A Hung Parliament Hangs up Democracy

I thought I may premise this short poem with some thoughts more like sketches about the situation in the US and the attempts to force some sort of dissolution of government. I didn’t read the politics of this indepth but reflected on the Whitlam dismissal here in Australia in 1975 as I felt similarities. There were rumours of US involvement at the time I heard.

I watched the DVD reinactment of this event and the essence of it was power politics, greed and self interest. There was no interest in the will of the people or honouring elected officials or mandates. What happened here was that the money bills were held up in the Senate to stop the business of government, this means the public servants are not paid, so it would force an election. I remember watching how Malcolm Fraser (opposition leader) at the time was negotiating with the Governor General Sir John Kerr who had the power to dismiss the government under the Westminister System. He is the Queens representative here, officially he doesn’t have much power, but in matters where there are impasses in the government, he has the power to dismiss the government. As I watched the politics unfold I thought about the cold face of power. I would call this a cold war.

Here are some facts behind the scenes. http://whitlamdismissal.com/overview/

“During 1975, the Government also endured the “Overseas Loans Affair”, the story of efforts by the Minister for Minerals and Energy, Rex Connor, Treasurer Dr. Jim Cairns, and others, to raise an overseas loan of $4 billion. The loan was to be used to fund a number of natural resources and energy projects, including the construction of a natural gas pipeline, the electrification of interstate railways and a uranium enrichment plant.

The loan was sought not from the traditional American and European sources, but from the Middle East, which was awash with “petrodollars”, following the quadrupling of oil prices in 1973 and 1974. A Pakistani broker, Tirath Khemlani, was used by Connor to secure the loan. In the end, no loan was ever obtained, no commissions were paid, but the government was made to look reckless and foolish.

A special one-day sitting of the House of Representatives was held on 9 July 1975, during which Whitlam tabled the loans documents and sought to defend the government’s position.

Wracked by economic difficulties and the political impact of the Loans Affair scandal, the Whitlam Government was vulnerable throughout 1975. Whitlam had been forced to sack Dr. Jim Cairns from the government and a by-election in Lance Barnard’s former seat of Bass in June 1975 saw a massive swing against the government and the election of the Liberal Party’s Kevin Newman in a seat that had been held by the ALP (Australian Labour Party) for 60 years.

Rex Connor’s authority to raise overseas loans was withdrawn in early 1975, but the minister continued to liaise with Khemlani. When the Melbourne “Herald” newspaper published documents supplied by Khemlani in October 1975, Connor was forced to resign from the Cabinet. He was replaced by a young Paul Keating.

After the resignation of Rex Connor in October 1975, the Opposition Leader, Malcolm Fraser, announced that the Senate would defer passage of the Supply Bills until Whitlam called an election. Whitlam refused. There followed three weeks of constitutional crisis
as the parties confronted each other in Parliament and the country.”
…………………………………………………………

The art of politics is not the art of democracy.

Many times I have sat in the Australian Parliament in the public gallery and marvelled at the way they trade insults to demean the one before them. There is little in the way of real debate where we in the public can really learn the two sides of the issues. What we see is a forum of power, that seeks to influence me (the public) that they are somehow strong, they have the upper hand. All I see is the bullying in adults and no respect for colleagues. I see this as nothing to do with representing myself. No-one to-date has asked me my opinion of politics, yet I am expected to vote every 3 years. I feel I actually don’t have much choice as the politics of the day I do not feel is able to deal with the realities of the financial and ecological situation we are facing in the first instance. Moreover, they are unable to visualise a society outside of legislation designed to control behaviour, rather than to release freedom so we can live to our highest potential. I don’t want leaders I want representatives of my voice and/or to have the option to say what I want to say as a member of my community. My right in this is that I am affected by decisions, therefore, I feel I wish to contribute. Of course I have written letters and received blanket replies in the form of standard letters, I have sat with local MPs and been silently dismissed. I have not experienced democracy yet. But I look with amusement as the game plays out, and I know at whose expense.

However, I am not cycnical I also see a universal order here, we are here to learn about who we are. We see what serves us and what does not. The truth is eternal and untouchable and you may temporarily be able to divert attention, but the reality, particularly these days is knocking on everyone’s door. The environmental crisis will speed up truth. Of that I am sure. I am also unafraid of the future, I am curious to see what happens and how we grow as human beings. The truth will emerge, naturally.

A HUNG PARLIAMENT

The empty space between my words,
Is a hung parliament,
For freedom of speech is licence,
For one is given licence,
By right of reply,
Yet when that right is revoked,
No-one wants to hear the answer,
Unless it is politically correct,
Democracy is the resurrection in waiting,
As truth is crucified on the cross
Of condemnation.

For the nation is a casualty,
As the war of words
Are circular keys,
That cannot unlock the front door,
Many enter through the back door,
For the law is circumvented by the locksmith,
The gatekeeper who ensures the chains
are secured,
To be protected from the truth
that may set us free.