Sophie Mirabella and Pauline Hanson
The incumbent Sophie Mirabella continues to fight to retain her Australian Federal Parliament seat in the electorate of Indi. Passive Complicity believes democracy would be stronger if she fails.
Ms. Mirabella has a history of fighting. This is not unusual among those who cut their teeth in student politics; her leader, now Prime Minister, Tony Abbott made many enemies through his bruising, thuggish and uncompromising student years. The opposition Labor Party has its share of thugs too.
Ms. Mirabella though, is special, in that until now, she has had little experience of losing. Her actions and comments in relation to this election demonstrate this lack of experience. She comes across as a bully, a sulk, and a person who would blame all but herself for the position she finds herself in.
Over her Parliamentary career Ms. Mirabella has done what no-one since Pauline Hanson has done. She, through her behaviour, has made despicable behaviour by others look normal.
When Pauline Hanson made her maiden speech to the Australian Parliament in 1997 she questioned Australia’s commitment to multiculturalism, to immigration and to helping the disadvantaged. Prime Minister John Howard failed absolutely to repudiate her racist views citing ‘free speech’ as his reason, at the same time expropriating and implementing much of her platform, whilst decrying her as extreme. Hanson made room for Howard to operate. These policies targeted Indigenous people and refugees. Hanson took much of the heat for these policies.
Without Hanson Howard would have been a significantly more vulnerable target. Hanson allowed Howard room to turn Australia xenophobic and racist.
The result, of course, is that Australia remains more frightened, insecure, and selfish, and far more unequal than it was. The Howard and subsequent governments have used this fear and insecurity to make a ‘military’ first response to any perceived emergency, be it the Army as the first line in the “Intervention” into Aboriginal affairs in the Northern Territory, or the Navy “turning back the boats” of refugees, or just the general increasing para-military look of our police forces. Our democracy is less open, less transparent, and less able to engage in meaningful dissent and debate than in the past. His and subsequent governments used the growing selfishness to back middle class welfare, while cutting back on social equity programs.
Sophie Mirabella, unlike Hason, has worked from within a major political party, the conservative Liberal Party. She, with her well honed and arguably unscrupulous tactics has given room for the rest of the party to look almost moderate. It was she who lead the push to call the previous government illegitimate, who did much to make parliament look unworkable, to lower the already low standards of parliamentary behaviour. She, by her performance has made her Leader, Tony Abbott and the rest of her party look (almost) reasonable and responsible. Retiring Independent Member Tony Windsor names her as “the most detested person in Parliament”.
It would appear that the Liberals may have a problem if Ms Mirabella retains her seat. It is generally assumed that she is to be offered a Cabinet Post. She is the only Liberal to suffer such a large swing against her, just on 8% as compared to last election, which is in reality 13% if you add in the 5% swing to the Liberal Party state wide.
So what will happen to Mirablla now that she has turned a blue ribbon conservative seat into one of the most marginal in the land? She is clearly on the nose. Will that Cabinet Seat still be waiting for her? Is she now an electoral liability, having run an inept, reactionary and expensive campaign, with a demeanor and operating style that grates with her rural electorate, not to mention with some questionable legal issues regarding an estate. Giving her a front bench position will not improve the publics’ regard for politicians nor for Parliament. The legitimacy of our democratically elected Government will not be helped by her.
Like the other supposed ‘psychopath’, Kevin Rudd, it seems possible that her era has gone too.
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