‘I feel so powerless,’ a friend said.
It’s an understandable sentiment in the face of tragic situations out of our individual control, but there are things people can do to effect change, especially when we come together as a community.
There’s no need to throw up your hands in despair and perhaps opt out. You have a considerable amount of power, even within the current flawed system, and need to use it.
When I was a member of the NSW Legislative Council, representing everyone in the state, I received very few representations from constituents.
If just half a dozen people contacted me spontaneously on an issue, I knew it was really important and my team and I swung into action.
It’s not surprising people are turned off by politics, and don’t participate as much as they could. The slanging match and point scoring between the major parties is so divisive and off-putting.
Also, there’s the smell of corruption around political donations.
Traditionally, about 70 per cent of voters vote as they always have. It’s quite tribal. They identify as Labor, National or Liberal and vote that way. Ironically, they so often vote against their own interests.
This is so obviously the case, for instance, for those who support Donald Trump. He pretends to care for battlers oppressed by ‘the elites’ and yet, he is an archetypal member of those same elites. He’s (currently) a billionaire, who lies constantly, and is facing 88 criminal charges. His key support comes from those he cares least about!
Fortunately, in Australia we have the preferential voting system that gives minor parties and independents a chance to be elected. The major political parties rely on blind loyalty, and when elected to government, are heavily influenced and funded by lobby groups.
MPs, when in government, are no longer individuals representing constituents like you and me. They toe the party line.
Labor MPs who vote against the party in a division are liable to expulsion. Liberal and Nationals MPs are at least allowed a conscience vote, but rarely use it.
As a Democrat and then independent for seven years, I didn’t have to toe the party line. I could make decisions on behalf of constituents and propose amendments to legislation on their behalf, many of which were successful.
You may have noticed how young people, wanting their futures to be taken into account when it comes to decisions about the climate emergency, didn’t go to the government or opposition, but to independent Senator David Pocock.
Senator Pocock is not bound by party discipline and shares the balance of power in the Senate.
He can speak out on behalf of young people and others, without fear of retribution. It’s the same with other independents and Greens. They don’t take donations from fossil fuel giants and other dubious large corporations.
Nearly a third of voters now no longer support a major party.
Despite Albo fending off the reactionary forces in the Dunkley by-election, and retaining the seat for Labor – partly because of his politically bold tax changes – Labor may have difficulty in retaining majority government at the upcoming election.
Gina Rinehart and the ‘Advance Australia’ organisation she supports reportedly wasted $300,000 trying to get voters in Dunkley to put Labor last on the ballot paper. They didn’t.
No doubt, she will invest a modest few millions of her 30 plus billion dollars to protect her interests and those of other billionaires at the next election. That, and the scare campaign Peter Dutton will drum up, may well cause the Labor vote to dip.
It’s quite likely the teals and Greens will end up holding the balance of power in both houses. In my view, that would be a great outcome for democracy. The voices of ordinary people will be louder and taken into account more under that scenario.
At our local level, we have the community coming together en masse opposed to the shocking Wallum development.
Will they succeed, as the community did at Bentley, when fracking was stopped in its tracks?
How many of those councillors who effectively voted to allow the development to proceed will be reelected at the local government elections on September 14 this year? That will be an interesting test of public sentiment.
We do have power, as citizens, to make change, whether it be on the climate crisis or vital local issues.
Corps need customers
As I said to this friend who despaired at being powerless, we also need to remember that corporations can’t exist without customers.
So make your custom count. McDonald’s has been hit by a combination of boycotts and budget-squeezed customers. Cage egg sales have plummeted, as fewer customers support cruel hen batteries.
Corporate renewable investments declined last year, but individual householders are leading the renewable power revolution.
As the revolutionary saying goes: ‘The People United Will Never Be Defeated!’
♦ Richard Jones is a former NSW MLC and is now a ceramicist.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
