Starting a movement to change politics takes a lot of guts and work. But every day we feel the reward of people in our electorate who are grateful for what we're doing. And out there in the bigger world, the signs are pointing to an independent groundswell!
Two articles in the press this week that each show why it makes sense to vote for an independent:
Ross Gittins, Sydney Morning Herald: "Why do we have so many economic problems, and why do our governments make so little progress in fixing them? Because the two main parties just play politics and by now have boxed each other in. Neither side is game to make tough decisions for fear of what the other side will do to them.
Our tax system needs repair, but neither side dares to make changes somebody somewhere might not like. So we put up with poor government services, growing waiting lists, tax avoidance by the highly paid, bracket creep and phony tax cuts.
We have a system where people with mortgages get squeezed unmercifully whenever inflation gets too high. There are fairer and less painful ways to fix the problem, but neither side has the courage to change.
When occasionally the two sides agree on some policy, it’s often a bad one. Many defence experts quietly doubt the wisdom of AUKUS. By the time the nuclear subs arrive in many years’ time – if they ever do – they’ll probably have been superseded.
But the political duopoly’s most egregious failing is its inaction on climate change. For a while, it looked like the climate wars had ended, with the Albanese government making very cautious progress towards net-zero emissions. " Read more here..
Michael Pascoe in The New Daily: "Just 12 of the 151 members of the House of Representatives represent their communities – the old-fashioned idea of democracy. You’re a mug if you think the other 139 represent the people who elect them.They don’t. They stand for their political party first, foremost and always. They vote the way their party tells them to vote. They owe their job (i.e. their preselection and income) to the party. Their hopes of advancement, a bigger salary, power, depend on pleasing the party – not their electorate.
So they do whatever their party tells them to do, with rare exception. (Yes, I’m looking at you, Bridget Archer, and now Fatima Payman, though the Senate is a little different. I’ll come to that.)
The Teal revolution two years ago was caused by several communities waking up to the fact that bumping a “moderate” Liberal up to Parliament was the same as endorsing Barnaby Joyce and Scott Morrison.
The same reality will apply at the next election – whoever the local Coalition or Labor candidate might be, you’re electing Peter Dutton or Anthony Albanese.