REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Australia: The Forgotten Coup

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Tuesday, December 2, 2014 05:07
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Tuesday, November 25, 2014 5:25 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Across the political and media elite in Australia, a silence has descended on the memory of the great, reforming prime minister Gough Whitlam, who has died. His achievements are recognised, if grudgingly, his mistakes noted in false sorrow. But a critical reason for his extraordinary political demise will, they hope, be buried with him....

Whitlam knew the risk he was taking. The day after his election, he ordered that his staff should not be "vetted or harassed" by the Australian security organisation, ASIO - then, as now, tied to Anglo-American intelligence. When his ministers publicly condemned the US bombing of Vietnam as "corrupt and barbaric", a CIA station officer in Saigon said: "We were told the Australians might as well be regarded as North Vietnamese collaborators."

Whitlam demanded to know if and why the CIA was running a spy base at Pine Gap near Alice Springs, a giant vacuum cleaner which, as Edward Snowden revealed recently, allows the US to spy on everyone. "Try to screw us or bounce us," the prime minister warned the US ambassador, "[and Pine Gap] will become a matter of contention"....

The Americans and British worked together. In 1975, Whitlam discovered that Britain's MI6 was operating against his government. "The Brits were actually decoding secret messages coming into my foreign affairs office," he said later. One of his ministers, Clyde Cameron, told me, "We knew MI6 was bugging Cabinet meetings for the Americans." In the 1980s, senior CIA officers revealed that the "Whitlam problem" had been discussed "with urgency" by the CIA's director, William Colby, and the head of MI6, Sir Maurice Oldfield. A deputy director of the CIA said: "[Governor-General of Australia, Sir John] Kerr did what he was told to do."

On 10 November, 1975, Whitlam was shown a top secret telex message sourced to Theodore Shackley, the notorious head of the CIA's East Asia Division, who had helped run the coup against Salvador Allende in Chile two years earlier.

Shackley's message was read to Whitlam. It said that the prime minister of Australia was a security risk in his own country. The day before, Kerr had visited the headquarters of the Defence Signals Directorate, Australia's NSA where he was briefed on the "security crisis".

On 11 November - the day Whitlam was to inform Parliament about the secret CIA presence in Australia - he was summoned by Kerr. Invoking archaic vice-regal "reserve powers", Kerr sacked the democratically elected prime minister. The "Whitlam problem" was solved, and Australian politics never recovered, nor the nation its true independence.



http://johnpilger.com/articles/the-forgotten-coup-how-america-and-brit
ain-crushed-the-government-of-their-ally-australia


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Wednesday, November 26, 2014 3:11 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Well firstly RIP Gough, much loved PM. Only in power for 3 years, but made massive changes to Australian life, both political and non political. Including - and I thank you very much - free higher education, medicare (publically funded healthcare), Indigenous rights, stopped the Vietnam draft.

he was, of course, seen as dangerously close to socialism by the very, very conservative ranks of Australian establishment. But I find Pilger's take on the events leading up to his dismissal as simplistic. The more interesting aspect - for me - was that constitutionally the Queen's representative was and is able to dismiss the elected PM of the day, the legalities of which are still disputed. Basically, Westminster convention should have prevented it from happening, but it did.

There is a lot more to this story as well about how when Labor came to power in 1972 it had been 23 years since they a Labor government had been in power. Another story about the Labor Party Split which caused this.

Anyway, in 1972 a very green government was elected, with very outdated practices. Basically, lots of incompetence fiscally.

So when the Australian public went to the polls after the dismissal, they voted Gough out of power. Not a revolutionary bone in our collective psyche it would seem.

But Gough's short legacy lived on. I always admired him on a number of fronts, and he was a dead ringer for my dad.

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Wednesday, November 26, 2014 8:02 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Yes, I wondered about an elected PM being dismissed. Can that still happen??? You seem to imply it can.

You say the story of his dismissal is portrayed as simplistic, and since you seem to be pretty up on things and, of course, you're Australian, I was wondering up you could expand on what you think the missing elements are.

If you have the time, I would appreciate it very much, thanks!

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

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Thursday, November 27, 2014 4:30 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Well for a start it's not true to say that these events have been forgotten in Australia. This is still one of the most highly discussed, written about and debated episode in Australia's history. And with Whitlam's recent death, they have been rehashed and discussed once again.

There is lots, lots written about this, but rather than link you to one of the many websites (look up Whitlam Dismissal if you are interested) I can give you this snap shot.

Labor - under Whitlam - was elected to power in 1972 after 23 years in opposition. Yes, you read that right, conservatives ruled for 23 years. Basically post war to the 70's. For the reasons why, I wont go into here, but you can look up Labor Party Split, and know that I curse my Catholic ancestors for this situation.

