*Pic: Image from here
I wish I could share the optimism Christine Milne voiced during the speech she made at the Press Club earlier this year.
Christine seems to be convinced that Neo-Liberalism is on the way out.
Unfortunately I haven’t observed any evidence of this, maybe Christine being closer to the political arena than I, may have seen some signs which are not readily observable to the uninitiated.
She might have been heartened by observing the political events in Greece where the people showed a definite tendency to dismiss their Government for upholding Neo-Liberal ideologies.
She may also have been inspired by the caliber of the Greens’ representation at the federal level in both houses in the Australian Parliament.
Looking at the present Australian political scene, even after Tony Abbott, that very conservative ideologue has lost the Prime Ministership to the pragmatic Malcolm Turnbull, I cannot see any signs of the decline of Neo- Liberalism however I’m noticing some additional worrying trends.
Maybe the commitment and deals Malcolm Turnbull had to make to topple Tony Abbott as Prime Minister prevents him from making policy changes and so far he has done no more than fulfill his own ambitions.
The new Treasurer, in a recent statement, confirmed that the Neo-Liberal principals are closely adhered to … such as not increasing taxes for corporate Australia and instead compensating for that shortfall of revenue by seeking to reduce government spending in Medicare and social services.
It appears from a recent response made by Malcolm Turnbull to the opposition during question time in Parliament on the matter of same sex marriage, that nothing has changed there either.
Even though the Government, according the Australian Constitution, can make a ruling on this without having to go to the electorate by means of a Plebiscite, Malcolm Turnbull is maintaining Tony Abbott’s right-wing conservative and homophobic stance and ruling on this to have a Plebiscite sometime in the future.
Peter Dutton ( the Minister for Immigration) recently stated that there will be no change in the Australian border protection policies despite the European refugee crises and also that there will be no changes to the detention centres in Manus and Nauru.
The mantra of Neo-Liberalism is, small government, low corporate taxes and monetary instead of fiscal policies to govern the economy.
Both major parties in Australia believe in outsourcing and offshore processing of refugees as a government policy.
The Liberal Party maintains their belief in Neo-Liberalism and the Labor Party adheres to it to uphold their election funding and position in the polls.
As Malcolm Turnbull’s polling results improve and he can negate the commitments made to the right-wing conservative faction of the Liberal Party, we may, for the first time in Australia, see a coalition being formed between the Liberal, National and Labor Parties – all of them having similar, if not, the same policies.
The advantages for Neo-Liberal governments to outsource , apart from the revenue expenditure benefits, it has the added advantage of not only relieving them of the management of the service and handing it to the private corporation but also discharging them of the responsibility of any mismanagement which may occur.
The present conservative Australian government though has gone a step further than just outsourcing according to Neo-Liberal policies and ideology.
The recently introduced Border Force Act regarding the disclosure of details about the management of those centres at Manus and Nauru could see whistleblowers jailed for two years.
Also the policy of turning the boats back in secret has hidden the details of the operation from the Australian electorate under the pretence of not giving any details to the people smugglers.
I suspect it is not so much to hide the operational details from the “people smugglers” but to hide their operational details from the scrutiny and the possibility of being caught breaching the ‘law of the sea” and the “international human rights law”.
The detention centres are now managed by private companies such as Transfield who are not obligated to disclose abuses and are protected from close scrutiny since the 1st of July2015 by the Border Force Act.
The UN’s special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Francois Crepeau, recently cancelled his visit to Australia because his visit could have endangered detention centre workers by exposing them to a possible two-year jail term if they were deemed to have passed any information to him.
Until recently the complete sealing off of any information about the running of these detention centres was achieved the means of privatisation.
The recent Border Force Act has not only sealed any information about the government refugee policy from the electorate but also from the United Nations.
Both major parties voted in favor and managed to get the meta data law passed in the Senate. Individual meta data will be retained for 2 years by communication/internet providers.
Furthermore eighty five (85) security and police agencies will have access to this personal data at will.
George Orwell in his novel 1984 warned therein about the possibility of future governments using terrorism as a tool for total control.
Our Australian parliamentary parties have not heeded George Orwell as a warning but have used the novel 1984 as an blueprint for government policy to restrict individual freedom.
Bob Lubout is a ‘climate refugee’ from Perth WA. He has been living in Penguin on the NW coast of Tasmania with his artist partner Sandra and their two dogs, Tessie and Winston since 2013. Bob’s work history includes owning his own TV/Electronic repair and maintenance business for many years and travelling all over the world servicing and installing analytical mining and industrial X-ray equipment. He went to Curtin University as a ‘mature age student’ where he gained a Bachelor of Education majoring in Sociology and Politics and then onto Murdoch University where he gained a Graduate Diploma of Science and Technology Policy. This led him to a career as a TAFE lecturer, teaching electronics, maths, science and aviation. Bob now enjoys spending his time researching and writing and flying around this beautiful part of the world in a small aircraft.
