Democracy at Work?

Today saw marches against the new IR laws around Australia. All that John Howard and Kevin Andrews could say was that in a year's time people would wonder what all the fuss had been about.

I suspect that this issue will not go away. Messrs Howard and Andrew have set course on creating a devisive, and angry, Australia on a mammoth scale. Howard is dismissive of those who protest. What is seemingly forgotten in all of this is that some 70 % of those polled are against the new IR laws. That's a majority by an reckoning. Remember that some 70% were against Oz committing to the Iraq War. That didn't stop Howard going ahead anyway.

So, where is the democracy in all of this? It's not! The whole approach of the Government is perhaps demonstrated by this small item. The proposed Act is some 700 pages and the Explanatory Statement some 650 pages. On introduction of the Bill to the House, 4 [yes 4!] copies of the Bill and Explanatory Statement were provided to the Opposition. Now that allows for fulsome and informed debate!

How this all plays out before the legislation is actually passed may well depend on how Senator Barnaby Joyce responds to all of this new legislation. Read what Tim Colebatch had to say in The Age today.

Comments

Anonymous said…

Democracy doesn't mean "rule-by-opinion-poll" and I would expect you to understand that. It means people periodically get a chance to kick the people who run the country out of power. In between elections, the people who run the country have to make a calculation between what they belive to be best for the country and what is popular. Sometimes this means they take hard decisions.

November 16, 2005 12:15 pm

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