New Politics: Australian Politics, News, Analysis & Commentary

It was an explosive week of Parliament, the first of very few in 2022. The government decided not to schedule too many sitting days this year because, when there’s an election year, a most secretive government doesn’t want too much scrutiny placed upon itself.

And, because it’s an election year, a funding freeze for the ABC has been lifted, which is a little bit awkward: the Liberal Party conference in 2015 voted to privatise the ABC (and SBS), and it’s one of the Institute of Public Affair’s top 50 items on its to-do list. And that’s aside from the 30 years of hardline attacks on the ABC by the Liberal Party, which have dramatically escalated since 2013.

So much time has been spent on the Religious Discrimination Bill, a Bill that not too many people care about, or even want – but Scott Morrison believes this Bill may provide him with a narrow pathway to victory at the 2022 federal election. But it’s off the table now: the government didn’t have the parliamentary competence to manage its own legislation.

The emphasis on a Bill that nobody wants is also instructive for the areas the government is not focusing upon: a national anti-corruption commission was promised over three years ago, but is nowhere to be seen. The Minister for Aged Care attends a cricket match, rather than face scrutiny at a Senate Estimates hearing.

Women’s safety issues are being left behind – and didn’t Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame give the Prime Minister an earful for this: women have had enough, they’re not going to smile and be silent. The powerful never easily relinquish power, but it’s a reminder of what can be achieved with effective advocacy.

And while the Prime Minister was very busy washing a young woman’s hair at a Coco hair salon – creepy! – the Labor Party is carefully preparing its economic agenda for when it returns to government. It will be difficult for Labor to win at the next election – as it is for any Opposition party – but they are ensuring that they are well prepared.

Shadow Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, believes the federal government has forgotten the “people” part of the economy and the pandemic has clearly shown that a healthy economy also needs a healthy community and workforce. The current problems in the economy: wage stagnation, a generational debt without a generational dividend, poor economic management, poor management of the pandemic – all need to be addressed, but better economic thinking needs to adopted if the economy is going to “build back better”, rather than a futile “snap back” to a pre-pandemic world, which might be unachievable anyway.

An absolute summer of discontent is almost sealing the fate of the Morrison government, one of the most incompetent administrations Australia has ever seen, aided and abetted by a NSW Government which has managed – or mismanaged – the Omicron outbreak in the worst possible way.

For many families, Christmas was spent in isolation, either with COVID, or waiting until the results of their PCR tests arrived – and this was in contrast to the message Scott Morrison put out in November, when he promised “the restaurants are open and a big Christmas is coming for all of us”.

Of course, Morrison is not solely to blame for the Omicron outbreak: that blame can be fully placed at the feet of the NSW Government. But Morrison, supported by many donors and supporters in the business community, egged this on, and pushed the idea of opening up the community and the economy at any cost.

Although Morrison claimed his government was “blindsided”, every expert warned him about the effects of the spread of Omicron, from as early as November, and explained that a population with a high infection rate, will also have a deleterious effect on the economy. And by ignoring the experts and pursuing his ideological agenda, Morrison ended up with the worst of all worlds: a sick population, a sick workforce. And a sick economy.

The government that did fully follow the medical advice resides in Western Australia and they’ve had the best of all worlds: a healthy population, and a healthy economy growing at the rate of 3.5%. But, for some strange reason, the media and Liberal Party has attacked the state that has the most success. Partisanship in its most extreme form is an ugly sight, and the media was happy to amplify every negative small business story from Western Australia and ignore the successes of keeping the Omicron out and the community safe.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has had an image make-over and his performance at the National Press Club was smooth, confident and assured, whereas Morrison’s appearance was flustered, pressured and the opposite of confident. That tends to happen when journalists start asking the hostile questions and relay information from unnamed Ministers who claim Morrison is a “horrible man”, a “fraud”, and a “complete psycho”.

Morrison is way behind in the polls and under severe pressure and, with less than four months before the next federal election, is looking less likely to be a winner. Things can always be turned around in politics, but that possibility may have slipped by and it’s hard to see how his ship of state can be turned around at all.

Georgia Steele is an independent candidate in the southern Sydney seat of Hughes and is up against the current member Craig Kelly, and candidates from the major political parties. It’s a difficult task for any independent to win any federal seat but there seems to be a groundswell of support for change in the 2022 federal election.

