Quotas for anybody sour politics

FORMER Liberal minister Sharman Stone became an ­instant star on ABC radio and in the Fairfax press earlier this year when she demanded a taxpayer-funded bailout for Victorian fruit preserver SPC-Ardmona. She only heightened her ­appeal to the Left when she weighed in with a call for the Liberal Party to adopt quotas for women to improve female representation in parliament. Stone, who represents the seat of Murray in which ­Ardmona is located, can be cut some slack for barracking for what she probably hoped would be a solution for the threat posed by SPC’s problems to her constituents who worked at the cannery. She was by no means the only politician or commentator to demand that taxpayers stump up more funds for what was to all appearances a poorly run private business, just like Holden, Toyota and Qantas. But as a Liberal she looks even sillier than Opposition leader Bill Shorten, his deputy Tanya Plibersek and shadow industry spokesman Kim Carr, who one might ­expect to support the subsidising of failure. When Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the federal government would not give SPC the $25 million it needed, the Victorian Liberal government stumped up $22 million as a “co-payment”, which guaranteed an extra five years’ operation, and supermarket giant Woolworths came to the party with a $70 million deal based on the demand for SPC products — that is, a realistic market-based solution to what was basically a marketing problem. No need for politicians at all, had Australian business not been so conditioned by years of handouts from compliant Labor (and to a lesser degree, conservative) governments. In making her case for a handout, Stone accused her own government of lying about excessive union award conditions at the packing plant. She was wrong on that count, too, as the example of the allowances paid to forklift drivers for moving pallets of new cans and shipments destined for foreign sales proved. However, she was placed on a pedestal by some, including Shane Green, associate editor of socialist daily The Age, who believed that Stone’s distortion was a defining remark, writing: “Stone may be just one MP. But I’d argue that her defiant stand should be a pivotal moment for the conduct of politics in Australia.” It possibly was pivotal — for Stone. In aligning herself with Shorten, Plibersek and Carr there was only really one way she could go. Shorten believed that the responsible position taken by the Abbott government would “see hundreds of people put on the unemployment queue and will have a disastrous effect for thousands of others involved in growing fruit and beans”. Plibersek and Carr went further, predicting the loss of 1500 direct jobs and 2700 ­indirect jobs; an increase in the unemployment rate for the Greater Shepparton area from 8.6 per cent to 12.1 per cent; lost tax revenue of up to $18 million a year; a reduction in regional economic output of $165 million a year; ­reduced council rates and ­increased social ­security payments. It’s amazing, then, that the fruit preserver has been saved by private enterprise and not a government handout, and a ­reminder to all taxpayers of the way Labor would have continued to throw away their money, and borrowed money, had they still been in office. Perhaps dazzled by her ­moment as darling of the left-wing media, Stone’s greater folly was to endorse quotas to get women into parliament. There are obvious arguments against quotas, not the least being their undemocratic and discriminatory nature. But the biggest most obvious argument against quotas has been the female failures promoted into parliament by Labor via sponsorship through the egregious Emily’s List, promoted by that low water mark in economic and political leadership Joan Kirner, the former Victorian premier. While I offer her my deepest sympathy as she battles ill health today, I find it difficult to find a redeeming feature in her premiership. Nor, it seems, could her electorate, who voted her out of office. By making gender an issue, Labor politicians, particularly Labor women, must be prepared for scrutiny of their gender-linked performance. This is not to say there is no shortage of silly male Labor MPs, either, but they were not chosen for their gender. If fewer women are coming through the Liberal ranks at the moment the answer is not to give them a hospital pass, but surely, it is for conservative women to work as hard as their colleagues within the party. Politics is a hard game, not unlike the fruit preserving business. Natural quality of product will bring rewards to those in the canning trade just as outstanding candidates, male or female, of good character, will succeed without the need for added artificial sweeteners.