Several letters have been published from both those for and against the retired ex-MP Tony Windsor’s attempt to regurgitate his past as a politician.
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I, purposefully, do not use the terminology, as in his, and some others’ beliefs, he was, prior to his retirement, representing the electorate of New England’s democratic wishes.
This was, perhaps the case initially in his political career at both state and then federal levels, but, and it’s a rather big but, things changed immediately following his last foray into parliament at the end of which period he retired from politics.
The responsibility for that change, invariably and unquestionably, sits squarely on his shoulders.
My wife and I along, obviously, with several others, also received a support-seeking letter from Mr Windsor.
A great part of this letter relating to his attempted justification of, and why he supported Labor and Julia Gillard’s attempt to form what became an atrocious government.
Within this electorate, the Labor candidate polled somewhere in the region of 8 per cent of the votes cast, which can hardly be classified as a mandate in support of the Labor party!
Well, the rest is history.
Without going into detail – the media having highlighted, albeit biased to their chosen line of comment/reporting – the progressive decline in Australia’s status can, with a minimum degree of doubt, be traced back to the Windsor/ Oakseshott (independents both) partnership of support for Gillard’s and Rudd’s governments, which only further exacerbated the despicably poor quality of governance under Rudd’s previous term.
To imply, then and now, that Tony Abbott’s credibility was at stake was not the question – at least he achieved what he said he was going to do when voted in by the majority of the nation’s electorate.
Tony Windsor effectively des- troyed his own credibility at that point in time.
How can he, now, be entrusted not to repeat that cynical act against the New England electorate?
To further imply that Tony Windsor was representing what, in his eyes solely, he believed was the right direction, flies directly in the face of why and how he was voted in by a conservative electorate.
A statement frequently used by him: “The world is governed by those who turn up”, is more than somewhat hypocritical.
The electorate of New England “turned up” on the day of the election and made a decision, but it was not to form a Labor government.
No excuses can placate Tony Windsor’s decision.
Then or now!
A Allan
Manilla