Many prominent Australians recognise the importance of the Democrats, particularly our role in the Senate. Here is what they have to say.
Frank Brennan - Human rights lawyer
Open letter from ten Victorian women
Greg Bloomfield - FairGO Director
Friends of the ABC
Bobby Whitfield - President, Queensland African Communities Council
Alastair Nicholson -
Retired Family Court judge
Yassmin Abdel Magied - Muslim youth advocate
Phillip Adams -
Journalist for The Australian
Helen Caldicott -
Anti-nuclear campaigner
David Bradbury - Documentary filmmaker
Anne Summers -
Author and journalist
Julian Burnside QC -
Human rights lawyer
Assoc. Prof. Mary Crock -
Lecturer, University of Sydney
Robert Pask,
Bronwyn Morkham &
Alan Blackwood
Professor John Warhurst -
Lecturer, Australian National University
Chaman Shah Nasiri - Afhgani refugee
Peter Botsman -
Editor, Australian Prospect
Dr Nick Economou -
Lecturer, Monash University
Norman Abjorensen -
Lecturer, Australian National University
Michael Kennedy -
Director, Humane Society International
Warren Talbot - Sexual Health and Family Planning Australia
Frank Brennan talks about Senator Andrew Bartlett
Greg Bloomfield
FairGO Director
Voters from all over the country have valued...Senator Lyn Allison's assistance on many issues, particularly mental health, refugees and migration, parenting, child care funding, alcohol labelling, the environment, debt forgiveness, anti-terror laws and fair trial for David Hicks. A very consistent advocate for voters, Sen. Allison has risen from 4th best Political Performer in the 2004 ratings to 2nd place in 2007.
Mary Crooks
Dur-e Dara OAM
Dr. Ann Morrow
Barbara Spalding
Angela Munro
Helen Halliday
Carey Lai
Carolyn Ingvarson
Dr. Helen Kuhse
Deborah Hart
We value our independence. None of us is a member of any political party. But we know a good woman when we see one.
Lyn Allison is an exemplary senator. She works tirelessly on the full gamut of major issues of concern to women – the war in Iraq, urban water management, uranium mining, climate change, mental health, assistance to asylum seekers, an independent ABC, the sexualisation of young girls in advertising, overturning of the veto on RU486, child care and paid maternity leave, and gynaecological cancer, to name only a few.
In opposition, the ALP, Democrats and Greens have been
strong supporters of the ABC's political and commercial independence, with the Democrats especially having a sound
knowledge of issues concerning the ABC and a long record of promoting and defending it.
It is hard to overstate the importance of the Democrats since their foundation. They provided a real alternative to the two major parties during periods when there was a danger that the position of the individual would be subsumed by machine-like politics.
“It is hard to overstate the importance of the
Democrats since their foundation.”
The Democrats have also been instrumental in calling public attention to human rights issues, which the present government in particular has not only ignored but effectively abandoned in so many areas. During my term as Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia, it was my practice to brief major parties on family law issues, and throughout I found the Democrats to be the most receptive to discussion on these important matters. It is to be hoped that they will continue to play their important role in the future.
Yassmin Abdel Magied supports Senator Andrew Bartlett
Phillip Adams
Journalist for The Australian
I remember it as though it were yesterday — Don Chipp taking young Adams to lunch to tell me of his plans (hopes? dreams?) to start the Democrats. A wildly improbable, even insane, undertaking. But it happened — and it turned out to be eminently sensible. Though otherwise engaged (in a love–hate relationship with the AL bloody P), I was enthralled by the new party’s impacts and achievements.
Many of its too many leaders became friends — and on a good day, and the party had many good days, the Democrats were great for our democracy. Without them, Australian politics would have been even more mendacious and mediocre, more sleazy and cynical. That’s why I’d like the Dems to rise again, refreshed from their sabbatical. You’ll never keep the bastards honest — that’s an impossible task — but you can dramatise their deceits and duplicities.
Helen Caldicott
Anti-nuclear campaigner
Ever since Don Chipp left the Liberal Party to form the Australian Democrats to ‘keep the bastards honest’, the Democrats have indeed played a vital role to do just that. The Democrats have been a leveller, a trustworthy party throwing the spanner between the two major parties, as they succumbed to political and corporate pressures while not necessarily representing the best interests for their constituents — the Australian people.
“The Democrats have been a leveller, a trustworthy party
throwing the spanner between the two major parties.”
