The Death Of Accountability In Australian Politics

Despite a plethora of highly publicised, blatantly obvious lies and immoral actions that contravene international law, Australian PM John Howard has won his fourth straight election. The results show that more than fifty percent of my fellow Australians are either greedy or cowards, or both. I am disgusted.

Howard's campaign was based on fear. While Iraq was an issue, it was not the major issue that it should have been. Our Prime Minister and his cabinet have become War Criminals, supporting a rogue Superpower lurching towards Global Fascism, and we are all more in danger from terrorists than ever before as a direct result of their hypocritical blood-letting. But the fear factor in this election was not terrorism. The barrage of violence on TV news still seems blissfully distant to most.

The real fear factor, drummed home in over 90% of the Liberal Party advertising I saw (not to mention complicit media articles), was the fear of rising interest rates.

Australians have experienced a massive housing boom since Howard was last elected. The sea change was prompted by scared post-Enron investors who deserted the stock exchange and plowed their money into housing. Ordinary Australians like myself, faced with the growing probability (once unimaginable in "The Lucky Country") of an entrenched, poverty-sticken underclass, scrambled to become first-time buyers. Some of us are now slaves to the fear of rising interest rates. A majority of us have now allowed such fears to overwhelm our sense of common decency.

Poor fellow, my country.

A shattered Margo Kingston writes today in Webdiary:

"Australians roundly rejected the once compelling appeal of 'a fair go', which must now be considered a relic of our past rather than an expression of our essence.

They also may well have chosen to deliver John Howard effective control of the Senate. It is possible the Coalition will own half the Senate seats, meaning it can block Senate inquiries and amendments, thus removing the only effective accountibility for the Government left in our Parliament...

To all of you who, like me, are devastated by the result, tonight is also the begininning of a new era for dissenters to the direction of the new Australia.

In June last year I wrote Howard's roads to absolute power. He took a giant step towards achieving that goal tonight. The minority of us who believe in egalitarianism, care for our environment, a strong democracy celebrating dissent and an independent Australia on the world stage must take stock.

The comments to Margot's piece make very interesting reading. Pro-Howard Liberals are crowing over his negativity-driven victory (e.g. "Ha! Ha! Ha! 1998, 2001, 2004 - you are irrelevant! Your torrent of bile and spittle changes NOTHING!"), Labour stalwarts are struggling to find a positive message in the defeat, while others are simply despairing:

- I feel utterly disconnected from the charade that we call politics in this country... politics has just become about targeted marketing, hasn't it?

- The time for gentle revolution is coming - it is our only hope.

- The Australia that I valued, grew up with, raised my children in, loved in, cried in - that Australia died today. When I work my way through the grieving process, I think all I will have left is rage. I accept that the majority have spoken. That is democracy. It galvanises my thoughts on the kind of country we are evolving into.

- Unfortunately, after personally witnessing the concentration camps and barbarity at Woomera in 2001-2, I have lost all faith in this nation. This election has just cemented my belief that Australians will sacrifice any ideals and principles for their own self-interest and material gain. I'm leaving Australia permanently ASAP.

American readers, please take note. Elections are the final accountability system for any government that embraces immorality and refuses to hold itself accountable for failures, lies and willful deception. If the electorate fails to hold such governments accountable, then there is simply no accountability. And if there is no accountability, our so-called Democracies become a shallow form of something far more sinister.