervention to do so... that's heading down the China road (and they're not too popular at the moment for that very reason). But government controlled interest rates! I question Katter's basic understanding of economics. The Reserve Bank sets interest rates according to Australia's rate of economic growth to maintain low inflation over the long term. Giving this power back to government's would result in governments manipulating interest rates in the short term for political reasons, without having much regard for long term economic effects. 

Another interesting Bob Katter reference includes his views on gay marriage. When asked what his stance was, he said "There are no gays in my electorate". I guess that's a no. But it's Bob's election advertisement that's something to be seen. 

But while 'mad hatter Katter' may be the new Wilson Tuckey of the parliament, but with a serious grip on power, what he represents as a powerful independent MP can't be denied. He's a breath of fresh air in a staling political system. 

Being an independent and not beholden to party lines, he is able to truly represent his electorate. He stands for land rights, fishing and shooting rights, rural benefits and parliament reformation. Having previously sat as an independent in parliament with little air time or ability to affect legislation, he's taking the chance to reform the system so even when there isn't a hung parliament, the government doesn't get to always dominate in the House of Representatives. But he's also introducing new ideas and policy. A national energy grid, elimination of biofuel excise and new policy about regulating the food retail industries oligopoly, just to name a few. He's a man with different ideas. Some are that right or left of field they take you by surprise, but others are serious issues that have been ignored by the major parties for fear taking a too hard a line. 

But now it's time for both sides, the ALP and Coalition, not just to work out what they can offer these three independents (now affectionately as the "block"), but what they can deliver for them through this vastly different parliament. Going back to the polls sometime soon is the most likely situation, because of the independents holding the balance of power in the House or Representatives, and the Greens (next year) holding the balance of power in the Senate. But until then, let's hope Bob Katter not only makes an informed choice about whom to make a minority government with, but that he also sit down and have a chat with someone from Treasury, regarding some of his proposed economic polices. 

Links:

Bob Katter's 20-point wish list - WA today

Bob Katter says jury still out on whether he'll support Labor or Coalition - The Australian 

Abbott digs himself a hole - National Times (not an article specifically on Katter, but a general overview of this week in politics)

The irrelevance of a boatphone!

When Tony Abbott appeared on Q&A (16/8/10) the other night, it was a good chance for the Australian pubic to quiz and see on display the talents and competency of what just might be, the next Australian PM. It was a chance to quiz Mr Abbott about his policies. But while many issues were raised during the discussion; from the economy to gay rights, the refugee and asylum seeker policy that Abbott touted sounded more like a laughable idea created by the Chasers on "Yes we Can-berra", rather than a serious idea. What I'm referring to here is Abbott's suggestion of using a "boatphone".

But before we can even laugh at the idea of "boatphone", let's shed some light on the current situation regarding Australia's boarders and 'irregular maritime arrivals'/boats. According the the Liberal party under Tony Abbott, but also Pauline Hanson, Australia is under an invasion from illegal boat arrivals who are just flooding Australia and causing massive demographic and social problems, along with contributing to our population boom. Firstly, all asylum seekers who come to Australia (including those who come by air) aren't causing Australia's population to rise. It's the healthy birth rate of 2.3% along with normal immigration channels. So it's a folly to claim that it's the asylum seekers who are causing such problems and subsequently need to be stopped. Considering Australia only accepts 0.6% of all asylum seekers (the US accepts over 40%), asylum seekers shouldn't be the main point of national debate and discourse, let alone be an election issue. Despite this, both parties want to specifically focus on boat arrivals. This has historically been a method of attracting votes from marginal seats who still haven't recovered from the days of 'yellow peril'. The irony in this is that only 4% of all asylum seekers who reach Australia, do so by boat (2010 Department of Immigration stats). The other 96% come by plane. But on arrival, they then aren't locked up in mandatory detention, but instead processed within the community. But to add salt to the wound, the Department of Immigration has also acknowledged that over 80% of all asylum seekers who reach by boat are real refugees, whereas less than 50% of those who arrive by plane are refugees. So both political parties are wanting to focus on a few handful of individuals that aren't a problem, to the detriment of the real refugees on these boats. Aside from this, there is the political neglect for the rest of the nation. Dare I say Indigenous affairs!

