Rise-And-Fall-Of-The-Australian-Democrats-Press

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Rise-And-Fall-Of-The-Australian-Democrats-Press

The Rise and Fall of the Australian Democrats—an eyewitness account The Rise and Fall of the Australian Democrats—an eyewitness account visits the high points of politics in the years between 1977 and 2013. The events are told through the personal insights of Bev Floyd, who was present at most of the significant events of the era. She was there when Joh Bjelke-Petersen ruled the streets with an iron fist; when the Australian Democrat phenomenon burst on the political landscape; and there when the citizens of Queensland fought for electoral justice and eventually succeeded. She became president of the Queensland division of the Australian Democrats, a co-convenor of Citizens for Democracy, an organisation which successfully spearheaded resistance to the Queensland ‘gerrymander’, and in the years when the Howard Government brought in the Work Choices legislation she fought as a union delegate for the rights of her colleagues across TAFE. Bev writes fearlessly about the problems she faced as a woman in her time as president of the Australian Democrats in Queensland. Even in a party as pro- gressive as the Democrats, it was possible for gender discrimination to rear its head. And, she has interviewed many of the former Australian Democrat Sena- tors on the role they and the party played while they held the balance in the Senate of Australia. She has spoken with Michael Macklin, Cheryl Kernot, Meg Lees, John Woodley, Andrew Bartlett, Aden Ridgeway and John Cherry as well as others who were active during the period. Here are frank, revealing vignettes of how Senators representing a minor party in the bullring of Federal Parliament managed to keep it active and successful for 30 years. The book also address- es the reasons for the party’s decline. This is history as it affects people. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the rough and tumble of politics—the successes and the disappointments. .

Copy Link

Recommended publications

Abolition of the Upper House Community Engagement – Updated 27 March 2001
Abolition of the Upper House Community Engagement – Updated 27 March 2001 THE ABOLITION OF THE UPPER HOUSE IN QUEENSLAND INTRODUCTION Unicameral legislatures, or legislatures with only one chamber, are uncommon in democracies. It is usually considered that two chambers are necessary for government, and this is the case for the United Kingdom, Canada (at the Federal level) and the United States (Federally, and for all states except Nebraska.) However, some countries, usually small ones, are unicameral. Israel, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, Sweden, and Greece have only one chamber. All the Canadian Provinces, all the Malaysian States and some of the Indian ones, including Assam, are unicameral. Other single-chambered legislatures in the Commonwealth include New Zealand, Ghana, Cyprus, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Malta, Malawi, Zambia, Gambia, Guyana, Singapore, Botswana, Zimbabwe and (Western) Samoa. In Australia, the Federal Government has two chambers, as do the governments of all the states, except Queensland. At its separation from New South Wales in 1859, Queensland had two houses of Parliament, the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. But in a move unique in Australian history, the Legislative Council abolished itself. EARLY DAYS OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, 1860-1890 Queensland, separated from New South Wales in 1859, was the only colony to have a Parliament from its inception. When the Parliament of Queensland was first promulgated in 1860, there were two houses of Parliament. The first members of the Upper House, the Legislative Council, were appointed for five years by the Governor of New South Wales, so that Queensland would not be left permanently with nominees from the Governor of another colony.
[Show full text]
Papers on Parliament No. 14
PAPERS ON PARLIAMENT Number 14 February 1992 Parliamentary Perspectives 1991 Published and Printed by the Department of the Senate Parliament House, Canberra ISSN 1031-976X The Department of the Senate acknowledges the assistance of the Department of the Parliamentary Reporting Staff. Cover design: Conroy + Donovan, Canberra NOTE This issue of Papers on Parliament includes lectures given in the Senate Department's Occasional Lecture series during the second half of 1991, together with a paper given by the Clerk of the Senate, Harry Evans, to a seminar organised by the Queensland Electoral and Administrative Review Commission in Brisbane on 26 July 1991. It concludes with a digest of procedurally significant events in the Senate during 1991 which we hope to include as a regular feature of Papers on Parliament. CONTENTS Page Chapter 1 - John Black, Michael Macklin and Chris Puplick 1 How Parliament Works in Practice Chpater 2 - John Button 20 The Role of the Leader of the Government in the Senate Chpater 3 - Hugh Collins 31 Political Literacy: Educating for Democracy Chapter 4 - Harry Evans 47 Parliamentary Reform: New Directions and Possibilities for Reform of Parliamentary Processes Chapter 5 - Senate Department 61 Senate Procedural Digest 1991 Parliamentary Reform: New Directions and Possibilities for Reform of Parliamentary Processes Harry Evans Clerk of the Senate Parliament and the Problem of Government In considering the reform of parliament we are examining the alteration of the basic institutions of government, and it is therefore wise to refer to first principles, and to ponder how the task relates to the elementary problem of government. The great difficulty of government is the creation of authorities with sufficient power to achieve the desired aims of government, peace and order, while preventing the unintended misuse of that power.
