Conservative Howard's plans to gut Senate power
'Howard's idea also shows that he believes the neo-liberal, read corporatist model is now so entrenched that there is no need for a Senate to keep Labor on a leash. It's the ultimate sign that he thinks he's won, for once and for all, the battle of ideas and ideals raging in Australia since 1983, when Hawke and Keating began privatising, outsourcing, corporatising and deregulating. In other words, he believes his vision for Australia has nothing of substance to fear from Labor any more.'

This development also exposes once again the fatal flaw in traditional socialist ideology: that socialists should aim to 'win power' and then reform will follow. But the pursuit of power corrupts the ideology. Anarcho-syndicalism, a minority branch of socialism, has always had the superior perspective that power itself is the problem and that the highest priority is checks and balances on power along with devolution and decentralisation combined with grass roots mobilisation. Only in this way can real reform be achieved. For Labor to now fall victim to this latest neo-liberal manoevre will be just another in a long line of defeats and betrayals: a deliberate humiliation of defeated socialism.

However, there remains a possibility that this maneovre of Howard's is a bluff designed to get his agenda through the existing Senate, and the possibility that this proposal even if put to the people in a referendum wouldnt get up, given the historic difficulty of passing referenda. It would also provide a great opportunity for the Greens to step forward as the real opposition, lifting their profile in a vigorous campaign. Of course, one of the implications of Howard's proposal is that it would remove the posssibility of double dissolutions, which would prevent for minor parties and independents the easier path to the senate of a lower quota.

Conservative Howard's plans to gut Senate power
'Howard's idea also shows that he believes the neo-liberal, read corporatist model is now so entrenched that there is no need for a Senate to keep Labor on a leash. It's the ultimate sign that he thinks he's won, for once and for all, the battle of ideas and ideals raging in Australia since 1983, when Hawke and Keating began privatising, outsourcing, corporatising and deregulating. In other words, he believes his vision for Australia has nothing of substance to fear from Labor any more.'

This development also exposes once again the fatal flaw in traditional socialist ideology: that socialists should aim to 'win power' and then reform will follow. But the pursuit of power corrupts the ideology. Anarcho-syndicalism, a minority branch of socialism, has always had the superior perspective that power itself is the problem and that the highest priority is checks and balances on power along with devolution and decentralisation combined with grass roots mobilisation. Only in this way can real reform be achieved. For Labor to now fall victim to this latest neo-liberal manoevre will be just another in a long line of defeats and betrayals: a deliberate humiliation of defeated socialism.

However, there remains a possibility that this maneovre of Howard's is a bluff designed to get his agenda through the existing Senate, and the possibility that this proposal even if put to the people in a referendum wouldnt get up, given the historic difficulty of passing referenda. It would also provide a great opportunity for the Greens to step forward as the real opposition, lifting their profile in a vigorous campaign. Of course, one of the implications of Howard's proposal is that it would remove the posssibility of double dissolutions, which would prevent for minor parties and independents the easier path to the senate of a lower quota.