On my issues, uranium mining and all things nuclear, they have been consistently opposed, and in this way have been totally reliable — a rare phenomenon these days in Australian politics. On behalf of the Australian people, I salute the Australian Democrats and wish them well for a long and fruitful life in the future.
David Bradbury advocates a vote for Senator Andrew Bartlett
Anne Summers
Author and journalist
Thirty years ago a Liberal renegade, Don Chipp, fundamentally changed the political landscape of Australia with his decision to “keep the bastards honest” by starting a new, third party.
“The Australian Democrats are to be
congratulated
for… their accomplishments of the past three decades.”
It was an inspired decision and one that was utterly in keeping with the political times, since it catered to a large and growing group of centrists who were alienated by the Liberal Party but not willing to embrace the ALP. The Australian Democrats are to be congratulated for this milestone and their accomplishments of the past three decades.
Julian Burnside QC
Human rights lawyer
I have no connection with any political party; my vote changes from one election to another. The Democrats established themselves to “keep the bastards honest”. The Government asks us to trust it. It does not deserve our trust, because it has deceived the public so often and on so many issues.
“A strong Democrats presence in the
next parliament will help protect democracy.”
The Australian Democrats have been at the forefront of exposing the dishonesty of the Howard Government. Dishonesty in government threatens democracy itself. A strong Democrats presence in the next parliament will help protect democracy, whichever of the two major parties wins government.
Julian Burnside Qc speaking on the importance of re-electing Andrew Bartlett to the Senate
Assoc. Prof. Mary Crock
Lecturer, University of Sydney
The Democrats have been a consistent voice for the dispossessed in the areas of immigration and refugee law in Australia. They have worked tirelessly both in Parliament and behind the scenes to soften the harshness of the government’s refugee policy. Their quiet advocacy on behalf of individuals caught in the system often goes un-remarked. In the public domain, their stand on refugees and on the rights of families to be reunited has been strong and consistent.
“The Democrats have not wavered in
their adherence to basic principles of justice and human rights.”
In the heat of the sometimes violent debates which have seen refugees in this country reviled and mistreated, the Democrats have not wavered in their adherence to basic principles of justice and human rights. Although I have never been a member of any political party, I am personally proud of their achievements and strength of character in this area.
Robert Pask- Disability advocate
Bronwyn Morkham - Carer and advocate for young people in nursing homes
Alan Blackwood - Policy manager and carer
The Democrats have been active advocates for disability and health issues over a long period
Senator Allison in particular recognised the injustice of young people living in nursing homes long before it finally became visible on the media and policy agenda and worked to stop the Government buck passing that has characterised this issue, as well as the many issues facing carers. She has always been available to families living with disability and has worked to make sure these issues were properly addressed in recent Senate inquiries that that called for reform to disability services.
Senator Bartlett has also worked in this area having spoken many times about the difficulties faced by people with autism spectrum disorders and their families, something that has only recently come to prominence in the election campaign.
The Democrats have performed a positive role in pursuing community issues that are rarely glamourous but need to be directly addressed by Government.
Professor John Warhurst
Lecturer, Australian National University
The Australian Democrats have made a unique contribution to Australian political life over the past 30 years. Among the many contributions five stand out for me:
The first is longevity. No minor party has made such a parliamentary contribution over 30 years. The Democrats have now surpassed the Democratic Labor Party in this regard.
“The Australian Democrats have made a
unique contribution to Australian political life
over the past 30 years.”
The second is balance of power. There is no equivalent to the role the Democrats have played in the Senate for more than 25 years balancing the two major parties and improving their legislation by moving it away from the extremes.
The third is the Democrats’ substantial contributions to many policy areas, including the environment, equal opportunity, education, war and peace, and government honesty and transparency.
The fourth is internal party democracy. No other party has done more to empower its members through participatory democracy in policy development and leadership selection.
The fifth is through giving party leadership positions to many women. The record is remarkable in an environment in which men dominate the leadership positions in the major parties.
Chaman Shah Nasiri supports Senator Andrew Bartlett
Peter Botsman
Editor, Australian Prospect
The internal democracy of the Australian Democrats is a modern-day miracle. It holds up, despite the unenlightened understanding of the media, in a context where the majority of other Australian political parties are increasingly dominated by corporate donations, and are increasingly distant from their own membership.
“The internal democracy of the
Australian Democrats is a modern-day miracle.”
