Goodbye Democrats

- Queensland Democrats Senator Andrew Bartlett leaves the Senate this week.

This week in Parliament marks the end of a political party that many thought would be Australia's third major party - the Democrats.

All four of the remaining Democrats Senators - Lyn Allison, Andrew Bartlett, Natasha Despoja-Scott and Andrew Murray, are conducting their last speeches in the upper house this week, with my favourite of the four, Andrew Bartlett, due to do his on Wednesday.

Here is what he writes in his blog:

I’m giving my final Valedictory speech in the Senate this coming Wednesday evening, around 6pm. News Radio should be broadcasting the Senate at that time, or you can listen in online through www.aph.gov.au. There’s another story in today’s SMH exploring where the Democrats went wrong. I might write some stuff here on that topic later, but I’d rather the final week of the Democrats’ 30+ years in the Senate focused on the many achievements rather than why it has ended.

The Sydney Morning Herald article he links to is extremely interesting, giving an insight into the sad demise of my favourite political party.

Who killed Don's party? Was it a crime of passion committed by the blonde in the enemy camp with the coffee plunger? Or perhaps the deal-maker from Adelaide armed with a frozen chicken in the cabinet room. Some hold responsible the young star in Doc Martens, while others see more suspects than would Miss Marple going on a quiet holiday.

The Democrats once owned a significant chunk of the Senate. At their peak, barely a decade ago, there were nine in the national Parliament. They had influence and power. But in little more than a week, the party will be over.

Started by Don Chipp and fashioned as a check on the government of the day, the Democrats leave a substantial footprint on the nation. They secured World Heritage listings, negotiated native title legislation, boosted environmental protection, championed human rights and almost always improved bills to save governments from themselves.

They were such a part of the political landscape that one courtyard of the inner sanctum of the Parliament was known to everybody as the Democrats Courtyard.

Not any more.

When the new Senate, elected last November, takes shape on July 1 there will be no Democrat senator for the first time in 31 years.

The last four federal Democrats - Natasha Stott Despoja, Lyn Allison, Andrew Murray and Andrew Bartlett - will sit on the red leather seats for one more emotional week.

But they are not going quietly. The quartet is rushing to have its say at committee hearings and trying to shape parliamentary reports in the dying days of a Coalition-controlled Senate. They like to think of themselves as legislators and are savouring their last gasp of Parliament.

One of these last says has been the Stolen Generations Compensation bill, which although extremely flawed, is at least reminiscent of the fact that the Democrats have been one of the only political parties to have consistantly championed the cause of the rights of Aboriginal people.

Although it is unlikely to ever be passed, at least it is a start. I don't agree with the arbitary payments part, but at least it shows that we could be a few steps closer to giving Aboriginal people compensation for instances that only disadvantaged them, and added to their already existing disadvantage.

Good luck to Senator Bartlett in all he does, and I hope he still exercises influence over public debate and opinion in the coming years.