I’m a couple of days late with this, but I must say something.
On Wednesday, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott announced that the Coalition would be preferencing the Greens last in every seat in the country in this years election. Even as a Greens supporter, the announcement didn’t bother me. We (the Greens) should expect, and in fact should embrace this. This is the sort of fight we signed up for – and it is one worth winning.
But what did bother me was the reason Abbott gave for his decision. In making his announcement, Abbott said that his action was designed to ensure that whoever wins Government does so with a ‘clear majority’ because minority Government has been a ‘failed experiment’. As he said:
“This is about putting the disappointments, the betrayals and the failures of the last three years firmly in the past.”
“This election is about … having strong economic policies that protect your job security, that improve your cost of living,” he said.
“But it’s the last thing we’ll get from a Parliament which is over-influenced by people like the Greens.”
Abbott made a vow earlier in the campaign that he would not form a minority Government after the September election (somewhat ironic given that he is the leader of a Coalition of parties) and after his announcement on Wednesday, Kevin Rudd made the same promise (it will be interesting to see what happens if we end up with another minority Government).
I am annoyed at Rudd making that announcement, but my real ire is with Abbott on this one. His attacks on minority Government have been running for years now – labelling the latest Government as ‘illegitimate’ and the last three years as completely dysfunctional. It has been a great political ploy – one that I think has worked strongly it Abbott’s favour. But in doing so I think he fundamentally attacked our democracy.
Let’s ignore the fact that the last three years have actually been very stable. No matter how many times Abbott or the media have screamed that the Government was about to collapse it easily survived. And even though many don’t agree with the legislation that has been passed, the fact is that our Parliament has been extremely functional – passing significant reforms in many areas.
But here is the bigger issue for me. In attacking minority Government, Abbott isn’t just having a go at the ALP, but is fundamentally attacking our democratic ideals.
In the 2010 election, our two major parties (including the Coalition as one party) received less than 80% of the primary vote. That percentage is still extremely high, but it is in no way definitive. Over 20% of our population voted for a party that wasn’t the ALP or the Coalition, and neither the ALP or Coalition came close to receiving 50% of the vote (i.e. a clear majority). And this vote looks like it is potentially going to grow in 2013 – particularly as a range of new parties enter the field (ranging from Katter and Palmer to the ‘Coke in the Bubblers Party’).
Whilst our democracy has been one dominated by two large parties, over the past few years it has become clear the domination of the two is no longer guaranteed. People are getting tired of the two parties, and slowly but surely votes are moving to new parties from across the political spectrum – whether it is the Greens, Katter or the Palmer Party.
And our democracy is designed for this. We do not have a Presidential style system, but one based on local (through the House of Representatives) and state (through the Senate) representation. Theoretically our system could easily exist with the election of numerous parties – just as happens (completely functionally) in many democracies around the world.
Yet Abbott seems determined to attack this. As the number of parties seems to grow – an expression of the will of the Australian people to get more variety in their politics – he is determined to block it. To try and limit us to a two party system even though that may not be the will of the Australian people.
If Australia elects a minority Government again, just as it did in 2010, that will be the will of the people. And it is the responsibility of all parties to deal with that, not to say ‘no, we’ll try again until we get full control’.
Democracy is not about majoritarian rule, but rather about ensuring we all have a voice. And people are expressing that voice clearly – with over 20% of our population are moving away from the major parties. If that number grows, minority Parliaments may become the rule rather than the exception, and I personally think that is good for our Democracy. Abbott’s recent moves however are designed to block that and in turn to take away the voice of millions of people. That could be extremely dangerous.