Agmates

Agmates Editor Steve Truman writes:

The Federal National party faces a huge test at the Saturday’s Gippsland by-election. The party due to its overly cosy relationship with the Liberal party has lost it’s direction and identity and a loss in the by-election could well hasten the ultimate demise of the party.

Over a period of time I have formed the view that the party must disassociate itself from the Liberal party and go it alone as the 3rd stand alone party representing rural & regional Australia. Indeed it is the close alignment with the liberal party that is killing the Nationals brand and identity.

Below is an extract from a terrific article that appeared 2 days ago in the Canberra Observer which beautifully encapsulates my thinking at the present. There is a link at the bottom to read the whole article. Please when you have read it come back here and give me your thoughts.

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The glory days of the Federal National Party were under the leadership of John McEwen (pictured). McEwen demanded and got tariff protection to develop industries which would “value add” to Australia’s primary production.

“McEwenism”, as it became known, is now a dirty word around the power corridors of Canberra. The only politicians who dare to speak of it are the independents Bob Katter & Tony Windsor.

However its no coincidence that the winding back of McEwenism goes hand in hand with the steady decline in farm incomes, a seemingly suicidal goal of unilateral free trade and deregulation at any price, the disappearance of tens of thousands of people from the land, and the emptying of rural communities.

Seats held by Nationals MPs are generally now the poorest in the country, in terms of per capita income.

Link to Canberra Observer Article:

Have Your Say! Tell us what you think.

Agmates Editor Steve Truman writes:

The Liberals have given away any legitimate claim they had to National Party & Rural Australian support by their betrayal of both in the parliament this week.

What an incredible scene. It will be noted in the annals of history, the day the entire Liberal party crossed the floor of parliament to join forces with their lifetime Labor enemies to kill off Australian Wheat farmers hopes and dreams.

Looking from the outside, the scene was bizarre. The Liberals to a man and women deserted their National Party partners who have stood shoulder to shoulder with them for almost 12 years in government and the last 6 months in opposition.

They walked across the political divide to the enemy trenches, settled in alongside their Labor colleagues. Willfully at the behest of their new labor commander they raised their guns and fired, killing off the Australian Single Desk Export Wheat Marketing system.

The Liberal Party have had the unquestioning & Loyal support of the National party for decades. Yet on this one issue of critical importance to Australian wheat farmers, that was backed and championed by their National Party colleagues, the Liberals gleefully to a man and women not only killed off the single desk but also any pretense of a meaningful coalition.

The Nationals, left stranded and hopelessly out numbered on their side of the house where annihilated in the vote. A crushing defeat and humiliation at the hands of their coalition partners.

“Forgive the Liberals - for they know not what they’ve done”

How can National party rank and file federally now even consider an merger with the treacherous Liberal’s?

We have always been lead to believe that the Nationals controlled Coalition policy on Rural affairs in the coalition. It is now clear this is not the case.

What then is the point of a coalition let alone a merger? Let the National party stand alone federally to represent rural and regional Australia. Scrap the coalition.

The Nationals have the opportunity to become the most powerful federal party in Australia. A third Stand alone party with representation in the house of Reps and the Senate.

When elections are close they can then decide who they will join with - Liberal or Labor to form a coalition government for that term.

That way Rural and Regional Australian would nearly always have their party involved in government and both the Liberal party and the Labor party would have to work for they’re support to form government.

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Have your say! Are you outraged by this Liberal treachery? Do you believe like I do that this act has killed off any chance of a merger?

Agmates Editor Steve Truman writes:

The Nationals Central Council has voted 149 to 1 against to move ahead with the formation of new conservative party in Queensland. QLD Nationals Leader Lawrence Springborg has been relentless is his drive to bring about the new conservative political force in Queensland which he believes is the only hope of ousting the long serving State Labor government.

Despite hostile opposition within some sections of the Liberal Party the National’s Council, rightly so has voted to conduct a ballot of the Party’s 10,000 Queensland members to find out if they support the move or not..

Members will be asked to vote on whether they support the “consolidation of like-minded, non-labor forces into a single political entity in Queensland” according to National’s Queensland Senator Barnaby Joyce (pictured) who enthusiastically supports the push for the new party.

The State Liberal party had side stepped the issue a week ago when instead of supporting a motion to conduct a ballot of their own members they referred the matter to the Federal Party.

However 4 federal liberal MP’s lead by Federal Member for Ryan Michael Johnson have defied the Liberal’s National leadership by deciding to hold their own ballots allowing party members in their electorates to vote on supporting the move or not.

Michael Johnson (pictured) and his fellow Liberal MP’s must be congratulated for this move. Liberal Leader Brendan Nelson has been traveling Australia on a “listening tour”. Why would any Liberal MP not be agreeable to giving rank and file Liberal party members the opportunity to express their opinion on the merger / formation of a new conservative party in QLD?

Hasn’t it got through to some Liberal party MP’s that a major reason they got thrown out of government by the Australian people was because they’d stopped listening to the people?

Have your say!

Would you support the formation of a single, non-labor conservative Party at State and Federal level in Australia? 

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