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Politicians try to patch up a leaky boat of their own making
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It’s a funny old world, though less so if you’re bobbing around it on a leaky boat. The government’s current problems with the Oceanic Viking stem entirely from its being too-clever-by-half – it’s of a piece with Ruddism, the idea that a series of brilliant technical decisions can serve as policy. They might have got away with it, had the boat in question been a Greek tanker under a Panamanian flag with a Finnish captain. The government could dismiss it, the public forget about it. But it’s an Australian customs vessel, a little floating piece of us, lodged in the throat of the Indonesia archipelago — a very Ruddesque Tampa, built not of sadism and racism, but of a combination of general moralising and the quick fix. The Rudd government now has what it didn’t want, a push from the Left, with Paul Howes, of the AWU — the AWU! — talking about the basic solidarity with the vulnerable. Had Rudd and co pushed harder to normalise the process of mainland transfer, while still using Christmas Island as a shopfront, they could have kept control of this issue. Opening the valve, rather than let it become a bottleneck would have kept the issue from becoming a potential boiler-blower. Meanwhile the Opposition are gaining no traction because, whatever differences there are over emphasis within the Rudd government, the Liberal Party has yet another split on this matter, one following the basic rupture between conservatism and liberalism within the parties. One side has gone public on this, with George Brandis’s recent lecture on the nature of the Liberal party as a liberal party. Brandis is in many ways a man of liberal instincts, though he will forever be remembered as the man who made an extensive comparison of the Green Party with the Nazis under cowards’ castle privilege. At the time, the Greens probably had the highest proportion of Jewish members of any political party — and at least one member who still wore the tattooed numbers on the inside of his arm. His argument in the lecture was that the Liberal party has always had its gravitational centre within liberalism — and that the social conservatism of the Howard era, was a quick fix for strange times. Maybe, maybe not (and Andrew Norton has an interesting rebuttal) but it’s certainly putting the harder-right strand of the party on notice. And after a bizarre 48 hours in which the Libs’ strategy was to attack the government for its lack of humanity in refugee matters, the hard right has swung back with a fresh attack on “Muslim enclaves”. Everything fail about right-wing Catholicism is contained within Andrews — he’s something from the lower-depths of both his religion and his politics, whether it’s demonising Somalis, or trying once again to turn local problems and issues of integration and co-existence into an epic clash of civilisations. Which at least gives Clive Hamilton a leaflet for Higgins, for the high streets and antique stores. This is the party you’ve been supporting. Still feel like doing so? Howard’s political skills held this soc con — liberal mix together for a decade, but the event through which he did it pushed it to breaking point. Now with Liberalism as a political movement lying in pieces, the party is going to have to decide what it will be. Because it covers territory that in the US stretch across into the Democratic party, and then back out to the outer reaches of the Right, it is covering too wide a waterfront. John Howard’s lip service to a multi-ethnic society, while continuously re-invoking the ghost of nativism (in his mad history curriculum, e.g.) only worked in the aftermath of Keating’s urging everyone to the next stage. Any country boldly trumpeting free trade is, as Greg Barns noted, putting free movement, and globalisation on the agenda. But it is also about how different classes relate to modernity. For the voters of Higgins and Bradfield and other places, climate change scepticism is simply off the chart, an insanity. For rural voters, it’s ‘common sense’ that the weather goes in cycles, that we had a big dry in ‘56 etc etc. In other words, the Liberal constituency is working off two different systems of thought – one is urban, globally oriented, used to abstract reasoning and comfortable with it. They are in many ways closer to the Green party than to the Nationals. The other constituency is rural, traditional, lives off knowledge that is more personal, anecdotal, local. That split in world-views is far greater — is categorically greater — than any the non-Labor movement has to deal with in its history. Fusing old Country party agrarian socialism with a pro-business attitude in the cities was a doddle compared to this. Which is why they’re a storm-tossed boat with regard to refugees — rolling one way, then rolling that. They have a leader who, when faced with being a politician or a human being, took the latter course – Turnbull’s response to Tuckey’s stuff about terrorists being aboard. There probably are Tamil Tigers aboard, so what? Thousands of men who arrived at Station Pier in the 40s and 50s had done unspeakable things on both sides of the war. Amazingly, they didn’t continue the partisan struggle against the Republic of Salo in Moorabbin. Indeed, the worst thing some of them did was create the “Uglies” faction off the Liberal Party. But Howard, of course he would have lapped it up. “Wilson’s colourful as ever,” he would have said “but I think that ordinary Australians have a right to be concerned about who’s coming into their country, and I don’t think a few lawyers and activists are going to change that.” Fifteen years of writing satire of Howard, and I can now write what we would say straight. If that’s not a workplace-related injury, nothing is. Turnbull couldn’t go there. In the current climate it may not have worked even if he did. But he hasn’t been able to impose his vaguely more decent vision on the party either. Push the ship to take the full tide, and it may split down the middle. In other words they aren’t being led by a politician, which is a grievous position for a party to be in. The Libs might have thought that this new crisis was their ship coming in. In fact they did a Jesse Watson — teenagers asleep at the helm, they banged into the side of a much larger vessel. Government, from the Latin, gubernator, ship’s rudderman. If both sides of politics ever needed not a Rudd-man, but a gubernator, it’s now. |
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10 Comments
So Guy ,
The main problem relating to the Government’s handling of the boat people is actually the oppositions response.
Bernard also sees every issue thru the prism of liberal failure, particularly climate change.
