Vale the Democrats
Come July 1st the Federal Senate will lose a party who, for 31 years, have fought for the environment, minority rights, peace, and strengthening of our democratic institutions. The Democrats, founded as a response to the Liberal Party’s lack of liberalism, failed to win a Senate seat at last year’s federal election and as such will bow out of the political arena, at least for now.
Natasha Stott Despoja, the former leader of the party who was famous for wearing Doc Marten boots to Parliament, did not contest her seat at the last election, choosing to spend more time raising her child. Noting in her final speech that Parliament House has a workforce more than 3000 strong yet no child care services, Stott Despoja says that Parliament is still the realm of white, middle-aged men but that the Democrats have tried to change that by voting for leaders of varying ethnicities, gender and sexuality (the Parliamentary leadership is chosen by the rank and file).
Stott Despoja is out for now, but she may be back. Still one of the youngest Senators, she could feasibly take ten to fifteen years off from parliament and return as either a member of another party or leading a recreated Democrats. I have a feeling that time away from the Senate won’t cool Stott Despoja’s political opinions or desire to effect change.
Queensland Senator Andrew Bartlett has confirmed that he will continue blogging after June 30 which sure is a relief because he’s always got something interesting to say. While we will no longer be able to rely on him for an analysis of the exact proceedings of various Senate sub-committees I don’t doubt that he’ll keep the Australian blog community a richer and more vibrant place with his analysis of events.
The passing of the Democrats leaves a bit of a power vacuum. The balance of power, which the Democrats held for so long, now passes to five Greens, Independant Nick Xenophon and Family First’s Steven Fielding. The Labor government will have no end of trouble getting legislation passed due to the fact that the Greens and Family First have quite different views and will push for amendments in opposite directions. The ALP might have to rely on support from the Liberals or Barnaby Joyce on a certain issue where previously the governments under Hawke and Howard could negotiate directly with the Democrats. Will the Greens be as open to negotiation as the Democrats were or will they be as unyielding as the media paint them?
With the ALP now becoming a more centrist party than centre-left, moving to the right to combat Howard, the position which the Democrats held doesn’t lend itself well to replacement. A centrist government will have to negotiate with a party on the left (Greens), one on the right (Family First) and an independant whose positions are not well known. In Western Australia, a former Liberal Shadow Minister has joined with Family First to create a new party “WAFamilyFirst.com” (no prizes for guessing where their website is). The Democrats were also created by the fusion of a minor party with a former high profile Liberal so it will be an interesting development to watch, particularly since Western Australia is due for an election soon and the ALP and Liberals are both plagued by scandal. Could WAFF be a new Democrats-style party?
