19 February 2025
Vol. 27 No. 6

Maroochydore Post Office

The imminent federal election could be called any day now that the Reserve Bank has cut its cash interest rate from 4.35 to 4.10 per cent. It’s the only sliver of good news Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has to take to the electorate, after three years of a cowardly government that just fiddled at the edges of every issue. It’s a serious indictment of modern Labor that after just three years they have dealt Peter Dutton and the Liberals back into the game. But the real dynamic that terrifies both parties is coming from the other players at the table, the so-called minor parties and independents, who are winning record shares of the vote.

The big news coming into this election, from which the major corporate media is helping the established political parties deflect, is that the 8 February state byelections in Victoria showed major party support at an all-time low. The media tended to focus on the Greens losing the inner-city seat of Prahran after holding it for a decade (conveniently blamed on the Greens’ support for Gaza); however, the Greens’ vote did not fall at all—the difference was Labor didn’t run a candidate this time, so the Greens didn’t benefit from Labor preferences, which is how they win seats. The real story is what happened to the major parties: in the Western mortgage belt seat of Werribee neither Labor nor the Liberals could reach 30 per cent of the vote; combined they received 58 per cent per cent, meaning 42 per cent of the electorate voted against both of them!

It remains to be seen what vote the major parties will receive in the upcoming federal election, but the Victorian results continue the inexorable slide in major party support that has been ongoing for years. After slumping to a combined 80 per cent of the national vote in 2001, the major party vote went up again following the implosion of the Australian Democrats to a high-water mark of 85.15 per cent in 2007. Since then, however, it has been downhill fast: 2010—81.3 per cent; 2013—78.93 per cent; 2016—76.77 per cent; 2019—74.78 per cent; 2022—68.27 per cent. These figures show that voters increasingly see the major parties as a decaying, old political order, and are turning away in numbers.

In the face of this mass-desertion, how have the major parties responded? By taking a long look in the mirror and asking themselves why people may be turning against them, and looking for ways to demonstrate to the people that they do want to serve their needs? Of course not—they both got together in a dingy back room to stitch up “electoral reforms” to make it harder for the candidates who are attracting the 40+ per cent anti-establishment vote to win (p.6). After all, Labor and the Liberals are the “parties of government”, they both say, like James the 1st proclaiming the divine right of kings in the 17th century. They are prepared to have a power-sharing arrangement with each other because both sides serve the banks and big corporations and other vested interests which profit from the current system that is drowning Australians in economic misery. They are not prepared to allow democracy to run its course so new leaders who represent the concerns of the people can take power. But it’s like trying to hold back the tide.

The Australian Citizens Party is building a force that isn’t so much going after the major parties as unmasking and going after the vested interests that control them, starting with the banks. This week, powerful bank adversary Prof. Andy Schmulow announced he’s the ACP’s Senate candidate for NSW (p.3), and Qld Senate candidate Jan Pukallus led a rousing protest outside the closing-down Maroochydore post office, that attracted media attention to the postal bank solution (p. 15).

In this week’s issue:

• Decaying political order struggles against tide of change
• Prof. Andy Schmulow, ACP Senate candidate for NSW
• McCormack’s shameless attempt to steal credit
• Save cash with a Post Office bank
• Electoral reform: a duopoly by any other name
• Trump tariff threat aimed at prising open Aus. ag markets
• Delivery of AUKUS submarines ‘unachievable’
• Public banking in a crisis: How to rebuild Los Angeles
• South African leader on Mideast peace
• Trump re-opens the door to Moscow
• Meet our candidates!
• Time to revive rent and interest reduction acts!

ALMANAC: The schemes of Dr Bradfield: Equal to the majesty of nature

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