A friend of mine who is a former Democrats member has forwarded to me this email sent out to former Democrats members as part of their “rebuilding” effort. I post it below the fold without comment:
Dear [Name],
As a former member of the Australian Democrats, I wanted to write and
convey my appreciation for your support in the past, and let you know
about some major changes to the party.We know that we have disappointed many of our former members and you
may be one of them. However, the party has entered in to a very
aggressive rebuilding program with the aims to build a far more robust
organisational structure that is able to deliver more stability and
strong results, ensuring the values we both hold dear remain a
permanent part of the Australian political landscape.As part of this rebuilding process we are:
Revitalising the branch and member engagement structure, making it
easier and more enjoyable to be an active member of the Australian
DemocratsEngaging in extensive outreach activities to target new voter blocks
and reconnect with those we have lost in recent eventsReviewing and updating all our policy, including implementing a much
more responsive and comprehensive policy development processUpgrading and rebuilding neglected party systems such as our website
and member management databaseWe are very committed to rebuilding the Australian Democrats and
returning to federal parliament in the next election. We are doing
everything we can to build support for the party.Rebuilding a party is a very challenging task and we need all the
http://www.democrats.org.au/join>
support we can get. If you still have a space in your heart for the
true values of the Australian Democrats we would love to have you back
in the party. We have flattened our membership fee structure to make
it more affordable, and you can now rejoin for $25 or $10 concession.
<Again, thank you for your support in the past. With your help we can
deliver on our promise and deliver members of a revitalised and
rebuilt Australian Democrats to the federal parliament next year.Sincerely,
Julia Melland
National President
Australian Democrats
I’m so offended – I didn’t get one of these emails (and she does have my email address).
Given that my impression is that, like me, most ex-Dems leave totally pissed off with them for one reason or another, I wouldn’t be holding my breath for this approach to have any success.
You do have to feel sorry for some of these people to some extent. They just don’t get it – they lack sufficient understanding of politics to grasp the reality (those remaining post-2004 election at least). Quite simply they don’t ‘play at our level’. Julia’s deputy (the first one listed) is a little more politically savy, but he’s too loyal to Julia, otherwise he’d probably quite happily join the Greens (he handed out HTVs at elections for the Greens when I knew him).
If you don’t mind I’d just like to add a little about why I joined the Dems in 2003. It was primarily a strategic decision. I was so disgusted with the Howard government over Iraq that I wanted to do something to help defeat them at the next election, and I believed that the Dems were the best placed to contribute to this because of their greater ability to attract wavering traditional Coalition voters than Labor or the Greens. In the spring of 2003 it was still widely believed that the Dems could recover sufficiently to still be in contention to win seats in 2004. My understanding of politics was comparatively limited back then, and has grown continuously and considerably ever since. Even in my time as a Dem, I met very few people whose political skills and strategic aptitude impressed me (though I’m not easily impressed). The understanding I’ve gained in the years since makes me very embarrassed about having been a Dem, but so many people know that I was and kept accusing me of still being one that I just decided to be honest about it, laugh about it, and admit my mistake. I was so relieved when I went to a meeting a couple of months ago and was introduced as a Green that I was hesitant to actually correct it.
The Democrats have a much more realistic and implementable policy set than the Greens and in that regard I favour them. The Greens however have a stronger leader and party unity which is also very important. I don’t see the Democrats going anywhere but I don’t hate them.
It’s very hard to build up a party without a sitting member or a lightning rod issue (say, Franklin River).
Julia’s a good person and I would say that she’ll keep the party going, members permitting, as a micro-party. I’m sorry to see Andrew Bartlett and Aidan Ridgeway gone. Most of the others I’ll take or leave, mostly leave.
Hamish, I don’t think Julia is a bad person – her heart’s in the right place, it’s just that she is an obsessive self-promoter and doesn’t have the skills that one would expect for someone leading a national political party. There’s roles for everyone best suited to their abilities, I found one for myself that suited me for a long time after I left the Dems, and she could find plenty for herself too if she tried.
So, Australia’s least relevant Party makes a totally unimportant move.
I don’t particularly like any Party but they way I look at it the Democrats are PROVEN LIARS with the Lees GST and Kernot the turncoat, whereas Ludlam from the Greens is a PROVEN FIGHTER against the Internet Filter. Only a fool would vote against someone who is currently doing a good job in favour of someone who has previously stabbed us all in the back.
I am a member of neither the Greens nor the Democrats Parties.
@Nick C
Hi Nick, your member record is flagged that you joined the greens, and marked ‘do not contact’. I can send you the email if you’d like.
