ARISTIDES The Just

Like every organisation known to mankind, public or private, political parties have certain characteristics in common. In the case of political parties, employees within their ranks, the willing and able; the competent and incompetent and cruising around in the murky depths those whose personal ambition usually far outstrips their ability and those with an IQ lower than their collar size. And there is never any shortage of the frustrated who become tired and cynical, realise that they have no future and operate in cruise control until retirement or sometimes set out to make mischief and engage in acts of sabotage or in the local vernacular “rat out.”

The difference with political parties is that apart from those who are in Parliament or employed by the party itself, they rely heavily on membership, especially financial members. The average branch member in addition to paying fees is nominally involved in policy making but more importantly, when an election approaches, they are the boots on the ground for candidates seeking re-election. Over the past few years, all parties have seen fluctuations in membership and undoubtedly some members fall by the wayside if the party is in the doldrums or alternatively climb on the bandwagon if the party is in ascent and that usually means in government. I have no current membership figures for Tasmanian political parties but apocryphal accounts suggest that the ALP membership is slumping; the Liberal party is faring little better and possibly, the exception to the decline in financial numbers in all parties in Tasmania, the Greens, tends to point to the fact that they alone can get sufficient foot soldiers in an election campaign.

The so-called new-new Labor under David Bartlett has turned out to be a great disappointment to the party faithful. As one fairly prominent member said within my hearing, “a new day, another crisis.” Let there be no mistake, the loss of Allison Ritchie is more than just a loss of a member of the Legislative Council and sometime Minister and Parliamentary Secretary. A good friend of mine reckons that the nostrum about 6° of separation doesn’t apply in this state and he showed me the family linkages and family alliances to prove the point. While it is crude, it breathes new life into the old male saying about not knowing who is up who and who is paying. For example, I had once attended a political bunfight and made a few carefully chosen and most derogatory words about a person in a small group, only to find that I had offended a cousin: it’s just as well I’m a fast learner.

As I struggled through the mess that calls itself the Sunday Tasmanian on June 28, I saw something that I feared more than anything except perhaps North Korea tossing a nuke at the South or the madmen in Tehran conducting a full-scale massacre but they are somewhat far away, aren’t they? It’s what happens closer to home that really counts, especially this winter and by the way, thanks for the increased power charges – I may yet freeze to death.

The governance of Tasmania concerns me greatly because of the quality of our politicians, although that does not extend to the federal level. I noted with a great deal of asperity a short while ago that ALP preselection for what is probably going to be a half Senate election have once again thrown up what appears to be a perennial problem faced by Senator Kerry O’Brien. I thought we had been down this track before but the omens point currently to him being relegated to the third position on the ALP ticket, where victory is by no means assured.

I will grant his critics one thing and one thing alone, namely that when he speaks he is certainly no orator or ball of fire. Most of his speeches have been dour, solid and thoroughly workmanlike in presentation and I would find it hard to follow the party ticket. I wondered idly whether it would bring another round of infighting and federal intervention but as a one time associate of mine who has been forced to take a break in an ongoing interest in the neddies and the dish-lickers would have said: “he is in an outside lane and will be pushed to finish in the places period” I’m quite sure Senator O’Brien doesn’t know me from a dish of week-old soup but Labor friends have dragged me along to functions where he has been present and pleasant. At least when I walked away from the group, I never felt that I had to examine my back for cutlery. So he has one certain vote from me next time round.

The Bartlett government is not recognizable by that term: it is a mismatch bunch of individuals and most of them are spending time trying to shore up support and watch their backs: they need to because Labor politics in this state is lethal. And as the election approaches, the screws will be tightened and decisions made about futures. When I look at the rag, tag and bobtail bunch that currently sit on the government benches, I can’t help but think that the majority deserve the boot, for one reason or another. There is no doubt they are being paid back in full for the reduction of numbers in the Parliament. It must have seemed like a good idea at the time but I have always thought that the Greens would be back and remain a permanent political fixture.

It has been argued by many that we don’t need a State government but as far as I’m concerned that is arrant nonsense. Those who want attach us to Victoria ignore the lessons of history and the omnipresent difficulties with fragmentation of the State, where parochialism rains and some observable differences are relatively easy to detect and it is fair to say that the greatest example is the division of the State into three areas; South, North (including North East) and North West. As one wag said to me of those divisions are civilisation (South) pointy-heads (anything north of Ross) and “spud diggers” out in the North West. The fact is that the state is now roughly divided between north and south in population terms but the North encompasses three electorates and a considerable amount of old money and power and in order to hold those seats, governments pour obscene amounts of money into duplicating and triplicating various services. State unity only becomes manifest when we are threatened from without.

