Some links that survey some of the more interesting discussions on the removal of Kevin Rudd from his role as PM and what it says about politics and the democratic process in Australia:
Mark Banisch on the role of the media cycle raises issues that go back at least partly to the impact of technology.
Larvatus Prodeo carried some interesting blog discussions including:
An early assessment of Kevin Rudd, and Links on the spill will take you to a range of other discussions.
Jeff Sparrow on The personalisation of Politics attempts a wider cultural take on the events.
The Piping Shrike offered a reading through an account of the hollowing out of the political process and what political parties do and don't stand for.
Showing posts with label political parties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label political parties. Show all posts
Monday, 28 June 2010
Monday, 25 January 2010
Why bother joining the ALP?
It is getting to the point where I seriously wonder why people both joining the ALP. One of the significant reasons for joining is that you get to vote in preselecting your parties candidate when a vacancy occurs. Why else give up all those Tuesday evenings?
Well increasingly it seems that you will not need to bother yourself with taking out membership if that was something you were interested in. The ALP National Executive is willing take all that responsibility off local party members and do all the work of parceling out vacant seats based on complex deals to keep all the faction leaders happy.
Whatever happened to democracy within the party that claims a special place in the struggle for democracy in Australia?
What it looks like right now is continuing hollowing out of the ALP into nothing more than a self-perpetuating institution for carving out access to the right to manage the machinery of government whenever the ALP gets its turn.
The latest shenanigans in the ACT in which it looks unlikely at the moment that there will be a local preselection to replace the retiring members for the electorates of Fraser and Canberra is really the last straw. The rumours are that overriding factor is that the allocation of candidates for these electorates is the flow on results of deals done in the Sydney metropolitan area by factions within the party.
If that happens it is my profound hope that there is an electoral revolt. It has happened before in Canberra.
If the process goes unchallenged within the ALP it simply means that another one of the limited channels for community participation in the governmental process will have been blocked up.
Well increasingly it seems that you will not need to bother yourself with taking out membership if that was something you were interested in. The ALP National Executive is willing take all that responsibility off local party members and do all the work of parceling out vacant seats based on complex deals to keep all the faction leaders happy.
Whatever happened to democracy within the party that claims a special place in the struggle for democracy in Australia?
What it looks like right now is continuing hollowing out of the ALP into nothing more than a self-perpetuating institution for carving out access to the right to manage the machinery of government whenever the ALP gets its turn.
The latest shenanigans in the ACT in which it looks unlikely at the moment that there will be a local preselection to replace the retiring members for the electorates of Fraser and Canberra is really the last straw. The rumours are that overriding factor is that the allocation of candidates for these electorates is the flow on results of deals done in the Sydney metropolitan area by factions within the party.
If that happens it is my profound hope that there is an electoral revolt. It has happened before in Canberra.
If the process goes unchallenged within the ALP it simply means that another one of the limited channels for community participation in the governmental process will have been blocked up.
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