Princess: Our new Technology Policy Officer Geordie Guy has a record of fighting internet censorship that can more than match Ludlam. Feel free to google him or check out http://nointernetcensorship.com
Hello “Rebuild Team”, how the hell do you know someone joined the Greens?
And sure, Geordie Guy may be good on internet censorship, but Scott Ludlam is an actual SENATOR. Something the Democrats have zero hope of ever getting again.
Hi ‘Rebuild Team’, funny that you think I’ve joined the Greens (was it that photo of me with my arm around Lee Rhiannon?). Please leave my file marked as such though (I’ll bet it actually says something far less flattering), as I may very well do so soon. If the project I’m trying to get started at the moment doesn’t work out, I’ll be giving it very serious consideration in a few months time.
I’ve actually spoken to some other ex-Dems who say they haven’t been contacted either. I’d imagine that given the Dems notoriously high membership turnover, it must be pretty difficult to track down and contact everyone who was once a member. Who did get it? Meg Lees? Cheryl Kernot? Janet Powell? Richard Jones? Good luck anyway, I know you’re all well intentioned, I just think there must be more effective ways to make a contribution than trying to revive this dead party.
IT is all very easy! Meg Lees, Andrew Murray and not forgeting the VERY FORGETTABLE Lyn Allison, destroyed the Australian Democrats! Selfish elected politicians who wouldnt except the LEADER from South Australia whom the MEMBERSHIP and The VOTING PUBLIC WANTED! The former Senators mentioned, ALL FORGETTABLE CONSERVATIVES! GO JOIN THE CONSERVATIVE PARTIES!
And hey ‘Rebuild Team’, how do you know who I am anyway? Sure, if you follow all my comments on this blog you can figure it out pretty easily, but to get my full name I’d still think it more likely that you’ve asked Julia, in which case why did you get the impression that replying to my comment was a good idea?
And please do tell why you think I joined the Greens, I’m fascinated to know now.
For everyone else, I might just add that I do act pretty sensibly and responsibly when I’ve got something constructive to do – I don’t at the moment so have been a bit of a loose cannon. I thought I had a problem with being a little crazy, but then I read Joe Trippi’s book and now realise it’s perfectly ok.
This comment from the Democrats ‘Rebuild Team’ is actually really creepy.
It’s like: “Hey Nick, we know you are supposedly anonymous, but we read what you wrote, worked out who you are, looked you up on our membership database, and found out we’d blackmarked you because we guessed you joined another political party, so that’s why we didn’t contact you.”
By the way, the guy who passed on this email actually IS a Greens member, quite an active one!
All you former Democrats could join the revitalised DLP which is actually going through a very strong rebuilding phase all around Australia. The DLP is actually very Democratic where you can go to branch meeting and vote and have your voice heard, and continue on to state conference and be part of the decision making process for Australias future.It is also a Labour party which belies in the traditional values the Labour Party was based on.
Oh, that is very funny Goanna. Why not the Free Trade party, while we’re at it?
Just because a fluke of the preference ticket system elected a DLP member in Victoria doesn’t mean you have any relevance as an actual political party.
I’ve noticed that the DLP seem to get the most votes when they appear ahead of the ALP on the ballot paper, and then, more so in lower socio-economic areas with higher numbers of less educated voters. It seems to me that much of their vote these days comes from confused voters who are actually intending to vote for the ALP. A similar effect seemed to occur with the Progressive Labour Party (compare their NSW Senate vote in 2001 to 2004).
The DLP should’ve been deregistered under the Howard govt legislation that knocked out Liberals for Forests, and it seems appallingly biased that the whole exercise was engineered so that they weren’t. Who’d want to join a party who’s main source of support is voter confusion?
Maybe the DLP and Democrats should consider a merger. They seem to have a fair bit in common these days.
I imagine any Democrats that stayed in the Party would only be conservatives and yes, they could join the DLP, as long as they grovel to Rome ofcourse!
Im sure the DLP would welcome any former Democrat who wished to join a Democratic Labour Party, that stands for social justice for all.
… except for the LGBTI community. And women.
There’s a contradiction in your “Life, marriage and the family” policy. The DLP claims to want to “uphold and protect the inalienable and fundamental rights of each person [...] to equal treatment under the law”, but then follows it up with promising to reverse “all court rulings that serve to undermine marriage or degrade it by conferring on homosexual, lesbian and transsexual pairings equivalent standing with marriage.”
That suggests that the DLP doesn’t consider LGBTI to be “people” – and is one of several policies which disqualifies the DLP from being a progressive party.