[Show full text]
Optional Preferential Voting for the Australian Senate
ELECTORAL REGULATION RESEARCH NETWORK/DEMOCRATIC AUDIT OF AUSTRALIA JOINT WORKING PAPER SERIES OPTIONAL PREFERENTIAL VOTING FOR THE AUSTRALIAN SENATE Michael Maley (Associate, Centre For Democratic Institutions, Australian National University) WORKING PAPER NO. 16 (NOVEMBER 2013) 1 Introduction This paper explores the possible use of optional preferential voting (OPV) as a way of dealing with concerns which have been crystallised at the 2013 Australian federal election about the operation of some aspects of the Senate electoral system. Its main emphasis is on the extent to which full preferential voting no longer enables voters to express their preferences truthfully, and the role which OPV could play in correcting this.1 In a number of respects, the election was remarkable. • The 40 vacancies were contested by a record number of candidates, 529. • The percentage of votes polled by parties already represented in the Parliament dropped significantly from 2010. • In five out of the six States, a candidate was elected from a party which had never previously been represented in the federal Parliament. • For the first time ever, the seats in one State, South Australia, were divided between five different parties. • In Victoria, a minor party candidate was elected after having polled only 0.5% of the first preference votes cast in the State. • In Western Australia, a partial recount of ballot papers was ordered, and in the aftermath of its conduct it was revealed by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) that some 1,375 ballot papers “all of which had been verified during the initial WA Senate count … could not be located, rechecked or verified in the recount process”.
[Show full text]
Hansard 30 Oct 1997
30 Oct 1997 Vacancy in Senate of Commonwealth of Australia 4051 THURSDAY, 30 OCTOBER 1997 As this Parliament does not have a representative of the Australian Democrats, I move the motion nominating the authorised Australian Democrat nominee and the Leader At 8.45 a.m., of the Opposition seconds the motion. I am very happy to do so, as I am sure my Mr SPEAKER (Hon. N. J. Turner, Nicklin) colleague opposite is happy to second. took the chair. Despite the politics of Cheryl Kernot's precipitate resignation from the Parliament VACANCY IN SENATE OF COMMONWEALTH and the Australian Democrats, it is appropriate OF AUSTRALIA and correct that a spirit of bipartisanship is manifested today in choosing her successor. Nomination of Andrew John Julian Bartlett, vice Cheryl Kernot Today is also an historic occasion because it is the first time to my knowledge Mr SPEAKER: Order! The House has that the Queensland Parliament has fast- resolved to meet at 8.45 a.m. this day for the tracked the selection process by suspending purpose of the election of a senator. There Standing Orders so that the expressed wish of being a quorum present, the meeting is now the Queensland electorate is in no way constituted. Honourable members should note diminished. Honourable members will be that the provisions of Standing Orders and aware that the Government in the House of Rules shall apply to this meeting. I now call for Representatives and the Senate has granted nominations. I point out that every nomination a pair so that, until the Queensland Parliament must be accompanied by a declaration by the fills the vacancy, the relative voting strength of nominee of qualification and consent to be the parties in the Senate is not altered.
