HOW LOW CAN THIS UPPER HOUSE GO

HOW LOW CAN THIS UPPER HOUSE GO?

(Thursday Telegraph 31^st March 2011) (OPINION – OUR SAY)

There are times when even politicians have to put politics aside. During episodes of national crisis, for example, Australian politicians from all sides have a remarkable record of ditching their squabbles and pitching in for the common good.

You’d hope that the same would be true during a crisis gripping NSW. Sadly, however, we now see some politicians and political groups seeking only selfish advantage.

Last Saturday NSW voted overwhelmingly to give Barry O’Farrell’s Liberal-National Coalition a free hand in repairing our fractured state. Everybody – including Labour – got the message.

Everybody, that is, except for a few members of our troublesome Upper House, who have now indicated that they will have roadblocks on the highway to recovery.

Fred Nile, first elected to the Upper House 30 years ago, should be able to read the state’s mood a little more clearly than he evidently has.

Yesterday the longest-serving member of the NSW Parliament signalled that his support for the new Government’s policies might possibly be dependent on support for Nile’s bizarre plan to make women seeking abortions to view ultrasound images of the foetus.

Give us a break, Mr Nile. Besides Nile’s Christian Democrats, the Shooters and Fishers Party is another group looking to make the most of their opportunities. In their case, they are pursuing the burning public issue of target shooting in schools.

It’s a fine sport, but in the overall scheme of things target shooting isn’t a patch on issues like transport and health. These areas that demand immediate public attention.

Yet Shooter and Fisher Robert Brown isn’t backing down. If Mr O’Farrell is not interested in talking to our legislation program, he sniffed, then we can’t look at theirs. That’s mighty tough talk from someone whose party – even combined with the Christian Democrats – won less than 8 per cent of last Saturday’s State Election vote.