ARISTIDES
It’s only when you sit down and look at our so-called representatives on paper that you realize just how poorly served we are for good politicians. In just about any country that claims to rest on the Westminster tradition, Kons and Green should have had the decency to resign. Not being privy to Labor politics, I wouldn’t have a clue whether Steve Kons will re-nominate but if he and Green appear on the Labor list in Braddon; their chances of being returned are excellent. Whatever we in the south may feel about them and their morality, there’s no denying they have popular support within their electorates. The fact that Brenton Best was reelected with a quota in his own right at the last election is testimony to the discipline of the party. I don’t know Mr. Best and I’m told he’s a fair chairman of committees but unfortunately, he is all too typical of the rabble that has left this state bereft of genuine talent.
The stench of decay is everywhere
Warning: if you are offended by harsh words, blame the editor.
SOMEWHAT forcefully, almost vulgarly, I was reminded about a week ago that I had not honored my promise to finish something I started and I felt somewhat guilty when I realized that I’d last written in April and it is June, and many of us are dreaming of taxes and the joys of being broke. My last article received one comment and I was asked to go easy on the Greens. I asked myself why because if the Lib-Labs can be criticized, so can any other political party. And what better time, while they’re still basking in picking up a lower house seat in Western Australia and their federal leaders were regaling us with chants and messages to the effect that their time had come. And I suspect this will be the pattern, an old odd seat here or there until they face their inner demons.
Visiting an older and wiser person than myself, I asked his opinion of the Greens and received the proverbial earful. He maintained that anyone living in Tasmania that did not have a streak of green running through them did not deserve to live here. Point taken, let’s export Robin Gray and a few others. I have always had a soft spot for the Greens in this state and remember with affection, Gerry Bates and a few of his acolytes who bother to stop and chew the fat before an election and Di Hollister, a hard worker who felt the wrath of the rednecks. So much time invested for so little return – what a waste.
I cannot go too easy on the Greens partly because they are important. And that stands irrespective of the fantasies of the Premier and the Liberal leadership. Quite openly, everywhere you look and listen, the topic of a hung parliament is raised and for that very reason, we should scope the Greens. Before turning to that task, I have to revise opinions presented a couple of months ago.
In the blue corner
In the Liberal camp, things are going from bad to worse. Will is looking more battle-worn than he should and as his eyes recede into the back of his head and fatigue sets in, he seems to make less sense. There are plenty of opportunities for him to get stuck into the government but it appears their tactics are faulty and they don’t usually hit the government where it hurts most. They are brushed off far too lightly. Hopefully Sue Napier has won her battle but nothing can be taken for granted with that particular condition.
With party membership falling still further, depletion of funds and a distinct shortage of quality candidates, the task still lies ahead of him. It is assumed that the Parliament will be the same size as last time round and if Rene Hidding re-nominates that is already too much lead in the saddle bags, without looking further north. And the split between the followers of Eric Abetz and more moderate elements continue to wield power and authority. Until this problem is solved, they do not look a particularly appealing alternative.
The basic problem still lies with that bloody pulp mill to which the Lib-Labs, Laborials, or call them what you will, appear to be joined at the hip and shoulder. I caught a glimpse of Vanessa Goodwin the other day and it was the back of my mind to introduce myself. Then common sense cut in and I realized there really wasn’t much point. She will certainly get elected in Franklin but how long will she be stuck on the back bench and ground down between the logs from the northern electorates? I fancy her current profession will look much more attractive in a fairly short time. I also have to reassess what I said about Michael Hodgman. Much as I like the old warrior and respect him, age appears to have caught up with him of late. It could be the cold of winter but surely there must be a very strong temptation to stay warm in front of a roaring fire and have an extra glass. Well done thou good and faithful servant.
