Aussie Politics Laments - Democrats (1 Viewer)

[Lyn Allison]

For the first time in 30 years, the Australian Democrats won't be represented in either house of the Federal Parliament.

They are set to lose party status after being wiped out in Saturday's vote, failing to poll 2 per cent of the vote around the country.

Such is the state of the Democrats that on the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) website the party is now referred to just as "other".

Leader Lyn Allison conceded defeat and will retire from politics when her Parliamentary term ends on June 30 next year. Her deputy, Andrew Bartlett, has been forced to admit that his career in politics is over.

Senator Bartlett says the party must now confront the future realistically.
"The future for the Democrats is really a matter for the membership of the party as a whole, and that is something that the members should talk about over the next couple of months once they get a bit of time to digest the election result and the broader political landscape," he said.

"But I think it's a discussion members should have and thoughts members should have in a realistic way and it will be up to people as individuals and collectively to decide what happens from here."

Senators Natasha Stott Despoja and Andrew Murray are retiring, leaving the party unrepresented in Parliament from July next year.

Senator Bartlett won't discuss what went wrong. He says today is a day to recognise what the Democrats have achieved in three decades in politics.
"I am sure that everybody has their opinions on things that went wrong," he said.

"I think at this stage I would rather focus on the many, many more things that were done right by Democrat members and parliamentarians over 30 years.
"It is an enormous record of achievement that's undoubtably left Australia a much better place and made our Parliament and our democracy much better than it would have otherwise have been, and I will let others try to fingerpoint what went wrong.

"I think it is pretty obvious, frankly, the major mistakes that were made a little while ago, but I would rather not get into that at this stage."
30-year history
In 1977 renegade Liberal Don Chipp set up the Australian Democrats. Promising to "keep the bastards honest" as a third force in politics, he said the party would never sink a government.

Twenty years on they became a major force in politics, with nine senators and the balance of power, despite their leadership difficulties.

Then in 1999, when the party's then-leader Meg Lees negotiated with the government to pass the GST, the Democrats split.

The ABC's election analyst Antony Green says the party never recovered.
"Once they modified the tax package and they did improve the social equity of the GST in the tax package, they were then criticised for having not 'kept the bastards honest,' for actually having allowed the government to implement a policy... so there was a lot of hypocrisy and a lot of political pincer movements set out to destroy the Democrats," he said.

"But that wasn't the end of the Democrats. What happened afterwards, Meg Lees sold the reason for supporting the GST badly but in the subsequent leadership under Natasha Stott Despoja, just tried to walk away from the decision and pretend it didn't happen.

"They didn't defend it. They didn't try and argue they were a party that was both socially progressive and economically responsible.

"They just increasingly became a socially progressive party and preferred not to talk about economics at all.

"And then in 2002 the whole party just fell apart when they couldn't decide on who was the leader and the party's organisational wing just split totally from the party senators and that was the death knell.
"The split in 2002 was the end of the Democrats."
Hope among young Dems
Despite the poor results in the election, one young Democrat is determined to fight on. Laura Chipp is the 22-year-old daughter of founder Don Chipp.
She stood for the House of Representatives in the Victorian seat of Isaacs and says young members are signing up in droves.

"I ended up more than doubling my vote since the last election for the seat of Isaac, and the Greens in my seat actually lost 1 per cent in the seat," she said.

"So I think on election day the feedback was so positive and people really enjoyed the fact that we were running even if we didn't poll as well as we usually do."

Ms Chipp is refusing to accept that the party is over.

"I know that we don't have any parliamentary representation but the party is still more than alive and kicking," she said.

"We have had members join in the past couple of days even post-election. Just new members wanting to join, especially the younger age groups, because they just feel there is no alternative other than the Democrats.
"I know it is a bit late but we have had a huge influx of young members joining throughout the year and 10 candidates in Victoria were under the age of 27.
"So there is definitely a future for the party and I am really enthusiastic and really believe that by 2010 we can regain a lot of ground that we have lost and pick at least two or three Senate seats back up."

Editor's note: This story originally contained a reference to Lyn Allison having resigned as leader of the Democrats. Senator Allison's office says she will remain the leader of the parliamentary party until her term in the Senate expires at the end of June, 2008.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/26/2101885.htm?site=elections/federal/2007

 

[Lyn Allison]

Policy Snapshot http://www.democrats.org.au/docs/publications/Policysnapshot_VIC_email.pdf

 

[Stevo.]

I like the Democrats, but I don't know their policies.

 

[ZabZu]

I like the Democrats, but I don't know their policies.

Why do u like them if you dont know what they stand for?

 

[Stevo.]

Cause they are moderates, I like the slogan 'Keeping The Bastards Honest', I'm a fence sitter and Natasha Stott Despoya.

