Battling for credibility
John Howard squeezed as much mileage as he could from an invitation to a Collingwood football club dinner recently. Asked whether he wouldn't feel more comfortable at a Carlton club dinner, Howard retorted that if former US President Ronald Reagan could have his Democrats, he could have his "battlers".The battle for the "battlers" has begun. As the two major parties move into election mode, both claiming the "underdog" status (pollsters claim this tactic has helped Labor over the line in some elections), more and more people are becoming alienated from the bureaucratic, corrupt, arrogant and machine-like process that passes for politics.
The week by week see-sawing of opinion polls on preferred party and leader paints the most accurate picture of the disillusionment in parliamentary politics, and underscores the swings this year against Labor in Queensland and the ACT elections and against the Coalition in NSW.
The message from the electorate is clear: the two major parties are practically indistinguishable, and neither of their motherhood pitches is assured of winning over an increasingly disillusioned electorate.
Recent events in WA have only highlighted the problems.
The "Noel Crichton-Browne affair", as it has been dubbed, is splitting the WA Liberals down the middle with some disaffected MPs threatening to join the Nationals, some deciding to go "independent" while pledging their loyalty to Howard, and some, like Fred Chaney, simply leaving the whole stinking mess.
And Labor isn't in any position to point the finger. Not only is Carmen Lawrence's "clean" image in tatters as each day of the Penny Easton inquiry goes by, but Martin Ferguson's "preselection" to the federal seat of Batman shows, once again, just how removed the career-oriented process that passes for politics is from our lives and needs.
Make no mistake, the ALP's national executive did intervene on behalf of Ferguson. However, the number crunchers' hands are tied as far as Lawrence goes. This so-called squeaky clean politician from WA, who, it should be remembered, served alongside Brian Burke, and like the then premier "forgot" to return her $5000 parliamentary travel allowance (Burke was charged), is now using $10,000 of taxpayers' money per day for her defence.
These tales of dirty politics are certainly not going to woo the majority of people back to either of the major parties. Neither are their policies. With an election due in the next seven months, both parties are remaining extremely tight-lipped. Keating has tried to steer the focus away from economic issues, while Howard's "headland" speeches have largely been a publicity exercise to soften the Coalition's image.
The right-wing commentator P.P. McGuinness blames the media for politicians' unwillingness to reveal their policies. He's dead wrong.
The real reason for all the hollow-sounding talk about "battlers", with no corresponding policy detail, is the capitalist politicians' nervousness about their growing unpopularity. Revealing their policies, as both parties have discovered in elections over the last few years, only makes things worse.