Our State Parliament is quaint by any standards: we have arguably the most democratic system of election for the lower house and a decidedly odd process for the Legislative Council. The biggest gripe is that politicians are paid too much and in a sense that is true but like all arguments, it’s relative. Those who pass for senior executives of large companies in this state earn more than politicians and have the usual lurks and perks of their mainland brethren. There is an argument in Australian politics generally that if you pay peanuts then you get monkeys and over the years I have followed arguments about Tasmanian politicians and the lack of respect accorded them. Only those who are financially secure can afford the time and effort required to be a state parliamentarian because it doesn’t involve Parliamentary sittings as much as electorate work; getting out there and pressing the flesh; attending school functions; being visible and wearing out your shoes every four years. Those who feel that politicians have it easy in Tasmania do not know what they are talking about.

Thanks to the Lilliputian mentality that reduced the size of the Legislative Assembly, politicians have much more work to do because there are fewer of them to be involved in electoral work. There’s more ministry than backbench and those adrift on the backbenches currently deserve to be there for one reason or another. I have heard some pompous nonsense about the way we observe the Westminster tradition. In view of the recent revelations of what we would call rorting the system by the Mother of Parliaments, we can afford to have a cynical laugh, however, Westminster has become basic tin of modern trends but a close examination of Parliamentary salaries and allowances in the UK and the cost of living reveals that economically speaking an MP, even a minister can scarcely be regarded as well paid. By and large, UK voters get more value for their money than Tasmanians.

I’ve mentioned it before but if Bryan Green and Steve Kons had a skerrick of honour or decency about them, they would have resigned by now. It is a sign of the Premier’s weakness that he couldn’t kick them out after certain malfeasances were discovered. It simply isn’t good enough that both have stayed on as exiles on the backbenches; they should have gone. And to make matters worse, Bryan Green has been given duties, which hint at promotion, should a miracle occur and the ALP manages to govern after the next election. As many people have said, he will probably stand again and be elected by the unthinking rusted-on voters of Braddon. As will the intellectually challenged Brenton Best: a quota-winner in his own right. If this is the best that the voters of the north-west are offered as candidates by the ALP, all we will get is more of the same. Hacks and those devoid of talent make it through the preselection process, unthinking voters cast their ballots according to habit and I use that term advisedly because there’s no other explanation.

The week before last saw a desperate government in a desperate state and I’m not talking about the Federal Parliament. The farce of the past two weeks was surely the appearance of Scott Gadd, neatly dressed in his Mafioso dress greys and matching hair but not allowed to answer any questions put to him. Instead, Michelle O’Byrne was left to defend the indefensible and if we weren’t talking about money and senior public service positions in a time of economic downturn, there could have been an element of fun about proceedings. Was Ms O’Byrne the dummy or the ventriloquist? Her lips did most of the moving and it makes you wonder. Mr Gadd is in the fortunate position of having a guaranteed salary and a pretty good one for some time yet but what job will he be given; what position will he occupy? As I’ve mentioned before some of these people could be tethered on the lawns of Parliament House and used to keep the grass short and frighten children away from flowerbeds.

That leads me to the Sunday Tasmanian and the shock news that Vanessa Goodwin will run for the vacated Legislative Council seat of Pembroke. I wondered idly about the collective wisdom, if you could call it that, of the decision-makers in the Tasmanian division of the Liberal party. They appear to be doing their best to give a discredited government a free kick. Ms Goodwin would undoubtedly have been elected next year in Franklin as a second Liberal behind Will Hodgman, supplying more firepower on the front bench, with future ministerial potential. Now, she has a short campaign and although her signs have gone up across parts of the Eastern Shore in readiness for the by-election, I wondered how she was talked in to a singularly ill-judged move. She is a Liberal and that signals either a change in policy regarding the Legislative Council or she will be an independent and no great threat to the current Liberal leadership or the ALP. The signs refer to Dr Goodwin as a Liberal candidate and we need to learn whether if elected she will caucus with the Party and/or become a shadow minister.

Undoubtedly she will be helped by the fact that the Labor Party is on the nose but will voters take it out on David Bartlett in an upper house by-election? As a general rule of thumb, by-elections usually produce a swing against the government, especially if the government is not popular. The by-election may well be seen as a litmus test for the government but there is only so much spin that can be put on any result as a pointer to March 2010. If Ms Goodwin was a shoe-in as a candidate in Franklin next March, the same cannot necessarily be said of the Pembroke by-election. It is as Dr Richard Herr has suggested a high-risk stratagem Labor cannot run dead: it may have great trouble finding a quality candidate and depending on the outcome of preselection, the party machine is duty-bound to try to hold the seat. To do anything less would be an abdication of responsibility, although that is not exactly something new for this government when you look at the mess of health, justice, education, communications, and above all, the railways, to which I will return below…

No longer being associated with the Libs and not privy to their discussions, I could hazard a guess that the malign hand (which also held a certain e-mail) has something for which to answer. When the Liberal Party endorses candidates for Franklin, we will be able to assess whom Tasmania’s most popular Senator (according to his account) wants to ease into Parliament and crush the life out of any genuine (small l) liberal.

