“As we all know, disunity is death in politics.” - Former Queensland premier Peter Beattie
That was the clear takeaway message from the Australian election on Saturday that saw voters sweep aside six years of Labor rule in favour of the conservative Liberal party.
With votes for several seats still being counted, incoming premier Tony Abbott (right) is likely to end up with 89 of the 150 seats in Parliament, with Labor likely being reduced to 57.
Labor’s years in government was marred by party in-fighting. In 2010, when Kevin Rudd’s popularity was down, the party scrapped him as prime minister in favour of Julia Gillard who became Australia’s first female leader.
After Rudd was ousted he set about to publicly undermine the Gillard leadership and when Gillard’s popularity was at an all-time low in the lead-up to this election, Rudd lead a coup and got back the top job.
Labor’s internal chaos overshadowed policy achievements of the government and played into the hands of Abbott who spent the election campaign presenting his party as a stable and consistent alternative.
Abbott lambasted Labor’s spending as “wasteful” and despite Australia’s triple-A credit rating, has vowed to cut education support, scientific research, public transport, university funding, childcare, and A$4.5 billion (RM13.7 billion) from foreign aid, as well as scrap Labor’s unpopular policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and high profits tax on mining companies.
Abbott is famous for putting his foot in his mouth and is already being labeled by some as “our own George W Bush”. The campaign saw Abbott saying “sex appeal” was a credential of one of his female candidates and in the past he has called global warming “complete crap” and abortion “a matter of the mother’s convenience”.
Last week, he showed his deep and complex understanding of foreign policy by simplifying the war in Syria down to “it’s not goodies versus baddies, its baddies versus baddies”.
But as much as one may disagree with who is elected as government, that is democracy - you get the government you deserve, at least in a clean and fair democracy.
It is harder to be angry when a general election reflects the will of the people, when there is a free media, when you can gather and protest freely, when you can say what you want to without fear of sedition charges, when there are no phantom voters and fraudulent electoral rolls, and when there is no vote buying but still you elect morons.
Maybe it’s easier to be angry, because it proves that the public don’t need to be intimidated, manipulated and bought. They just want to elect morons.
Umno and disunity
“Disunity is death in politics” may also be a good mantra to bear in mind for the upcoming Umno elections.
With deputy premier Muhyiddin Yassin in the UK this week, sure to be looking very prime-ministerial (wasn't Najib Abdul Razak there only two months ago?) and with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah(right) considering a bid for the top job, unity may not be what’s ahead for the party.
At least Umno is smarter than Labor in that it knows how to present a united front and keep internal power-struggles out of the press, without cabinet ministers personally attacking each other across the papers.
While the results of the Australian election may be disappointing, there are two small comforts. Firstly, Abbott will not control a straight-out majority in the Senate, which is an elected house that serves as a check and balance rather than a rubber stamp.
Secondly, his party’s rule will not last forever. It might be three or six years or perhaps even nine, but the pendulum of power always swings back and forth, an essential characteristic of any democracy.
That was the clear takeaway message from the Australian election on Saturday that saw voters sweep aside six years of Labor rule in favour of the conservative Liberal party.
With votes for several seats still being counted, incoming premier Tony Abbott (right) is likely to end up with 89 of the 150 seats in Parliament, with Labor likely being reduced to 57.Labor’s years in government was marred by party in-fighting. In 2010, when Kevin Rudd’s popularity was down, the party scrapped him as prime minister in favour of Julia Gillard who became Australia’s first female leader.
After Rudd was ousted he set about to publicly undermine the Gillard leadership and when Gillard’s popularity was at an all-time low in the lead-up to this election, Rudd lead a coup and got back the top job.
Labor’s internal chaos overshadowed policy achievements of the government and played into the hands of Abbott who spent the election campaign presenting his party as a stable and consistent alternative.
Abbott lambasted Labor’s spending as “wasteful” and despite Australia’s triple-A credit rating, has vowed to cut education support, scientific research, public transport, university funding, childcare, and A$4.5 billion (RM13.7 billion) from foreign aid, as well as scrap Labor’s unpopular policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and high profits tax on mining companies.
Abbott is famous for putting his foot in his mouth and is already being labeled by some as “our own George W Bush”. The campaign saw Abbott saying “sex appeal” was a credential of one of his female candidates and in the past he has called global warming “complete crap” and abortion “a matter of the mother’s convenience”.
Last week, he showed his deep and complex understanding of foreign policy by simplifying the war in Syria down to “it’s not goodies versus baddies, its baddies versus baddies”.
But as much as one may disagree with who is elected as government, that is democracy - you get the government you deserve, at least in a clean and fair democracy.
It is harder to be angry when a general election reflects the will of the people, when there is a free media, when you can gather and protest freely, when you can say what you want to without fear of sedition charges, when there are no phantom voters and fraudulent electoral rolls, and when there is no vote buying but still you elect morons.
Maybe it’s easier to be angry, because it proves that the public don’t need to be intimidated, manipulated and bought. They just want to elect morons.
Umno and disunity
“Disunity is death in politics” may also be a good mantra to bear in mind for the upcoming Umno elections.
With deputy premier Muhyiddin Yassin in the UK this week, sure to be looking very prime-ministerial (wasn't Najib Abdul Razak there only two months ago?) and with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah(right) considering a bid for the top job, unity may not be what’s ahead for the party.At least Umno is smarter than Labor in that it knows how to present a united front and keep internal power-struggles out of the press, without cabinet ministers personally attacking each other across the papers.
While the results of the Australian election may be disappointing, there are two small comforts. Firstly, Abbott will not control a straight-out majority in the Senate, which is an elected house that serves as a check and balance rather than a rubber stamp.
Secondly, his party’s rule will not last forever. It might be three or six years or perhaps even nine, but the pendulum of power always swings back and forth, an essential characteristic of any democracy.
JARNI BLAKKARLY is an Australian journalism student doing an internship with Malaysiakini.
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