Vikki Campion: Voices party offers magic cream instead of any policy depth

Indie MPs don’t appear to have any idea of how they intend to influence anything except to shut agriculture, oil, gas and coal down, Vikki Campion writes.

They are the miracle creams of politics — they promise the fountain of youth but ending up petrifying unused under the bathroom sink.

In a hung parliament, relying on Climate 200 funded Voices party “independents” to give Labor the balance of power, the future is one of breathless platitudes with their so-called policies promising a utopia yet of no lasting consequence.

They promise “seamless” mental health and a “revitalised” aged care workforce yet no indication of how these would come to be.

Their so-called policy platform seems little more than a vanity project, reminiscent of the “magic” wrinkle defence creams our grandmothers smothered on.

The biggest challenge we face is aggressive expansionist behaviour in the Pacific by sovereign countries but Voices party candidates believe the Solomons signed a deal with China because Australia did not do enough on climate change.

To suggest they are so angry with us, a small polluter, that they did a deal with China, which emits our annual equivalent of carbon every two weeks, demonstrates a frightening ignorance of aggressive expansion forcing China’s sphere of influence. Leapfrogging was used by the Japanese in attack and used by allies in counter-attacks.

The whole point being greater coverage of the Pacific. Annexing Hawaii was part of the US process of dominating the Pacific, spurred by the nationalism aroused by the Spanish-American War. But instead of picking up a history book, Voices foreign policy is dangerously clueless.

Goldstein candidate Zoe Daniel. Picture: Supplied

The Goldstein Voices candidate Zoe Daniel’s defence policy seeks “soft diplomacy rather than merely militarising our international relations”. North Sydney’s Voices candidate Kylea Tink’s only foreign affairs policy, identical in flavour to all Voices candidates, is to release refugees immediately.

Ms Tinks entire policy platform fits in a four-page flyer, resembling a beauty product infomercial. She offers no ideas on water, agriculture, trade, economy, infrastructure, communications, investment, or finance.

Wentworth Voices party candidate Allegra Spender, who claims she “is all about policy”, echoes the Greens in her official foreign policy that: “Climate change is a security challenge to Australia.”

The Solomons is the third-largest recipient of Australian foreign aid in the Pacific, and as a sovereign country, Australia can only accept the decisions of its president and encourage him to reconsider.

Independent candidate for Wentworth Allegra Spender during the Sky News Wentworth People’s Forum. Picture: Richard Dobson

It is simply a dangerous fallacy to believe Solomons is allowing China to set up a base because of climate change. The Voices climate policy is to shut down coal, oil and gas, yet drive electric vehicles powered by apparently magic.

Ms Daniel says climate change is causing mental illness in youth and promises a 60 per cent emissions reduction by 2030.

Her farming policy appears more focused on planting trees than growing food, seeking to “actively drive carbon sequestration via tree planting”.

The most high-profile of the elixirs is Warringah MP’s Zali Steggall – her major concern topping the nation being a “live music crisis” because “emerging local artists lack creative opportunities in Warringah”.

Zali Steggall. Picture: John Appleyard

This will come as a shock to Manly locals who have live music nightly. She also calls for a music commission, complete with a secretary, department secretaries, a whole complement of bureaucrats, to achieve what is usually thrown together by a few retirees or the local chamber of commerce.

“The United Nations recognises cultural participation as a right,” she says on her policy website.

Being an MP is not simply advocating on issues you are passionate about; it’s offering amendments to complex legislation, satisfying stakeholders across the divide, examining the consequences of your decisions, and convincing half the parliament to vote for it.

Their policy does not appear to have any mechanism or instrument of how they intend to influence anything except to shut agriculture and oil, gas and coal down.

They are offering magic cream in place of any policy depth that tells voters not just what they are going to do, but more importantly, how. Their game is to tell people what they want to hear regardless if they can do it and moralise that every party is nefarious and working against the aims of Australians.

Indi’s Cathy MacGowan was an independent who worked with the government, for example, to modify drought packages. She didn’t just do platitudes; she offered solutions. Her successor, Helen Haines, is another who offers detailed policy work and reaches out to all sides in her bid to legislate. In determining who formed government during the last hung parliament, former independent Rob Oakeshott took 17 days and 17 minutes of protracted negotiations to eventually side with Labor, as they were always going to do.

How long it will take 10 Rob Oakshotte’s who have promised more than Oil of Ulan ever did – it will be half a year until we have a government.

As we head to Dawn Services this long weekend, we are reminded of those on the top shelf who sacrificed everything to give us freedom and to be wary of glossy packaging promising miracles.