I guess Howard and Co must have kicked your skinny asses good while they held power, but at some stage can you guys move on and do your Crikey job which is surely to analyse and harangue the mob thats actually in power and making the decisions.
If we want to read stuff thats simply always critical of the libs ( and they are an easy target ) we can subscribe to the braying’s of Kevin and Julia.
“They [the Liberals] are in many ways closer to the Green party than to the Nationals.”
No, I think the liberal side is much closer to what the Democrats were before they deposed Natasha and became the Whingers Party. The Democrats could have got somewhere if they (a) kicked out the (un)professional nosebleeds and (b) sought a coalition with the Liberals. They could have reminded the Libs what ‘L’ stands for.
The right is traditionally a marriage of convenience between the libertarians and the powerful, who both tend to want the same things for different reasons. Almost everyone — including, at the end, the Democrats — thought the Democrats belonged to the Left. They were wrong.
Look out Rundle has been taking Exuberance again.
While I have some sympathy for Kevin Rudd in relation to the initial response from the Oceanic Viking in plucking the Sri Lankans from their floundering boat, his inability to stop playing politics and start this absurd Indonesian solution does him no credit. What could have been a simple transfer to Christmas Island or even Darwin,followed by the normal checking of the “asylum seekers” would have stopped this heap of criticism he has brought upon himself and the hapless Stephen Smith (a very good minister).
It is a pity the PM doesn’t appear to know when he is on a winner, perhaps not by the length of the straight, but at least a short head. As has been pointed out, he is just so fortunate he is dealing with a rabble of an Opposition, with Tuckey and Abbott leading the parade of clowns. If he continues to lose the plot on matters where he originally had electorate majority support, it wont be long for climate change, health and other matters floundering in the Senate, to start impacting severely on the Govt in the negative. Anything like a decent Opposition should be closing the gap quickly but what supposedly is the alternate Govt, fortunately for Rudd, as yet hasnt made an impression. Itmay be the electorate that pulls Rudd out of his cosy cloak of confidence into reality.
Kevin Rudd is showing signs of believing his own considerable public relations stories. Why, oh why, does he appear to need to have himself as a one man government? He has an excellent person in Stephen Smith, yet he seems unable to trust the man to think for himself.
As a result of his own meddling he has managed to re-hoist the spectre of the unlamented John Howard and his Richelieu, Philip Ruddock, with the unhappy result that Rudd seems to be divesting himself of dignity for himself and for the unhappy wretches on their Viking cruise.
James Bennett: Perhaps the writers at Crikey are concerned about that fragile flower called Democracy. By continuing to reveal the multi-faceted flaws of the Liberal Party there maybe-some fine day-a chance that someone in the Opposition
may actually ask themselves “Perhaps it’s all true?” Which is the first step in recognising a problem. He/she might start up a conversation. An idea might emerge and steps taken to revitalise the moribund old girl. An Opposition which is an opposition might be born. It might become viable! Although I woudn’t hold my breath.
We do have the entire Murdoch press bucketing Labor, do we not?
I posited when the Customs ship picked up them up that it would be the Libs. who would be hoist on their own petard but (over?) Klever Krudd & Ko have managed to make an utter mess of what should have been just another boat - 78 souls for chrissake!!
Guy is rational & correct but willit ploay in Higgins? I misdoubt it, principle is an uncomfortable thing to rest upon.
To you folk who think that everything is politics, I remind you of the sequence of events:
Refugees reported in Indonesian waters.
Indonesia seeks assistance.
Australian Customs vessel assists and heads towards the appropriate port following the rescue.
Indonesian local power-brokers refuse to accept more refugees, as they now claim to be; however this is as yet not tested. Indonesian Head of State should be embarrassed, but is seen to be toothless.
Indonesia is once again demonstrated to be not so much a unified nation as a group of tribes or a confederation of scoundrels.
Australian vessel unable to complete its task and awaits settlement of Indonesia’s internal problems or further orders from Australia.
Australian bleeding hearts and other blowhards seek to obtain mileage from others’ efforts to achieve a clear outcome.
Refugees, meanwhile, are housed, fed and cared for at Australia’s expense while diplomats wait for Indonesian internal disputes to be sorted.
Nothing to see here, folks! Move along!
“Refugees reported in Indonesian waters.
Indonesia seeks assistance.”
You left out a little bit: Rudd slips the Indonesians a cool 50 million or so for patrolling and detention to ensure no boats slip through Indonesian waters on the way to Australia.
Agreed. Rudd continues and extends the tradition of the past several years, of paying the Indonesian Government tens of millions of dollars to assist with detention of refugees DETAINED BY INDONESIA IN WATERS WHICH THEY CONTROL OR WHO HAVE BEEN APPREHENDED ON INDONESIAN LAND.
Nothing about ensuring that no boats slip through.
Nothing about the poor results obtained for the money put up.
I do not like these payments and consider them an attempt at bribing our neighbour in an effort to get them to do the right thing in relation to the two primary treaties of the UN regarding refugees and human rights, neither of which Indonesia has signed.
However, these payments are essentially another, linked story and are certainly not party political within Australia, because both conservative governments started them and the current one is simply continuing them. Not to do so would add further fuel to the fire and may thus be noteworthy.
So, nothing substantial or controversial here either.
Soon, quite soon, Kevin Rudd will have to make a decision about something-anything. He will have to understand the difference between spinning ‘the story’ or leading the nation. Two years after being elected and he’s still sitting on the pot and reading his own press statements. If he cannot or will not do something he had better surrender the job to someone who can do it.
“So, nothing substantial or controversial here either.” Should be the words to be written on his tombstone.
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