J-scribe

Voters will not just be casting their ballots as a judgement on economic management today; they should also be judging the Howard Government’s performance on social justice – that is, if they vote with their hearts and their consciences and not just with their hip pockets.

Tampa, Children Overboard, Rao, Solon, Haneef, Tran, the Iraq War…these familiar names and events are the consequences of Howard Government intolerance and injustice which should affect the Australian conscience enough to influence the election outcome. But these issues have barely rated a mention in the Opposition’s campaign, or in media coverage of the election. Where is the heart in this race?

It’s the absence of heart in Howard’s Australia that frightens me more than terrorism, more than rising interest rates, and much more than the prospect of a Labor front bench with several members who were once union officials!

This used to be a country that confidently defined itself through identification with equity, fairness and multiculturalism. Now our identity is characterised by greed and bland, monocultural representations of a faded, inglorious past. To refer back to my first j-scribe post: we all suffer from Howard's socio-cultural 'retro-form'. We suffer because the ostracism of minority groups further entrenches feelings of isolation and resentment within the communities affected. And, we suffer because we are collectively diminished by our tacit acceptance of new, narrow definitions of what it means to be Australian – definitions that make us more insular and culturally bland. We suffer because our government divides us rather than unites us.

I hope Australians listen to their hearts, not just their hip pockets in the polling booth today - for the sake of our collective soul.    [read more]