In the …er red corner
Both the Liberals and the ALP have been talking about the number of exciting candidates lining up for preselection for next year. What a joke or at least it would be if the matter was not so serious. With the Lilliputian Parliament, and the number of incumbents desperately attempting to secure re-endorsement, it must be a nightmare trying to attract quality candidates because there is no guarantee of them being elected. In that context, I have noted with a great deal of discomfort, bordering on disgust, the number of recent media appearances by former Deputy Premier Bryan Alexander Green.
This blockhead is preening as though it was next spring and is no doubt entertaining thoughts of being reelected and making it to the government benches as a minister. There are far too many ifs in that equation but I am surprised that a man who has stood before a court twice only to find an inconclusive outcome and the legal eagles more or less convinced that a third trial would end up the same way can continually talk about being innocent. He was not even found “not guilty” and that leaves him in legal no man’s land. The knuckleheads of the Northwest will probably vote him in again because I can’t see Bartlett doing (or being willing and able to do) a Kevin Rudd as he did on Kevin Harkins. The Premier lacks the ticker and the backing and if you roll over the log of the left (or at least one faction thereof) you will see that Bryan Green still has many supporters; to the shame of the ALP.
Although the party heavyweights, possibly a contradiction in terms, do their best to convince us that they deserve to hold power in their own right, the party itself is not in particularly good shape. They would deny it until they are black in the face but some idea of the health of the party could be seen in the results of elections for the forthcoming Labor state conference. In point of fact it was a nonelection as there was no need for voting for delegates in any electorate. In short, those on the list of candidates circulated were duly declared elected and that should tell anybody with an ounce of sense something about the state of the ALP at present. No brawls, no factional deals and no election – wonderful. Just the same critters hanging on for dear life and precious little new blood, including the number of walking corpses, politically speaking and I do not think that the invocation of the name of the blessed St. James and the announcement that his son will be a candidate is in any way heartening.
But before I go any further, let’s take a look at the current members of the House of Assembly, by electorate.
The present Tasmanian House of Assembly consists of the following members, from north to south.
Bass ALP James Cox (not seeking re-endorsement).
Michelle O’Byrne.
Liberal Party Sue Napier
Peter Gutwein
Tas. Greens Kim Booth
Braddon ALP Bryan Alexander Green
Steven Kons
Brenton Best
Liberal Party Jeremy Rockliff
Brett Whiteley
Lyons ALP Michael Polley
David Llewellyn
Liberal Party Rene Hidding
Heather Butler
Tas. Greens Tim Morris
Denison ALP David Bartlett
Lisa Singh
Graeme Sturges
Liberal Party Michael Hodgman
Tas. Greens Cassy O’Connor
Franklin ALP Lara Giddings
Ross Butler
Daniel Hulme
Liberal Party Will Hodgman
Tas. Greens Nick McKim
They are a dismal lot, but modesty precludes me from naming the useless but as yet, we have no indication of the full list of those standing and incumbency confers some advantage. Jim Cox is definitely standing down; David Llewellyn is allegedly considering his position and that leaves us with the rest, who presumably will be re-endorsed. Of course some are dead-set certainties to be reelected and it highly unlikely that the leader of any of three parties will not stand and be elected.
And, on the ceiling, the Greens.
If we would talk about quality, then the Greens of the most competent unit in Parliament yet they rest on having two safe electorates in the South and Morris and Booth have to hope they’ve done enough and get leakages for a quota because they are in precarious territory. While it is axiomatic that they have done as much for their respective electorates as any other member and perhaps more, the spectre of the pulp mill looms over them.
It is a dead set certainty that both Nick McKim and Cassy O’Connor will be reelected, because the strength of the Greens lies in Franklin and Denison. In my last piece, I declined to be too hard on the Greens but I fear they are their own worst enemies. They face a situation similar to that of the ALP many years ago when they had to face the choice between compromise and gaining a share of power or standing for purity of principle in the wilderness. Only when the pragmatists managed to seize control of the levers of power in a number of states did the ALP become competitive at elections. The Greens now have to decide whether or how much they will compromise with some of their policies.