I'm just as glad, yet equally appalled at Julia Gillard's public acknowledgement of these facts. The minute scale of this should barely make the political/election radar. Yet she continues to tag along and set aside a fair size of her campaign to this matter. It's slightly better than Abbott making it his slogan - "Stop the boats". Tony Abbott believes that in order to strengthen boarder security, a Howard government's style - "Pacific solution" - of mandatory detention on Nauru should be implemented. Howard's partly justified Nauru because he thought it would act as a disincentive for people to come by boat. What it proved to be instead, was inhumane. High rates of suicide, depression, mental disorders and a lack of basic sanitation facilities, such as running water and bathrooms, led the UN to call for its closure. Now Abbott is wanting to reinstate such a facility under the guise that it'll be "like a boarding school" instead. So what is it Tony; a disincentive or comfy boarding school? Neither is effective or is justified regardless. When it comes to mandatory detention, neither the Coalition or Labor have convincing reasons why we should use them, especially when the rest of the 96% asylum seekers are successfully processed within the community

So how is a "boatphone" going to help Tony Abbott stop the boats? Firstly, he doesn't need one, because the problem doesn't warrant the political attention it's getting. But secondly, if Gillard was to suggest having an "Indigenous-phone", to which she could give directions as to how police should conduct their investigation into remote, disadvantaged communities, her credibility and political career would would be over before you could mention the name :"Mark Latham". Tony Abbott shouldn't have to tell the navy how to do its job. He acknowledged that he'd be giving directions based on expert military advice from those one the naval ship. So under what circumstances would he be able to provide anything useful, other than just agreeing to whatever the commander recommends? Would he contradict the commanders advice? Does Tony know better than the expert actually there? Maybe we could all text in whether we want a particular boat to be turned around? It could be like Australian Idol, xenophobic style!

This "boatphone" is ludicrous. It's not policy. It's worse than a stunt. It is evidence of politicians gone mad by the need to have nuanced sound bites in order to sound like they're saving the world.

Links:
I'll take military advice on refugee boats: Abbott - Courier Mail 

Holy asylum seekers! Tony Abbott to take charge of boat people hotline - News.com.au

PM labels Abbott's 'boat phone' idea nonsense - The West Australian

2010 Federal Election: it finally begins

I considered writing about the 2010 Federal Election once it was called, but in all honesty, I couldn't be bothered. Parties and candidates had careful, pre written scripts and sound-bites, and everyone was playing it safe. Policies were thrown out like tidbits, with only a few in marginal electorates willing to swallow them up. But it's now only a week until the polls, and the heat is on. This is the week that makes or breaks a party, shapes the publics opinion about what type of leader each party has. Enter the real Julia, enter the 'underdog' Abbott, enter all minor parties (sorry, that includes you Bob Brown) who are vying desperately for attention and votes. I can't give a summary of the whole campaign thus far in a single post, but what I hope to give is a snapshot of what's occurring, and insight into each leader, campaign and their policies.

The leaders

1. Julia Gillard - highly competent and good with sound-bites. The 'real Julia' isn't scripted, but neither is she a loose cannon. Like Barack Obama, she isn't playing up her stark opposition to all the other candidates (gender in this case, instead of race), however her method of gaining power has ultimately undermined some of her credibility. 
2. Tony Abbott - a robust politician who's been around long enough to know how the political game works. Has run a highly successful ad campaign with tweet length policy statements. A defeat at the election will assuredly result in his removal from leader, though if he became PM, the marginal supporter base that got him to the position of opposition leader would swell. 
3. Bob Brown - asks tough questions and attempts to bring back issues that both major parties often (conveniently) forget. Because of his age, engaging with the younger demographic of Greens voters is an issue, as across TV he comes across as very stoic. Though he's very enlivened on radio. 

The campaigns

If you don't live in a marginal seat, especially west Sydney or southern Queensland, it's understandable if you don't know an election is occurring. The obviously disproportionate amount of time each party is concentrating and pork-barreling marginal seats is disgraceful, but I guess this is modern democracy at work.

