Senator Andrew Bartlett
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
 
3 Days, 3 Speeches
One of the reasons I decided not to stay on as Democrats’ Leader was so I could spend more time in my home state of Queensland. February got off to a bad start in this regard, as I was away for 10 nights straight in Canberra for Senate sittings, meetings of the party National Executive and then Estimates Committees. The first National Executive meeting I ever attended was in Canberra not long after the 1990 election, when the greatly missed Janine Haines lost her tilt at a Lower House seat. One or two things have changed since then. However, I'll get to spend most of the next 10 days in and around Brisbane.

Over the last couple of days I’ve met with people interested in a range of issues including alternative fuels, medicines, Pay TV (or subscription TV as the industry likes to call itself these days). I also met with someone about the situation on Nauru, both for the islanders, as well as for the asylum seekers who are still locked up there.

On Monday and Tuesday evenings I gave speeches at two very different events and on two very different topics. The first was a Rotary Club dinner – just a regular suburban club at Stones Corner on Brisbane’s inner southside. My topic was ‘the future of the Democrats’ which is a topic I and many other people have been wrestling with for the last couple of months. The venue was Easts Leagues Club, which I used to go to occasionally in my teenage years when I went to lots of games in the local Brisbane club competition. This actually wasn’t a terribly good omen, as the team I followed back in those days – Valleys – ended up going bust and disappearing, despite being the most successful club over more than 80 years in that competition. I didn’t notice any wailing from Sydney sports journalists about the ‘soul of rugby league dying’ when that happened – however, I think I’m going off topic.

The speech was a good chance to test out some of my thoughts on people. I wouldn’t think Rotary Clubs would form the core of my usual voter base, but that makes it more valuable in some ways. I must have been a bit downbeat, because during questions a few people said I shouldn’t be so hard on myself. There were a few suggestions as to what the Democrats should do from here and what people thought was wrong with politics. People were quite supportive and friendly (without suggesting they’ll suddenly all vote for me). I don’t know if they found it of interest, but I found it helpful in refining a few of my own thoughts.

The next night could hardly have been more different. It was a ‘Politics in the Pub’ event organised by the New Farm neighbourhood centre and held at the Powerhouse – very much inner city and a fairly arty sort of venue (well worth visiting if you get the chance – it is actually in an old powerhouse and. they’ve kept enough of the old structure to make it interesting). The crowd was a rather different demographic to Rotary (to put it mildly) and the topic was the curious one of “the Fate of Friendship in a Frenzied World”. There were a few of the local Social Alliance people doing their usual committed work, plus an eclectic mix of others from the local community. The other speakers helpfully set the tone, which made it easier for me as last speaker. I did it half for laughs and half to make some serious points about the need to have connectedness between people. I think the people there were able to tell which half was which.

I did another speech today (Wednesday) out at the University of Queensland on the topic of mental health and mandatory detention. This comes out of the controversy following the Cornelia Rau incident. It looks almost certain that the Senate will now have a general inquiry into mental health issues in Australia, which will be a good first step in trying to get some positive change as a result of this terrible incident. I gave the speech in a building called the Abel Smith lecture theatre, which many people call the Pizza Hut because of its odd shape and roof. It is also the place where I had my very first lecture as a university student back in 1982. Looking at the calendar, there’s even a prospect that it was 23 years ago to the day. It was a Psychology lecture (PY102 I think) and the building was overcrowded, even though I’d say it fits a few hundred people. Still, numbers dropped off after the first week or two and everyone could get a seat. It wasn't quite so crowded at this forum, but it never hurts to keep people informed and focused on an issue in the period after the media frenzy has died down.

posted by Andrew Bartlett @ Wednesday, February 23, 2005 Permalink
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