Rudd 2020 talkfest gimmick

So why is it that Justice Kirby is the most human rights orientated judge in Australia’s history? Well, there’s a fair chance that it relates to the fact that he belongs to a group that has subjected to an enormous degree of prejudice.

Kirby has walked in the shoes of the marginalised. He no doubt appreciates the level of helplessness and despair that come with this.

The fact that so often Justice Kirby’s fellow judges don’t agree with his views has little to do with intellect. It has everything to do with the fact that nearly all judges come from well-to-do backgrounds and hence have no understanding of what it is like to belong to a socially repressed group.

Governing a country is far more difficult than deciding who wins a legal case. The just allocation of resources, benefits and burdens requires the government to consider and balance an enormous number of competing demands and interests.

The first part of this process requires the government to understand the existence and depth of these interests and concerns.

Calling the supposed “smarts” and people of influence to Canberra is a positively dumb move. These people have one trait that is disproportionately shared by them: their parents were rich. Accordingly, they lack the capacity to understand what is needed to build a fairer and egalitarian prosperous Australia.

Among their main concerns are likely to be faster Internet and stronger privacy laws. When all the important things in life are shored up, there is little else to stress about.

They have lost touch of the fact what people need most is equal access to good health care, education and cheap essential services in the form of shelter, electricity and water and ways of tackling inflation other than discriminating against people with mortgages. All of this is absent in Australia.

If Rudd is truly interested in a better Australia and doesn’t want to get his hands dirty by talking to the miserable sectors of the community, he should just go to any Scandinavian country and see how they do government. There, the worst off live as well as the Australian middle class.

The talkfest will produce nothing of value. So why is Rudd having it? There are only two possibilities.

First, Rudd might actually believe that you can make important decisions via committee consensus. This would make him a genuine dill. Democracy appoints people to leadership roles who have the acumen to lead the way. There is no scope for consulting every step along the way - otherwise nothing gets done. If Rudd lacks the intellect and confidence to stamp his footprint on society, he should resign - now.

The more likely reason for the talkfest is that it is a gimmick aimed simply to elicit support for his policies. It is difficult to criticise a policy which one had direct a role in framing. What Rudd is trying to do is lock in 1,000 of the most influential Australians into supporting policies he has developed. Having succeeded with his first gimmick (Kev07), he is becoming addicted to them and is now going with his second: 1000/10 - 2020.

Either way, it’s all a bit sad - especially for the most miserable in our society.