The weeks leading into the federal election were
spent in a state of nervous optimism. Making final phone calls to get polling booths manned with volunteers. Picking up boxes of how to vote cards and A-frames. And sharing many articles on the dire predicament of anthropogenic climate warming in the hope of waking up a complacent population. There was a sense of change going into election day. That finally we progressives would be represented in government. That some of our concerns may be, at least partially addressed. Polling day in a blue ribbon Liberal electorate is always going to be challenging, but the other volunteers were pleasant, and most voters courteously offered greetings to all of us. There was a moment so ridiculously entitled as to be almost satire. A young father whispered to his child ‘They’re the people trying to steal all Daddy’s money’ as he gestured to the progressive side of the volunteer line-up.
Still, the exit polls looked good. Tony Abbott was sent packing. The mood was jovial. And then the sentiment quite suddenly became alarmed and desperate. Labor wasn’t going to form majority government. They weren’t even going to win. And so, we have more of the same for the next three years, even as we stare down the face of a climate emergency so dire that it poses an existential threat to our species.
We need climate action now. We need to stop polluting. We need to stop destroying habitats. We need to move to renewable energy. The science is very clear on this. If we don’t do it, then the world will become far less hospitable. We will create billions of climate refugees, we will have food and water insecurity, there will be conflict and many species will become extinct. And yet, we are forced to watch our own government deferring to climate change deniers within its own ranks, to mega-rich mining executives, to big polluters, and to a hostile and controlling right wing media. There will be no action, and we are left to ponder what kind of planet our children will inherit.
If you happen to be a minority, things look grim for you too. Big Australia has deemed the status quo entirely satisfactory; especially if you are heterosexual, white, older, affluent and male. If you identify as LGBQTI then you are probably still reeling from the indignity of the same-sex marriage plebiscite. But there’s probably worse to come. The government is very keen to prevent religious discrimination (particularly if that religion is the intolerant version of Christianity), but is not so keen to protect the rights of LGBT school students or their teachers. If you happen to be a muslim, then your religious freedoms are unlikely to be as well protected. One Nation looks likely to add the conspiracy theorist Malcolm Roberts to the senate, and there is no nuance in the way that party approaches Islam. If it’s not an attack on the way muslim women dress, it may be the constant implication that muslims are terrorists, the failure to acknowledge the condemnation of terrorism from Islamic groups, and the politics of fear that pits ‘the other’ against ‘us’.
The poor perhaps fare worst of all. A vote for the Coalition has always been a vote for the big end of town, and this year it is no different. Wealth inequality in Australia is growing. The poorest half of Australia have less share of the pie than they did a decade ago. The big gains in wealth have been in the top 10% of income earners. If you’re unfortunate enough to be on NewStart, then you’re likely to be living in poverty. Newstart has been stagnant for 25 years, and our jobless population is the second poorest in the developed world. It would only take a small increase in Newstart to lift thousands of people out of poverty, boost the economy and make a dent in inequality. Surely that’s better for all of us?
The injustice in our own ‘lucky country’ persists in many other ways. Our offshore detention and treatment of vulnerable asylum seekers is our national shame. I sit at home furiously writing medical reports for these desperate people, pleading with politicians, attendings rallies – but nothing changes. These refugees are a convenient political football, and they play nicely into the islamophobic sentiment currently in vogue in Australia. Our indigenous people have suffered a near genocide, and yet we still refuse a voice to Parliament. We still do so little to close the gap.
If we could look overseas and see hope, perhaps the situation would feel less desperate. But of course, everywhere we look, we see populism, crassness, abuse of minorities, of refugees, of women. We see Trump and the heinous crimes he committed against refugee children. We see Bolsonaro, the Brazilian ‘Trump of the tropics’ who throws rape taunts at women, and refers to black activists as ‘animals’ who should ‘go back to the zoo’. We see Brexit, and the anti-immigrant fervour which led to that disastrous decision. We see the draconian and Gilead style abortion laws creeping through the southern states of the United States.
Australia, we need to take a long, hard look at ourselves. We really need to ask if franking credits, negative gearing and tax relief for high income earners should EVER be part of the discourse leading up to an election. Particularly when we have urgent environmental and social justice issues to address. We need to use our vote to advance our society, not just ourselves. We need to look at the insidious and dangerous lobbyists and private media which have altered our democracy. Our world is changing, and the worst thing we can currently do is retreat into ourselves. This government is now our lot for the next three years. Write letters, start petitions, protest and rally, defend the voiceless. We can make change without a change in government, but it’s going to be a lot of hard work.