Australia at the Cross-Roads on 9th October 2004

9th October 2004

Read here full article by Anthony Loewenstein in Sydney Morning Herald

If not now, when?

There comes a time in every nation's history when change is not only necessary but essential.

Australia in 2004 is a very different place to the country John Howard inherited in 1996. But our core values remain the same.

We believe in truth in government, our democratic institutions, rejection of fear, engagement with our region and accountability. And yes, economic stability.

These values are rarely, if ever, displayed in John Howard's Australia in 2004.

The list of the Coalition's transgressions is too long to mention but allow me to name a few:

- Our involvement in the Iraq war was a folly and based on faulty intelligence. The alliance with the US superseded all rational thought. Most importantly, the absence of WMD, and the lack of accountability from those who killed tens of thousands innocent Iraqi civilians, is reprehensible.

- The demonisation of refugees, the incarceration of children, adults and families often for years on end in detention centres and the use of poverty-stricken Pacific islands as holding pens is a gross perversion of our mother's country's colonialist past.

- Our government's acceptance of Guantanamo Bay and the complete lack of checks and balances for two of our nationals incarcerated in the American gulag.

- Our government's failure to embrace an environmental policy to ensure a reduction in greenhouse gases and protection of Tasmania's forests. Short term thinking dressed up as pragmatic politics.

The ALP under Mark Latham has many question marks under its name, of this there is no question.

Many commentators have suggested that Latham isn't ready to lead, is too inexperienced and would destroy our alliance with the US.

All of these points are highly debatable and probably little more than predictions made by journalists who spent too little time with real Australians.

In Howard's final press conference today, he reiterated the message he has been carrying throughout the campaign:

"It is a question of who do you better trust to manage Australia, both
economically and Australia's national security and defence, and nothing has
happened during the election campaign to shake my belief that is the central
issue in this campaign."

To suggest that the Coalition can be trusted on national security after the Iraqi quagmire and numerous intelligence failures, as well as the ever-increasing politicisation of the public service, is dishonest, to say the least.

Tim Dunlop @ Road to Surfdom expresses it like this:

"I know a Prime Minister Latham is a risk, but so is bloody life.

It's a time for a change. It's time for a system overhaul. It's time to face the threats and
challenges of the future with the confidence that comes from renewal.

It's time to slip out of the straightjacket, as snug and secure as that might be, pull on
the Speedos and catch the next big wave."

If you want an Australia that looks outward toward the future, as opposed to an idealised impression of social conservatism expressed by John Howard, the decision on October 9 is clear.

Australia is at a crossroads.

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