 Political Corrections
with Margo Kingston
Aston Powers:
Labor's Suburban Man of Mystery
It's a 75 bucks taxi trip from the airport to Ringwood, in the federal seat of Aston in Melbourne's east, where a byelection this Saturday will hint at the Howard government's fate in the general election later this year.
The bus service is rubbish and it takes a 40 minute ride on a bus – when you can get one – from one end of Aston to the Bayswater train station at the other.
The major roads through Aston are traffic nightmares and smoggy, so you can see why the both Labor and Liberal parties promised $220 million towards a freeway. But nothing for public transport. Nothing.
On Monday, I was told the Labor candidate, Kieran Boland, would do something at the corner of Ann and David streets. I arrived early to find a deserted suburb.
Come 1pm the national media stood there, waiting, looking silly, and wondering why we'd been imposed on an innocent corner of Aston. About 10 greenies and a koala joined us.
A woman approached. 'Excuse me, could you tell me what's going on? Cars don't normally park here – is someone putting their house on the market?'
Her name is Shiona Richmond, and she had no interest in the impending performance of her Labor candidate. I asked her assessment of the byelection's effect on Aston.
'It's going to have more of an impact on the federal election. It won't effect what happens here.
'I don't know how I'll vote yet. I'm trying not to think about it too much. Neither party is offering anything different.'
She said her parents were staunch Labor voters, but she was a swinger because that's what you had to be these days.
'If your parents banked with the Commonwealth all their lives, you would too, but it's not like that anymore. I'm looking more to the independents this time. They seem to be out on the ground more, talking about things that affect us.'
When Boland arrived, she went back inside, leaving him to us. It was a painful and depressing experience.
Until the last week of the campaign, this 27-year-old ex-Labor staffer and son of a union official had allowed himself to be put on a leash, told to bob up beside Beazley when the cameras were on and otherwise shut up. Now, his chance to shine.
He started by saying he was here doorknocking, 'talking to people as much as I can'.
What had he picked up? That the government was out of touch with what the community wanted. His reaction to the government's imminent decision to relax new tax laws affecting contractors? 'Another policy backflip on the run'. Was this a hot issue among the people he'd talked to in his doorknocking?
'I'm not a policy analyst.'
Did he support a policy change on the matter? That was 'better addressed to Simon Crean and the leadership'.
Starting to get the picture? This man either had absolutely nothing to say, or had been told to repeat tired old cliches without meaning till everyone got bored and gave up.
So what was he talking to voters about?
'I'm not telling them anything. I'm listening to what they've got to say and reporting back their concerns.'
By this stage, I understood Ms Richmond's state of mind. Still, since Bob Brown, the Liberals for Forests, the Democrats and the independent green candidate, a local mayor, had only yesterday announced they'd preference neither major party partly due to their refusal to back the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse, I thought he'd surely have something to say on that.
What was Labor's policy on the Kyoto protocol?
'Labor has a good environment policy.'
And what was the policy?
'As I said, we've got a good environment policy.'
Well what was it?
'As I said, we've got a good environment policy, and at the general election campaign you will see our environment policy laid out on the table.'
'He's well edited,' remarked a protestor.
'Could you tell us your understanding of Labor's policy on the Kyoto protocol?'
'Okay. As I've said, we've got a good environment policy.'
'Please answer the question,' I said. 'How can anyone vote for you if you won't answer a simple question on Labor's policy on Kyoto?'
'As I said...'
On and on it went.
The protesters started asking about other things, including public transport, but they got no answers either. None.
This guy was utterly hopeless. Then again, what more would you expect of a Labor party apparatchick who seemingly thinks politics is about being on the right side of factional numbers to ensure personal advancement? That's what you get from Labor in winnable seats.
If Labor loses this byelection, they can thank a pathetic candidate chosen and managed by a pathetic party. People are after MPs who have their own voice and aren't afraid to use it. They don't want cardboard cut outs. And if this guy has spent months campaigning – as he has – and is still just listening and still has nothing to say on behalf of the voters of Aston, and nothing to say on issues which are affecting the preference flows, why doesn't he take a jump.
I have never seen a worse performance from any politician, including One Nation hopefuls without any of his advantages.
Labor's radio advertising pitch is 'Send John Howard a message', but you'd be sending an empty vessel if you voted for Boland.
But he might be lucky. One Nation's candidate June Scott, who's a hearty 74 and is just loving getting involved in politics late in life, said yesterday Labor would get her preferences before the Liberals in Aston because Pauline Hanson's policy was to put the party which owned the seat last.
It would be fitting if Mr Boland's claim to fame was being elected on One Nation preferences. Win or lose, he'll have no other.
Email: mkingston@mail.fairfax.com.au
Margo's web diary - www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/webdiary/
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