2010-10-20

This article belongs to And That's the Way It Is column.


People who live outside Australia must be wondering as to why a rich country such as Australia still has growing problems with issues such as homelessness and poverty while, on the other hand, the country is literally floating on mineral riches and substantial food resources.

To get the answer as to why less well off Australians are getting poorer by the minute one only has to look at the people who are currently running the place this being the current Australian Labor Party. In Australia's federal sphere you have a Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, who came in via a coup mounted against then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd with the able assistance of a number of party members elected and unelected. While Gillard was able to form a minority Government with the partial support of some independents, she has little or no credibility in terms of social and other policies. In fact Gillard's current policies can be put on one A4 piece of paper while her failed ones come in bookform. When Gillard recently announced that "Labor lost its way", she should perhaps have added that Labor also lost any remaining credibility in the eyes of the general Australian population. In other words, in the federal sphere in Australia, Labor is no longer a viable option, a notion that even some unions, normally Labor's power base, would agree with.

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In NSW alone, power charges have increased by up to 40% often putting the basic needs of NSW consumers at risk of collapsing.
At State level, Australians have had to put up with incompetent and proven to be corrupt Labor Governments. One issue that is of great concern to Australians has been the rise in power and service charges imposed by incompetent power companies and supported by incompetent Labor governments. In NSW alone, power charges have increased by up to 40% often putting the basic needs of NSW consumers at risk of collapsing. The Labor term ‘Australian working families' can certainly be rephrased as ‘Australia's working poor'. For Australia, this is simply a disgusting and shabby way to do business.

In terms of transport, Australia has the most incompetent transport regime known to man with, in terms of rail, the place being run by the ARTC (Australian Rail Track Authority) which has been proven to be totally incapable of even doing the most basic of task. But what could one expect when the ARTC is run by amateurs and spending billions of dollars in public money in the process. State Governments are not much better at running public transport infrastructure with the NSW Government being the worst performer ever known in transport terms. The road situation is not much better in Federal and State terms.

And while the Labor Party might well be on its last legs in terms of credibility, the Liberal/National opposition coalition is not much better. Prior to the Federal elections, the coalition simply dusted off already discredited Howard government policies as well as engaging in fear tactics in the hope that the Australian electorate would ‘swallow' the nonsense. They didn't.

As for the Greens? What can we say. There are ample volumes of very shallow and empty waffle from the Greens until one questions the party as to specific details upon which the party totally runs out of steam.

What next? I think that Labor is no longer a viable option for the Australian community. It no longer has the support or the credibility to sustain its existence. Basically, Labor has served a purpose in Australia and should be no more.

The Liberal/National coalition perhaps has a future but not with its current policies. Coalition policies will have to be totally overhauled as to reflect the views and ambitions of the Australian population.

In terms of the Greens, Australians were hoping that the Greens might have been able to reflect some hope for Australians in political terms. Thus far, the Greens have failed to deliver in overall political terms and most Australians regard the Greens as the people who would like them to live in a cave.
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...Labor is no longer a viable option for the Australian community. It no longer has the support or the credibility to sustain its existence.

So, overall, there is room for a new party to reflect the views and wishes of Australians so disgustingly abandoned by Labor. One day perhaps.

In the meantime, Australians should speak out against the various types of grubby Labor regimes and vote accordingly when elections or due.

In short, make politicians aware that you are unhappy with their performance and that you are prepared to act on it.

My name is Henk Luf.

That's The Way It Is.