Whitlam came in with the promise of change and reform, and it was needed. As I said before he embarked on a flurry of reforms that turned Australian societal structures inside out and upside down.

Unfortunately for Whitlam who was a brilliant and charismatic leader, his Cabinet (Ministers responsible for areas of government - not sure how much you know about the westminster system) was filled with inexperienced, idealistic, and it pains me to say, some foolish men. The government made some stupid mistakes, particularly in the area of fiscal responsibility.

Labor lost control of the senate, the upper house. The Senate refused to pass a supply bill - you can probably relate to this - causing a constitutional crisis. The Opposition agreed to pass the supply bill if the government agreed to hold an election. The government refused. The Governor General, Queen's representative sacked the government and a general election was called.

I suspect there was some CIA involvement and certainly security forces would have been on alert. There was a real probability that there could have been a full on battle of forces at that time. There were many protests, but basically the decision was thrown back to the voters who legitimised Kerr (the Governor General) and Fraser's (the leader of the Opposition). Ah well.

Might have been a good time to get rid of the Queen as our Constituional Head, but clearly we are a country that dislikes change. I'm not sure what would have happened in the UK if the Queen had sacked the PM, by Convention, she is not able to do it. Nor was Kerr, but here we have the greatly debated 'grey area' between Constitution - written - and Convention - understood to be the way things are done.

A bit of a snapshot. Hope this answers your questions.


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Saturday, November 29, 2014 8:39 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


On a happier note, for me at least - Labor was victorious in my state election with the Greens winning at least one seat in the lower house.

Happy days!

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/victoria-state-election-2014/victori
an-election-2014-greens-win-melbourne-in-historic-victory-20141130-11wvc6.html

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Saturday, November 29, 2014 8:41 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


You know you're getting on when the politicans start looking like babies

http://www.ellensandell.com/about

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Saturday, November 29, 2014 10:23 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Oh, she looks so young! And the old fogey in me thinks... What can SHE possibly know???". It's a particular problem with doctors. I tend not to take them seriously, but I should.

Thanks for the info, MAGONS. I looked into it and learned a lot more.

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

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Saturday, November 29, 2014 11:22 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Politicans seem to be getter much younger. When I was young, they tended to be all late middle aged men. I'm glad that they seem to be a bit more of a diverse lot.

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Sunday, November 30, 2014 2:47 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN


Quote:

Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:
On a happier note, for me at least - Labor was victorious in my state election with the Greens winning at least one seat in the lower house.

Happy days!

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/victoria-state-election-2014/victori
an-election-2014-greens-win-melbourne-in-historic-victory-20141130-11wvc6.html


In case you did not know, the meanings of names in the political spectrum vary from one area to another. For instance, conservative in Yurp often means the opposite as in America, and the same with liberal - it represents the opposite views and goals in Yurp as in America.
Would you be so kind as to share where in the political spectrum you think the Labor and Greens are, or what you feel they represent?

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Sunday, November 30, 2014 3:20 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


it shouldn't be too hard to do a bit of clicking on the link if you are genuinely interested.

The Greens are a left leaning party committed to environmental issues.

Labor has factions, but generally left centrist with connections to the labour movement (in case the name didn't spell it out)

Liberals are the only confusing one. They are right leaning. Again, different factions. In Victoria they tend to be more 'wet' which is centre right rather than right right.

The only other thing that may confuse Americans is that in Australia, as in Britain, red represents Labor/Labour and blue the more conservative parties.

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Sunday, November 30, 2014 3:38 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Interestingly, the winning campaign used strategies used by the Democrats in the US and was very effective.

Quote:

Victorian Labor and the union movement believe they have revolutionised political campaigning in Australia. They implemented a detailed, grassroots strategy for Saturday’s state election, recruiting thousands of volunteers to talk to people one-on-one to convince them to vote against the government.

Labor’s marginal seats director, Kosmos Samaras, said the party had piloted the “field campaign” strategy in key seats at last year’s federal election. It was fully applied for the first time at Saturday’s state poll in 18 marginal seats.

Labor won the election, defeating the Coalition government after a single term in office, the first time that has happened in Victoria for almost 60 years. The outgoing government has acknowledged it was out-campaigned by Labor.

Samaras said there remained “institutional resistance” to the strategy within the ALP, but senior officials from NSW and Queensland had visited Victoria to assess whether it should be rolled out in a comprehensive way around the country.

Field campaigning is based on techniques developed by the Democrats and progressive movements in the United States. Samaras said politics had changed dramatically, and it was a proven way to make a cynical public engage with political issues that mattered most to them. The Greens use similar grassroots techniques.

