Twelve months of Not John Howard

On the first anniversary of our glorious eviction of the worst, most dishonest and contemptible Prime Minister this country ever had* (and the worst Government), it's time to take stock of how much the country has changed now that the people the right call lefties are nominally in charge.

These are the things that stick in my mind as the new Prime Minister's main achievements after twelve months:

• A symbolic apology to the aborigines, combined with not in any way amending his predecessor's "Intervention", such that there's still a separate, tougher level of Centrelink for indigenous people;
  
• Some interest rate reductions that have nothing to do with him;
  
• A conservative Liberal-style internet filtering policy which will quietly and without oversight censor large parts of the internet, and cripple our access to whatever's left;
  
• Some poorly-targeted "stimulus" bribes of cash handouts to people who aren't me, to spend on things they don't need;
  
• Not being John Howard.

In summary, he hasn't really made anything better, but at least he's slowed our slide backwards.

It's one of the tendencies we always seem to see from the progressive comparatively less conservative major parties when they're elected. They want us progressives to vote for them, so before an election they pretend to advocate real change. But then, when elected, they very quickly - incredibly quickly - take us for granted and appoint Hillary Clinton (who wanted the Iraq War to continue) as Secretary of State (where she can do the most to make that happen). Apparently even if they win an election on a platform of change they don't think a majority of people actually want them to deliver it.

I miss pre-election Kevin Rudd, and pre-election Barack Obama. Those guys actually sounded like they wanted the office in order to undo the damage done by their opponents, not just to continue it. Like the injustices against which they railed from opposition were genuinely a concern for them, that - if they had the power - they would fix. Like they wanted to represent progressive policies, not just co-opt our votes.

Which is why we voted for preferenced them.

Because we don't just want someone in charge who's Not John Howard, Not The Liberals - we want someone who'll go further and re-establish what the country lost under his appalling government. Who'll build the infrastructure he refused to build. Who'll extend the civil liberties he worked to crush. Who'll restore the principles of responsible and accountable government that he dismantled. Who'll make sure the disadvantaged have the opportunities his predecessor took away from them.

Oh well. Thank God for preferential electoral systems (sorry, American lefties) and minor parties for whom we can vote if we want to have our views actually expressed in parliament. Maybe then one day we'll have an election anniversary truly worth celebrating.

*In my lifetime, anyway. I'm a bit vague on the pre-War PMs.