 

[_dhj_]

Democrats had no supporters left to man the polling booths on election day. Someone came to take their boards down but that was about it.

 

[Silver Persian]

I voted Democrats in the senate Lyn!

 

[chicky_pie]

if the aus. democrat party has barrack obama as their leader, i'm sure the democrats would win more than 2%

 

[Iron]

The terrorists would be praying for that day

 

[jimmayyy]

Cause they are moderates, I like the slogan 'Keeping The Bastards Honest', I'm a fence sitter and Natasha Stott Despoya.

^^^

 

[volition]

The name "democrat" is a poor choice imo. To be a democrat is to force the opinions of the majority onto everyone else. It's like defining your party as "the violent party".

As for the downfall of the party itself, I'm pretty indifferent.

 

[Lyn Allison]

The name "democrat" is a poor choice imo. To be a democrat is to force the opinions of the majority onto everyone else. It's like defining your party as "the violent party".

As for the downfall of the party itself, I'm pretty indifferent.

Dear Volition,

If I wished to hear something stupid I would have PM'd you.

I voted Democrats in the senate Lyn!

Thankyou for that. We would have repaid your vote by voting against any future invasion of Iran however we were unable to secure a senate seat.


Regards,

Senator Lyn Allison
Australian Democrats Parliamentary Leader
Senator for Victoria

 

[volition]

Dear Volition,

If I wished to hear something stupid I would have PM'd you.

I love how you actually didn't say anything of value about the content of my post, you just called it stupid.

Statements like these are basically "fuck off" statements, used when there is no real reasoned response available. The way you can spot these, is they could potentially be used as an 'argument' against anything. It's like when a schoolkid loses an argument and says "yeah well, ya mum". These statements should be considered as though they are an admission of defeat.

Go on, 'democrat', explain to me how your system of governance doesn't involve the use of violent force to impose the will of the majority onto everyone else. I invite you to try.

If we really had the right to choose, then obviously we would actually have a right to secede. In this case, there would be no 'govt', it would be more like a club that you voluntarily choose to join and submit to.

 

[withoutaface]

1. Democracy simply refers to someone's ability to determine their own lives through a 'vote' of some sort. Majoritarian systems often arise from this, but to claim that this is always the case is to confuse the concept of having a 'vote' with having one, absolute outcome from the poll that may reflect the opinion of only 51% of the population. The free market, for example, is democratic.

The Democrats themselves, while not anarchocapitalist (well, duh) arose, in part, from a discontent with the way the Liberal party of the 1970s was forcing certain majority-held social values down the throat of the rest of the population.

2. I met a Young Democrat this week, she was quite lovely.

 

[volition]

waf, 1. I was referring to the name 'democrats', not so much how they actually arose as a party. This criticism of them still stands because unless they also support the right to secession, 'democracy' must necessarily entail imposing the will of the majority on other people, denying the self-ownership rights of the oppressed minority/individual. Generally speaking, without the right to secession, democracy is also necessarily a violent philosophy.

Democracy doesn't just mean the ability to determine your OWN life, it also necessarily entails the right to dictate how OTHER people's lives should be lived. Unless of course, the right of secession is allowed (which it isn't). The free market does allow secession, by virtue of the fact that it is a 'free' market. So the comparison to democracy must end there, at the part where trading/association is voluntary.

2. That's great, I'm sure she was a nice girl, but that doesn't change anything in my eyes in a political sense. You could be a murderer who volunteers time to read books to children at the orphanage every wednesday night, but you'd still be a murderer

Most people just don't think about/care about the fact that democracy as we know it is necessarily violent. This is not an excuse for supporting such an idiotic theory.

 

[withoutaface]

was she hot?

http://www.sa.democrats.org.au/Elec...07 Australian Democrats SA Division Makin.htm

 

[Republican]

Are the Australian democrats anything like the US Democrats?

 

[sweet_as]

Unfortunate result for the Dems at the election, but knew it was coming. Time to rebuild though, and change. Not allow the shit that happened before to happen again.

 

[Lyn Allison]

Yes, it was unfortunate but we pass the flame to the younger generation to keep the bastards honest! A new generation of Australians requires a new generation of politicians and a rebirthed Democrats. Thankyou for your support, Pierce.

Regards,

Senator Lyn Allison
Australian Democrats Parliamentary Leader
Senator for Victoria

 

[incentivation]

I don't see any political future for the democrats. Their relevance has been somewhat dimished with the rise of the Greens, and Australia's political landscape is far too small, in my opinion, to cater for two minority parties.

The Democrats have progressed too far to the left to warrant their co-existence with the Greens, and ultimately, any party that is aimed at 'keeping the bastards honest' needs to be much more centrist in their approach otherwise their message simply becomes blurred.