 Political
Corrections
with Margo Kingston
Anything is possible in democracy
I sat in Judi Moylan's office on Tuesday reading a few of the 3000 emails she's
got from Australians since she became the public face of the Liberal rebels' plan
to civilise our mandatory detention regime. No form emails there, and most included
an address and contact phone numbers. She was, according to citizens across the
nation, heroic, courageous and a breath of fresh air. Her 7.30 Report interview
last week, in which she'd spoken of the fundamental importance of "human
dignity", had several correspondents falling off their chair in shock!
Boy oh boy has the internet given us citizens the chance to really relate to
and participate in what's left of our democracy. I saw Ms Moylan's spirits lift
in the days after she nervously fronted Kerry O'Brien, and the email support from
Australians of most political colours was a big factor. She was doing what she
needed to do, and whatever her fate, she felt relaxed and comfortable.
The emails were pouring in to other Coalition MPs too, and many were feeling
that strange feeling big party pollies get when party loyalty threatens to take
second place to what they actually believe. Most of them don't even know what
they believe by the time they get to the big play pit, and keep well away from
their consciences, if they have such a thing. No wonder they despise those on
their team who insist they have a good look, particularly when they're backed
by constituents who won't let them off the hook.
Suddenly, there's a merits debate out there where we live, after years of mainstream
consensus and silencing of dissent. Moylan's reply to emails was a direct challenge
to her correspondents not to put it all on her but to do it for themselves:
"Thank you for your kind words of support on the proposal to introduce
two Bills to change our mandatory detention policy. Our democratic system of government
can only work effectively with your participation.
"The only hope for change to the mandatory detention policy rests in the
weight of public opinion. It is important that your views and those of others
who support wider public debate and changes to mandatory detention are known by
the Government and the Opposition.
"Please urgently contact your local Federal member and the Prime Minister
to let them know of your views."
As democracy cracks from side to side, interesting things are starting to happen.
OK, our Government won't hold respectable open inquires any more, even into
scandals like the kidnapping and deportation of an Australian citizen and the
11-month incarceration and scandalous neglect - perhaps even physical and sexual
abuse - of a mentally ill Australian permanent resident. Well, who needs the Government,
if that's their attitude?
When Cornelia Rau's sister Christine started getting snippets of info from
Australians on what happened to her sister she began collating them at her kitchen
table. Then the University of Newcastle Legal Centre and a whole lot of Uni students
moved in and hey, all of a sudden a people's inquiry was in full swing. The result
- a 117-page report plus confidential appendices naming names and urging charges.
Christine presented the report and its 44 recommendations to a packed media conference
this week. The pressure on the closed-door, legally powerless Palmer Inquiry and
its creator, the master of blame-shift JW Howard, went up another notch.
Last Sunday an academic friend of Moylan's turned up early at her Parliament
House office with two students and spent the day replying to emails and drafting
a brief on the key arguments used by opponents of the Private Members Bill as
reported in the media and expressed in emails.
Don't get depressed at how powerless you are. Have a look around and work out
how you too can defend your democracy. It's fun, and it's scary for those political
"representatives" in both major parties who think they've won their
fight to crush our right to know what they're doing for themselves at the expense
of us and our future.
The next step is for democracy defender groups in every seat to find and support
candidates, of whatever political colour, who want to be in politics to represent
the people and do what's right, not what's good for their careers. And to start
local newspapers, hard copy and online, to step around or go under the radar of
the mainstream media and get the truth out.
You can bet Howard and his heavies will try to destroy the careers of Moylan
and her fellow rebels. So how about those of you who live where they do join local
Liberal Party branches to keep them in politics?
Anything is possible. We're only powerless if we think we are. And that's exactly
what the destroyers of our democracy want us to think.
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