• Labor - currently running a huge fear campaign nation wide against Tony Abbott. It's cheap and dirty, but it's eating away at the gains Abbott has made in the first 3 weeks of the campaign. 
• Liberals/Coalition - arguably have run a fear campaign from the start (stop the waste, stop the taxes, stop the boats and pay back the debt). Though unless they can change their rhetoric or find mud to sling back at Gillard apart from the old "Labor can't manage the economy, voters who are moved by fear campaigns will be swayed more by Labor. 
• Nationals - best jingle for their ad. It makes "stand up Australia" sound even more corny that it already is. The best ad of the campaign thus far. 
• Greens - horrible original ad, but Gruen Nation made a better one for them (that otherwise would have been the best). But because it was commissioned by the ABC, it can't be used. 
• Get up! - clearly the winner in this election, for running the best ads, campaigns and promoting issues better than any other party. It says a lot about the power of lobby groups. When it attacks a party/candidate, it really hits hard! 

The policies

Here is a very brief overview of some of the policies that have been flagged and have become issues within this election. As the week progress, new topics (hopefully about Indigenous affairs or something of equal note) should arise, rather than the typical (but almost guaranteed) economy and border protection policies. 

1. The economy - the main question is who's going to pay back the debt, and who's going to have the largest surplus? Despite the fact that any economist with any credibility (including Joseph Stiglitz and the RBA) acknowledges that Australia's government deficit is not a problem, and if no one payed it back, it would have virtually no affect on the economy; this becomes a moot point. But then it's a question of who can you trust to manage the economy? Both parties have shown equal competence (when you take a bipartisan approach) because they've both had very similar policies (which each party has vehemently denied for political reasons), thus it's also a moot point. So when it comes to the economy, both parties are competent, yet they want to stake the whole election on it! 
2. Boarder protection and stopping the boats - since neither party has been able to conclusively stop the boats, and since the boats only make up 4% of all asylum seeker arrivals, this shouldn't be a big issue. But xenophobia and fear make good campaigns, plus it's easier to tweet STOP THE BOATS. The main difference is East Timor or Nauru (Labor/Coalition respectively), but if you want a completely different option, then the Greens are for community processing, which is what we do for the 96% of all asylum seekers who arrive by plane. 
3. The environment - Labor are wanting to build community consensus by having a talkfest (National citizens assembly) and maybe sometime in the future have an emissions trading scheme. The Coalition are going to have a Standing Green Army (will this be able to invade New Zealand?) of volunteers planting trees and scrubbing coal or something equally as ludicrous as Labor's 'group talk with butcher paper' solution. But the Coalition is also wanting to give financial incentives to businesses who reduce their carbon emissions. Though whether it's an ETS or incentive scheme, it's going to cost money. The Greens are still advocating for a hardline ETS, and despite the fact they may hold the balance of power, it's unlikely it'll ever pass. 
4. Hospitals/Schools/Childcare/Mental health - both parties have shown some interest in these areas, and have surprisingly from both sides, committed more funding. The coalition is all about handing over power/money to the hospitals and principles' of schools, where Labor is about national standardisation and control. Considering the fiasco with the pink batts scheme, this may not be a wise move. However giving free reign to whoever is in charge of an institution, as the Coalition would like, opens up the opportunity for local incompetency. 
5. Indigenous Affairs/Gay marriage/Community Housing/Arts and Science etc - either ignored, condemned, or barely mentioned. More debate and policies over these issue may still come, but it's unlikely. The Greens are aiming to bring some of these issues into the overall debate in this last week, although the chances of them ever becoming serious issues at this stage, is highly unlikely. 

How you should vote! 

I could tell you how to vote, but I won't. Everyone has their own views about politics, policies and issues, and that should be respected. Though when you do find a party/candidate you like, don't vote for them because an ad told you so or because you voted for them before. Justify the reasons why you like them (or don't like the rest) and take a minute to find out more about their polices. 

Though as a side note: if you're in a safe 'blue ribbon' seat, for the House of Representatives ballot, I encourage you to put the current candidate last. Don't vote for the safe incumbent!!! The more marginal your seat is, the more likely your electorate will be pork-barreled and receive election attention. And if this election has highlighted anything, marginal seats are the places to be.

So don't forget to vote this Saturday, 21st August (8am-6pm).