Media Release
Kate Hook, community independent candidate for Calare has called out the federal government’s electoral reforms as nothing short of a direct attack on Australia’s democratic future. The bill, recently passed by Parliament, will make it significantly harder for Independents to run in future elections, further entrenching the dominance of the major parties.
Kate insists that unless the bill is revisited and changes are made, this may be one of the last elections where a community independent campaign like this can succeed.
“These changes are designed to make it even harder for communities to elect independent voices,” Ms Hook said. “If democracy is to continue in this country a mix of perspectives from all walks of life, including our young people, must be heard.”
“That’s why this election is so crucial,” Hook added. “Calare has a real opportunity to send a message that voters want genuine representation and other options – not just more of the same self-serving, two-party duopoly that’s held Australia back. In any other sphere people agree competition is a healthy thing. We don’t want our politics to turn into a Coles and Woolies scenario.”
Also from Kate Hook: Nuclear Gamble is an Economic Wrecking Ball
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“Independent Voices Crucial to Australia’s Democratic Future” and that is why the two major parties are scared shitless, because they may well be held accountable for their actions. So what better way to squash any dissent than by changing the electoral rules and attempting to remove anyone who isn’t them.
Parties represent drives and interests, with a coalescence and hardening to produce a tip for assault, but, we, the people are rarely consulted at stages and when reasoning needs examination. Some party shuffling occurs, some restructuring, stopstarting ploys, stalling and contrived argument and response. Rarely do we ever see good progress, planned and financed, completed on time and with approval generally. Some parties seem to stand for pronation, asphyxiation, limping and crawling. Behind, we usually know some of the donors, patrons, coercers, profiteers, ambitious careerists, greasypoleclimbers. Let us all consider any independent candidate with good clear policy. As individuals we may well dream of representing, and doing it well. You and I can imagine contributing to essentials to seek progress and even redress. A thick hide, flexible deafness, Freud proofed character, all this might be necessary. But, a chance to merely avoid a Dutton run farce is vital, and you think your way about it all….I want, we need, a better, planned, trained, diverse, accepting happy nation.
I know I’m not alone in being sick to death of the Fascist ways of the two headed Lib/Lab snake. This election may be our last chance to do something about it. Anyone voting for either major party is voting for more of it (Fascism,) more lies, less transparency, and removal of our democratic rights. And worst of all, they’re voting for supporters of genocide.
It seems that the path towards wisdom is tortuous, strewn as it is with innumerable forks along the way; distractions, ill-advised options and poor advice, temptations, peer pressures and confrontations with group-think choke-points. I grew up in a family where politics was never, not even once, mentioned, yet it was understood that the conservative side of the field was the right one; Bob Menzies and Thomas Playford the right men for the job, Churchill a hero… but being reflexively oppositional to my childhood upbringing I voted Labor at state and federal levels, seemingly forever, but no longer.
If there had been protesting in the streets against this current federal government I may have joined in, but alas, the war on the Palestinians aside, it seems there’s little to galvanise mass protesting in these Tik Tok days, not that there’s any shortage of reason to so do.
It’s easy to slag off against Albanese but the real rot is the system itself, as demonstrate by the willingness of both the ALP & the LNP to cooperate on funding caps as a collective measure to deny the minor parties and Independents access to sufficient funding to run their campaigns… a sign of the fear that these minority actors generate amongst the mainstream conservative elements.
A short roll call of issues that ought to have the masses heading for the streets in anger would have to include the AUKUS agreement, the failure to adequately safeguard the environment against its ongoing man-made ravaging, the failures at social levels in matters related to housing, education, healthcare, along with the outrageous support offered to the offshore consortiums (Canadians, Japanese, Brazilian) who are ruining Macquarie Harbour (and ensuring the extinction of the Maugean Skate) along with southern Tasmanian shoreline regions with their salmon-farming enterprises… see Richard Flanagan’s Toxic if you’re not up to speed on this egregious topic.
I was an uncritical supporter of the ALP, but no longer. Quit my membership. Wrote to Albanese, outlining his government’s failures. Greens & Indies from here on out.
We don’t need independents. They generally have only one or two policies,
Parliament is workable with a handful of them, but unworkable with 20 or 30, with no coherent policy framework and no leadership.
The better option is to find a small party that broadly reflects your orientation, join it and provide advocacy and support
At least you know what they stand for
At this stage of the rot in our politics, it’s far better to upend a failed and corrupted two party system by, at the very least removing untrammelled control by one of the duopoly,so we might force them in a direction that the majority of people desire.It might be a bit messy, but we’ve already started on that path.The blowback is to be expected, and the woeful media bullshit is running true to form.
Sticking to the status quo has led us to the edge of the precipice,and it needs to change.
Do we want to be run by big corporate interests, or by the filthy rich, or do we want the voice of the people, a real democracy?See: the US of A.
Carn, the Indies and the Greens.Fuck the others,they are useless tools.