Last night, Robert McClelland gave a speech that set out a clear distinction between Labor and Team Howard. By pledging that Labor would seek to form a coalition of abolitionist governments with the aim of eliminating capital punishment in Asia, he demonstrated that we could have an Australian government that is fundamentally committed to human rights, that provides leadership and constructive engagement with its neighbours, that recognises that its words and actions must be consistent with the values it purports to uphold, and that values Australia’s moral standing in the global community.
Kevin Rudd has willingly and intentionally dismantled that perception.
It is bad enough that we have Dennis Shanahan (or whoever wrote his headline) framing McClelland’s speech as a plea to save the Bali bombers. It is bad enough that we have Andrew Bolt claiming that “Saddam died so innocent Iraqis might live” and suggesting Labor turn to blocking abortions instead. And it is bad enough that we have Dolly Downer distorting McClelland’s proposal to suggest that he said the Australian government should plead for mercy in specific terrorism case.
That Rudd has taken the same line as Dolly and the Government sycophants in the media is disgusting. Not only has he distanced himself from the philosophy of meaning what we say and saying what we mean on capital punishment, he has undermined the credibility of his own spokesperson. Even if we set aside the fact that McClelland’s proposal was morally right and demonstrated genuine leadership, Rudd has managed to stoke the “me too” perceptions of his policy approach, handing fresh ammunition to his critics. Those who would have supported such a foreign policy approach (such as myself) are now angry that he has backed away from it to maintain the “small target” strategy; those who would oppose it can take potshots at Rudd and Labor for being terrorist sympathisers, flip-floppers and followers of Team Howard policy.
This is exactly the type of action that fosters concerns that Rudd’s Labor will stand for nothing. The alternative government needs to demonstrate that it will be better than the one we have now. I applaud Robert McClelland for attempting to do so.
ELSEWHERE: Tim Dunlop is equally disappointed in Rudd, and views it as “disgraceful election-eve back-pedalling.” Andrew Bartlett had already noted that there is a forum in Brisbane tonight for World Day Against the Death Penalty – a day Rudd must not be aware of, given his perception that it was “insensitive” to discuss this so close to the anniversary of the Bali bombing.
ELSEWHERE #2: Lefty Jeremy notes that Team Howard’s Captain has joined Rudd in the hypocrisy while still slamming Rudd. Congratulations, Kevin – you’ve wedged yourself.
ELSEWHERE #3: Tim Hollo has a good post about this on GreensBlog.
UPDATE: The SMH is running a poll on the death penalty. Get out the vote.
Robert McClelland was absolutely right. But he should have been more politically savvy.
The conservative media will take ANYTHING to bash Labor and help a wedge to develop.
Any sophisticated arguments about death penalty etc. will go on the top of most people heads.
The message is ‘Tree hugging Labor wants to save the lives of terrorist who killed innocent Australians’.
And because there already a suspicion about Labor being ’soft on terrorism’ this is political poison.
This is typical Tampa territory. Any sophisticated argument is a waste of time because people will only get ‘The ALP wants to save the terrorists’ the same way it was ‘the ALP wants to let everyone in’ in 2001.
And of course there are people on the left like yourself that are angry about the me-tooism. This happened with the Tampa.
So the battlers are angry with the ALP and go with the Libs. While the left goes to the Greens decreasing the primary vote.
Let’s hope that any electoral damage is not fatal. We got to get Howard out.
I am sorry if I am cynical. But the damage he has done to Australia is much greater than any ‘me-tooism’ of Labor.
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Guido, I understand your cynicism perfectly, and I share it to a large extent. McClelland may have been better not espousing moral principles in a public forum until after the election.
I think that a large part of my frustration is that I can see that what is politically right runs counter to what is morally right. But I still think that on this one, Rudd shouldn’t have turned on his own man – he has really bought into the shocking distortion of McClelland’s speech (by the GG’s headline, and now by Costello et al.) as a statement of support for the Bali bombers, instead of repudiating that type of cheap criticism. He has reinforced the belief that this is what McClelland said, as well as reinforcing the worst characterisations of Rudd and Labor as wishy-washy, poll-driven softies.
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