Meet the SA Upper House Team: Paul Russell & David McCabe

The Democratic Labor Party has selected its first candidates for the SA Upper House in over 30 years. Paul and David are proud to represent a party with such a great tradition of family values, the rights of workers and, importantly, the right to life.

Meet the DLP's lead candidate Paul Russell...

Paul Russell has been married to Anne for 26 years. They have seven children.

For the last 10 years Paul’s work has focussed principally on family and life advocacy, research and policy work as well as campaigning against social and ethical concerns such as human cloning, same-sex marriage and euthanasia. Paul writes frequently for Australian and overseas publications and recently contributed a chapter for the book, Life to the Full: Rights and Social Justice in Australia.

Paul was formerly South Australian Vice President of the Australian Family Association and, in that capacity, was a delegate to the 2004 World Congress of Families in Mexico City. He is a director of Drug Free Australia and is actively involved in the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute. Paul supports Foundation 21, a charity that supports children with Down Syndrome and is a member of DADS (Dads Appreciating Down Syndrome).

Earlier, Paul spent over eight rewarding years working with homeless and at risk youth in a suburban accommodation setting following a career in finance.

Paul is passionate about human life and dignity and especially the family. He enjoys sport with his children and cycles regularly.

Meet David McCabe...

At the 2007 Federal Election, David was (DLP) Senate Candidate for South Australia. At 53 years of age, David sees himself a relative newcomer to politics.

David is a software engineer and is involved in the life of his local church community in music, voluntary service and leadership. He is married to Christine. They have four children.

David coached gymnastics for 15 years at the Glenelg YMCA He succeeded in coaching a large number of State Champions. He retired from coaching due to commitments with a young family.
He has been Chair of a School Council for the past 6 years.

In 2003 David completed a Masters of Business Administration Degree at the University of Adelaide and has significant experience in executive management

David has strong Christian values with a particular interest in the development of youth in life and public affairs.

David has a very strong sense of commitment and perseverance to whatever he undertakes. He is driven by loyalty to the people he works with, enjoying challenges and providing innovative solutions.

Congratulations Paul and David!

Meet the future member for Hartley

The DLP has finalized the preselection of the first of its Lower House candidates for the March 2010 South Australian election.

Meet Mark Freer...

Mark Freer is a concert pianist who has performed and broadcast as far afield as Switzerland, Germany and Italy. Closer to home, Mark has appeared as soloist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, broadcast live from the Sydney Opera House, and has been broadcast numerous times on ABC Classic FM.

The Rostrevor father of seven children, Mark has a keen interest in educational matters, and is the author of a groundbreaking piano teaching course that is currently being used with great success in a number of South Australian schools. He is a keen advocate of educational reform, and has vowed to fight tooth and nail, on behalf of parents, the domination of the 'education industry' by vested interests.

Mark directs a local church choir of young people, and is unequivocally on the side of the family in life matters. Mark says, "To call a spade a spade, I have a gutful of the woeful political representation we currently suffer under. I am not a politician by choice, and others have asked me to stand. Having agreed to do so, I will do my utmost to restore a status quo in this state where common sense, decency and clear thinking prevail over political spin. South Australia deserves better!"

Congratulations Mark!

It ain't over 'till it's over

Once again, with an intrepid band of friends, I sat through the Parliamentary debate on euthanasia on Wednesday Night. Once again, what we witnessed was high drama.

We were all bracing ourselves for Greens MLC, Mark Parnell's bill to pass with the support of the Independent MLC, Ann Bressington.

As the third in her set of amendments was defeated - by a significant margin, Bressington withdrew her remaining raft of changes. Most, I think expected her to change her position and vote against the bill. But as the debate drew to a close, she was nowhere to be seen and it suddenly dawned on me that she intended to abstain from voting. This would have left the house deadlocked at 10 votes to ten which would have left the President to decide using his casting vote (which, as he expressed, would have caused the bill to pass.

However, at the eleventh hour Liberal MLC, (and previous supporter of the bill) David Ridgway rose to his feet and told of the recent death of his mother and how the circumstances had caused him to reconsider. Moments later the bill was 'passed in the negative' (or lost).

How close can you get!

As a number of friends who witnessed this later commented to me, we should have all been elated at this outcome, but most of us felt something decidedly different.

We know too well that this bill will be back in the new parliament after March 2010 and we also know that there's a risk that it will pass at that time if the wrong people are elected. In otherwords: It ain't over yet.

The DLP are committed to making a difference in the Legislative Council for all South Australians. Blocking euthanasia is just one important step.

Interested in helping? Contact State Secretary, David McCabe at dlpforsa@esc.net.au

hospitals and hoo haa

I can't help but think of the No Hoo Haa Party started by Adelaide businessman, Mr. Albert Bensimon some years ago when I look at the posturing of the major parties over the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

It strikes me more about dangling trinkets before the voters of this state than it does about a rational response to a very important subject(Have you seen those u beaut videos?)

