Newsletter Vol 5 Issue 7

Launch of the Pre Election Kit:

A Just Vote - Not just a Vote

Jackie Keegan

It’s been a sheer unadulterated pleasure to work with Jackie, to be with that courage and commitment - I don’t think she’s here just to represent the demographic. I think she’s here also to give us the challenging insights that she gave us tonight, and that she gives me often. That absolutely wonderful commitment and that joyous involvement in so many things that we’ve tried to do together. I’m inspired by her courage and her commitment and I thank her for that and I think that when I’m looking for another beacon of hope she’s it too!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To launch off both of the previous speakers, first of all what have you done? What you’ve done is to bring up generations of people, like me, who have a lot of anger at the moment, a lot of frustration and a lot of confusion, but also want to follow on with the work that you have been doing. It’s going to take a long time. First of all I’d like to thank you for that upbringing, where I can be Libby’s friend twenty-five years down the road.

Chris mentioned America and the things that Americans do. I was brought up overseas and studied for eight years under Americans and in that time I was trained, without even realizing it, to be a member of a participatory democracy. It was pummeled into me through American history classes tha

t as a member of a democracy I had to talk to my politicians,

I had to lobby my politicians about all sorts of things. I was asked to come here today and talk to you about this wonderful lobby Kit, this material you’ve put together to teach us how to do that. I asked in what capacity I should speak and I was told that I was useful as a young person! To change the demographic of the room!

I went around and I pummeled, I annoyed people on buses, young people – students in my classes, people in supermarket queues who were my age and younger and I asked them what sort of training they had to vote. What sort of training they were given in schools to be members of this democracy. I was horrified at the response I received. In fact I had several people say to me – gosh I hadn’t thought of that. There’s very little it seems, of civic education happening in someschools, I obviously haven’t canvassed the whole of Sydney.

The last month has shown to me the extent to which that ignorance is widespread in the Australian community. Justice Einfeld mentioned the courts and mentioned the judicial system as a protection for us in a democracy. I have been astonished over the last several months both in State politics and in Federal politics. Criticism that the judiciary has been receiving and the way Australians have been encouraged to think with skepticism of our courts and to distrust our courts when they are in fact here to protect us from politicians essentially! That’s the general population.

I’m at Law school and I guess I expected that at law school I would be surrounded by other people who thought like me. I’ve been told now before three exams that we should not tell the teacher that our fictitious examination client should seek the protection of the Fifth Amendment because the Fifth Amendment is part of the American Constitution, it’s not Australian. Every year, apparently people in Law School in Australia advise that their Australian clients use the Fifth Amendment to protect themselves against self incrimination. If law students in their third and fourth year of study don’t know that we don’t have American protections then my guess is that the way that the media is structured, an awful lot of Australians don’t either. Unfortunately that lack of codified protection seems to me to make it that much more important that we are involved in our Three years ago Senator Harradine used, as one of his explanations for backing the Howard Government’s Native Title Amendment, the reason that

he didn’t want to face an election based on race.

In the last month Labour politicians have been using that as one of their explanations for backing the Bills of Refugees they passed on Wednesday. I wonder if we had a more informed electorate, if we had a population that was more clear about what the Constitutions said and of what our rights and duties and responsiblities should be in a democracy, I wonder if we wouldn’t have an electorate that would be able to cope with the more complex elections that Native Title and Refugees and difficult world events produce for us.

I think that reading through your Kit seems to me the best first step at all. Being trained to go and speak to a politician about matters that you have information about and learning to make that a part of your routine seems to me the very first step that we all need to take.

I have already arranged to take lots of photocopies to pass it out to the law students who look at me and wonder when I come to school with letters to politicians and stamps ready to be mailed. They give me ideas for the letters I am going to write off. So I’m going to use it to get my generation, and there are an awful lot of us who care, to get my generation to do the sort of work that you have been doing for so long. For a good result in this election, it seems to me that

we need the wisdom to make choices that are based on facts and on principles.

You have given us a wonderful tool to do that, so thank you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Response to questions:

Developing Democracy Course. Civics in school - an interesting program, one night when you get time sit down and see if you can find the words Human Rights.

It’s presenting value-free democracy.

When it was being developed we had big fights with the curriculum development corporation about it because the development of the material was done after the change of government and you will find nothing in it about Human Rights and everything in it about democratic processes. So people are getting half of the story, they’re not getting the values to underline the process. Lots of good things being done. What’s in the Developing Democracy Course is good and should be there. But essentially they’ve tried to depoliticise democracy - not good enough.

One answer through one story. That is ring up. I’ve done some media today about the refugee stuff and this morning I had a session with Howard Sattler on air for about ten to fifteen minutes. He hadn’t told me that Pauline Hanson was immediately following - so as I was going off the line in comes Pauline already having a go at me! About fifteen minutes later my mobile rings and there’s one of my kids, John, he’s twenty and he says I listened to the program and Howard Sattler was absolutely horrible and you should have heard the absolutely ridiculous stuff that Pauline Hanson said so I decided I’m gonna ring up. I got stuck into Howard Sattler and Pauline Hanson - don’t worry I didn’t tell them I was your son! So do what John did!

Phil Glendinning teaches the young people at the Edmund Rice Centre - he would prime us with information on all sorts of stuff that we really didn’t know anything about, and when we actually got on the radio we’d say one really powerful thing and even if they cut us off, the topic of conversation changes - they move on to something else.

Operation infinite justice - if only!!!

In this time of dark hope we do come with joy, we do come with enthusiasm. I do think we have been inspirited today both by the people who have spoken with us and contributed to the discussion and also by the presence of each of us here. It might be small, we might be a remnant, but we do come with something to say, we do come with a slither of hope and a slither of belief. May we go forth from this place taking our small offering sharing to those who might contribute, might be converted, or who might simply be looking for encouragement and a different voice. That as we move towards the happenings of the next month, may we do so with the hope of the remnant who walk with us. Thank you all very much for coming. I hope you are doubly rewarded this long week-end with deep joy, with fine weather, with no fines and that you are not picked up once!

Libby Rogerson's thanks to the speakers have made useful introductions to the speakers in this edition of the Newsletter. Jan Barnet made the concluding remarks.