Viable Alternatives

One of the strongest arguments for my Presidency and corresponding Republic is that a career in politics tends to suck the creativity, honesty and life itself out of those who commit to it. This creates a situation where charismatic leadership is harder to find than justice at Guantanamo and the choice of candidates to lead the country (or state) is short and uninteresting (a little like the PM).

In NSW, as well as federally at the moment, this situation is all too apparent. Morris Iemma’s Labor government seems to be self destructing in recent weeks, with the sackings of Police Minister Carl Scully (after repeatedly misleading parliament) and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Milton Orkopoulos (on child sex charges). The cloud of corruption surrounding state Labor has continued to darken after allegations of domestic violence against (Blue Mountains candidate) Phil Koperberg, drink driving charges against (now withdrawn Port Stephens candidate) Aaron Beasley and repeated speeding fines for front bencher Kerry Hickey.

Plenty has already been written on each of these incidents and on the crisis facing the party, leading up to the March 2007 elections – which, they seem to be doing all they can to lose. There’s one compelling reason though why I think Morris will still be Premier next year: Peter Debnam. The Opposition Leader is widely known for his emotive outbursts and sound bites, surrounding delicate issues like the Cronulla Riots (lock the bastards and Middle East thugs up, etc) and glib one liners like “the public has a right to know” (which don’t mean anything). I wouldn’t trust him to run a coffee cart, let alone the state of NSW. Which leaves voters with a bleak choice: an increasingly corrupt Labor government or a Liberal one led by one-dimensional Pete?

The same parallels can be made federally, with the unelectable Beazley trying to unseat the increasingly cocky and powerful Libs. As a voter, it’s disillusioning. I want real choice returned to the ballot, and I want one of the choices to stand for integrity, leadership and maybe even some personality.