Questions, comments and observations from many often leave me wondering about universal suffrage.
My concerns, it seems, are irrelevant as suffrage is a key plank in the survival and operation of our democracy and again we will watch it function as Australians vote for a new government on August 21.
Australia’s new and present Prime Minister Julia Gillard talked with the Governor-General of Australia, Ms Quentin Bryce (right), on Saturday and the election was called for late next month.
I support the idea of adult universal suffrage, considering it an important human right, but the idea of voting for others and heaping on them the right to make rules that impact on lives and so control our destiny should be discussed and explained right through our student lives.
But there is more than that – we live in a specialized world in which all of us tend to excel, sometimes in decidedly simple terms others quite complex, narrow fields – and although we are all entitled to that right, those same rights come with responsibilities and within that each of us must work to ensure we have an expansive education that enables us to understand, or at least have some insight into the intricacies of life.
Choosing who should decide on matters that will impact on how we live our lives is close to the most fundamental and important decisions we will ever make.
Considering that, it is an aspect of our lives that demands our attention, but beyond that the realization that we must think beyond personal wants and needs and so imagine what is best for the wider community and then vote accordingly.
Some might think they are voting directly for Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott, but that is not the case as we are ideally searching for a local person, who may or may not be affiliated with either the Labour or Liberal Parties.
That person needs to be able to alert and convince their peers in Canberra that Australia be governed to reflect what is important to the Goulburn Valley and within and beyond that make it a good international citizen.
Tony Abbott’s recent attack on Peter Garrett over what we might call the “insulation affair” seemed somewhat hypocritical..
The leader of the federal Opposition chipped away at former Minister for The Environment calling for his sacking over what he saw as the mismanagement of his department, accusing him of everything short of murder..
Obviously there were some shortcomings in the implementation of the program, but whether or not you see the Minister as personally responsible hinges almost entirely on your political affiliations.
Mr Abbott (above) is undoubtedly an honourable fellow, but it seems he has confused political aspirations and values with honesty and objectivity – it is another case of don’t listen to what people say, rather watch what it is they do.
History, even recent history, is apparently unimportant and irrelevant when Mr Abbott looks and searches for a political foothold.
Mr Abbott’s comments about Peter Garrett’s performance come in the shadow of a government decision, a government of which he was an active part, that committed Australia to a war in another country in which thousands of people died, including a few Australians.
The violence in Iraq and Afghanistan seems unlimited with the death of more than 100 coalition soldiers so far this year, a trivial number compared to innocent civilians who suffered injuries or a violent death.
Mr Abbott was a part of the government that took this country into a war that appears without end.
Australia, we should always remember is simply the magnification of those we pass on the street every day and who, in many instances, abhor violence and yet, it seems, have swallowed the Abbott line.
Obviously the complications associated with the government’s insulation scheme are less than ideal and deserve some censure, but in calling for Mr Garrett’s head, the leader of the Opposition needed to consider his party’s past and put matters surrounding the insulation debate in context.
The Liberal leader celebrates Mr Garrett’s demotion and conveniently forgets, and apparently so do many Australians, that is was a Liberal led coalition government that took us into a violent confrontation that has led to the suffering of thousands and the deaths of many.
