I
can well understand the frustration that constantly torments ALP’s
supporters. It is evident in the posting on this and other political
pages. I imagine every time Abbott hits the TV or radio they collectively
mutter in sheer despair, ‘Oh no, not another reminder of where Gillard
has stuffed up’.
What then follows is typical of a supporter of
any political party in a moribund state. Ask Howard’s Liberal how they
felt when Rudd’s star was on the ascendancy. Ask Fraser’s supporters how
they felt when Hawke’s was about to capture the imagination of the
electorate with his slogan ‘reconstruction and reconciliation’. Ask
Whitlam’s supporters how they were consumed with sadness when Fraser
came across as the white knight.
Today the ALP is going
through the same dynamics. Instead of the ALP criticising Abbott it
should analyse why does Abbott have so much traction, why is Gillard so
much on the nose, why does the ALP when in Government jettisoned so
readily its core values? It is in denial.
Unfortunately, while
the ALP is in denial, most of its members know no better and resort to
their primal political instincts. Instincts that includes, attack and
ridicule the Opposition and Abbott for being negative and just saying
no.
It follows then that they do not question the ALP and
Gillard on the state of the party. Members become lazy thinkers and find
safe harbour in ridicule and when this does not bear fruits they then
become despondent.
The ALP needs to accept that 70% of the electorate does not like them and will not give it their primary vote.
Gillard chasing the Greens to form Government was her biggest mistake.
Gillard’s supposed negotiating skills have proved to be nothing more
than selling off core ALP values and principles.
Why on earth
would Gillard renounce her opposition to a carbon tax, one of the
reasons why Rudd was unpopular with the electorate and stabbed by
Gillard. Why would she agree to impose a tax that indirectly export jobs
offshore to Australia’s competitors for little or no appreciable
reduction in carbon emissions. A tax that today is $23 a tonne and rises
to $350 a tonne in 2050. The electorate examines this and concludes the
following; if electricity prices rise by 10% with a $23 tax on
resources and the means of production, how much electricity will rise
when a $350 tax is imposed.
The perception that the Greens’
tail is wagging the ALP’s dog is cemented in the physic of the
electorate and what seems to the ALP as a master stroke is indeed the
very reason why the ALP will be pulverised.
The right of the
ALP's organisational wing (in possession of the internal polling ) knows
the electorate’s perception and is desperately trying to extricate the
ALP from the Greens. Gillard's brilliants negotiating skills have
brought the 'chickens home to roost.'
Furthermore, unless
Gillard tears up the agreement she signed with the Greens’ Bob Brown
which keeps her in the Lodge, the ALP latest tactical move seems to the
electorate exactly like Abbott point out a sham, much like a bout in
world championship wrestling.
Author: R. Parisi 14.07.2012
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