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An Outbreak of Democracy?

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An Outbreak of Democracy? ‘ An outbreak of democracy? Vol. 63 September 2010 fter what can only be described as the most des- ultory election campaign in modern political his- An outbreak of democracy? tory, the result has not just been a cliff hanger— Ait has been genuinely reformative. Richard Denniss is by Richard Denniss hopeful that the new parliamentary paradigm will be a positive one. Money and power by Josh Fear The first casualty of the hung par- into fast rail and a climate-change liament appears to be Julia Gil- committee populated exclusively lard’s Citizens’ Assembly on cli- by MPs who believe a price on car- Talk by Joseph Stiglitz mate change. The second is the bon is necessary. reviewed by David Richardson long-standing practice of ministers refusing to provide answers at Andrew Wilkie, the new indepen- what is optimistically referred to as dent member for the Hobart-based Banks behaving badly Question Time. seat of Denison, has secured new by Josh Fear funds for the Royal Hobart Hospi- In exchange for support from tal and significant reforms to Profit taking the Greens in the lower pokies. by David Richardson house, the ALP has promised referenda The so-called ‘coun- on constitutional try independents’ Green jobs recognition for managed to en- by Richard Denniss Indigenous Aus- sure that both the tralians and lo- ALP and Coali- cal government. tion agreed to a The Education Tax Refund raft of reforms auction Eight years into to the way par- by David Ingles the war in Af- ghanistan, there liament works will finally be a before they an- Quarantining justice par liament ar y nounced who by David Baker debate on Aus- they would sup- tralia’s role in that port. Smart. conflict and, on While Bob Kat- Once more with feeling ter finally chose by Richard Denniss the policy front, the ALP has promised, the Coalition, Tony among other things: Windsor and Rob Oakeshott endorsed Institute out and about • a parliamentary bud- the ALP in exchange for a get office wide-ranging suite of initiatives for regional Australia. The elo- New publications • truth in political advertising quence and intelligence with which both of these MPs prosecuted their • reform to political donations case ensured that the majority of ISSN 1322-1876 • a commitment to consider city voters seem quite happy that ACN 061 969 284 boosting spending on dental additional funds will be directed ABN 90 061 969 284 care in the next Budget. towards Australia’s vast regional areas. [email protected] In addition, there will be inquiries Continued on Page 2 www.tai.org.au An outbreak of democracy? from Page 1 floor and any member of the US phasise its differences for fear of ‘making themselves the story’. The Can anybody suggest that a narrow Congress who put their party lead- modern day maxim is ‘keep it bland win by either the ALP or the Coali- er’s opinion ahead of their local and play the man’. tion would have led to anything like constituency on a big issue would this outbreak of democracy? Af- be unlikely to be voting on legisla- tion for long. And then came the 2010 federal ter what can only be described as election. the most desultory election cam- In Australia, the combination of an paign in modern political history, entrenched two-party system (in ith the Greens the result has not just been a cliff the lower house at least) and rigid holding the bal- hanger—it has been genuinely re- party discipline has led to the situ- ance of power in formative. ation that debate, if it existed at all, the Senate, there took place entirely behind closed W In order to understand the enor- is a real possibility that leg- mous policy opportunities that the doors. The resulting ‘public debate’ islation passed in the lower next three years present, it is nec- descended into two groups of poli- house could be passed in the essary to describe how it was that ticians determined to ‘stay on mes- upper house as well. Australia’s system of parliamentary sage’. Some of the best debaters in democracy had become so stag- the country were forced to mouth Each of the two major parties tried nant. some of the most banal statements to make itself a small target. Each over and over again. Any deviation side of politics eschewed a reform he ‘lack of certainty’ from the script would be pounced agenda preferring instead to sell associated with the on as ‘division’ or a ‘gaffe’. As the ‘steady as she goes’. And each composition of the new swing to the Greens and the infor- side of politics hoped to convert parliament is likely to mal vote showed, millions of Aus- cynicism about its opponents into T tralians are sick of it. provide the best conditions a mandate to govern. They both we have seen for serious ac- The other big problem with our po- lost. tion on climate change. litical system is that both parties During the election and after it, the have spent too long reading the The first problem involves the de- ALP and the Coalition became the same books on political strategy, termined efforts of both the ALP target. The voters pilloried them sitting in the same focus groups and the Coalition to entrench a and denied either a mandate to and chasing the esteem of the two-party system. Everything from govern in its own right. There are same coterie of commentators. the way that public funding for elec- now four genuinely independent Just as consumer goods all begin tions is provided to the way that members of the lower house along to look similar after a while, our the ‘leaders’ debates’ are organ- with the first Green elected to the major political parties have also ised serves to reinforce the idea House of Representatives (at a become pale imitations of each that there are only two parties to general election) as well as a mem- other. This is not to suggest that choose from. Even the architecture ber of the West Australian Nation- they are the same—rather that nei- of Parliament House is designed als who is adamant that he will not ther party has been willing to em- to accommodate two parties. The attend Coalition party-room meet- House of Representa- ings and will vote ac- tives chamber was not cording to his judgement designed with a third or, of the best interests of heaven forbid, a fourth his electorate. or fifth party leader in mind. Can you imagine that: politicians sitting in par- The second major prob- liament, listening to de- lem is the rigid party bates about legislation discipline that both ma- and making up their own jor parties impose on minds about how they their members of parlia- will vote on an issue-by- ment. While the US and issue basis? It gets bet- the UK (until recently at ter though. least) have had stable two-party systems, The independents and ‘crossing the floor’ is so Greens have ensured common that it is simply that ‘private members thought of as ‘voting’. bills’ will not merely be Backbenchers in the introduced into parlia- Continued on Page 4 UK frequently cross the 2 Money and power he power of big business in Australia and around the world has been steadily increasing for decades, with business now able to dictate terms to govern- ment. Josh Fear examines this phenomenon and concludes that the time has Tcome to do something about the ability of corporations to insert themselves into every aspect of modern life. Recent events have shown how much the interests of corporations now dominate the political pro- cess. Mining companies mobilised more quickly than government to challenge the resource rent tax and effectively brought down a prime minister. Last year, constant pressure from the carbon lobby turned an emissions trading scheme into little more than a compensation scheme for big polluters. The ar- gument over the watered-down legislation then brought down an Most often we just accept this state lion a year, including $20 billion in Opposition leader. of affairs but that doesn’t mean we ‘super-profits’ attributable to their like it. In a survey of 1,360 Austra- market power. he public clearly wants lians conducted by The Australia government to do Institute, four in five people agreed (See ‘Banks behaving badly’ on something about the that ‘big business has too much in- Page 7 for the Institute’s findings degree of power that fluence over everyday life’ and that on the banks’ marketing of debt and T the need for better regulation.) corporations enjoy in Austral- ‘big business has too much influ- ia. ence over government decision- making’. Meanwhile, only one in e live in a soci- Politicians are intelligent creatures; four agreed that ‘it is acceptable for ety, and a world, they have learnt that it is best to big business to influence the politi- where the power avoid doing anything visionary lest cal process’. of corporations is they attract the ire of business lead- W much greater than that of ‘or- ers as channelled through the na- Of course, in any capitalist econo- dinary’ people. tional broadsheets. Endemic risk- my, business activity will form the aversion now means that policy is foundation for employment and The recent furore over the mining crafted so as to annoy the fewest wealth creation. But encourag- tax also showed how powerful the people, including the vocal busi- ing entrepreneurialism does not resources sector is at influenc- ness sector.
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