So, with a Federal election looming and all signs pointing to a Labor landslide what, my friends, does J S Mill make of it all?
Firstly, we have seen in just the last couple years three Labor State Premiers resign while essentially at the top of their game for personal reasons. Gallop in WA – depression, Bracks and Beattie in Vic and QLD respectively – each for family reasons.
A few things come immediately to mind out of this:
- Apparently, all appearances to the contrary, life as a politician is not all fun and games. Apparently it can be somewhat stressful. Who would have guessed?
- I wonder if these gentlemen, looking back, wonder if the personal sacrifice involved in their choice of careers was worth it. Was it worth the strain on the family?
- Is there a lesson in any of the above for our Prime Minister re: quitting while you’re on top?
This brings me to the crux of this post… should Howard go?
Ok, all the polls and commentary seem to suggest that there will be a massive swing to Labor at the next election, possibly wiping out the Libs and all of their stongest leadership candidates if the swing stays on and uniform. This might well mean a decade or so or Labor government.
I don’t necessarily think that is a bad thing – but I do have reservations:
- It will mean a ALP clean sweep across all governments in the country – State and Federal. I’m not sure this is a positive thing.
- It would also render the Opposition largely ineffectual one would think – with most of its strongest leaders gone and numerically insignificant. I also don’t think this is a good thing for our democracy.
And the truly amazing thing is – Rudd has managed to achieve all of this by trying to be as close to Howard as possible except on basically two issues – Workchoices and Iraq. Now, these aren’t small issues – but they are easy ones. I don’t think huge numbers of people will change their vote based on our fairly limited role in the Iraq war, so presumably all the other millions of Aussies are switching to the ALP because of Workchoices…??? Or do I give them too much credit?
For me personally, I am aware of some people that have faired poorly out of Workchoices – but only through the avenue of news/”current affairs” type shows. I don’t personally know anyone who is worse off. In fact, in my experience most people are pretty happy with their contracts and their work conditions seem to be improving. In fact, around here (Perth) one can’t leave the house without seeing employee wanted signs in almost every window. If people can’t find a good job now with reasonable conditions they probably never will.
So, back to the original question – should Howard go? My view is that he’s the best leader the Libs have – so they need to stick with him. I can’t see people responding any more positively to any of other other aspiring leaders…
Tell me if you disagree.
