BARNABY DRAKE
There was a time, not so long ago, when you could express an opinion, go to a rally, speak to your local MP, write letters to the press, lobby your local Councillor, vote for a person and a policy that you thought fitting and somehow expect that you would be listened to, and if there were enough of you, action would be taken.
That time has gone!
We are led to believe that there are five tiers of government and they are all looking after our interests. In fact, it is doubtful under the present system if there is even one! We have an upper and lower house at Federal level, which is duplicated at State level. Below this are local councils who are supposedly there to administer the grassroots and the day-to-day running of our lives.
This is the façade, for behind all this is the party caucus and the bureaucracy, and this is where the real power lies. In most cases, those powerful influences bear little or no relationship to the people we elected to represent us, but they firmly hold the reins of power. Most politicians, with the exception of a few Independents and minor parties, dance to the tune of these shadowy figures. Beyond this, the real influence even lies in the hands of big business and these influential power brokers who control party politics by influence, donations, lobbying and rent-seeking.
It’s not even really a secret. The whole system is set up to empower these non-voting sectors and to gain them political and monetary favours at the expense of the voters and taxpayers, while all the time the so-called leaders, through the carefully contrived spin, maintain the fiction of democracy and ‘public mandates’ etc. Looking squarely at it, we are firmly on the path to an Orwellian type dictatorship where every aspect of our life is controlled. Objectors will be met with violence and tasers.
In our two-party system, potential candidates swear an oath of allegiance to the party, rather than to their constituents. This forces them to accept Caucus dictates over and above their conscience or public duties. Both sides of politics indulge in this, and in many cases the same monetary influences are behind both parties. The bureaucracy factor is constant regardless of who gets elected. Political donations to both sides will see that certain subjects never become an election issue nor a subject of serious debate after an election. Independents and minor parties who broach these subjects automatically set the spin machine and a tame press into action. Behind the scene, votes are stacked, electoral boundaries are changed, seat numbers in parliament are reduced to exclude them and they end up being discredited and vilified for carrying out what they were elected to do, which is to represent the views of the people.
And all the while, the leaders remain smiling and effusive, and the most they will do is to try to score points off each other or appear at bland, image-polishing functions to either maintain their current position or capture the odd floating voter that may empower them in the next term.
The whole system is a farce that is almost laughable; except that the reality is that the stakes are extremely high for those involved. Control of the public purse in the form of rewards and subsidies, the monopolising of business opportunities, amendment of laws, speciality treatment, the waiving of public rights, the seizure of local and natural resources and immunity from public prosecution are the prizes for the winners.
To see the reality of this, watch live broadcasts from parliament. A person from one party will stand up and read a bill, which can potentially change your rights, your income or your future. Behind this person will be a few semi-somnolent MPs and on the Opposition benches one very bored looking front-bencher and a couple of others for decoration purposes. If the cameras had not been there, there would probably be even less attendees. Nevertheless, once the division bell is sounded, the MPs all troupe back into the house to vote – on a bill they have not read and on arguments they have not heard. The voting is purely along party lines, which have been decided long in advance, and something that should have been thoroughly considered on merits, is rubber-stamped into legislation. The house then empties again in readiness for the next round. The only thing that gains a full house is the knowledge that the whole nation might be interested, such as budgets, scandal, or a conscience vote on abortion or euthanasia, where most people have opinions. Then it is important to be seen, but even conscience votes are largely regulated. Here we have had instances of MPs being allowed to abstain, but not to vote against a motion. The Caucus wins even over conscience!
Lately, there has been an even more disconcerting move. There appears to be a concerted attempt to disempower the lowest levels of governance – mainly the councils. Already they are under strict control of state government over such things as planning laws, which are seeing that once again, large corporations are being favoured and people’s rights are being substantially eroded. Here the culprits are Forestry, MIS corporations and timber giants who have had laws specifically tailored to their advantage, which allows the conversion of farms to timber plantations, over-spraying of noxious chemicals, water control, building restrictions on residents and land owners and putting financial pressure on local communities to the detriment of both choice of lifestyle and rural living, and threatening financial ruin for dependent small local villages. All objections have been meticulously annulled by amendments to local laws to which legal recourse has been specifically excluded.
There is now talk of amalgamating councils and even central control of them, so that they become merely another aspect of state government and overseen by faceless bureaucrats. The independent RPDC watchdog has now been incorporated and amalgamated with another government controlled department, under David Llewellyn, the Minister-for-Everything. Already the water and sewage rights have been removed from them, a major source of local income. Their rights have been eroded by the new ‘Projects of Regional Significance’ legislation which overrides any input from the local councils and community, bans legal challenges, and puts all decisions in favour of corporations in the portfolio of a single person – again, the Minister-for-Everything.
Soon, the entire population will be controlled by stealth and a series of laws designed to remove any remaining rights we once had, all discussed and decided in secret and not open to amendment or challenge. The Minister-for-Everything is on record as stating, ‘There is nothing in the law that requires us to seek public input for these decisions.’ It passed without comment. Nobody has said, ‘Why not?’ The opposition and the press have ignored it as though the people are simply an annoyance and public apathy is such that nobody has even appeared the least concerned. 1984 started in 1984 and is well advanced.
Democracy has died, and nobody noticed! The obituary column is blank and there are no mourners.