The greatest hurdle for Nick McKim and his little company lies in the obduracy of the rank-and-file. Far too many are seen as focused on one issue and oblivious to alternatives or negotiation. For all his foibles, McKim is head and shoulders above any other politician in the House of Assembly. His courageous decision to introduce a bill on dying with dignity will of course be side-tracked by the Upper House and I have quite a few friends, older than myself, who will read the fine print with interest and curse those who would deny them a say in their exit, for when life becomes too much of a burden because of pain and aging and a politician raises the issue of a dignified death, a certain species crawls out from under rocks, musty buildings and the few hollow logs that Gunns and Forestry Tasmania have not removed.
There is far too much blathering about the efficacy of palliative care. It seems quite remarkable that some cretins can’t get their heads around the fact that when a person loses control of his bodily functions and cannot communicate there is very little desire left to live. The palliative care crowd maintains insistently that pain can be controlled and a bill such as that put forward by Mr. McKim is not needed. I could introduce doubters to quite a few people who are in the last stages of life and painkillers do not work, even high grade opiates.
When a person is little more than a vegetable, either in bed or a wheelchair; at home or in a hospice, surely they deserve surcease. And I am sick and tired of hearing that tired line that scheming relatives or unscrupulous doctors will abuse the law, in the event that the bill gets through. I don’t think we need more visits from certain mainland personalities who claim to be pro-life and therefore anyone that supports the McKim proposal is pro-death. I would argue that prolongation of life at a certain stage is as inhumane as it is possible to be.
Nick McKim had one person wanting to die with dignity when he announced the policy. I could name another in the form of a lovely old lady whom I knew had cancer of the oesophagus and it got to the stage where she could not eat or drink and she wound up in a hospital bed weighing next to nothing and just wanting to die. It would do those who will vote against this measure a great deal of good to visit and talk with those approaching the end, as Nick McKim did with a gentleman who has motor neuron disease, one of the cruelest conditions to afflict humanity.
By refusing a choice to a person with a terminal condition, we are robbing the person of the basic right to make a decision and that is unconscionable. Overseas studies have shown that where such laws operate, they are not abused. Is it not better to have a plan an operation such as that proposed by Mr. McKim, full of safeguards, that leaves the final decision to the patient and avoids the necessity of doctors quietly breaking the law. Before long, commentators will be referring to this as the Death Bill and that will be a slur on those who have put time and effort and a great deal of loving thought into the proposal. I hope for the best but fear that the proposed legislation is already dead in the water.
The other hurdle faced by the Greens appears insurmountable: the lockstep of the major parties dancing to the tune of John Gay, Robin Gray, Barry Chipman and the combined chainsaws of the Tasmanian forest industry orchestra accompanied by the air horns of truck drivers. Personally I would like to see a government initiated referendum before the next poll on whether people are in favor or opposed to the pulp mill. But it won’t happen.
My other request, which will never see the light of day, is to see a list of all the ancillary staff taken on by the government since the reduction of the size of Parliament. I would like to know what their salaries are; what perks they get in addition to cars and mobile phones and a bottom-line figure for what they take home. A declaration of interests would also be useful but I can’t see anyone wanting to let that cat out of the bag.
Finishing up.
It’s only when you sit down and look at our so-called representatives on paper that you realize just how poorly served we are for good politicians. In just about any country that claims to rest on the Westminster tradition, Kons and Green should have had the decency to resign. Not being privy to Labor politics, I wouldn’t have a clue whether Steve Kons will re-nominate but if he and Green appear on the Labor list in Braddon; their chances of being returned are excellent. Whatever we in the south may feel about them and their morality, there’s no denying they have popular support within their electorates. The fact that Brenton Best was reelected with a quota in his own right at the last election is testimony to the discipline of the party. I don’t know Mr. Best and I’m told he’s a fair chairman of committees but unfortunately, he is all too typical of the rabble that has left this state bereft of genuine talent.