In the US, the strategy was used to get out the vote. In Australia, which has compulsory voting, it was tweaked to persuade people to change their vote, he said.

Traditional campaigning through blanket television advertising and mail-outs to constituents no longer worked. Nor did relying on the mainstream media, which was caught in a “political bubble”.

Both the Age and the Herald Sun backed a Coalition victory on Saturday, with the Herald Sun in particular strongly critical of Labor throughout the campaign.
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“We knew that the people that we were talking to don’t read the newspapers. When they editorialised against us, who gives a shit? They don’t have the influence they once did,” Samaras said.

He said sophisticated data now available allowed political parties to target only undecided voters in a way that went largely unnoticed by those following the statewide leaders’ campaign.

“People are becoming cynical about politics in general. Sending letters to voters from politicians is now an absolutely outdated way of communication. People do not believe a word they say.”

Instead, the party recruited and trained more than 5,000 volunteers in a strategy that began in May last year. Half of the volunteers were not members of the ALP. The field campaign was led by director Sam Schneidman, a grassroots strategist from Virginia in the US. Kate Scully, also from the US, ran the training program.

The volunteers’ job was to talk to friends and neighbours, and to knock on doors and telephone people identified as undecided voters. It was a “bottom up” strategy, relying on conversations between people rather than mass advertising. It also relied on people such as firefighters, teachers and nurses to explain the impact of government policies.

Samaras said mail-out advertising only went to undecided voters. The use of YouTube advertising, too, was targeted towards swinging voters. He said even in mass advertising, the strategy meant that, while the Liberal Party focused on evening news bulletins, Labor ran its ads later when more undecided voters were watching.

The party spent more than $1m on the field campaign, from a total budget of about $7m, Samaras said.

“We were only talking to undecided voters, no one else.” Critical was the use of real people impacted by government policies.

“We worked out that in one fire-prone area in a marginal seat (Macedon), there was a particular type of voter who was responding to the CFA cuts. We knew who they were, we put our creative pack together. It was (a letter) from a serving current firefighter, and them only. “

He said the broader campaign was heavily influenced by what the volunteers reported back.

“The slogan Putting People First came from the ground, that was something that was coming up, they wanted politicians to put people first. The term that continually was coming back to us.”

Issues such as East West Link were not decisive, Samaras said.

“Yes, people do support it, but the critical question was: is it going to shift your vote? The answer is no.” The issues of most importance were education, especially cuts to Tafe, health, including the government’s long-running dispute with paramedics, and jobs.

Unions also took up field campaigning in a significant way. The Victorian Trades Hall Council formed a loose alliance with Environment Victoria, the Public Transport Users Association and GetUp! to share training.

Council secretary Luke Hilakari said the $1m union campaign was the first time the movement had fully used the strategy in Australia.

It used firefighters, nurses, teachers and paramedics to knock on 93,000 doors during the campaign.

As well, all 24,000 union members in the six seats targeted were called. If someone identified that health was important to them, they would get another call from a nurse. Of the 6,000 unionists identified as undecided, 73% said they would put the Liberal Party last after the phone call, he said.

“Our whole campaign is based on the authenticity of people who do the work. If a firefighter comes and says something, people believe them, because they trust them.”

On polling day, the unionists provided 1,500 people to staff 130 booths.

“This is the first time this has been done properly in Australia,” Hilakari said.

“The Liberal party is not in the game. They don’t know how to run a field campaign. They lost because they refused to talk to people.

“This will be the model that will be rolled out to make Tony Abbott a one-term prime minister,” he said.



http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/nov/30/victorian-labor-
says-its-victory-has-revolutionised-politics

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Sunday, November 30, 2014 4:30 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


I thought I was up on the issues when Canada ratified its own constitution in 1982, but looking further, I see the relationships between the various countries and the crown is very complicated.




SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

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Monday, December 1, 2014 5:15 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN


Quote:

Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:
it shouldn't be too hard to do a bit of clicking on the link if you are genuinely interested.

The Greens are a left leaning party committed to environmental issues.

Labor has factions, but generally left centrist with connections to the labour movement (in case the name didn't spell it out)

Liberals are the only confusing one. They are right leaning. Again, different factions. In Victoria they tend to be more 'wet' which is centre right rather than right right.

The only other thing that may confuse Americans is that in Australia, as in Britain, red represents Labor/Labour and blue the more conservative parties.


Thanks. That helps. Is it fair to say your spectrum largely follows Britain?

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Tuesday, December 2, 2014 5:07 AM

MAGONSDAUGHTER


Britain has a number of parties that do not correlate with any of ours, but the Tories are roughly the same as the Liberals here and Labour and Labor are reasonably similar.

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