MrGareth’s Missives

While I found this state of affairs in itself very surprising, much of what i heard from people did not surprise me at all.  Of course at either extreme were the die-hards. Several people, as soon as they understood the point of the visit, simply shook their head and with a categoric "no thanks" announced their position as Liberal voters.  Fair enough. Some others - actually probably as many - either nodded reassuringly or pointed at the Labor poster on their front gate.  These two sets of people are what either side calls their "base". They won't be moved whatever the circumstances. They can be relied upon.  Elections are not about these people. 

Then there were a surprising number who confessed they had not yet made up their mind.  I find these people at once perplexing and intriguing.  I don't think there's ever been an election where I've found myself in this position.  That isn't to say I've always voted the same way.  In the 1992 election (in England) I must confess I voted Liberal Democrat ( probably the equivalent of Australian Green today). But the idea of having to sit down and figure out who to vote for and not be already decided, at this late stage, in my gut...seems strange.  I respect these people though, the ones I met.  They are going to think about it.  It's a serious decision and they will consider it.  They didn't want to discuss it but they were willing to take literature.  Good on them.

The people I want to talk about, on the off chance that readers of this post are the same, are Labor supporters considering a protest vote.  In a strongly safe Labor seat, there were a lot of these.  And these were the only people who wanted to discuss it.  They wanted us to know how they felt.  They wanted the message to get back.  And I couldn't argue with them because, deep down, I totally saw their point.  Between the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd shenanigans, the PNG solution, the spin and the stuff-ups, the disillusionment was palpable - and what do you say? What DO you say?  There's very little you can say.

But what gave this disposition curious perspective was the woman I had been "buddied" with, my co-door-knocker.    A teacher who taught English to migrants, this died-in-the-wool Labor supporter quickly confessed as we set off on our mission that she had registered an anti-Labor protest vote for the Liberal Party in the 2011 New South Wales State Election ...and still felt guilty.  She saw door-knocking in this election as some form of penance for her betrayal.

Now many felt the same way then, including myself.  The State Labor Government in 2011 was about as corrupt and degraded as a government could become I think. (We know even more about that now with the ICAC inquiry.)  They deserved getting thrown out.  But I figured that would happen anyway and voted for my local Labor member anyway.  

What has Barry O'Farrell done? Nothing.  Is Sydney Transport any better? No.  The most important thing BOF has done in 2 years is say yes to Federal hand-outs for schools as part of Julia Gillard's Gonski reforms - a Labor agenda.

My point is - what is the point of a protest vote if it helps yield a stronger government you vehemently oppose?

You see it is about values.  Who aligns with your values?  if you are a Labor supporter, if you look beyond the politics and the personalities, the in-fighting and the incompetence, the last three years in particular have been about a solid Labor agenda. Disability Care, Better Schools, Plain Packaging, a price on Carbon, tremendous health investments like Medicare Locals.  The list goes on.  If you are a rusted-on Labor type, these have been constructive years greatly advancing a Leftist agenda.  Even the three years before: the Apology, Kyoto and at least attempting to tax the miners. Most historically, that Labor Government heroically put people first in the way it fought around the clock to keep the GFC wolves from our doors.  We simply don't know how much the Liberals' would have prioritised budget integrity over working class jobs and public services. But we can guess.  

Six years ago, Labor people delighted at the eviction of an extreme conservative government that cut public services and suppressed workers' rights.  That government accumulated a massive surplus while investment in schools and hospitals ground to a halt.  This was the government that willingly joined the Coalition of the Willing at the behest of a Republican President bent on nothing but his own Oil protection.  The next Liberal Government will be the same.

So I emplore all Labor supporters: look beyond the frustrations and annoyances of the last few years.  Yes they were stupid.  Yes they squabbled.  Yes, at times they are their own worst enemy and yes, they may have squandered an historic opportunity.  But remember what being a Labor supporter is about.  Remember what you want done.  The choice now is the same as I described in 2010 - do you want an incompetent Government attempting to achieve what you believe in, or a consistently efficient Government executing the very opposite?  In the final analysis, you have to vote for the former.

Because 1 - there's losing one house and there's losing both.  And you only have to recall the words "Work Choices" to understand what that means. I say again: these are the same Liberals.  And 2 - if the kind of wipe happens to Federal Labor that happened to NSW labor, it'll be at least a decade before Labor is returned to power.  

For anyone left-of-centre, listening to Tony Abbott talk about emulating Margaret Thatcher or Ronald Reagan should have been reason enough to vote against him.