The Democrats split on same-sex superannuation equity has opened old wounds in a party traumatised by the defection of Meg Lees and the resignation of Natasha Stott Despoja as leader. Tracy Chaloner, former Western Australian Division President of the Democrats and now one of many ex-members, writes that the latest scrap is another example of the �gang of four� wedging the party to take it over. Tracy is a politics and international studies student at Murdoch University.

 

Gang of four dumps eleven year struggle for same sex super equity

by Tracy Chaloner

It looks to me like the Democrats ‘Gang of four’ � John Cherry Andrew Murray, Lyn Allyson and Aden Ridgeway – are at it again (see Coalition heat melts Democrats on same sex super and for the background, Same sex super: how we value love).

First they pushed through the GST against the wishes of the members and balloted policy, then ousted the party Leader Natasha Stott Despoja, again against the balloted mandate of the members.

Now they are derailing an 11-year campaign that finally got up with the support of the ALP and Greens — superannuation equity for same sex couples – doing a backflip of epic proportions and abandoning this important amendment to the superannuation legislation now before Parliament. The Democrats had a long and proud tradition of fighting for the rights of same sex couples. It is an extremely important principle, one of equity and anti-discrimination. Balloted policy is very strongly supported by the party membership in this regard. It seems balloted policy, and the principles and objectives of the party, are no longer worth the paper (or pixels) they are written on.

As a result of this clear abrogation of party policy we now have further confirmation that the ‘Gang’, and the faceless cabal who are the real power behind the Democrats are nothing more than the political opportunists the party was formed to challenge. No wonder they no longer see the old slogan – ‘Keep the bastards honest’ – as relevant. They have ‘reformed’ the party in the image of the bastards, using stealth tactics and wedge politics that John Howard would be proud of. Knowing full well that Brian Greig, and quite likely Natasha Stott Despoja and Andrew Bartlett, will cross the floor on this issue, they have created yet another wedge to leverage power over principle, a wedge that is likely to shatter whatever remaining confidence the electorate and members had in the Democrats as a champion of principle, social justice and equity.

Shame, shame, shame on the ‘Gang’. They may be the public representation and political face of the ‘Democrats’, but I know that they don’t speak for many of the members, whom they and their cabal have rendered powerless – not that there are very many left, by all accounts, after last year’s ‘tug of war’.

The ‘Gang’ and their cabal didn’t need to leave the party in the great ‘schism’ of 2002, as was predicted by the media and many members. They have successfully hatched the parasite that was planted almost a decade ago, and its takeover of the host is now complete. It was touch and go for a while but in reality the comparatively gentle nature of ‘the host’ had no chance against such an aggressive usurper.

There is little or no real participatory democracy left in the Democrats. That is a superficial sham. The real power lies in the hands of the ‘Gang’ and the faceless cabal, who are at liberty to implement any decisions they choose, thanks to the party constitution mandating a ‘conscience’ vote and enabling other processes to be corrupted. My opinion is that these provisions in the constitution were never meant to be exercised in this way.

The loss to Australian politics is profound, leaving a void in the political spectrum that the Greens, and a few progressive individuals, are valiantly trying to fill.

The full ramifications of the cabal’s influence on the Democrats, and Australian politics, won’t truly manifest itself until the next election (if a double dissolution) or the one after, when the party is expected to be decimated. The nature and consequences of the void will then become only too apparent.

Who will ‘keep the bastards honest’? There is no doubt that Australian democracy is in desperate need of it. The Australian ethos of egalitarianism and social justice depends on it, yet the political culture is such that it rewards the ‘bastards’ and crucifies those who are committed to ‘a fair go for all’. The adversarial, hierarchical and secretive nature of Australian politics facilitates and rewards those who will do anything to get ahead, while at the same time renders powerless those who are principled � tagged ‘weak’, ‘fundis’, ‘irrational’, ‘style over substance’ and ‘idealists’, to name a few attractive epithets.

Australians have demonstrated that they no longer want this culture to prevail through an ever-increasing vote for minor parties and independents. However, as we have seen through the actions of the Democrats’ cabal and the ‘Gang’ that is their public face, they cannot be relied upon to be principled or to implement the mandate that the electorate has given them.

We need a new vision for Australian politics, one that is principled and based on humanity and compassion, on a ‘fair go’ for all, and on sharing the wealth of our nation amongst the many and not the few.

While our political landscape is stuck in a ‘two party preferred’ binary vortex, supported by vested interests especially in the media and ‘big business’, this will be difficult to achieve.

There is some hope for a three-way contest as an achievable aim, as the Liberal Democrats have shown in the UK. If it wasn’t for the ‘Gang’, the Australian Democrats could well have succeeded in achieving this outcome under the leadership of Natasha Stott Despoja. So sad that the selfish myopia of a few has derailed any real chance for our democracy to remain vibrant and relevant, rather than subsumed into the vortex of populism and power.

The Greens may well take the Democrats’ place, which is better in some ways than the current limited choice of the two major parties, that are on many fronts barely distinguishable, but in my view there is still a large void in the political spectrum, and culture that needs filling. There are many people who are expressing concern that they no longer know where to cast their vote. I am one of them.

However, it is unlikely that anyone will step up to the plate because anyone intelligent and principled enough to do so also knows that the likelihood of success is just about zero. It would be highly unlikely that they would escape unscathed, whether it in be a new party, or in trying to make cultural changes or retaining the integrity and principle in an existing one. The price one can pay as a result of well connected political witchhunting can be very, very high.

Additionally, the electorate has become increasingly cynical towards politics and politicians, with good reason. Any new endeavours or approaches to changing the culture are likely be treated with similar cynicism, fuelled by a media that is only too happy to lop the head off any tall poppy.

This is a tragedy that will have a lasting impact on Australian civil society and democracy, and one that I plant firmly at the feet of the Democrats’ cabal, ‘the Gang’, and their supporters.