Monthly Archives: July 2010
more labor, more liberal, more green?
“Somebody said last week that the Greens are more Labor than Labor, more Liberal than the Liberals and unsurprisingly greener than both.” (Senator Bob Brown)
The 2010 Australian election has been called for August 21 after weeks of rumours that this call would occur imminently. What does this mean for the next month or so? A friend of mine Josh thinks it means the Parties pandering to a narrow band of voters… Perhaps he is right.
It certainly feels like that at the moment anyway. For voters like myself who aren’t interested in voting with the aim of attaining more money for myself, or for “protecting” our borders, but who would rather see things like climate change, safety for refugees, health care and other progressive causes be at the centre of a Party policy, pickin’s are thin!
What to do?
Three months ago it would be a given to vote Labor in an election if it were out of the two major Parties. Now it seems like Labor is merely the lesser of two evils. I believe there are many Australians who feel the same way and who will abandon Labor as their first preference in favour of a third option. That option will no doubt be the Australian Greens.
Probably the fastest growing Party in Australia, the Greens’ policies (available to view here) make the most sense to Left-leaning, progressive Australians. Bob Brown’s quote above also rings true in the current political climate, and certainly alludes to the fact that the Greens will probably steal votes away from Labor and the Coalition on August 21.
Are you disenfranchised with the major Parties? I am. When it comes to voting from the perspective of God’s Kingdom, the only policies that make sense to me are those of the Greens. Would love to hear your thoughts on this doubtlessly controversial issue.
MCA
the great wall of australia
It looks as though Australia’s newest Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, is moving to the Right on the issue of Asylum Seekers.
Nothing is certain at this point, but Ms. Gillard has given a deadline of July 8 for Labor to announce their new asylum seeker policy. In the meantime Gillard has encouraged Australians to express their opinions and vent their fears to open up frank national debate about the issue;
“For people to say they’re anxious about border security doesn’t make them intolerant, it certainly doesn’t make them a racist, it means that they’re expressing a genuine view that they’re anxious about border security.” (Article here) Read the rest of this entry