The saga of the past few months is too dismal to roll out yet again. Presumably the former minister and member for Franklin Paula Wriedt will dump a bucket on the Premier but I doubt very much that that will affect his standing. It’s likely to be written off as the bitter revenge of a scorned woman, no matter what the rights and wrongs of the whole affair might have been.
While we can afford the luxury of a Bronx cheer about the extension of super broadband to Tasmania as the first cab off the rank in federal spending on communications, other areas look bleak. It might not be any more than common sense but the necessary cold water of budgetary and fiscal restraint will hopefully have killed off the boneheaded idea of building a hospital at the Hobart port. I can sympathize with doctors, nurses, ancillary staff and patients at the Royal Hobart but twice I have lived through major reconstruction in a building and being expected to work as usual. It will be hard and tempers will become frayed but now there is no real option. Pinched as we are for money on vital projects, it seems to me that the subsidy to the Hawthorn football club is something of a luxury but what really irks is the condition of the Tasmanian railways.
The idea should be to get log trucks and other heavy transport off the road and on to the rail system but Pacific National behaved as predicted. Our rolling stock is clapped out and needs replacing and the rails have been so poorly maintained that not a week goes by without a derailment or incident that prevents functional use. A transport system that should be a top priority for freight carriage in this state is reduced to being a decaying monument to the past. “Sturgo” is shorthand for stupid and he has shown no real grasp of the situation and the problems. Our railways deserve to be better than those on the island of Sodor (or should that be Sod off). If anybody wants to see the inherent stupidity of privatizing what should be a government asset and then seeing the company allow the concern to be run down and the infrastructure to crumble; let them come to Tasmania. But before I leave the subject, I remind readers that it was a Labor government decision to squeeze the existence of the railways to death and allow those juggernauts to monopolize the highways for which we taxpayers foot the bill.
The road system has been patched up and in places is first-rate. However, with such a high road toll, all we get from the boneheads is a threat of increased fines and the old chestnut of confiscating vehicles used by serial offenders who speed has no traction whatsoever. To listen to police, politicians, the RACT, Chamber of Commerce, callers to talkback radio is enough to make you bang your head against the wall: far better to turn off the radio and TV and watch a DVD or read a book. I don’t know of any substantial research being carried out on the causes of such a high road toll this year. In the US, there have been some suggestions that people behind the wheel are more distracted because of the economic problems and inattention causes accidents. Others have apparently concluded that the economic situation has led people to take more risks and some of that means with driving.
I think the general idea behind Prime Minister Rudd’s financial packages was to stimulate the economy and employment. With regret, it seems that the chief beneficiaries have been those who have licenses for casinos and poker machines. No doubt the government will take its larger slice rather than positive steps to dissuade people from gambling.
With both major parties supporting the pulp mill but possibly divided over Ralph’s Bay there is still plenty of time for a first-class political brawl and a scandal or two.
I have news for the Premier: he and his government are on the nose. I seem to recall him touting the idea of being clever, kind and connected but cunning and sneaky with a dark side, even a vicious streak. The long hand of Paul Lennon and his shadow reach out to touch the man who would be King and we can now see that Bartlett is nothing new; just the latest in a long line of Labor premiers with a messianic streak and suffers from short man syndrome. Presenting us with Bacon Jnr as a vibrant new candidate doesn’t do much for the party or the person in the street. It needs a root and branch restructuring and this will only occur when things become so bad that the federal party can no longer overlook this backwater and decide to take action. The big worry for Kevin Rudd is that if state Labor is or becomes too unpopular, there will be a knock-on effect in the national arena. Tasmania may have only five federal members but each one is vital to the federal outcome. The clock is ticking for the Premier and the Prime Minister alike and who is game to say that if the auguries are favorable, the PM will not pull a snap election before Tasmania goes to the polls next year.
Owing to work commitments, this is likely to be my last piece for Tasmanian Times. I like the new look and wish it well because more thought goes into the electronic pages than you find in the mainstream media. Long may it be so.
Vote for Vanessa and let’s see what a forensic pathologist can do with the corpse in a prime location in Hobart.
Aristides
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