Politics....here we go

Before we left for Australia we discussed how we would handle discussing politics. This may seem like a silly thing to talk about before you even leave, but experience has proven that it's best to have a plan before you get into trouble.

Not that this comes as any news flash but it could be said that John and I lean to the conservative side of political discussions. We have many opinions that vacillate but overall we are conservative without apologies. That said, my opinions are not in lock step with John's, but we do agree on most of the "big issues". Most of our friends, and family, are not conservatives. It's not a problem, I don't think, maybe I'll hear otherwise after I post this, but we agree to disagree. Often we have colorful discussions that end with head shaking on both sides, but that's our America.

Now to why we talked about our opinion sharing while in Australia. We saw first hand over the past few decades of traveling abroad that as Americans you have a target on your back. Whether we were in England, Germany, Spain, Egypt, NZ or Australia, people want to engage in US bashing. I get it, after 9/11 we did things which many countries did not agree. Unfortunately for Scott (our oldest son), who spent a gap year in Germany after high school, our country had become involved in the Iraq war and he was in the hot seat at school and in many social events for the whole invasion. We actually learned from him to just keep your head down.  Even in his host family's house he wasn't safe from the assault on America. Remember, too, that Germany is an isolationist country, they don't engage in the skirmishes around the world. They try to stay neutral and with the aggressive nature of the US in the war on terror, he was up against it. Whether you agreed with it or not, the Germans Scott knew, hated Bush....the collective Bushes. So we saw first hand how our astute son handled himself. It was a mine field when we visited him in Germany, he just sat back and prayed we didn't go too far in defending our country.

So we had this discussion on how NOT to piss people off, too soon, at least. (excuse my language here) Keep your opinions to yourself, don't engage, don't give out advice, that kind of discussion. I should also tell you that we arrived a month before their big election for Premier of Queensland (like our governor), which was hotly contested.

Here, the Liberal Party is conservative. The Labor Party is liberal and very pro-union. Once I got my head around that I could focus on what was going on as far as the election went.

The Liberals have been in power pretty much nationwide for a few years. The Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, is a liberal. He has had a good majority in their Parliament and has gotten some of the liberal (read conservative) platforms through. That has met with dissatisfaction from the Labor party which has seen sacred cows of the unions go private, trimming of the governmental workforce, which is unionized, and a pull back from welfare, which they call "the dole". Your standard conservative was happy with the changes, and your standard liberal was angry. (These are the American definitions)

(This is more than you probably want or need, so ignore if bored with it.)

Key Terms

There are several key terms that you should be familiar with when studying the political system in Australia:

• Right-wing is generally used to refer to the area of the political spectrum associated with various types of conservative thinking, as well as a belief in letting the market operate free from government intervention.

• Left-wing generally refers to the part of the political spectrum associated with socialism and small 'l' liberal thinking (as opposed to the Liberal Party in Australia, which is right-wing). Left-wing beliefs generally promote varying degrees of government control of welfare and industry as well as a focus on social justice and environmental issues.

• Economic rationalism is a philosophy which became popular with Australian governments in the 1980s and 1990s. In short, the basic idea of economic rationalism is that government and bureaucracies should not intervene in the activities of a free market.

• Liberalisation is the term given to the relaxation of government restrictions or control over the market.

• Conservative politics usually favour traditional values and a variety of right-wing beliefs. In basic terms it is the opposite of progressive politics.

• The Coalition is the name given to the alliance between the Liberal Party and the National Party.

• Balance of power usually refers to the position held by one political party, or a coalition of minor parties, whose support of a Bill can give a governing party enough votes to pass legislation.

Introduction

The political scene in Australia is dominated by the two major parties (Liberal and Labor) and as such is what is called a two-party system. Due to the nature of the parliamentary system in Australia, however, minority parties and independent members of parliament can have a significant influence on legislation, government policy and elections.

Liberal Party of Australia

The Liberal Party of Australia was founded by Prime Minister Robert Menzies in 1944. Since that time it has dominated the right-wing of politics in Australia and ruled for large parts of the period since the end of World War II. The Liberal Party competes for power with the Australian Labor Party both at a federal level and in State and Territory elections.

The Liberal Party has held power in federal politics since winning government in 1996, and governs in its traditional coalition with the National Party. In recent times, however, the Labor Party has generally been in power at a State and Territory level.

The Liberal Party is generally in support of free market economic policies and advocates the liberalisation of finance and business. Historically, the Liberal Party has had different economic policies, such as implementing high import taxes, but since the 1980s they have been the party of economic rationalism.

