It's just six months after the federal election and a few long days before 2017 begins. And I realise now it's not possible to hope for any politician from any major party – or even minor – to be a conviction politician.
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Yes, I know we usually identify conviction politicians with those who have conservative values. Thatcher. Reagan. They are the ones who jump to mind. What I'd very much like is an Australian conviction politician with progressive values. One who didn't pander to fear of refugees. One who didn't think it was OK to sponsor a program which holds asylum seekers in detention centres. Or ones who focus on the protection of the funding of private schools at existing levels. One who didn't sign off on cutting welfare for single parents.
It's got to the stage now where I hear the word bipartisan and it makes me feel queasy. It means that the politicians have colluded to come to some appalling consensus where no one's happy. Or, as that noted social philosopher and former NSW premier Barrie Unsworth said about a dispute on Sunday trading: "I think everybody walked away slightly unhappy and I have always said that's usually a good compromise."
But in the case of politics, compromise means we are often compromised. And so I can't see where I am going to find a conviction politician, which makes it really hard for me to act on one particular new year's resolution of mine. Yes, this year, no matter which election I'm voting in: local, state, federal, any association, organisation or union of which I'm a member, I plan to be a conviction voter.
Just a pilot test of this thesis shows me just how hard that will be.
On Christmas Eve, I heard news of the death of yet another asylum seeker, Faysal Ishak Ahmed, a 27-year-old Sudanese refugee, after he fell and then had a seizure at the Manus Island detention centre in PNG. He was, I think, the seventh asylum seeker to die in custody, although the word custody implies care and there is none here. I can't see any politician from the major parties coming out with what would be an excellent Christmas present – taking responsibility for these deaths and promising that this will never happen again.
So, no serious commitment to protecting lives of asylum seekers, except those who may die at sea. Once they get here, no main party politician gives a shit.
Here's another one where it's too hard for politicians to have a conviction (unless they never have the chance to get elected). At the federal election, it's nearly impossible to vote for anyone who throws the shoulder directly behind public education. Instead, you get a bunch of politicians so desperate to hold on to the vote of those who send their children to private schools, that they refuse to say they will back any move to cut funding to those institutions. Even when those schools have money in the bank. Even when those schools are building glorious monuments to private schooling. Even when they have freaking swimming pools just 500 metres away from the nearest public pool (and yes, you can book an entire public pool for a swimming carnival. Public schools do that all the time).
So, how do we become conviction voters? Well, it might mean all becoming members of parties and voting to preselect those standing in particular seats. If you live in Queensland, you may wish to move to the seat of Dickson, where the current sitting member is Peter Dutton, the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. He's already suffered a 5 per cent swing against him at the most recent federal election so it's possible that the party itself may recognise it's on a losing wicket and be ready to move on Dutton at the next preselection. Join here to get rid of the bloke who attacked a public school for singing "we wish you a happy holiday" at an end of year concert, when in reality, the school had held an entire Christmas carol concert at another time.
Scott Morrison's numbers might be too good for the citizens of the NSW electorate of Cook. Perhaps you can help them change their minds. Move to the Shire and befriend a Morrison supporter.
Vote for politicians who support a decent working national disability scheme. Who support improvements to the funding of public schools. Who support regular increases to pension payments. Who don't want to incarcerate asylum seekers. Vote for politicians who will work with others to make this possible and not vote just in their own self-interest; because that's not in the national interest.
So that turns out to be my advice for the new year. Join a political party. Yep. Liberal. Labor. Greens. That way you get to have a say on those who represent the national interest.
Think you can fix Labor? Join here http://www.alp.org.au/joinlabor Or believe the Greens have the answer. Join here http://greens.org.au/join And when you find out who they are, let the rest of us know. To be conviction voters we need to have politicians who have conviction and morality.
Twitter: @jennaprice
