Australian Politics

Why voters turning away from the major parties
by GDL

We are now only some days away from the election date and according to the latest polls, some 15% of voters are turning their backs on the major parties and will vote for smaller parties or independents. What has happened and why such a relatively high percentage of disenchanted voters ?
To understand that psychology let us turn back the clock some years.

The Australian Labor Party (ALP) was in the 50s and 60s,  a rather radical left wing  party  fighting for the working class and the workers but since since the 80s when  Hawke and Keating came to power they undertook major reforms, The ALP was then more of a center left party. In 2007 when Kevin Rudd  (Kevin07) won an overwhelming victory over, the used by date Liberal, John Howard, the ALP, the party moved to the center, embracing a social democracy ideology. It was not a bad thing to open up the middle class as the latter are also victim of the liberal ideology of looking only only after their mates of the upper class. The new ALP also favoured free enterprise and recognised that the private sector is the motor of the economic growth  and creation of jobs. Unfortunately the problem of the ALP started in 2007 when Kevin Rudd became arrogant and out of touch so much so that the ALP deposed of him as a first term Prime Minister. From there started the quarrels and division inside the ALP. One of the faceless men who knifed Kevin Rudd was no other than Bill Shorten, who is now the leader of the ALP, the man who wants to be PM. Julia Gillard, the first female PM of Australia, was  a catastrophe when she went in bed with the extreme left wing, The Greens and legislated a carbon tax. She did not last long as she was again knifed by the same Bill Shorten to be replaced by the recycled Kevin Rudd. Obviously the ALP suffered a sever defeat at the 2013 elections. They were voted out or kicked in the backside.

The Liberal/ National coalition came to power in 2013, by default, led by the controversial and conservative right winger Tony Abbott. The new government immediately shown their colours in the 2014 budget when, in the name of reforms, they smashed the working class, the middle class,  the families, the pensioners, the students, the unemployed  while giving tax cut to big business and big polluters. Since then things went so wrong for the new government that Tony Abbott (Mikey Mouse) and his fat treasurer Joe Hockey (Donald Duck) were sacked. The, so called progressive Liberal leader, billionaire Malcolm Turnbull was installed in the PM's chair. The nation expressed   a big sigh of relief. But  for seven months Mr Turnbull turned around, talked about increasing the GST, the state  tax, marriage equality, climate change, the need for renewable energy, did the talk without doing the walk , seven months as PM he did virtually NOTHING.

With this as the backdrop how do you want voters to trust someone who knifed two sitting  prime ministers and and another one  who knifed his first term and Liberal colleague PM ?? How can you trust these two men to be the guardians of the Constitution and the future of the nation ??  If you have watched the  4 corners program you will understand how Bill Shorten mutinously calculated and planned ,when he was at  the ACTU, to be PM one day. It was  not without walking on dead bodies or if you prefer "ambition demesuree" as the French will put it. No strange how he used the tactics  or strategy to depose two PMs  (Kevin and Julia) as he wanted to be caliph a la place du caliph !!!

How do you want voters to trust the billionaire Malcolm Turnbull to look after the interest of the poor and the vulnerable ? He is a successful businessman, a merchant banker. He is rich and money for him is not a problem. His problem is that he wants power and recognition. He wants to be the caliph and the world to respect him as the head of the Australian government. He wants to rule the country as a business, Malcolm Inc. His first move was to give big tax cut to his mates of the big business. The respected journalist, Paul Kelly, rightly said on Sky News that Malcolm is  not a politician , he is not driven by ideology, he is a business man.  Mind you, government comes and go but business continues to prosper. The banks continue to make billions dollars profit  while the poors get poorer .

Now do you find it  strange that voters are not listening to those who pretend to be our leaders and spitting on the ones who ambition to be our Prime Ministers ?

You might think that I missed the Greens  but if yo think that the Greens  are worth talking about, I am sorry as I think they are but dreamers. They do not deserve any attention.

GDL
Radio Kotak Australia