[Show full text]
An Inquiry Into Contemporary Australian Extreme Right
THE OTHER RADICALISM: AN INQUIRY INTO CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN EXTREME RIGHT IDEOLOGY, POLITICS AND ORGANIZATION 1975-1995 JAMES SALEAM A Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor Of Philosophy Department Of Government And Public Administration University of Sydney Australia December 1999 INTRODUCTION Nothing, except being understood by intelligent people, gives greater pleasure, than being misunderstood by blunderheads. Georges Sorel. _______________________ This Thesis was conceived under singular circumstances. The author was in custody, convicted of offences arising from a 1989 shotgun attack upon the home of Eddie Funde, Representative to Australia of the African National Congress. On October 6 1994, I appeared for Sentence on another charge in the District Court at Parramatta. I had been convicted of participation in an unsuccessful attempt to damage a vehicle belonging to a neo-nazi informer. My Thesis -proposal was tendered as evidence of my prospects for rehabilitation and I was cross-examined about that document. The Judge (whose Sentence was inconsequential) said: … Mr Saleam said in evidence that his doctorate [sic] of philosophy will engage his attention for the foreseeable future; that he has no intention of using these exertions to incite violence.1 I pondered how it was possible to use a Thesis to incite violence. This exercise in courtroom dialectics suggested that my thoughts, a product of my experiences in right-wing politics, were considered acts of subversion. I concluded that the Extreme Right was ‘The Other Radicalism’, understood by State agents as odorous as yesteryear’s Communist Party. My interest in Extreme Right politics derived from a quarter-century involvement therein, at different levels of participation.
[Show full text]
Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth Conference of the Samuel Griffith
Chapter Four Independents and Minor Parties in the Commonwealth Parliament J. B. Paul I accepted Julian Leeser’s invitation to address the Society on this subject without a second thought. Had I thought twice about it I might have queried him on a vexing problem: how to compress this subject into a presentation confined to thirty minutes. It follows that my fully prepared statement will have to be published with the other papers. The first and shorter part of this paper will deal with the House of Representatives; the second and more important part will deal with the Senate. The House of Representatives Two factors have limited the role of Independents and minor parties in the House: it comprises single-member constituencies and two succeeding electoral systems have governed its elections. From 1901 to 1918 the simple majority/plurality system applied. This has been misnamed “first-past-the-post”: a misnomer because there was no fixed post for the winning candidate to get past. Independents found it difficult to top the poll against candidates endorsed by political parties. Independents found their position more favourable under the preferential system introduced in 1918 especially when a seat was being contested by three or more candidates. If the count went to preferences an Independent could move to a winning position from behind with each distribution. Not that this happened often! I would isolate two examples when an Independent has succeeded. In the 1922 election, a prominent leader of the Victorian Bar, J G Latham, KC, contested and won the seat of Kooyong, then held by a grandee of the Nationalist Party, Sir Robert Best.
[Show full text]
DASSH Conference – University of Auckland: September 2005
DASSH Conference Programme Auckland, New Zealand. September 28th-30th, 2005 DASSH Conference – University of Auckland: September 2005. SESSIONS Contributors Venue Wednesday 28th 3.00 pm Auckland University of Technology Marae, Powhiri (Welcome) Corner St Pauls & Symonds Sts, Auckland 5.00 pm Four Seasons Restaurant, Auckland Reception & Registration University of Technology, Corner Wellesley St & Mayoral Drive, Auckland 6.00 pm Invited Speaker: Jonathan Mane-Wheoki (Director, Art and Room WH125, Auckland University of Biculturalism and Humanities Collection Services, Te Papa Tongarewa - Museum of New Technology, corner Wellesley St & Mayoral research: negotiating passages Zealand) Drive, Auckland between world views Chair: Prof Kenneth Strongman (Pro-Vice-Chancellor, College of Arts, University of Canterbury) Presentation Room – Rm 204, Clocktower, THURSDAY 29th The University of Auckland, 22 Princes St. 9.00: Registration 9.30-10.30 DASSH AGM Chair: Prof Linda Rosenman (President DASSH, Dean, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Queensland) 10.30-11 Morning Tea 11am - 12.30 pm Panel: Structure of Arts degrees: Prof. Rob Allen (Chair) (Dean, Faculty of Applied Bachelors , Honours & Masters Humanities, Auckland University of Technology) A/Prof. David Lowe (Head, School of History, Heritage and Society, Deakin University), DASSH Conference Programme Auckland, New Zealand. September 28th-30th, 2005 Prof. John Morrow (Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of Auckland) 12.30 pm-1.30 pm: Lunch DASSH Conference Programme Auckland, New Zealand. September 28th-30th, 2005 THURSDAY 29th (continued) Presentation Room – Rm 204, Clocktower, The University of Auckland, 22 Princes St. 1.30-2.15 pm Panel: Management of Museums and Prof. Adam Shoemaker (Chair) (Dean, Faculty of Arts, Collections Australian National University) Prof.
