MONTHLY TALKS are held at 7.30pm sharp at the BURNSIDE CITY UNITING CHURCH, 384 Portrush Rd, entry off Fisher Street.
Non-members always welcome with $5 cash entry
FRIDAY OCTOBER 4: MARTIN HAMILTON-SMITH – DEMOCRACY UNDER CHALLENGE: The Interesting Case Study of South Australia
Unsettled electorates are turning away from established politics controlled by major parties and turning towards populists, independents and minor parties of the left, the right and the centre. Democracy is in question, arguably under siege.
Australia faces its own challenges. A revolving door of Prime Ministers, of Premiers dumped and replaced by factional ‘faceless men’, not by the voters. As people look for leaders of strength, humility, community service and integrity the major parties too frequently deliver leaders of ego, ambition, self-interest and weakness. Electors vote for change at the ballot box and get it on Election Day, only to find promises are broken, leaders are sacked or installed in backroom mêlées and deals are done behind closed doors. Big business, government bureaucracy, organised Labor and established interests seem to be running things, not the voters. The political ‘system’ is looking frail.
About the Speaker: Martin Hamilton-Smith, a soldier 1972-1994, businessman and politician, he has been Leader of the Liberal Party and served as an independent Minister in a Labor cabinet. He has seen South Australian politics from both sides of the House. He is currently a business consultant and a director of the Australian Sovereign Capability Alliance which was formed to argue the case for greater Australian strategic, scientific, industrial and economic sovereign capability, sufficient to independently secure the national interest.