Kevin Rudd

So now Kevin Rudd will take Labor to the election. Hopefully it won't be an early election because those of us who roster polling booths will need at least another month or two to get that done.

Anyway, after all the drama and media hype, will Labor now win the election? The dreaded polls, that have been very wrong in the past, say Labor has a better chance with Rudd at the helm but I'm not sure.

I wonder will Rudd win the election only to be dumped after it? From what they all say, he is impossible to work with. Such a strange but inevitably predictable turn of events.

Julia Gillard was by far the better PM. She introduced a number of good legislations including the price on carbon which was negotiated by the Greens and for the first time in Australian history has made emissions actually gone down. Kevin Rudd failed to introduce a workable plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But despite some good things, Gillard has let us down with the mining tax and asylum seekers. Those two legislations have created an eerie similarity between Liberal and Labor or LibLab.

This election has become less about getting Labor in and more about keeping Abbott and Liberal out. Abbott would be worse for Australia and indeed the world than Rudd. Rudd is the lesser of two evils.

It was a chilling moment when on QandA the supposedly small 'l' liberal Malcom Turnbull struggled to justify the Liberal policy of turning back the boats. Chilling indeed. I'm pretty sure Labor will not sink quite that low but stranger things have happened. A few weeks ago I was saying that if we do indeed turn the boats around  into Indonesian waters, we risk harming our relationship with Indonesia. Now Rudd has said the same thing, accusing the Liberal's policy of being a diplomatic minefield which may lead to an escalation of strife between the two countries.

It seems to me that the Greens are the moderating influence in parliament. Some still accuse the Greens of being extremists when in fact we are the ones with the most humane, sensible, caring and least extreme policies. The Greens have put forward an idea that I believe will solve the problem of asylum seekers drowning at sea while at the same time eliminating people smugglers from the final leg of the journey to Australia.

The proposition is that Australia should set up Australian refugee centres in Indonesia and Malaysia. Asylum seekers could then arrive at our centres, receive an airline ticket to Australia and within a few days be processed by the staff we could afford to pay by shutting down most detention centres. Those who take longer to process could reside in asylum seeker centres or halfway houses in the community. Rural towns and cities would be the ideal place for asylum seekers. We have many vacant houses here in Warrnambool that would suit such a purpose. Those who are not refugees would be sent immediately home and those who are refugees would be released into the community with minimal psychological damage and maximum training, educational and employment potential. It works for me!

And before you say 'but that's just letting everyone in', it's not. Less than a 20th of the asylum seekers who arrive in Australia each year arrive by boat. Most arrive on planes and overstay their visas but for some strange reason, only those arriving on boats are sent to detention centres. That's just letting anyone in! They are only processed when they declare themselves and sometimes that is years after they've been living here illegally.  Many 'plane' asylum seekers are what Bob Carr would call economic refugees from New Zealand, Britain and Canada looking for a better lifestyle here in Australia.

I believe that all informed and caring people should vote for the Greens in both the Senate and the Lower House. We do more than keep the bastards honest. We provide good, sane and sensible governance for the Australian people. We have a far reaching vision. We really care about you!!
So VOTE GREEN people. You know you want to!