I would refer to the latest Howard statement setting out his plans for our future if we are stupid enough to re-elect his government at the next election.
He opens the statement expressing a desire to “press on with aspiration and fairness”, a most honourable aim but I fear that he isn’t aware of how fairness works.
To obtain fairness there must be a level playing field and the new Industrial laws do every thing possible to destroy a level playing field and create one sided competition. Howard claims to be a new system in the work force; however, I’m old enough to remember that when I first started work we had much the same situation and I believe that this was the catalyst that lead to the formation of the strong Trade Unions. Because the workers had been on the receiving end for so long, when the unions were formed they became very confrontational which in turn lead to the industrial problems of the 60’s and 70’s.
If Howard wasn’t so dogmatic in his desire to put the workers in their place, he would be wise enough to realize that a combined management/workforce is the only real way to go and obtain the fairness he expresses the desire to obtain.
In the second paragraph, Howard talks of “the rising tide of prosperity lifting all boats” and balancing the climatic problems. I presume that the reference to “lifting all boats “is intended to indicate that all the boats would lift equally i.e. we would all share in the national wealth fairly, if not equally.
Again you couldn’t argue with this ambition; however, in the last ten years of the Howard government, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened and the state education system has been almost decimated. Money has been invested in the private religious schools, but this does nothing to encourage advancement of our democracy. Religious education is the last thing we want to unite our nation, secular education which teaches facts not fiction and faith, is the only way forward in a multinational/religion population.
As to climate control, well for the first nine years of the Howard government it denied that global warming even existed and now that it has been forced to accept that global warming is a fact, it is only prepared to tackle the problem if it doesn’t jeopardize the economy. Howard hasn’t yet realized that the global warming is happening as a consequence of our prosperity and economic success, which, would indicate to any fool, that the only way to minimise, and turn back the trend of warming, is to reduce the race for more money, or to change the way in which that race is managed.
The problem of changing the manufacturing methods to suit changes in conditions, is not a new one and has been done before, e.g. when the industrial revolution came in and we got the automobile and steam train, the black smiths as a trade suffered a set back. However, eventually, the black smiths all became mechanics and from too many smiths it became not enough mechanics. I’m sure that the change to clean power generation will be accomplished and some will have to change their profession but in the long run, we will end up with a shortage of skilled staff in the new processes.
Howard then turns his attention to our national security and here he has been a disaster. The invasion of Iraq did more to give credibility to the terrorist movements than they would have believed possible, in fact they must have blessed the stupidity of the Bush, Blair, Howard alliance. Now we are involved in an illegal war with no obvious way out without admitting to the error of our first having invaded.
Furthermore, because we have done so much damage in Iraq and caused so many casualties, we are obliged now to do what we can to put that country back on a level footing. Not an easy job when the country is divided by such strong sectarian beliefs.
As for internal security, again the Howard government hasn’t moved beyond the Hitler level of thinking. Masses of jack booted well armed stormtroopers and police just do not stop terror activities. Hitler gave the SS and the Gestapo unlimited powers, they could wipe out whole villages if they thought that they were involved in anti German activities. But the people that were involved in the terror (then known as patriots), were not intimidated and were still able to successfully carry out their anti German activities.
By making us all fearful and afraid of our own shadows, the security of the nation is diminished. What we need is a vibrant population which is alert and watchful. I can remember that in the 2nd world war, the population didn’t quiver in fear but got out and worked towards victory. Perhaps Howard should try to encourage people rather than frighten them.
Unfortunately, the past ten years of lies and suppression of our civil liberties, has made me very sceptical of anything that Howard says. His behaviour as Prime Minister isn’t what I’d call an uplifting period, there is more money around and whenever the government talks of its success it means that it has a budget surplus. It forgets to mention that the schools, universities, hospitals are all just about busted and the aboriginal affairs are a disgrace and shows that Howard hasn’t improved his opinion of aborigines since his opposition to Marbo!
Furthermore, he talks of security but our transport infrastructure is just about on its last legs. If we want to move our new tanks from Victoria to the Northern Territory, they would have to go by boat, the roads and rail facilities just couldn’t bear the loads
Actually, I reckon that the Howard years have been a time of regression and rundown and eventually all that budget surplus will have to be spent, plus more, to re-establish all the run down services that have occurred during this disasterous period.