In terms of social policy, the Liberal Party is a conservative party. Under Prime Minister John Howard, the Liberal Party has pursued a tough stance on mandatory detention for illegal immigrants, and has been steadfast in its support of Australia's alliance with the United States, particularly in the area of foreign policy. As a whole, the Liberal Party pursues a conservative economic and social agenda.

National Party

The National Party of Australia is a conservative political party whose members and constituents tend to be from regional and rural areas. The National Party was originally called the Country Party, and historically has been in a coalition with the Liberal Party of Australia at both federal and State levels. In general, when the Liberal-National coalition is in power, the leader of the National Party is given the position of Deputy Prime Minister.

As the National Party's members and supporters tend to come from rural areas, the party is closely associated with the agricultural community. As such, they are known for their support of primary industries and their focus on agricultural trade.

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party (ALP) began as a political affiliate of the trade union movement. The ALP is officially a social democratic party. In recent times the ALP has been in opposition at a federal level (since 1996) but has been in power in many Australian States.

Historically, Labor's policy platform has changed as society itself evolved. Originally very focused on the labour movement and workers' rights, the ALP has, over time, moved more towards the centre and embraced more market-based principles. The Hawke government (1983-1991), for example, privatised the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Qantas airlines in the 1980s. For a Labor Prime Minster to do this would have been unimaginable a few decades earlier.

Since the beginning of the 1970s, the ALP has become more a middle-class party. Its supporters tend to be educated white-collar professionals, such as teachers, public servants, university lecturers, journalists, lawyers and union officials. These supporters generally favour the government becoming involved in implementing social justice and welfare alongside economic prosperity. Over time, the concerns of the ALP have spread from traditional blue-collar issues like workers' rights to include women's issues, environmentalism, and international affairs.

In summary, the ALP was originally built on the twin themes of social justice and workers' rights, but in the 1980s and 1990s the Hawke and Keating governments embraced economic rationalism so as to propel the economy into prosperity.

Minority parties

Other minority parties in the Australian system include the Australian Greens, the Democrats and the Family First party, as well as other special interest parties. These parties can have a significant influence on legislation and government policy if they hold the balance of power in a parliamentary house at a federal or State level.

The state of Queensland (where we live) has a Liberal Premier but was divided, (what does this sound like?) and they had a Labor Party candidate that was putting up a good fight for the office. The election was on the last Saturday in January. The TV and radio ads where constant, lawn signs everywhere, bumper stickers, and nonstop coverage on the news. This election was considered a benchmark for the rest of Australia in that if they voted out the Liberals, the rest of Australia might follow. Every state and territory has a different election day, Queensland was the first in the new year, New South Wales is next, that is where Sydney is located, in late March. That election, too, is very close.  The Liberal Party was voted out in Queensland in January. This election set up a crisis for Tony Abbott, the Prime Minister,

who was under what they call a "spill motion". Basically a vote by Parliament to remove him. He survived this motion by a 2/3 vote to retain him. But this has caused him to pull way back on some of his initiatives that got him elected. In other words, no one is happy with him now. He has an uphill battle for his survival and his party's. I think I have this right, but his tenure is very tenuous.

Add to all of this, wall to wall coverage of  2 convicted Australian drug dealers who are facing the firing squad in Bali. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-31705745  I think you call this a zero tolerance law for drug dealers. Australia doesn't have the death penalty and for 9 years the government has tried to get the sentence commuted to life in prison by the Indonesian Government. http://www.news.com.au/world/death-row-prisoner-myuran-sukumaran-awarded-associate-degree-in-fine-arts/story-fndir2ev-1227242180369 It isn't going to happen. I expect by the weekend they will be dead. Of course, it, too is wall to wall coverage.

The pair has lost their last appeal and today are getting moved to an island where the execution will take place. It has been agonizing to see the families hang on to hope after hope with each appeal. The pair have been model prisoners who have started an art therapy program at the prison where they've been held all these years. One of the convicted is a good artist, soon to be infamous. Their rehabilitation worked and they would desperately like to live.

Every country has its' issues. America's and Australia's have similar issues. Both countries are blessed with wonderful natural resources, a population of smart, industrious folk who want the best for their motherland, even if they don't agree on what that means. Both country's have a population of people who feel underserved and displaced. Just like the US, the racial issues are very real and very hard to fix. We have tried to listen and absorb what is transpiring around us, of course we have our thoughts on many things. So far we have not gotten into any arguments on the political side of things. In the short time we've been here we could have argued on any/all of these issues, add life/death penalty, national health care and the right to life/death issues.

As a"visitor" I think it's best to take it all in and keep my thoughts to myself. I also have to remember that John is now a government worker.