There are many key issues not being addressed by the federal government – climate change, women’s safety, the management of the pandemic – and Steele is using these issues as a focus for her campaign, as well as taking action on integrity in politics. At a time when Australia has slipped dramatically in the international corruption index – from 85% in 2012, to its current ranking of 73% (Australia’s lowest ranking ever), it seems a focus on these issues is coming at the right time for the electorate. And for candidates who are prepared to make a stand and try to do things differently, there may be some electoral reward, because in the current era of the pandemic, doing more of the same in politics is not going to work.

In this in-depth interview with David Lewis, Steele outlines all the reasons why she would be best placed to make positive changes to the Australian political landscape and offer the electorate of Hughes a far better voice to Parliament.

Jo Dyer is the independent candidate in the South Australia seat of Boothby, the third-most marginal seat in Australia. And she’s running under the banner of the ‘Voices Of’ movement, a loose alliance of independents campaigning all across Australia on the issues of climate change, integrity and women’s safety – all of which the Prime Minister and his team are doing very little about, and seem to care even less about.

Which major party forms government at the next election could be determined by independent candidates and there’s a fair chance of this happening, with many in the electorate disenchanted with the Morrison government but unsure if the Labor Party will provide the direction the community is interested in.

A conversation with Jo Dyer about her views on the current state of federal politics, why she’s running as an independent candidate, why a vote away from the major parties is an important part of the democratic process, her background in creative arts, and how she hopes to be a voice for positive change in politics.

An incredible year in Australian politics, but the biggest feature was all the issues left behind and the issues that were not managed very well at all: climate change, corruption, the way women are treated within the political system.

And the biggest issue of all for 2021: the coronavirus pandemic. It can be argued that at least by the end of the year, high vaccination rates were achieved and we finally got there, but in the meantime, there were two protracted lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne that could have been avoided, if the government had procured vaccinations far earlier. And if Australia had the right leadership in place. But that will be up to the electorate to decide at the next federal election, which will either be held in March or May 2022.

Scott Morrison is predictable and is basing his leadership on spin and marketing. Anthony Albanese has cleaned up his image, becoming more forceful and targeted in his messaging. 2022 will be based on the three “C”s: Character, Corruption, Climate change. Or four, if you include Coronavirus. They’ve been the big issues that electorate has been thinking about during 2021, and we think they will also be the defining issues of the next federal election.

Independent candidates are set to play a big role in the next federal election. And why are they running for election? Because they’ve had enough of the politics-as-usual approach and feel Australia is being held back by poor leadership, especially on climate change, a lack of action against corruption, and the treatment of women in politics.

David Lewis speaks with Kylea Tink, the independent candidate in the seat of North Sydney, to find out why she is running for politics and how she is hoping to win the seat from the Liberal Party.

Political parties love to end the year with momentum and provide a springboard into the new year – especially if there’s an election coming up. Labor is starting to release some policy to address long-term political issues: climate change, skills shortages, university placements – and to combat this, the Prime Minister decided that it was best to ride around Mount Panorama in a race car and announce to Australians that it’s time to put them back into the driver’s seat. The symbolism was strange: a Prime Minister in the passenger’s seat, calling for everyone else to take up responsibility. Perhaps it’s an adequate reflection of Scott Morrison’s prime ministership: always the passenger, never the driver.

And if Labor is starting to release policy and make grand announcements for what they will do if they manage to form government, what better way for the Prime Minister to drown out these messages by calling for the return of a former NSW Premier to run in the seat of Warringah. Never mind the fact Gladys Berejiklian resigned because she was being investigated by the NSW ICAC over corruption matters – anything to drown out Labor policy announcements, even if it does magnify a major problem within the Liberal Party. Corruption.

An excellent example of the Pyrrhic victory.

And if the two-party system is not providing the answers the electorate is looking for, there are independent candidates who are willing to fill in the gaps.

The former ABC foreign correspondent and journalist, Zoe Daniel, is the latest independent to seek a move to Canberra, and she’s running in the seat of Goldstein, under the banner of the Voices Of Goldstein. And we think she’s in with a good chance of snaring the seat from the Liberal Party. Why? Because she’s running on all of those issues the electorate is interested in: climate change action, integrity, respect for women, professionalism, honesty and decency.