Let's face it, we would all love a new or rebuilt-to-new major hospital in Adelaide regardless of where our government wants to put it. I'd like a new family car, too. but, you know, if my wife and I can't afford it we still need transport for the family so any reasonable (and more affordable) option will do right now.

Yes, the people of South Australia deserve the very best of medical care and state-of-the-art facilities can, indeed, provide that. But if the numbers of beds aren't there and there aren't enough nurses and with doctors in the public system on voting with their feet it doesn't really amount to much, does it?

Let's just take a deep breath and count to ten. Now is not the time to be focussing on the buildings as much as it is about increasing bed numbers and services. Sure, build a new oncology wing if it's needed but let's make sure that the need(s) are genuine and the solution, long term. The State Election will be over after the 20th of March 2010 and so will the Hoo Haa - but the need, present and future, may still remain unresolved.

Is the die cast?

‘The die has been cast’ (Lt. Alea iacta est) is the phrase supposedly spoken by Julius Caesar in 49 BC as his armies crossed the Rubicon river in defiance of the Roman Senate. Thereby he began the long civil war against the northern Italian states.

Its modern usage is evocative of having gone beyond the point of return; having set things in motion without the ability to cease from moving towards a destiny. ‘Crossing the Rubicon’ holds a similar understanding for obvious reasons.

Some scholars render the Latin in the imperative: “Let the die be cast” or perhaps “Let the games begin”. For the sake of this comment I prefer the former simply because there is an inevitability about it – a reckoning if you will.

So, what’s my point? Four months from now, on March the 20th to be precise, political tribes of every hue will engage in battle. A battle where every South Australian voter will (theoretically at least) determine the winners and the losers. For some this is about as exciting as watching paint dry. For others (like me) it is a fascinating melodrama, a mixture of improvisation and strategy that is eventually reduced to plain numbers and simple mathematics on the tally room floor.

Already the major parties have their ‘troops’ chosen and the lines established. There’s a cold predictability about the outcome for some while, for others, the possibility of loss of ground or the unexpected, but hoped for gain, flairs the nostrils for the battle earnest.

I admit, it’s all too easy to adopt and extend the metaphor of battle – but it does work on so many levels. For those of us who, with the DLP, are concerned about life issues and the gradual decay of the voice of faith and reason in our polity, then the collateral damage at the next South Australian election in the Upper House (the Legislative Council) should be of more interest than who does or does not form government. Why? Because the effects will outlast this government and its successor and will not easily be undone or remedied.

This ‘House of Review’ will grow more hostile to life issues on the 21st of March next. For the first time, those supporting euthanasia will probably be in the majority. I call this ‘collateral damage’ principally because I cannot see that either major party designed or engineered this as a deliberate outcome – they’re just not that organised. It is, clearly, an unintended consequence of the ravages of war.

I return to my question: is the die cast? Well, is it or isn’t it? You tell me. It’s essentially your call now for there is little else that can be done. It depends now on whether or not we’ll simply retreat to our shelters and pretend that all is well; whether we’ll line up with one or another of the major parties ignorant of the possibility that the enemy may be in our midst or whether we can heed the warning and claim the territory under dispute for the side of life. It depends also on accepting the chain of command; else maybe we’re just renegade mercenaries fighting pointless skirmishes at the sides when the real battle lies elsewhere.

Well! Is the die cast? Tell me what you think

voluntary euthanasia at the doorstep

Last Wednesday, I spent the evening and the early hours of Thursday (my wedding anniversary) sitting silently in the gallery of the South Australian Legislative Council (Upper House) listening to proceedings. I know, it's not the most exciting way to spend an evening, but the debate that night was incredibly important.

That was the night when the latest attempt at introducing voluntary euthanasia in SA was debated. You know, I've worked against more than ten euthanansia bills over the years - but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw that night. For the first time over all these years, I was genuinely scared.

For the first time I was forced to confront as reality what I already knew in theory: that the Upper House of the SA Parliament was getting closer to the time when it would say 'Yes' to euthanasia. Only one more vote and the SA Upper House would have been the first Australian legislature since 1996 (NT) to give euthanasia the nod.

One more vote! And that vote is closer than you might think! In March 2010 two anti-euthanasia MLCs will retire. Their potential replacements are understood to think differently. There's nothing that the major parties can do now to fix this problem. Family First will see their member returned and, good as that is, it won't fix the problem.

The Democratic Labor Party will run 'Above the Line' candidates for the SA Upper House (as well as Lower House candidates). Make the DLP a priority for your vote and you will be making sure that your vote counts on euthanasia.

We'll be going all out to get our candidate over the line.