[Show full text]
Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth Conference of the Samuel Griffith Society
Upholding the Australian Constitution Volume Twenty-five Proceedings of the Twenty-fifth Conference of The Samuel Griffith Society Rydges, North Sydney — November 2013 © Copyright 2015 by The Samuel Griffith Society. All rights reserved. Contents Introduction Julian Leeser The Fifth Sir Harry Gibbs Memorial Oration The Honourable Dyson Heydon Sir Samuel Griffith as Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia Chapter One Greg Craven A Federalist Agenda for the Government’s White Paper Chapter Two Anne Twomey Money, Power and Pork-Barrelling: Expenditure of Public Money without Parliamentary Authorisation Chapter Three Keith Kendall Comparative Federal Income Tax Chapter Four J. B. Paul Independents and Minor Parties in the Commonwealth Parliament Chapter Five Ian McAllister Reforming the Senate Electoral System Chapter Six Malcolm Mackerras Electing the Australian Senate: In Defence of the Present System Chapter Seven Gim Del Villar TheKable Case i Chapter Eight Nicholas Cater The Human Rights Commission: A Failed Experiment Chapter Nine Damien Freeman Meagher, Mabo and Patrick White’s tea-cosy – 20 Years On Chapter Ten Dean Smith Double Celebration: The Referendum that did not Proceed Chapter Eleven Bridget Mackenzie Rigging the Referendum: How the Rudd Government Slanted the Playing Field for Constitutional Change: The Abuse of the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act Chapter Twelve The Honourable Gary Johns Recognition: History Yes, Culture No Contributors ii Introduction Julian Leeser The 25th Conference of The Samuel Griffith Society was held in Sydney in November 2013. The 2013 Conference was scheduled to be held in Melbourne. It was moved to Sydney. This was not, as was rumoured, because our board member, Richard Court, agreed with the former Prime Minister, Paul Keating, that “if you are not living in Sydney you are just camping out.” It was rather because the Spring racing carnival would have needlessly increased accommodation costs at that time of the year in Melbourne.
[Show full text]
Parliament, Politics and Power
Papers on Parliament No. 50 March 2009 Parliament, Politics and Power Published and printed by the Department of the Senate, Parliament House, Canberra ISSN 1031-976X Published by the Department of the Senate, 2009 Papers on Parliament is edited and managed by the Research Section, Department of the Senate. Edited by Kay Walsh All inquiries should be made to: Assistant Director of Research Procedure Office Department of the Senate Parliament House CANBERRA ACT 2600 Telephone: (02) 6277 3164 ISSN 1031–976X ii Contents Politics and the Media in Australia Today 1 Sally Young Governing the Market: Threats to Australia’s Stability and Security 19 Peter Brain McCain v Obama: What the 2008 US Election Means for Australia 41 Geoffrey Garrett Wanted: Treasure House of a Nation’s Heart. The Search for an 51 Australian Capital City, 1891–1908 David Headon Strengthening Australia’s Senate: Some Modest Proposals for Change 69 Stanley Bach The Senate: Blessing or Bane? 119 John Faulkner Constitutionalism, Bicameralism and the Control of Power 127 Harry Evans The Senate’s Power to Obtain Evidence 139 Harry Evans Contents of previous issues of Papers on Parliament 149 List of Senate Briefs 159 To order copies of Papers on Parliament 160 iii ____________________________________________________________________ Contributors Dr Sally Young is a Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications at The University of Melbourne. One of Australia’s best known economists in the development and application of macroeconomic models, Dr Peter Brain prepares detailed economic projections for governments in Australia and overseas. Professor Geoffrey Garrett is Professor of Political Science and founding CEO of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, and Fellow and former President of the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles.