It’s been such a long time since we saw these types of values in federal politics, it might be shock to the system if they ever do return. And it’s an idea that might catch on, certainly in the seat of Goldstein.

The parliamentary year commenced with the revelations of a rape at Parliament House; it ended with a report into sexual harassment at parliamentary workplaces… and a federal minister stepping aside after he was accused of physically abusing a staffer he was having an affair with. When will parliamentarians learn their lessons?

And with so many government MPs and Ministers resigning, is it a sign of panic? No, it’s quite normal for MPs to retire and they can’t stay in politics forever. But it certainly doesn’t help the cause of the Liberal–National Coalition. And Anthony Albanese has announced a 43% reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2030, and the sky hasn’t fallen in. Not yet, but Scott Morrison is certain to find a way of misrepresenting the policy, because that’s what he does best. Actually governing can wait for another day.

And a Labor–Greens coalition? The Liberal Party and National Party have one, so why not? It’s a little bit more complicated but it comes down to two factors: the Liberal and National parties need each other to form government, while the Labor Party can form government by itself. And the other reason? The need has never arisen (except for 2010). And it won’t arise until we get a repeat of 2010: a hung parliament.

It’s the final week of Parliament for 2021 and it’s much the same as all the other ones in recent weeks: chaos and dysfunction, and a peculiar interest in all of the issues that don’t really matter too much.

This week’s interest? The anti-troll social media legislation which no one has ever asked for, would be ineffective (in the unlikely event that it was ever actually made into law) – but at least it took up two full days of national debate.

Anything to avoid working on the issues that really matter: climate change, an anti-corruption commission, health, education… who knows, maybe even the economy? These are all critical issues, but what does the Morrison government want to focus on? Picking a fight with Mark Zuckerberg. Another act from a lazy government, which seems to always be on holidays, even when Parliament is sitting.

And there are a number of community grassroots campaigns in the seat of Deakin, with the main aim of removing the sitting member, Michael Sukkar. We speak to Kieran Simpson from the Shady Sukkar campaign, and they are totally unimpressed with Sukkar and want to see him go. And as Kieran suggests, if Michael Sukkar puts himself first, it’s up the electorate to put him and the Liberal Party last. And that might end up being the result at the next federal election, and not just in the seat of Deakin.

This term of Parliament is descending into chaos, and it’s almost as though the anarchist society has taken over the Senate and House of Representatives. But it’s not the anarchist society: it’s the Liberal–National Coalition which is now resembling a thoroughly disorganised rabble. The Voter ID and Religious Discrimination Bills are in tatters – legislation that is not needed and no-one has asked for – and the national integrity commission is no closer to formation. A new Speaker was installed in the House, and it was almost like a day with the relief teacher – or the work experience kid in charge.

Chaos, division, floor-crossing and a Prime Minister who manages to speak many words in Parliament, without offering very much meaning. There’s another week – the final week – of Parliament to round off 2021, but it’s unlikely to get any better. This government is in disarray and it’s a familiar stench of incompetence and corruption that surrounds the Morrison government, that same stench that surrounded the Abbott and Turnbull governments.

Is this the end of the Liberal–National Coalition? No, not by a long shot. ‘Rabble’ is more than an adequate term to describe this government but it has to be remembered that this disorganised and disastrous troupe of under-performers won the 2016 and 2019 federal elections. All it needs is to spruce itself up for the final three months of this term and it should be in with a chance, but there are strong doubts about whether it even has this low-level ability, or the stamina, to do this. This is one very lazy government.

It’s not very often Australia hears politicians openly calling for ‘civil disobedience’ or throwing around the names of Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao to boost their arguments. But that’s exactly what the LNP member for Dawson, George Christensen, did during the week. It’s usually in the domain of right-wing or left-wing extremists or those unsophisticated countries which resort to violence to resolve their political differences.

And that’s where we are heading: a dark place which had the same feeling as the months before the Capitol Hill insurrection in the United States, earlier this year. This is a very disturbing development: if only Australia had the political leadership to avert this impending disaster.