21adventure

In the 24/6 Truther Movement, the line of argument is typically rooted in three points.
Firstly, Ms Gillard is completely beholden to the independents and the Greens. How appalling it is that our Prime Minister must debase herself by negotiating with other members of parliament to ensure her programme can proceed.
Compromise upon compromise. Pokies reform, carbon price, asylum seekers, and the current flavour of the month, the Mineral Resource Rent Tax. All twisted and mutated by the dark necromancy of the crossbench, or *gasp* the weight of public opinion.
Sure, the MRRT doesn’t go as far as the Rudd Government’s proposed Resource Super Profits Tax would have. The rate to be levied dropped from 40 per cent to 30 per cent, and the scope was narrowed from all extractive industry to just iron ore and coal. But it does have the support of large parts of the mining industry, a majority of the voting public and quite likely a majority of members of the House of Representatives.
Politics is the art of the possible.
However, many still yearn for the days of Howard. Things were simple, and John Winston’s word was law. An iron fist in a glove, likely bearing some kind of Wallabies logo.
Indulging in such nostalgia is to ignore his capitulation to the demands of the Democrats on the GST in 1998. Or having to wait until he controlled the Senate to enact Voluntary Student Unionism, Workchoices and the end of the Government’s controlling stake in Telstra to name but a few. As the saying goes: ‘I’d rather have 50 per cent of something than 100 per cent of nothing.’
The second point is that Ms Gillard isn’t a real Prime Minister because she first ascended to the office mid-term, without the mandate of an election. How many Australian leaders before her have so dared to grasp power so blatantly, so cunningly? Most of them, actually.
For the buffs among us, Ms Gillard’s achievement places her in the company of Messrs Watson, Reid, Fisher, Hughes, Bruce, Page, Menzies, Fadden, Curtin, Forde, Chifley, Holt, McEwen, Gorton, McMahon, Fraser and Keating. Indeed, two thirds of Australian Prime Ministers have taken the oath of office not in the warm afterglow of an election victory, but rather following a vote of no confidence in either the parliament or the party room.
When arguments arise over who was Australia’s greatest ever Prime Minister, the short list of names invariably settles on two. Robert Menzies – Australia’s longest-serving Prime Minister, father of the Liberal Party and avid Royal watcher – and John Curtin, who overcame alcoholism and pacifism to provide inspirational leadership through the darkest days of World War II, when Australia’s very existence was threatened.
Both these giants fail, quite spectacularly, the modern ‘legitimacy test’ that is constantly applied to Ms Gillard, yet remain our two most celebrated national leaders.
The final point in this insidious argument says Ms Gillard isn’t a real Prime Minister because she didn’t ‘win’ an election – her party never secured a stand-alone majority.
If this is democratic illegitimacy, then the West should have sanctioned us generations ago.
The following Prime Ministers, at one point, did not lead majorities in the House of Representatives: Barton, Deakin, Watson, Reid, Cook, Fisher, Menzies, Curtin, and controversially, Fraser. In fact, the first majority government in Australia only occurred a decade after Federation.
Generously ignoring the fluctuating loyalties of the Country Party, and the instability it wrought inside the anti-Labor side of politics, it wasn’t until the 1940 election that Australia again saw a minority government.
The 16th Parliament of Australia that resulted had the unusual distinction of witnessing three Prime Ministers, all hailing from different parties.
The Government was initially lead by Robert Menzies of the United Australia Party. The leader of the Country Party, Arthur Fadden, replaced him. After ’40 days and 40 nights’ in the job, John Curtin of the ALP replaced Fadden, after two independents rejected Fadden’s budget. Curtin became the 14th Prime Minister, and by that stage, the 8th PM to lead a minority government.
Democracy is something to be cherished and defended. We should continue questioning, and in some cases, mercilessly mocking all Prime Ministers.
But to label one as illegitimate is more than mockery. It is tantamount to rejecting our system of government, our democracy, and our history.
We must accept that our Australian system of Government was designed to preclude a single party from having unfettered control over the political process.
The hysterical claim that fascism has taken root in Australia does nothing but vandalise the national discourse, and make us all look just a little bit silly.