One term Tony! Even better! Less than one-term Tony!
It has been the goal for the left for years now. Get rid of Tony Abbott at all costs.
And despite the costs it was a goal we were determined to achieve. Smelling blood in the lead up to the Canning by-election some of the country’s biggest progressive organisations poured huge resources into getting Abbott out. GetUp has been running a campaign for weeks, launched with an e-mail titled “23 days to end a Prime Ministership”, while the Victorian Greens hired a community organiser with the specific target of changing votes in Canning.
Victory! The left has clearly achieved its goals now, and with days to spare. Even better Abbott has been replaced by the sensible, coherent, moderate Malcolm Turnbull. Finally some sanity back in our politics.
I’m sorry though if I don’t pop the champers or bring out the party hats. I’m sorry but I’m going to have to be the party pooper.
Because I’m not excited. In fact, I’m scared. I’m scared this is the best progressive Australia can do.
In the midst of all the jubilation I think it’s time for us take stock of what our new Prime Minister actually represents.
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Ever since Malcolm Turnbull was deposed as Opposition Leader in 2009 he has somehow managed to position himself as a classic small-l progressive liberal. Look at his record however and the facts don’t match the rhetoric.
We can probably single out three major issues that sets Turnbull apart — same-sex marriage, climate change and being a Republican.
While Turnbull is clearly to the left on Abbott on these issues it is notable that on Monday, on those very three issues, he made it very clear there will be no change to Government policy. We will still see a plebiscite on same-sex marriage, the Government’s weak emissions reduction targets and Direct Action policy will remain intact and there will not be a referendum on the Republic any time soon.
This is the kind of person Turnbull is: a right-wing politician that will sacrifice the progressive issues when it matters for his career. That’s because for Turnbull the issues that actually matter — the ones that have always mattered — are economic.
Malcolm Turnbull is no major progressive saint. He is not even a man who can make me "proud to be Australian" again.
Turnbull, in his own words, will be leading a “thoroughly liberal government committed to freedom, the individual and the market.” While that may sound amazing, what it means is a continued harsh form of neoliberal economics that is pro-big business (including coal), anti-worker, anti-union, anti-welfare and anti-public services.
Yet, this liberalism only goes so far. Remember Turnbull was the Minister who introduced mandatory data retention and who ordered the inquiry into the Zaky Mallah Q&A affair. In his first press conference he also reinforced his Government’s draconian position on asylum seekers and I strongly suspect he will be just as gung ho in bombing Syria as Tony Abbott.
Malcolm Turnbull is no major progressive saint. He is not even a man who can make me "proud to be Australian" again. Instead he is a leader of an extremely conservative political party and one that will happily stick to that party’s conservative line.
In one of their emails in the lead up to the Canning by-election, Get Up said: "Imagine it. An end to the relentless attacks on our public school and hospitals, pensioners and young people, a clean energy future, and fair go for all Australians.”
This is the ridiculous legacy of years of relentless anti-Abbott campaigns from the left. Malcolm Turnbull will not fix any of these issue. He will in all instances above be just as right wing as his predecessor.
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I’m not saying this to defend Tony Abbott. There is a bit of schadenfreude within me watching him be deposed so soon into his Prime Ministership. But to claim that getting rid of Abbott has created any positive change in Australia is just laughable.
What is different is that Turnbull may now give the Government a leader with more authority to implement their right wing agenda and to get acceptance of it by the broader population. He turns a certain defeat for the Coalition at the upcoming election to at least a draw.
But maybe that is the one positive to take from this? As Abbott has languished the Labor Party has gotten through without having to do any real work.
If this puts even a tiny amount of spotlight onto Bill Shorten he may soon have to articulate some proper progressive policies to differentiate himself.
But I cannot help but think this was where our energy should have been in the first place. Instead of focusing solely on Abbott we could have used the last two years to build proper alternatives to this Government.
We could have articulated what a world that invests in public schools, hospitals, pensioners, young people, and clean energy looked like. We could expressed what a fair go for all Australians actually meant.
Instead we got stuck with Malcolm Turnbull and a Labor Party that will quickly look increasingly pathetic in comparison.
I’m sorry if I’m not going to celebrate that.
Simon Copland is a freelance writer and climate campaigner. He is a regular columnist for the Sydney Star Observer and blogs at The Moonbat.