[Show full text]
Introduction
Introduction The Senate redux, 1983–2002 he Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate was conceived in the early 1990s Tas a Centenary of Federation project. This volume, the fourth, covers the period 1983 to 2002, and includes biographies of 108 senators and one clerk whose terms of service concluded on or before 30 June 2002. In his introduction to Volume III, spanning the period 1962–1983, the late Harry Evans noted that we had reached the realm of contemporary history with some of the senators covered in that volume still living at the time of publication. He observed, “[t]he closer we are to a time in the past, the more difficult it is to make a lasting assessment of its real contribution to the present”. That observation is even more pertinent to the current volume which covers some controversial figures and episodes from the recent past. Most of the senators in this volume are still living at the time of publication. It is hoped that the entries nonetheless address the period factually and dispassionately and will continue to act as a source of information and insight into these times. The last two decades of the twentieth century and the dawn of a new millennium covered a period of great social and economic change but remarkable stability in political terms, even though no party in government during the period commanded a majority of the Senate. Despite this, for the most part governments were able to work effectively with the Senate, taking occasional losses but succeeding in achieving their major policy objectives, which included significant social, economic, environmental and technological reforms.
[Show full text]
Religious Dynamics in Australian Federal Politics
Department of the Parliamentary Library Informati nand Research Services For God and Countryo' Religious Dynamics in Australian Federal Politics Dr Marion Maddox 1999Australian Parliamentary Fellow Department of the Parliamentary Library For God and Country Religious Dynamics in Australian Federal Politics Dr Marion Maddox 1999 Australian Parliamentary Fellow ISBN 0-642-52724-5 © Commonwealth of Australia 2001 Except to the extent of the uses permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means including information storage and retrieval systems, without the prior written consent of the Department of the Parliamentary Library, other than by Senators and Members of the Australian Parliament in the course of their official duties. For God and Country: Religious Dynamics in Australian Federal Politics The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and may not be attributed to the Information and Research Services (IRS) or to the Department of the Parliamentary Library. Readers are reminded that the paper is not an official parliamentary or Australian government document. Presiding Officers' Foreword Established in 1971, the Australian Parliamentary Fellowship has provided an opportunity for an academic analysis of many aspects of Parliament and the work of Parliamentarians. The work of Dr Marion Maddox, the 1999 Fellow, has been the first to assess and set in context the religious influences felt by current and past Senators and Members as they pursue their parliamentary duties. With two doctorates (in theology and political philosophy) Dr Maddox brought both fields together in her Fellowship project. In for For God and Country: Religious Dynamics in Australian Federal Politics Dr Maddox explores religious influences and debate in and around the Thirty-Eighth and Thirty-Ninth Parliaments.
[Show full text]
Charles Harris’ Story Has Been the Good Will Offered by So Many People—A Testimony to Charles Himself, I Believe
Charles Harris A Struggle for Justice William W. Emilsen Published by MediaCom Education Inc PO Box 610 Unley SA 5061 Australia Phone Toll Free 1800 811 311 www.mediacom.org.au © 2019 William W. Emilsen All rights reserved. This publication is copyright. Other than for the purposes of and subject to the conditions of the Copyright Act, no part of it may in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, microcopying, photocopying, recording or otherwise) be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted without prior written permission from the publisher. First printed July 2019 ISBN 9781925722208 A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia Contents Acknowledgments ....................................................................... v Foreword ..................................................................................... ix Introduction .................................................................................1 1. A Real Struggle .......................................................................9 2. Mission to Aboriginals and Islanders in North Queensland ...27 3. Urban Aboriginal Mission .....................................................39 4. Towards Crystal Creek ...........................................................63 5. Journey throughout the Nation ............................................81 6. National Black Congress ....................................................101 7. Turning Vision into Reality .................................................119
[Show full text]