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Interesting battles between Rudd and Howard and Costello last week. Two main topics, Iraq and the economy. At first sight nothing in common between the two, but their relationship tells us a great deal about the Howard government, and perhaps about the coming federal election. At one level the two topics shared just the same old blather we have become so familiar with over the last 11 years. The Liberals see these as the two areas that the public think they are 'strong' on, so they keep hammering away pretending to believe that Labor is 'weak' on economy or defence. Mr Rudd is yelling back, determined to show he can beat his chest as loudly as Mr Howard, and respond to the usual nonsense about how he, Rudd, 'lacks guts' (remember how Beazley was supposed to 'lack ticker'? I suppose changing ticker to guts counts as originality among conservatives).
But there was another important similarity. The descriptions of Iraq and the economy both bore no relation to reality. They were both aimed at creating and maintaining perceptions, both talking about a world that has no link to the real world. The economy, you would think while listening to the government has been designed, by them, to make poor people richer while making the country richer. All over Australia, grateful recipients of new jobs with high salaries are praying while bowing towards Canberra, thanking the prime minister and treasurer for being so good to them. In reality of course the economy has been designed, by the government, to make the gap between rich and poor bigger and bigger, make giant corporations very rich indeed, cut government services to the poor, while finding them jobs with much worse conditions and increasingly poor work-life balance. Services like hospitals and schools and transport have been run down, while child care is increasingly expensive, and houses so high in price that young people can't afford them. The government ignores this and praises the stock market rise and the 'average wealth'. And ignores the takeover of Australian companies, the loss of Australian manufacturing, the outsourcing of jobs to other countries, and the domination of the Australian economy by the American Free Trade Agreement.
Similarly, Iraq is not a battle between the free world and Al Quaeda, being won, slowly, by brave John Howard standing shoulder to shoulder with George Bush. As a result of a vicious and unprovoked invasion it has been turned into a shambles, a civil war set loose, a secular society turned into a fundamentalist one, an economy destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed while hundreds of thousands more have become refugees. The forces of the US, Britain and Australia are not there to prevent this, our actions have caused the problem and our continued presence keeps it going. Our presence has nothing to do with whatever meaning the phrase 'war on terror' ever had.
Just as in the last election public perceptions of the economy, and of defence, will be massaged to suit the government. Try to keep in mind that the politicians are living in a different world to the one you and I inhabit. But hard to keep perceptions going when the real world intrudes. Remember Iraq. Remember the flowers that weren't strewn on the streets for the invading armies. Remember the flowers that won't be thrown by Australian workers at the feet of bosses.
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