Alister Drysdale
A lamentable parody of opposition
It’s all running to predictable script in Canberra this spring session – from the opposition’s feigned and superficial horror at everything the government says and does, to the government’s long winded repetitive narrative about the GFC. Start with the misnomer of the daily Question Time in the parliament.
The opposition does not seek information or seek explanation for government policy. It seeks scalps and profile. The tedious “look at moi” behaviour of Messrs Christopher Pyne, Julie Bishop, Bronwyn Bishop, Peter Dutton, Joe Hockey and Charles Wilson Tuckey in this two hour ritual is not even child-like: it’s merely puerile.
Malcolm Turnbull can’t seem to control his colleagues exemplified by Joe Hockey’s “live” running tweeting to his adoring fans from his front bench seat.
Maybe that’s a harsh call. Maybe Hockey’s tweet dedication to his job and his priorities could provide inspiration to teachers, doctors and company directors all over Australia to tweet from their workplace during classes, brain surgery and board meetings.
The central job of the opposition is to hold government to account – on our behalf – for its actions, and to produce alternatives. This opposition is a lamentable failure on both tests.
Over the last couple of weeks, the opposition has targeted Education Minister Julia Gillard and her handling of the so-called Education Revolution and the building works taking place in some 9,500 schools all over the country.
According to Sky News she’s been “forced to defend” government policy – wrong. What she’s actually doing is quietly reminding Australians that the schools program is a popular policy in thousands of towns and suburbs; that it is providing jobs to the trades; that is modernising infrastructure; and, yes, there are concerns about costs and priorities in some 49 out of 9,500 school communities and will be attended to on a case-by-case basis with the help of the local community.
Every time an opposition politician seeks to embarrass her over a specific problem at a specific school, it simply gives her the opportunity to remind voters that the opposition politician voted against infrastructure school funding in their electorate.
It’s a timely reminder of the greatest truism in politics: all politics is local. And on this issue the politics is overwhelmingly with government.
After and before Question Time there is an opposition stampede to get a talking head on television somewhere – and to say anything about anything.
For example, the aforementioned Joe Hockey stares wistfully into a television camera and says the G20 is run by a bunch of socialists who love interfering in the marketplace, and that Barack Obama is losing it and that Gordon Brown never had it.
No doubt these wise observations will cause many sleepless nights in halls of power in Washington, London, Europe and Asia. But just what was the purpose of this opposition foray into international politics?
Was it to enlighten us about how the GFC is affecting Australia? Was it to showcase a mastery of international affairs? Was it to remind Australians what they were missing with Joe no longer a minister in a government? Maybe it was all of these things.
Kevin Rudd’s government is not put under pressure in Question Time because the opposition is concerned only about the hourly news headline and the morning newspaper. They blundered when they rushed and opposed the biggest ever one-off public expenditure – the stimulus package – because it simply allows the government to repeatedly point to the world and compare.
They blundered with Godwin Gretch for one reason: they wanted a quick kill. They weren’t prepared to do the hard yards that opposition always means. They were not, and are not, disciplined, intelligent, industrious and focused on long term strategic political goals.
There is no sign whatsoever of alternative public policy – just oppose. For Rudd, Gillard and Wayne Swan the Opposition modus operandi – exemplified by Question Time idiocy – must give them not a moment’s lost sleep. They’ve been lashed by the proverbial wet tram ticket, and feel no pain. And for that, we all lose.
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