Talking Point: Campaign spin is thwarting real democracy
GREG BARNS is sick of political parties calling the tune for cardboard-cutout candidates.
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IT’S only a week and a bit old, but already the 2016 Federal Election campaign is manifesting the cancer of modern politics; insistence by the media and political parties on robotic candidates who mouth the platitudes fed to them by their control freak leaders and party handlers.
Last week the Canberra gallery, particularly the conservative elements of it, seized on some ALP candidates who have recently said they support onshore processing of asylum seekers.
There was even – wait for it, shock horror – a photo of ALP candidate Cathy O’Toole holding a placard supporting refugees.
The predictable, childish commentary and headlines of “Labor split on refugees” and how damaging this is to the ALP campaign was the result of all this “outing” of “deviant” ALP candidates.
The immaturity and vacuousness of the Canberra gallery and many mainstream media outlets is damaging our democracy. Essentially, it says that if a candidate from a political party dares express a different view on an issue of humanity such as Australia’s serial, systemic physical and mental abuse of asylum seekers, then this is somehow politically damaging.
That voters deserve only robotic candidates who parrot the lines of the political party, even if they personally think and know full well the policy is grossly inhumane or a lie, seems to be the attitude of many in the media.
No wonder people are turned off by election campaigns in Australia.
Instead of alarmist headlines when candidates have different views from their party on important issues like asylum seekers, the Canberra gallery and mainstream media should be celebrating evidence that members of political parties are allowed to think for themselves, and articulate views that do not accord with the orthodoxy imposed on them by poll-driven cynical hard heads in the party HQ.
We also ought demand an end to compulsory voting in Australian elections. Why should voters bored to within an inch of their lives over the course of two months or so be forced to tick a box in favour of a candidate or party who has provided nothing other than policy offerings that are as tasty as a cardboard sandwich?
Surely we want candidates in the ALP who oppose that party’s spineless support for the Liberal Party’s cruelty to asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru? If there were more candidates for the ALP who had the intellectual courage and moral compass to argue for onshore processing and fair treatment, it might be a political party worth voting for in this election.
Election campaigns should be noisy and chaotic. One reason for the success of Bernie Sanders, the candidate running against the Wall Street-addicted Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, is because he generates freewheeling excitement.
The mainstream media hate it because they rely on the cut-and-paste approach to political reporting. You go to a party media conference or event, get spoon fed half-truth and spin and play a game to see whether you can trip up the politician and cause a “split” in the party message.
The idea of democracy is not to manipulate public opinion and stifle ideas and honesty. The cynics will say that is exactly what it is about, but we ought demand election campaigns stop insulting us with such tactics.
Citizens must demand honest answers and sensible debates. When a political candidate is reading from the spin sheet, people ought walk out. Why should individuals be treated to such banality?
Demand instead that the candidate deal with the particular issue from their perspective and knowledge. Make them acknowledge that their opponents are not wrong on everything any more than they are right on everything.
We also ought demand an end to compulsory voting in Australian elections. Why should voters bored to within an inch of their lives over the course of two months or so be forced to tick a box in favour of a candidate or party who has provided nothing other than policy offerings that are as tasty as a cardboard sandwich?
Politicians and candidates should have to earn votes. Why is Senator Sanders getting young Americans out in their millions to vote? Because he engages honestly with them. On the other hand why is Clinton’s support base a dubious arm-twisting machine? Because she cannot spell policy integrity.
Lawyer Greg Barns was an adviser to NSW Liberal premier Nick Greiner and the Howard government. Disendorsed as the Liberal candidate for Denison in 2002, he joined the Democrats. In 2013, he was Wikileaks Party adviser.
Originally published as Talking Point: Campaign spin is thwarting real democracy
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