Andrew Hastie is presented as a man of integrity who will get the job done, as the representative for the Canning electorate in WA. The problem with Hastie is that "Special Forces" qualifications don't really pass as qualifiers for political life, and living in some barracks in his electorate is not preparation for public life. It's a narrow government life experience, akin to school, followed by another school experience. There is little appreciation of economics, finance, accounting or anything outside of defence. Maybe he can be Minister of Defence in a liberal cabinet? Can he represent his electorate. Of course he can. The issue is whether he has the values to judge them, and serve them fairly in his role. In this respect Hastie is destined to be 's carbon-copy failure like Abbott.
It is sad day when the electorate is becoming a conflation of liberal and democrat, and the liberal party is becoming more arrogantly anti-intellectual. They are not just conservative; they are trending the boundaries of fascism.
The Labor Party is full of chimps, however there is something disconcerting about a Liberal Party appointing a lot of Christian self-righteous puritans, with no life experience, who profess the calibre to tell Australians how it is. It's disconcerting because whilst their rhetoric speaks of individualism, rights, aspiration and integrity; their policy prescriptions are completely on par with Labor. Like Labor, their members are professional politicians and bureaucrats like "tin soldiers" with no life experience. No skills that prepare him for the assaults on his integrity. I'll happily demonstrate as much if Abbott or Hastie ever chat with me on Facebook.
These fakers will defend their past legacy; they are not custodians of our future. The religious right in Australia are going to destroy Australia, just as they did the United States. Abbott is not even Reagan; but you can be sure he will spend on infrastructure like there is no tomorrow. That is not a bad thing, however like Menzies, there will be no other progress. It will be hapless "privileged" self-righteous leadership cowering to old values with no intellectual engagement. For those who don't fit the model, their will be repressive alienation; all for the sake of preserving the interests of liberal party sponsors.
The only defense from such a development will be a switch to the libertarian parties, namely Rand Paul in the USA and the Liberal Democrats in Australia. The ACT Party in NZ more closely approximates a 'right' conservative party. Mere appeasers to old values whilst they offer a respite to the centrist National Party.
There are several defences from such poor government;
1. Anarchocapitalism - denying these authoritarian governments a monopoly in their arbitrary use of force. That is to say no government can be trusted in the basis of the existing political structure.
2. More Liberal Democratic Party in the Senate
3. Not giving the Labor Party a chance because of the union-extortionists they are.
I cannot see Hastie being anything other than a lackie for an Abbott coalition. The by-election is a referendum on Tony Abbott. Hastie is his boy. What we need is politicians who don't just talk about integrity, but who break the political whip, and actually display it because integrity means more to them than their political futures.
