Madam Speaker, honoured
political representatives of this most beautiful continent -
perhaps the most beautiful of seven, and the largest island in
the world. We, the undersigned, nominated by the Australian
people in order to represent thir views to the parliament, quote
the words of the Hon. Kevin Rudd, MP, Member for Griffith (Qld),
who said in his first Speech To Parliament (11/11/1998):
"Politics is about power.
It is about the power of the state. It is about the power of the
state as applied to individuals, the society in which they live
and the economy in which they work. Most critically, our
responsibility in this parliament is how that power is used:
whether it is used for the benefit of the few or the many. In
this my first speech I want to speak on the fundamental
principles that I believe should govern the exercise of
political power and the reasons, therefore, that I am a member
of the Australian Labor Party and why I have sought election to
this parliament. I want to speak on how these beliefs shape my
approach to some of the great policy challenges now facing the
nation. I also want to speak on some of the practical problems
facing the local community that it is now my privilege to
represent in this place. I believe that ideas are important.
Ideas shape behaviour—the behaviour of governments, of
bureaucracies, of business, of unions, of the media and of
individuals. As Keynes wrote in his General Theory: The ideas of
economists and political philosophers, both when they are right
and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly
understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical
men, who believe themselves to be exempt from any intellectual
influences, are usually the slave of some defunct economist.
"Debate, therefore, about fundamental ideas, particularly ideas
about the proper role of the state in the economy and society,
is critical to an informed discussion about policy. For nearly a
decade now it has become fashionable to accept the death of
ideology, the triumph of neoclassical economics, the politics of
convergence and the rise of managerialism. Put crudely, it is
the view that, because parties of the traditional Right and
traditional Left have now moved to some mythical place called
the `Centre', all that is left is an essentially technocratic
decision between one team of managers against another, both
operating within a common, or at least similar, mission
statement. Politics on this argument becomes little more than
theatre—a public performance necessary to convince the
shareholders at the AGM that the company needs new management.
"I disagree, and I disagree fundamentally. I believe that there
remains a fundamental divide between our two parties on the
proper role of the state in a modern economy and society. This
government's view is a minimalist view of the role of
government. It is a view that holds that markets rather than
governments are better determinants of not only efficiency but
also equity. It is a view that is often described as
neoclassical, but on closer inspection there is much less Smith
and much more Hobbes and his particularly bleak view of human
nature. It is Friedman, it is Hayek and most recently it is
popularised in Daniel Yergin's tract celebrating the demise of
government at the hands of the market. I learned to disagree on
a world view and politics.
"It is a view that now dominates the treasuries of the nation -
both Commonwealth and state - and their combined orthodoxy that
a good government is a government in retreat—retreat from any
form of ownership, retreat from most forms of regulation and
retreat from responsibility for the delivery of as many services
as possible. It is a view which says, in effect, that
governments are the enemies of freedom while failing to reflect
on the fact that markets look to governments to regulate them to
ensure their proper functioning. If you wish to read more,
please click.
Madam Speaker, we, the seven members of the
Preamble Committee, wish to express our gratitude to both houses of
parliament, in order to invite we scholars, and business leaders of the
community, to addresses both houses. They, and we, might, as might you
and I, Madam Speaker, in the words which
Jeremy Buckingham
said, in a roundabout way, agree sometimes to disagree.
Madam Speaker, we suggest that all paragraphs
of the current Constitution remain unaltered. In our view, no Australian
would ever do something againt his or her own self interests. We, being
Aussies, know that they wouldn't be such idiots.
We extol the Australian institution of
mateship, a word coined by Henry Lawson (please Search at
wilsonsalmanac.com, if you haven't worked out the stupid thing yet). And if the
planet should look like being destroyed in the next few decades, by
asteroids, global warming, nuclear waste, tsunamis, or anything at all,
may Aussie mateship see us all survive and succeed. With permaculture
and cooperation, we shall endure, and triumph, and no longer have to go
to work. And we'll be in a position to tell the fascists to all get knotted.
Sorry, your worship, or your warship. Or WTF,
whatsoever.
Thank you, Madame Speaker. I dips me lid and
tugs me forelock, living in the wrong place at the right time. (Trying,
heh, heh!) We wish all that religious/spiritual stuff upon youse all.
All youse ascended blokes.
Your honour, we're all sorry, but you, to us (I
mean 'we'), seem to be an idiot too. I doubt you could passed
Playlunch and Assembly at primary school, let alone a torturous school oval run around a
block as big as at Penno Primary and Normanhurst Boys' High School
combined. But you're a pretty good bloke. Ma'am. So vote for the fool thing,
blokes, whatever the damn fool thing is, if it's got some brains.
Anyways, nearly time for Happy Hour, maybe the Ode. Drink up. Cheers.
Hon. Pip Wilson, Member for Wilsonsalmanac.com.
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