I am distressed at the level of disrespect for our elected representatives, and the fuelling of panic around the issue of carbon pollution.
We change governments at elections at regular intervals. The Westminster system is stable because it lets parliament make the decisions – the people can comment, discuss, petition etc, but the parliament gets its term, unless it, collectively, decides otherwise. And in due course we all get another say and can change our representatives.
In this Parliament, no one party has a majority because we, the electors, chose that particular group of people to represent us. Many people were feeling really cranky with the major parties and this showed up in the election result.
A group of parliamentarians of different political persuasions have now come together and sought advice from Australia’s established institutions, investigated the issues, considered international knowledge and experience, questioned expert public servants and then done a mass of work to formulate policies they believe will benefit Australia in the long term. Let us give them some respect.
This government, properly elected, has determined its policy response to the very challenging issue of climate change. We live in a parliamentary democracy – informed discussion is fine, but it is improper to deliberately suggest that the process is illegitimate.
Barbara Finch, Armidale
