Something From Kate

Yesterday a bunch of us from UNSW went with Sarah Maddison, one of my favourite activists of all time, to Parliament House in Canberra. We were going to have an informal discussion with Senator for ACT Kate Lundy of Labor and meet up with an indigenous representative at the Aboriginal tent embassy.



Kate Lundy was more personable than I had imagined, although that was probably more from actually meeting her than from anything I'd read about her.

The discussion was open and candid. Kate answered questions on a myriad of topics, from the IT industry to the Australia-US FTA to VSU to abortion to Labor caucus politics.

What I appreciated most, however, was Kate's honesty about Labor's treatment of the Marriage Act Amendment. Labor had been placed in a particularly precarious position (how's that for alliteration) by Howard's circus of wedge politics, and many (including myself) were extremely disappointed by Labor's support of the Bill.

It had been clear that the Labor Party was particularly (and spectacularly) divided on the issue, and Kate shed a little more light on the messy internal conflict that eventually saw Labor abandoning the interests of the LGBT community. Kate's response elicited some of my sympathy for the Labor Left, though I cannot deny the permanent damage of my trust in Labor (what there was of it to begin with) to stand up for social justice and the interests of the marginalised.

Well, before arriving in Canberra, I had thought about also using the meeting (yes yes, all these agendas) as a springboard for building more momentum for the anti-VSU campaign. Thing is, Jenny Macklin (opposition education spokersperson) has already declared that Labor will oppose the legislation, but with the Senate change in June - and Liberal gaining majority - the numbers of any opposition will be just not be enough to stand up against Howard's legislative bulldozing.

What happened to checks and balances - what happened to accountability?

The gloom is hard, for me, to bear.

***
Aight. I wanted to talk about the tent embassy visit, but this post has gone on for too long. Maybe later.


Technorati: Australia politics, Australian Labor Party, GLBT