Australia is the poorer for the loss of Don Chipp, a rarity amongst politicians, a courageous and honest man. His death is another reminder that the old Australia is fading fast. There was a time when politicians (and others in public life) were essentially honest men and women who sometimes just needed a little reminder where the centreline of the straight and narrow was.
Hence the Democrats catchcry, "Keep the Bastards Honest", which Mr Chipp used to great effect. In the lexicon of Australian politics it ranks with "It's Time" and "Reds under the Bed". The Australian Democrats achieved great success under his leadership and in the years following by selling us the idea that the bastards could in fact be kept honest. Perhaps they were right at the time.
Unfortunately the modern Australia is fast becoming a 'first in, best dressed', 'if they believe it, it's true' kind of place where old fashioned honesty and the concept of a 'fair go' is not the bedrock on which our leaders' characters are built.
The fast-fading Democrats might do well to adopt the slogan inherent in our profile pic, "Stand up to the Bastards".
G.
1 comment:
Unfortunately what you say about the political life seems to be true, no matter if it is local, state or federal governments. We can only hope that human decency and honesty will change the attitude of our politicians, and the events over the last few weeks seems to indicate that this is happening.
Phillip Adams wrote an excellent article in the Weekend Australian Magazine on June 10-11 2006. Basically the article was about the feds coming up with a list of values for Australian schooling which listed 9 values including honesty, compassion, fair go, freedom etc. He then compared the feds track record again these values in regard to refugees. Not surprisingly, they did not conform to their own values.
He also mentioned a group called “A Just Australia” which provided almost $1million which seems to have gone into improvements in the treatment of asylum seekers. Anyone interested can contact “A Just Australia”. Their web address is www.ajustaustralia.com
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