Since Federation in 1901, they’ve swapped their support backwards and forwards between the Coalition, Labor and their predecessors. It’s been a good rort.
If threatened, they’ve briefly sidelined some democratic pretences. First Nations have often been on the receiving end.
The colonies and the Federation of Australia have never been independent. Check out Australia’s dodgy constitution. The people barely get a mention.
MPs swear allegiance to a foreign queen. Her unelected representatives have twice sacked elected leaders, once to benefit British interests and once to benefit US domination (via a CIA bloodless coup).
Outside that, the Liberal – Labor seesaw has worked well for the imperialist ruling class.
Paper thin
But deception is wearing thin. Ordinary people loathe those who say one thing and do another. Peter Garrett sang Midnight Oil's brilliant lyrics supporting the people, but had no faith in them. He thought the Labor Party was the way to bring about change.
Malcolm Turnbull was more paper thin. He ditched every policy that made him more electable than Abbott in return for the prime ministership. A hollow crown. He’s despised in his own party and by the wider population.
The Guardian’s Katherine Murphy: (https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/may/19/a-conservative-putsch-is-fast-turning-into-the-liberals-victorian-problem) “Malcolm Turnbull has been used as a recruitment tool, and not in a positive way. Conservative forces in the Victorian branch have used the rolling of Tony Abbott and Turnbull’s alleged progressivity as a rallying cry to recruit new members.
“An army is being raised in Melbourne’s outer-eastern suburbs with the objective of taking the Liberal party back from the Costello clique – the group that rose to a position of influence when Peter Costello was the most significant centre-right political figure in Victoria.”
This group is led by Marcus Bastiaan.
Katherine Murphy continues, “In the federal sphere, Bastiaan is aligned with conservatives” including “Michael Sukkar (an ambitious up-and-comer who has characterised party moderates somewhat colourfully as ‘socialists’ and ‘termites’).”
Quiet plan
Wondered why Malcolm Turnbull had to fund his own election? Here’s your answer. Key factions among the Liberals and their backers closed their wallets.
They aren’t conservatives. They want a radical move to the far right. Their very quietly touted plan is a one-term Shorten government followed by another Abbott-led coalition.
Abbott is now best mates with Pauline Hanson after being instrumental in her gaoling. Her supporters see her as a battler like them, despite her support for corporate tax cuts and attacks on workers, which she’s reportedly backed out of.
The sound of wallets closing has forced the Business Council of Australia (BCA) into action with a fighting fund to get corporate tax cuts now, rather than later. Capitalism impels corporations to put increased profits above all else. This is problematic for them.
Successive governments have fallen over themselves to serve the corporate inheritors of the British invasion.
Yet the BCA blames governments for crushing the rights of First Nations, for low wages, and the debacle called vocational “education”, for following the very policies corporations demanded; access to Aboriginal lands and privatisation.
The BCA and its members have spent considerable effort rebadging themselves as the human face of capitalism, but the fund to fight for tax cuts exposes open self-interest.
They’ll pretend tax cuts bring jobs and prosperity, but that’s a very big lie and a very hard sell, especially if Murdoch’s media empire break ranks and goes with the Coalition’s far right.
What’s the solution? One hundred and twenty thousand fired-up workers in Melbourne marched to support an independent working class agenda. Across Australia, May Day marches had a spirit of militancy and determination not evident in recent years.
Whether it’s Shorten or Turnbull or Abbott serving corporate rulers, the answer is the same. Unite. Organise. Fight.
And educate the people in their millions that capitalism will never, ever serve their interests.
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