Maxim Institute - real issues - No. 259

Maxim Institute - real issues - No. 259 28 June 2007 www.maxim.org.nz

Changing the face of politics Desperate times The power of agreement

IN THE NEWS Rates show that more needs doing to tackle truancy New justices make their presence felt

Changing The Face Of Politics

An era was brought to an end this week as Tony Blair, Prime Minister of Britain, resigned. The impact of the 'Blair decade' reverberated far beyond Britain's borders, ushering a new understanding of the role that style and spin can play in politics across the world.

In 1997 Tony Blair swept into office bringing with him, so people thought at the time, a new freshness and openness. New Labour, the movement he led was in stark contrast to the considered and less impassioned politics of John Major. While Prime Ministers come and go, Tony Blair will be remembered; without a doubt he was significant, ushering in a period of radical change. Both in policy and in wider British life, he is the undisputed king of political spin.

Leadership is a strange thing and politics worldwide shows its many sides, as leadership styles range from personality-driven, to consensus-based, to dictatorial. The issue of style over substance is not a new one. It was around long before Blair, haunting men such as Michael Foot and William Gladstone, but Blair was special. Providence timed his rising such that his force of personality was combined and magnified by the PR culture that greeted him. He did not stand for election, he wooed people, he charmed them and thanks to the power of advertising, they were ready to be charmed, coaxed and cozened.

Yet, the mark he made in 1997, his testament to the power of spin, is ironically also the reason for his downfall. It is true that the British public and the international media punished him for Iraq. In the end though it was not simply that people did not agree with his decisions, but that he was not trusted -- they did not believe him anymore.

Tony Blair was a persuader, he convinced people to like him and to vote for him -- he convinced them that he was smarter, more warm hearted and stronger than his opponent. However in the end his use of manipulation and media backfired; the image simply was not enough. The fickleness of the people was what his spin appealed to and in the heat of pressure that fickleness was what led them away from him. Blair showed moments of greatness and times of true courage, but he failed to take the people with him. He wooed them, but he could not convince them in the end, that he was either trustworthy or right.

Desperate Times

The Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, has labelled the widespread abuse occurring within the Northern Territory's Aboriginal communities as akin to a 'national emergency.' While this label is normally reserved for dramatic events such as floods and forest fires, it is justifiably suited to this deep and entrenched crisis too. The Prime Minister's judgements stem from the release of Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle 'Little Children are Sacred,' a report into the sexual abuse of children, which found the situation to be desperate.

The report highlighted the extent to which problems, such as sexual abuse, alcoholism and unemployment, had stained the social fabric of communities. It has also been pointed out that the problems were not being dealt with as the Police force in the communities was under-manned and forced to spend its time dealing with surface level issues. Reports looking at aboriginal communities in Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland have made similar claims.

The report's release was treated with a sense of resignation by the Territory's government who had received it eight weeks before it was released and yet chose not to act with any sense of urgency. John Howard was so outraged by this inaction that in the light of such shocking findings he has ordered federal intervention. When one considers the mandate of a government to protect its citizens and the continuing and engrained inability of the community, or local government, to deal with these problems, Howard's emergency interventions come as a welcome relief.

The interventions include a broad spectrum of measures. There will be bans on 'the sale, the possession, the transportation, [and] the consumption' of alcohol. Welfare payments will be subject to school attendance. Medical examinations will be given to all children to ascertain the true extent of the sexual abuse tragedy and the possession of X-rated pornography will be banned. These restrictions will be backed up by police officers requested from the Australian state Police forces to supplement the Territory's force.

A community and its immediate government failed to protect the vulnerable children they were responsible for. With no other effective help forthcoming, the Federal government had the right and duty to step in to protect the innocent from harm, at least as far as it could constitutionally, but it is up to the rest of Australia to continue the work -- from the State Governments to the leadership of local communities. It can only be hoped that these sharp-edged reforms begin the journey back to a functional community.

Read Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle 'Little Children are Sacred'

The Power Of Agreement

A new trend is emerging in New Zealand's Parliament with the smaller parties increasingly combining their influence to wield more strategic clout. The recent Code of Conduct for MPs, the proposal to repeal the sedition law, and MPs speaking at the conferences of parties widely different in philosophical approach, show that ideological differences are, to some extent, being set aside in an attempt to build strategic alliances with each other. Seeing politicians put issues above personal differences and ideology is a remarkable thing, but after we have all recovered from the shock, there is a danger that the smaller parties could assume too much influence. Behind the scenes, coalitions and deal-making can detract from the democratic mandate won by the parties with more MPs, and more votes.

Several examples of co-operation have been seen over the past few weeks. Last weekend Green Party MP Keith Locke addressed the Auckland South Regional Conference of the ACT Party. He spoke to the rival party about 'how parties with different world views are able to work together in a friendly and constructive way, to achieve meaningful change.' A notion both parties are increasingly familiar with as they work to create alliances with the Maori Party and United Future.

The four parties worked together to draft a Code of Conduct for MPs, out of a concern that behaviour in Parliament was worsening. They also collectively advocated for the Crimes (Repeal of Seditious Offences) Amendment Bill, which was successfully accepted as a Government Bill, and has just passed its first reading in Parliament.

This co-operation may be driven by the sheer practicality of size. Under MMP, the smaller parties are in danger of becoming irrelevant unless they can combine their efforts to get what they want. Only by joining forces and increasing their bargaining power can the minor parties in our Parliament increase their influence, and use it to get what they want. It is a positive feature of MMP that it can encourage these parties to concentrate on the issues, rather than simply facing off from their differing ideological positions.

But while the smaller fringe parties band together, it is also possible that this new-found influence could give them more power than their electoral mandate deserves. Even if they hold the balance of power in Parliament, the minor parties are still just that, those elected by a minority of the country. Finding the balance between co-operation and having the tail wag the dog is the continuing challenge of MMP, in this context as in so many others.

IN THE NEWS

Rates Show That More Needs Doing To Tackle Truancy

The Ministry of Education has just released their 2006 assessment of school attendance in New Zealand. Overall truancy has increased by 20 percent since 2004. Alarmingly, Maori and Pasifika pupils still have 'higher truancy rates when compared with New Zealand European and Asian students.' There is also a continuing discrepancy between truancy rates of in upper decile schools (6 to 10) and lower decile schools (1 to 5). While recently released attendance guidelines for schools may help ease the problem, such a substantial increase shows that we need to do more to tackle truancy, especially for Maori and Pasifika pupils.

Read Attendance, Absence and Truancy in New Zealand Schools in 2006

New Justices Make Their Presence Felt

The US Supreme Court handed down three important decisions this week, as the Court's new Justices start to make their presence felt. In narrow 5-4 decisions, the Court struck down campaign finance provisions which place restrictions on free speech, dismissed a challenge to President Bush's faith-based initiatives, and upheld a school's right to suspend a student for 'drug-related speech.' In Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, the Court upheld the right of the pro-life group to engage in issue-related advocacy, striking down provisions in the campaign finance law which, in its view, impinged on freedom of speech. And in Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation, the Court ruled that the complainants 'lack standing,' dismissing the complaint against President Bush's faith-based initiatives.

Read the judgment Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life

Read the judgment Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation

Read the judgment Morse v. Frederick

TALKING POINT

'Decision-making is hard. Everyone always says: listen to the people. The trouble is they don't always agree.'

Tony Blair

ENDS

© Scoop Media