Let us hope that in the 2007 election more Australians come to understand just how important the Australian Democrats, and the accountability of the party to the membership, are for Australian politics as a whole.
The challenge of the Democrats is the challenge of our times and that is to create a radical democracy which is also effective as a leading national organisation and enterprise. The bumps are always going to be there, but sooner or later too, the triumph of a truly new politics must come.
Dr Nick Economou
Lecturer, Monash University
The resurrection of the Senate’s reputation as a parliamentary chamber of review and as an institutional check on the power of cabinet and the prime minister was a major legacy of the emergence of the Australian Democrats and its ability to win sufficient upper-house seats to hold the balance of power (sometimes in conjunction with other minor party and/or independent senators) in elections up until 2004. By formulating an approach designed to utilise the review function assumed to be performed by upper houses in Westminster parliaments but refusing to use the Senate’s constitutional powers that had been used in 1975, the Democrats did much to enhance the role of the political debate in the Senate.
“Governments might not have liked it, but
the check-and-balance role played by the Democrats
in the Senate did have the benefit of creating
policies with a wider base of social support.”
With the assistance of Democrats senators, the upper chamber also became a place where ideas could be floated that might have an impact on policy further down the track. In the early 1980s, for instance, Australian Democrats senators moved a bill to have the Commonwealth use constitutional powers to protect world-heritage-designated properties from development at the hands of the states. After its election to office in 1983, the Hawke government used this bill to prevent the inundation of the Franklin River. Interestingly, the Democrats’ performance in the Senate highlighted the capacity the upper house has to be a meaningful player in the national debate to other political groups who would, in time, form parties with the intention of winning Senate seats.
This has contributed to the notion that the Democrats have been under siege not so much from the major parties but from a host of other minor parties who have also been able to win upper-house representation while the total number of Democrats seats has declined over time.
It remains to be seen if this decline will continue, particularly in the light of how the governing parties have approached the policy debate since winning its upper-house majority. Unlike the mitigating influence the Democrats had on the government’s enthusiasm for the GST, the pursuit of quite radical industrial relations policies lacked a moderating counter-argument to make them more acceptable to the electorate. Governments might not have liked it, but the check-and-balance role played by the Democrats in the Senate did have the benefit of creating policies with a wider base of social support.
Norman Abjorensen
Lecturer, Australian National University
The party’s remarkable record in its 30 years of existence makes it the most successful minor party in the history of federation. In its heyday, it influenced policy both responsibly and constructively, and with few exceptions its Senate representation has been of an extraordinarily high calibre — and especially so when pitted against the plodding party hacks from both sides of politics (with a handful of exceptions) who inhabit that dismal chamber.
“The [Democrats] remarkable record in its
30 years of existence makes it the most
successful minor party in the history of federation.”
Australians politics will be the poorer without the Democrats, founded as they were in 1977 from the remnants of disillusioned Liberals who had drifted into the short-lived Australia Party and the South Australian-based Liberal Movement.
The Democrats never sought power for its own sake and this gave them a moral ascendancy that was seldom squandered. Collectively, they transformed the Senate to much the same extent that the reforming Labor senator Lionel Murphy had done a generation earlier, ensuring that it was not merely obstructive nor was it a rubber stamp of government (as it is now).
The Australian Democrats have consistently raised unpopular issues and have sought to ensure that the Senate operated as a genuine house of review, dealing with each item of legislation on its merit. This change represented a significant plus for the health of Australian political life. The late Don Chipp’s memorable phrase of being there “to keep the bastards honest” resonated with many Australians for a time.
Alone of the parties, the Democrats were beholden to no interest group. Unlike the Liberal Party, especially under John Howard with its craven capitulation to business, or the union nexus of the Labor Party, or even the Greens to the environmental lobby, the Nationals to monied rural interests and Family First to its evangelical religious roots, the Democrats stayed above the grubby fray — a source of both strength and weakness. They were a genuine party of the people, and far and away the most internally democratic of all the parties, but their appeal was spread too generously for them ever to find a permanent home.
Michael Kennedy
Director, Humane Society International
The Australian Democrats were responsible for passing the most far-reaching national environment laws in Australia’s history, major evidence of their critical role in maintaining democracy in the Australian Senate.
Warren Talbot
Sexual Health and Family Planning Australia
In our view, you (Senator Lyn Allison) have been a forceful advocate in the Parliament for women and men’s SRH, and that record will remain, regardless of the outcome of the 2007 election.