Justin there is no contradiction in the DLP policy to “uphold and protect the inalienable and fundamental rights of each person[...] to equal treatment under the law”,. To seek to preserve the rights of married people by working to reverse any ruling that undermine those rights is not a contradiction. Lesbian, homosexual, and transexuals have rights, but those right finish where they impinge on the rights of others. In this case married people.
When people enter into a marriage contract they are intitled to have to the full protection of the law. When others seek to impinge on those rights it is the duty of the state to protect them. In the same way if Lesbian, homosexual, and transexuals enter into contracts it is also the of the state to protect them. That duty does not include impinging on the rights of others.
How does giving marriage rights to LGBTI people infringe on the rights of straight people?
Giving Marriage rights to others impinges on the Rights of straight people because it would change the defination of Marriage as they understood it when they married. The defination of “marriage” means the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life.
To change this defination after people have married impinges on that Right
I’m sorry to hear that your marriage is so fragile that a potential gay or lesbian marriage will impugn upon it.
Goanna – you were asked how equal marriage impinges on heterosexual marriage, and you haven’t answered that question at all. Same sex marriage doesn’t stop or even impinge on a woman and man deciding to get married to each other. If they are already married, how does same sex couples being granted the right to marry affect them at all? Do you seriously think straight couples will suddenly decide to get divorced because the legal definition of marriage has changed during the time since they first got married?
Apologies to all you Democrats who are having difficulty with your DLP membership application. The flow of applicants has been so big it has chogged up the system, and delayed your Membership application. But do not fear, your application will be legal from the day you applied, so you will still be eligiable to vote at our next DLP State Conference.
Keep the applications coming.
Goanna – just be sure you let the Dems know who all their ex-members who’ve joined the DLP are so that they can update their database accordingly and don’t go sending them nuisance emails trying to get them to rejoin…
We are a party of decency and integrety. We do not divolge the private business of any of our members unless they requuest us to do so.
You’re not, however, a party of correct spelling.
Goanna, you do realise don’t you that all these ex-Dems who are signing up are stacks and it’s all part of a plan to overturn your party’s opposition to same-sex marriage. So glad to hear they’ll all be able to vote at the state conference so they can carry out their plan. I’ll pass that info on to my contacts who are co-ordinating the operation…
I am not to worried at the few hundred Democrats changing that policy. DLP members overwhelmingly oppose so called same sex marriage. This will not change. Of course i realise you are only trying to be a stirrer, and it has failed on this occasion.
Ben Raue: Is that all you can come up with.
Nick C: Most of the Democrats who have joined as were totally against same sex marriage and believed as most did, that the democrats had become a mirror of the greens.
Justin says:
We have plenty of women in our party……….. We leave the LGBTI’s as you call them in the greens.
Ziggy, your ‘party’ is a joke. I don’t need to take you seriously.
Oh hey, Ziggy, congratulations, I’ve recently read you’ve just got your party re-registered in NSW… for local government elections. So that’s 100 members then, just 650 more to go for the full registration, can you make it in time for the 2015 election?
Ben you will indeed need to take the DLP seriously when they gain seats in the Senate and other Upper Houses in Australia, as they have done in Victoria.
The hundreds of younger people who have joined the DLP in the past 12 months has given the party a vitality that they havent had in years.
Younger voters are bow looking at DLP policies and liking what they see.
The pro life policies of the party inspire the party members with a zest for life that influences all party policies.
The result is that the DLP has new life flowing through all it policies and membership.
This is opposed to the anti-life policies of the Greens and the ALP.
Life is infectious and reinvigorates, death only destroys
I promise you everyone will take you seriously in the absurdly unlikely event that you do win seats other than by flukes of preference allocation and convenient ballot paper draws, oh, and when you start making more believable claims.
Nick C:
Is that right nick. How many state Branches do the Democrats have ?
How many seats did they win without preferences ?
I’m not aware of how many members they have in NSW but they certainly polled more than the democrats did there and in SA in 2007.
I cant speak for NSW but I am aware that Queensland is close to attaining registration as with SA. It hasnt been a real priority up here as we have been federally focused. After standing a couple in the recent state election though a state focussed party is emerging quite quickly.
Ben Raue…. Funny thats what former Democrats are saying about your party. Initially looked good but swerved heavily left into the green arena. Why not just merge with the greens ?
I’m not sure what you guys are smoking, but maybe starting your own blog might be a great idea so you don’t have to take up space here. Oh no, that’s right, no one would bother reading it!