Paul1405,
Have you ever considered a career in the Armed Forces as cannon fodder ? Would your standard of abilities qualify you for that ?

First it would do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to improve accountability.
Aidan,
I didn't realise you're too young to remember when we did have accountability & better citizens !

Paul1405
There have been painfully few PMs or politicians who had any sort of long-term vision beyond the next election.

I can think of one in particular who wanted to "buy back the farm" so we could get all the profits from our mineral wealth instead of small-change royalties and create a sovereign wealth fund for the country.

He also saw the approaching petrol crisis of the seventies and wanted to make us energy self sufficient, constructing massive fuel storage facilities in Central Australia and criss-crossing the country with pipelines and even creating a national rail gauge standard just to name a few plans.

Unfortunately there were vested interests that prevented him from getting international finance and so Rex Connor looked elsewhere, but when that failed he still refused to give up on his vision, leading to his eventual downfall.

How many pollies have any sort of courage nowadays? The only time they look beyond the next election is when they are canvassing for their next job in the private sector or a lucrative government appointment.

Hi rache,

Gough Whitlam and the Labor Party did indeed have a great vision for Australia's future, but the spectacular downfall of the Whitlam government at the hands of the Septic Tank Murdoch, acting for powerful vested interests, meant that Labor was so cowed by that experience that none of its leaders, or the party itself has been willing to embrace such a vision since. Instead Labor has chosen to be the so called party of "reform" choosing to tinker at the edges, and work on the margins, rather than have the courage to stand up with conviction, and be counted as a true party of change.

Albanese may well win the election, Morrison may retain office, either result means jack sh!t to me. Whatever the result, it will be more of the same, but with a Labor win it would see a small change in emphases only.

I was a member of the Labor Party for about 20 years, before realising it had become populated by many small minded pinheads, more interested in winning for winnings sake, than implementing fundamental change for the betterment of society. The Greens are an improvement, but can be weak-kneed at times, some preferring to play the part of the John Cleese character "Reg" from 'The Life of Brian' than doing what should be done.

cont

cont

ps; I was once invited to attend a Liberal Party branch meeting back in the 70's, some fool though I was "new member" material, was he wrong, but I went along for the hoot anyway. Picture this, at the front was a table with a white linen table cloth, adorned with a photo of 'Pig Iron' Bob, and a very youngish 'Her Majesty'. Seated there were three older folk, the branch secretary, the treasurer and the branch president. The meeting was forgettable other than for near the end of the proceedings the chairman indicated to two old ladies it was time for them to retire to the back of the room and prepare the tea and Iced VoVo biscuits, the highlight of the evening. Some old bloke questioned me as to what I thought of that "frightful Communist Gough Whitlam"...with a cheery "I hope to see you next month" from the old fella, I departed, never to return. Do the Liberal's still serve Iced VoVo's at their branch meetings? If they do, I might go along.

Gough's biggest problem was that he wanted to spend the proceeds of the great post-war economic expansion, without ever understanding how or where that expansion came from. So when the economic good-times began to unravel, poor ol' Gough hadn't the faintest idea what to do about it.

The appropriate response would have been to pare back some of his grandiose ideas instead of carrying on regardless in the hope, and nothing more than hope, that things would somehow pick up.

In the end he merely succeeded in throwing vast numbers of those he purported to be trying to help into unemployment and economic misery.

He wasn't overthrown by Murdoch or the CIA or whatever other bogey-men the left conjure up, but by the Australian people saying "enough". And they said it again in 1977.

As to silly old Rex Connor, he certainly had a vision. He wanted to create a vast ministry that would control all of Australia's mineral wealth and energy requirements. The type of 'vision' that made the USSR what it is today! Part of Rex's problem was that his 'vision' vastly exceeded his abilities, resulting in him being utterly hoodwinked by some charlatan from the Middle East. Struth, even Gough saw how hopeless Rex was and got rid of him. When even Gough sees through a 'comrade'. he's gotta be bad.