How has it happened that vital policies meant to dilute what's left of democracy in Australia are in the hands of a wacky Christian who garnered less than a mere 2 per cent of Victoria's vote in the last election?
Steve Fielding, the Family First (?) Senator, clearly has no bloody idea what he is doing. He cannot properly answer questions on why he has just voted for or against a bill. When pressed over and over for a reason, he can only say (as Misha Schubert puts it: like a doll that blurts out a handful of mindless recorded phrases when you pull a cord: "Look, Family First believes families are a foundation stone of our community."
Oh, yeah? Then why has he given James Packer's PBL carte blanche to expand its gambling empire?
And what was in it for families when he voted to outlaw compulsory student levies? That cynical policy had only one motive: to outlaw any possibility of left wing students having a forum for expression. The reality is an utter diminishment of student life, with universities cutting back on student services left, right and centre. How can that be good for families? It's doubtful Fielding had any idea what he was doing.http://www.bilegrip.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt.cgi?__mode=view&_type=entry&id=217&blog_id=2#
This morning, on Jon Faine's ABC radio show, Fielding actually did give a reason for passing the media bill. He claimed over and over that ownership does not influence content. Good Lord, he would have to be the only man alive who believes that.
Parliament is a joke when greenhorns like Fielding get elected. But when they wield pivotal power it is a tragedy.
-- Olney Garkle
Further Link: Onus is on Fielding to explain himself
And a letter to The Age:
Media bill: Just who is the 'Judas' here?
So Federal Labor MP John Murphy likens Family First senator Steve Fielding to Judas Iscariot for supporting the Government's media bill (The Age, 19/10). The bill is doubtless a bad one and democracy will suffer as media diversity is further decreased. It is indeed difficult to know how further aid to the media barons sits with Family First's values.
However, Mr Murphy and federal Labor must remember that Mr Fielding is a problem of their own making. Mr Fielding has his Senate seat only because of an unprincipled and incompetent preference deal between the ALP and Family First in which the ALP directed preferences to Family First ahead of the Greens. So it is a bit rich when he derides Mr Fielding as Judas. Who betrayed his own party's membership, Mr Murphy? No ALP member I know thinks that Family First is ideologically closer to their views than the Greens are.
Labor members who have had a gutful of the righteous hypocrisy of Mr Murphy and rest of the ALP machine can also cry "Judas!" loudly and clearly. It's pronounced "Greens 1, Labor 2" on your next ballot paper. -- Dirk Baltzly
