Why I’m Voting Labor

This column is the first instalment of Junkee’s ‘Why I’m Voting‘ series. We asked five politically-minded writers — some with official ties, others without — to convince us, in 1000 words, to vote for their preferred party. Representing five different parties, each writer worked to the same brief and submitted their column on the same day; the following article represents the writer’s views — not the view of the party, not the view of this website, and not the view of every single person who votes that way.

–

Elections are wonderful things. They allow us, as a nation, to loudly declare what sort of country we want to be, what our aspirations should be, and what our values are. They are a time for ambition, for bold ideas, for charismatic leaders to inspire the nation with visions of the future. But ultimately they are about trust, and governance, and about who you want making the tough decisions.

Which is why I’m voting for the Labor Party this Saturday.

1. Labor’s extraordinary record in government

The past six years of Labor government have been defined not just by prudent management, but also by ambitious and forward-thinking programs and reforms that will ensure Australia remains prosperous, and better able to care for its citizens, including:

–          putting a price on carbon, which has already had a marked impact on emissions, while not costing the average taxpayer a cent;

–          the schools stimulus package, a key part of the response to the Global Financial Crisis;

–          the apologies to the Stolen Generations, former child migrants and the victims of forced adoption policies, and the establishment of the Royal Commission into child abuse in public institutions;

–          the rollout of the National Broadband Network, which will not only deliver you your Game of Thrones torrents almost-instantly, but has the potential to profoundly improve the delivery of essential services to rural areas;

–          the establishment of the National Disability Insurance Scheme;

–          the Gonski school reforms, which represent the largest investment in education in decades;

–          establishing the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, something governments have been promising (and failing) to do for decades;

–          incorporating basic dental services for children into Medicare;

–          reaching a formal agreement to hold annual meetings between the Prime Ministers of China and Australia, which cements our significance as a regional power;

–          recognising same-sex relationships in a number of policy areas, such as in taxation, health, employment, superannuation and aged care.

Plus much more that you can read about over here.

Under Julia Gillard alone, the 43^rd Parliament of Australia passed a record 580 bills – 87% of which received Opposition support. This remarkable achievement largely comes down to Gillard, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor, who committed to a minority government and went about governing with dignity, compassion and cooperation.

2. Because of this Labor government, Australia’s economy is among the strongest in the world

Labor’s stewardship of our economy through the GFC has seen us emerge from the worst global economic conditions since the Great Depression with the strongest economy in the developed world. (Certainly this was greatly aided by our good fortune to have things buried in the ground that China wanted to buy, as well as strong economic management by successive governments beforehand.)

Many overseas commentators, notably Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, have expressed their horror that the Coalition is advocating austerity despite the disastrous consequences of that policy in Europe, and the fact that Australia’s current economic strength is based on the Labor government doing the exact opposite to austerity.

And despite Mr. Abbott’s relentlessly negative messages about out-of-control rises in Australians’ cost of living, the current Labor government has presided over the smallest cost of living increase in 25 years.

3. The Coalition don’t deserve to win

Mr. Abbott’s time as Opposition Leader has been marked by relentless negativity, and contempt for Australia’s system of government. His party’s policies are threadbare, and they have refused to tell the public how much the policies would cost – an astonishing display of hubris when economic management has been such a central plank of their anti-Labor argument. Mr. Abbott has also demonstrated contempt for journalists who have tried to make him answer reasonable questions: who can forget his 28 seconds of silence, or the way he reacted to both Leigh Sales and Lisa Wilkinson attempting to get a straight answer from him?

Some of the Coalition’s policies are absurd: like the “direct action” climate policy that will either (a) cost far, far more than has been budgeted for it, or (b) actually increase our emissions; or Mr. Abbott’s alternative model for the NBN, which aims to provide a top download speed in 2019 that would be considerably slower than the speed already available in many countries.

Furthermore, can you imagine Mr. Abbott representing Australia on the world stage? Just in the past month he insulted Indonesia by suggesting the Australian government buy fishing boats from Indonesian villagers so they could not be used by people smugglers, and he described the civil war in Syria as “baddies vs baddies”. Compare this to Mr. Rudd, who speaks Mandarin, who worked as a diplomat for seven years, and who has actively positioned Australia to have major influence in world events; Australia has just taken up the rotating chairmanship of the United Nations Security Council, and as such will have a significant role to play in the eventual international response to Syria. Do we really want Mr. Abbott occupying this enviable position at the centre of world affairs?

4. We need to move on.

Finally, as Sean Kelly and others have pointed out, this election is as much a referendum on the past six years as it is about endorsing a plan for the future. If the Coalition wins government, Mr. Abbott will be justified in arguing that he has a clear mandate from the Australian people to repeal the carbon tax, to continue the race to the bottom on asylum seeker policy, to remove environmental protections, to slash the public service, to repeal the super profits tax on mining companies, to stymie more attempts at parliamentary recognition of same-sex marriages, to reduce the NBN to an international joke, and generally to undo all the significant reforms this Labor government has implemented.

Electing Mr. Abbott as prime minister will only serve to reopen all the arguments we’ve been having for six years; re-electing a Labor government will enshrine these reforms, and allow us to move on to bigger and better things.

– – 

There is no disputing the fact that the behaviour of the parliamentary Labor Party over several years has been embarrassing and disappointing, and the constant leadership speculation — coupled with cruel and inhuman treatment of asylum seekers — makes the ALP seem like a dysfunctional vipers’ nest. But for the most part, this is a government that has done remarkable things, and they deserve the opportunity to do more remarkable things.

–

Hugh Robertson is a Sydney freelance writer whose feelpinions on music, TV, film, politics or AFL you may have encountered in New Matilda, The BRAG and Faster Louder. Briefly on staff at The Global Mail, Hugh is now the Music Editor of Concrete Playground.