Notes on Form Guide Part Two
The election where no one will really win,
but we can at least choose to stay on track
First a warning! WEL strongly opposes voting for Pauline Hanson and One Nation even though the party is led by a woman and we support more women getting into politics. There are some women, like some men, we do not feel able to support such as Robyn Spencer, Heather Hill or Pauline Hanson because of the policies they espouse. Feminism is about respect for difference, not discrimination or scapegoating.
Unity is unscored as no policies were available, however they have been included for their stand against intolerance. Due to limited time and resources, other parties and independents have not been assessed.
Based on party policies, performance (of their last term in government) and leadership, WEL has scored the two major parties on 13 areas which affect quality of life. The results suggest neither Coalition nor Labor is good enough to have majorities in both houses. We covered the main contenders for the position of Prime Minister and also minor party policy proposals. The figures suggest that the Democrats and Greens both have something to offer if they have a say in the Senate.
WEL is concerned by the low score for both John Howard and the Coalition. We really tried hard to find positive things to say about the Coalition, but it was extremely difficult to do. While there have been some positive moves in areas such as domestic violence and support for carers, under the Howard led Coalition government women’s position has gone backwards. Unfortunately there appears to be no change in sight.
Kim Beazley and Labor actually do not score highly on their own account, but only do well in comparison to the Coalition. While they have improved since their last term in office, Labor still has a long way to go, including much more time listening to women’s groups.
The 1998 WEL Form Guide has been compiled over the past fortnight and a detailed breakdown of what has been scored in Part Two is available here or by request from Helen Leonard or June McGowan.
For further information please contact:
Kathleen Swinbourne
welnsw@mail.comcen.com.au
Helen Leonard
welaust@dynamite.com.au
WEL Australia
PO Box 191, CIVIC SQUARE ACT 2608
Ph: 02 62476679 Fax: 02 62474669
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Page created 28 September 1998; last updated 28 September 1998