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CRAIG COMMENTS |
Independants can deliver
8 March 2006
Like most Gippslanders, I have respected Peter Hall for the hard work he has put into representing Gippsland over many years and his honest attempts to be fair and reasonable. His recent comment column, however, seems to reflect some anxiety about his ability to win a seat under the renovated Legislative Council.
He cited the usual National Party rhetoric about me and my “Labor mates”. The Nationals -- still bitter over the loss of Gippsland East in 1999 – have claimed that Independent politicians can’t deliver. I have proved them wrong. I was faced with the task of convincing four governments that there was a desperate need to restore flows to the Snowy River. There was not a vote in it for any of them. This action stirred up debate about the whole question of water usage in this dry continent and to reassessment of where this nation was heading.
The National Party knows that I have delivered in this electorate so its MPs are questioning my status as an Independent MP. The Nationals in Canberra were recently given the right to a conscience vote on one issue. I have a conscience vote on every question put to Parliament.
My parliamentary voting record testifies to my independence. I do not hide behind a Party decision. The truth of the matter is that I value my vote in Parliament and vote accordingly. I vote not with a party, but onthe issue or legislation before the Parliament.
It is the job of MPs, as legislators, to do what they can to improve the laws of the state to make sure that the laws meet the needs of their constituents -- not to vote with or against any party purely for political reasons.
Like his colleagues, Peter needs to get over the decision of three Independents in 1999 to support a Labor Government. That decision was made in the light of results of a deferred election in one seat because of the death of a candidate and was endorsed at by-elections resulting from the resignation of both the Leaders of the Liberals and the Nationals, who put taxpayers to the expense of unnecessary by-elections. It was further endorsed by the 2002 general election that not only returned the Labor government, but gave it control of the Legislative Council as well. We all know that the Coalition does not like it, but that was a decision of the voters.
Peter trotted out the old argument that I needed Labor preferences to win in Gippsland East, but failed to mention that he has required preferences to win every election. Under the new system, Peter needs to demonstrate that the Nationals are not simply an appendage of the Liberals, but that they have sound and logical policies that will benefit the vast majority of Victorians. Otherwise, why should they vote National? Voters in the outer metropolitan area are not so self centred and short sighted that they will not respond to logical and sensible policies.
Unlike Peter, I do not have a large political party behind me to take care of organisational issues or to support me at elections. No-one pays $3,000 to have dinner with me or collects large donations from corporations and other metropolitan sources to fund my election campaigns. I can only win an election if voters understand what I am trying to do and share my belief that through hard work we can change the things that are wrong. It should not be any more of a challenge for Peter in the new Legislative Council than it is for me in Gippsland East.
