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Ten reasons not to vote for the Howard Government |
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"Ten reasons you should not vote for the Howard government 1. The Howard government lies they lied to the Australian people about the children overboard: 'Australia's government deliberately lied to the public during last year's parliamentary election when it said that refugees had thrown their children into the sea to attract the attention of an Australian naval patrol. An Australian senate report said Peter Reith, the then defence minister who has since retired from politics, engaged in the deliberate misleading of the Australian public concerning a matter of intense political interest during an election period.' Report from Guardian newspaper, 23 October 2002. 2. The Howard government lied about the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison: 'We can't believe the Prime Minister. We can't believe the Defence Minister. We can't believe the head of the Australian Defence Force. We can't believe the head of the Defence Department. Our public service ethics lie in ruins, across the board. Our senior public servants no longer see themselves as having any duty to the public interest, and that their duty is solely to protect the government's political interests. They've sold their souls, no less, and by doing so have sold the soul of Australia.' Margo Kingston, journalist and political commentator, whose new book: Not Happy, John! is an unrestrained expose of what she terms 'John Howard's Anglo-fascist agenda'. 3. The Howard government is willingly breaching international human rights law by the detention of children: 'There is incontrovertible evidence of the devastating impact that indefinite detention has on the mental health of children and their families. I call for the release of all asylum seeker children remaining in detention. The federal Parliament must act to ensure this treatment of children is never repeated.' Dr Sev Ozdowski, Australian Commissioner for Human Rights. 4. The Howard government is turning our world acclaimed, universal health system into a two tiered, user-pays system like the US: 'John Howard claims to be making Medicare fairer. This is a myth. Supported by economic rationalists and the private healthcare industry, Howard is fulfilling his long-held wish to destroy Medicare'. Professor Peter Sainsbury, President of the Public Health Association of Australia. 5. The Howard government is ignoring the recommendation of scientists, energy experts and industry by refusing to invest in renewable, clean technology to replace heavily polluting fossil fuels: 'The Howard Government's energy [policy] is a disaster. It does almost nothing to address our urgent energy priorities. It looks like the product of a tired government with no vision and no ideas.' Ian Lowe, Emeritus Professor of Science, Technology and Society, Griffith University. Investing in renewable energies could create thousands of sustainable jobs for Australia. Australia is now the highest per capita producer of greenhouse gases in the world largely due to our reliance on coal-fired electricity. But you know there's really a problem with energy policy when even the medicos are worried: 'The Howard Government has made dirty fuels cheaper, our air more polluted and potentially caused the death of many more Australians.' Dr Bill Glasson, President of the Australian Medical Association. 6. The Howard government is prepared to manipulate the truth to achieve its own political ends: 'The major political parties seem to have largely abandoned the ethics of government,' says Tony Fitzgerald, QC, Former Federal Court Judge, former Commissioner for the Inquiry into Police Corruption in Queensland. He goes on: 'The current Government inaccurately describes itself as conservative and liberal. It is neither.' 'Nothing is more important to the functioning of democracy than informed discussion and debate, but politicians mesmerised by power seem to be unconcerned that, when leaders fail to set and follow ethical standards, public trust is damaged, community expectations diminish and social divisions expand.' 7. The Howard government is creating a society based on greed, self-interest and consumerism: Clive Hamilton, Executive Director of The Australia Institute, Australia's foremost public interest think tank, argues Australians are being duped by their governments into thinking that society's central objective must be the promotion of economic growth, and markets must prevail. This encourages an unsustainable and unhealthy obsession with economic growth and material consumption, and it comes at the expense of more generous and civilising values. And guess what? It does not make us any happier. See Clive's book: 'Growth Fetish', or TAI's website: www.tai.org.au 8. The Howard government is putting the education of our children (and our collective intellectual future) at risk: Australian students and graduates now owe more than $9 billion to the Commonwealth Government for the cost of their HECS fees. If you have girls, be very afraid: 'It would take the average male university student 17 years to repay a loan of $20,000, while it would take the average female student 51 years to repay a loan of the same size. Student debt affects the capacity of graduates to own a home, have a family, and access private finance such as mortgages, personal loans and credit cards.' The social and economic impact of student debt, a report from The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations. 9. The Howard government went to war without justification, and against the wishes of the Australian people: As a leading US academic said last year in Sydney, 'Do you really believe we would have invaded Iraq if they had 10 per cent of the world's broccoli?' 'Saddam Hussein's atrocities would not have concerned the US if Iraq was not an oil-rich nation. [Oil] is the real reason why the United States invaded Iraq, with the support of a cheer-squad who professed to believe the lies about weapons of mass destruction.' Ian Lowe, emeritus professor of science, technology and society, Griffith University. Dr Helen Caldicott, paediatrician, peace activist, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, said: 'We're all capable of denying evil. We've got to get in touch with our humanity and not follow orders if the orders are going to kill people. We've got to stop killing people or we'll blow up the earth.' 10. The Howard government has deliberately misled the Australian public about the dangers of border protection and asylum seekers: 'Border protection is in fact a propaganda catchphrase, not a national problem. We should be utterly ashamed that our democracy failed so dismally on such a fundamental matter of truth. And we continue to tolerate the shameful abuse of human decency.' Former Federal Court Judge, Justice Marcus Einfeld. Don't be complicit in this cynical and complacent attitude to the future of our community and our country. When you vote, ask yourself: Is this government providing me with the sort of nation I feel proud to be a part of? If you are at all discomfited by any of the above, when the election is called, exercise your democratic power. Choose a candidate in the House of Representatives who will represent the interests of your community; and choose a candidate in the Senate who will only pass legislation that is just, moral and able to deliver an outcome that is best for all, both now and into the future. This statement has been compiled by Fiona Armstrong, a journalist, editor, and registered nurse." |
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