I watched the ABC coverage of the 2017 Queensland election as usual.
My god was I glad that the Liberal party (the right, for American readers) lost votes. I am even glad that Labor lost votes.
Why
I want Independents in the State parliament. The two major parties are doing nothing about, and actively resisting my concerns.
Since I was a teenager I have seen a stark contrast between three things:
* Consultative forums where no-one actions our concerns and solutions to youth problems,
* Meetings with local and state politicians, where the requests of community leaders were dismissed with meaningless platitudes,
* Constant, meaningless assurances of federal politicians about how they are “listening”,”hear our concerns”, and are doing their “best to have positive outcomes”.
Of course, I’m paraphrasing, but it looks more dramatic in quotation marks doesn’t it?
In my twenties I was semi-mentored by a number of policy makers in Brisbane, in the areas of Homelessness, Youth, the Arts, and Cultural Community Development. These people have spent years trying to get politicians to take them seriously. I have read their green papers and their white papers. I have gone along to “consultations” and meetings to raise awareness of various issues. All to no avail.
Our State and Federal politicians would rather blame each other and quarrel like bastard school kids, than action any positive changes to our society.
Listen to Bill Shorten (5:30 minutes) agreeing with a committment by our Prime Minister. It took the leader of the Labor party over one minute to say that he supports the initiative. That time was instead spent taking petty shots at, patronising, and passing blame onto the Liberal party. This attitude is rife in our State and Federal elections.
This last weekend, I voted for people who I believe have made a career of raising awareness of the issues that I’m very, very concerned about. People who seem committed to implementing thorough policies. People who take recommendations in reports as a how-to guide, instead of optional extras. I believe that Independents may draw out this kind of work ethic.
As an Independent, Tony Windsor stated on Twitter:
My top votes were for Greens, Karel Boele from People Decide – who actually stand for democracy, and Cameron Murray – who I’m rather impressed by. He is an Economist, lecturer at the University of Queensland, wrote a book “Game of Mates” about political favouritism, and spoke at the Crime and Corruption Commission’s enquiry about Council corruption.
I voted for Labor and Liberal pretty much last. They do not speak or act out my values. They do not share my priorities about what keeps a society healthy, and frankly, I don’t hear about them actually passing any laws that benefit our society.
I am concerned about slowing down climate change, rights for renters, over-population, over-crowded hospitals, and funding the countless community groups that do heroic work in our communities.
Am I glad of the lessor votes of the two major parties, and the challenge to form a majority government? Fuck yeah. I want to see real activists and policy makers contribute to our society. Not whiny, bitchy, incompetent supposed “leaders”.
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Now its your turn to have your say. Are you happy with your vote?
Musings of KarlettaA 