For it is a well-established fact, although rarely subject to much comment in the media that the Liberal party in this state, like elsewhere, is deeply divided between those who had seen through the policies of John Howard and want change and those who believe like some Republicans in America that the only way forward is more of the same. The declining numbers of the Liberal party did not necessarily correlate with fewer funds and they still have friends in high places, especially among business. However, business is never guaranteed to totally support any one party and quite a few well-known public companies have a bet each way before elections by making donations to both major parties. The basic problem in Tasmania is that the iron hand of the hard right has a death grip on the Party and they are very lukewarm about Will Hodgman and some salivate at the prospect of a hung parliament after the next election and a precipitate retirement by Michael Hodgman.

The Vanessa Goodwin saga clearly demonstrates that the game is up for Hodgman and son and their followers. The factional infighting is every bit as vicious as that in the Labor Party and the “take no prisoners” Right would have Sir Robert Menzies rotating in his grave. His “forgotten people” speech is as valid today as it was in 1944. It would do no harm for all Australian politicians and voters, irrespective of party allegiance to read that speech thoroughly. The tragedy of it being lost on educators and politicians alike means that the gruesome Hewson School of economic management of the early 1990s still has currency.

If the Greens pick a solid candidate, they are in with a chance. The neighbouring Ralphs’ Bay development is an issue and Green support in areas of Pembroke is considerable. Given that a Melbourne Cup field of candidates was mooted in the press, including Clarence Deputy Mayor Doug Chipman, something of an under-used talent in the Liberal Party, journeyman Clarence aldermen John Peers and the ever-hopeful Richard James, to say nothing of phantom, such as Roger Labor candidates testing the water, it could be an interesting time. I don’t know whom the ALP will persuade to stand in Pembroke but in my view they cannot win, even with full government backing and support, in the form of feet on the ground. I fancy I can hear Harry Quick chuckling somewhere, enjoying the discomfort of old enemies.”

Now that the world wide economic malaise has finally put the sword through the ridiculous notion of a new hospital adjacent to the port, I’d like one last rumble of discontent. Naturally, it turns on the matter of transport and the gross underachievement of Labor with respect to the rail system. It is not a new phenomenon and has a chequered history of poor stewardship and Ministers whose performances rate from exceptionally poor to cretinous.

The period of private ownership of Railways is fast disappearing: it has run its course and failed. They cost money to run and private enterprise is all about maximising profit and minimising costs. Under Pacific National and its parent company, Tasmanian railways have been allowed to decline to the point where they are a danger to train crews and the safe handling of freight and non-competitive with road transport. In fact if Lennon had his way, there would be no rail left – that from the jackass’s mouth.

We all know that the engines are clapped-out relics from the mainland and even the swindle of lick of paint has not been applied. While out driving comparatively recently, I saw a rarity in the form of a goods train. Not yet on the endangered species list perhaps although all the evidence points to that is where it should be but the thing that struck me most was the rather modest number of trucks, some with containers on them, and the fact that four engines were needed to drag it along, unwilling and seemingly unwanted.

I have several friends from the UK who have watched railways privatised, deteriorate in terms of profitability and safety and then government has had no option but to buy them back. Like many Tasmanians who think proactively about rail, I have been bemused by Sturgo’s bluster and bulldust mix because he isn’t up to being the Fat Controller. The government will need real money to modernise the rail system. It may never be profitable in a direct sense but savings from using rail come from cost savings in other areas. The more trucks taken off the road and their loads put on railways, the greater the saving on maintenance of roads to say nothing of the potential to save lives. My mind was very much on the latter point when I saw a truck with two trailers in addition to its load passing the gasworks in Hobart. I was very glad that I was not heading north on that day.

I don’t want to stick the boot into truck drivers because a good many of them are responsible people but they are driven by tremendous pressure to reach their destinations in a given time and I have the dreadful feeling that some of the stiffer regulations concerning relief breaks are not imposed in Tasmania and if they are, who is policing them and where? When I saw some motorists being booked by the police on the Brooker Highway a couple of weeks or so ago, it was fairly obvious that it was a random smash and grab raid on the suburban motorist’s pockets because not one truck had been pulled over, yet trucks were absolutely hammering down the highway.

Some of those “good ole boys” appear to act like American truckies, with radio communication and on-air jargon, air horns and wildly stylised paint jobs Except for the missing rifle rack in the back of the cab, you could be in the States. Far too many drive as though they are in a sports car and I have been cut-off more than once by one of these juggernauts. Worse still is the situation when they get that close to you from behind that all you can see is a radiator grille and while you are trying to keep to the speed limit, by sheer physical intimidation, you are forced into driving faster and faster. It doesn’t pay to have seen Spielberg’s “Duel” too often.

For reasons that remain unclear, earlier this year the media repeated words about pressure in sport attributed to the late Keith Miller. He apparently said in answering a question about batting under pressure: “Don’t tell me that’s pressure. Having a Messerschmidt up your arse is pressure.” And he would have known but having driven on a six-lane highway with trucks jockeying for position, that’s my idea of pressure. Rail must be a top priority at the next election.