What Australian newspapers say Thursday, August 22
SYDNEY, Aug 22 AAP - Natasha Stott Despoja's successor as leader must restore the AustralianDemocrats to their roots as a progressive and effective balance-of-power force that candeal constructively with governments, The Australian newspaper says today.
Its editorial says the Democrats can only hope to recover credibility by acceptingthe right of senators to speak out on policy issues, and take a middle ground in the nationalinterest.
"On so many issues, Senator (Aden) Ridgway has shown himself to be a pragmatist. Othersin the party share his approach.
"For their own good, the Democrat membership should heed the lessons of the Stott Despojaexperiment - offering new politics doesn't mean throwing out the old ones."
The Daily Telegraph says Senator Stott Despoja's demise as leader is a victory forpragmatism and could be a breakthrough for the government.
"The post-Stott Despoja Democrats are certain to be more keen to negotiate on legislationand participate in the framing of new laws," its editorial says.
"They are less likely to see obstruction as a suitable end in itself, and will notequate being sidelined with being effective."
The paper says the new Democrat approach of seeking concessions and compromises willrequire the government to offer the same.
The Herald Sun says the Democrats have a fight on their hands to regain the distinctiveidentity they lost under Senator Stott Despoja's leadership.
The party's young leader could have hung onto her job had she sought a vote of confidencefrom rank-and-file Democrat members, the editorial says.
"But at what cost? She would have led a divided party, unsure of where it should bein the political spectrum.
"To survive, they must be neither right, left nor Green, but offer a check and a balanceagainst excesses by other parties," the newspaper says.
The Australian Financial Review says if the Democrats are to endure, its members mustgive their parliamentary representatives more discretion.
"Legislators must try to reconcile their principles and those of the party with thegovernment's agenda," its editorial says.
"Binding them too tightly, as the major parties have found, can lead to disaster."
However, the newspaper says the impracticality of the party's unique structure is amajor stumbling block.
The Advertiser's editorial says the Democrats' credibility as an effective third forcein national politics seems irretrievably lost.
"Senator Natasha Stott Despoja should have taken a much firmer line with the dissidentsfrom the outset over the defection of Senator Meg Lees and then the recalcitrance of Senator(Andrew) Murray.
"When these quarrelsome Democrats again offer themselves for election ... they willbe reminded ... that they have joined the long list of minority parties who have becomepolitical footnotes," the Advertiser says.
The Sydney Morning Herald says there are potential difficulties with the Catholic Church'sinquiry into allegations of sexual abuse against Sydney Catholic Archbishop George Pell.
The paper's editorial says it lacks the power of a royal commission or a judicial inquirybacked by parliament to compel witnesses.
"It will not be a public inquiry. Its essential task will to be decide between theword of Dr Pell and that of his accuser.
"How far it will be able to test what they say against the evidence of other potentialwitnesses is not clear."
The newspaper says everyone will wish for a clear and credible finding from the inquiry'sadjudicator, Alec Southwell, QC.
The Age's editorial says the accusation of sexual abuse against Australia's most prominentCatholic is a profoundly serious episode in Church history.
The onus is on the Church to investigate the claims involving Dr Pell because the manmaking the allegation has chosen not to go to the police, the paper says.
"The inquiry process must proceed without interference or undue influence.
"It behooves all concerned to ensure that the inquiry is fair, comprehensive and conclusive."
The Brisbane Courier-Mail says six years ago, when he was the Catholic Archbishop ofMelbourne, Dr Pell established a ground-breaking system to deal with complaints againstpriests of sexual misconduct.
The newspaper says as Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Pell now finds himself in the role of the accused.
"Two months ago a man approached the church claiming he had been molested 40 yearsago as a 12-year old in a tent at a holiday camp in Victoria by a man he called `Big George',who he now believed to be Archbishop Pell.
"If there was shown to be any substance in the allegation, the impact on the CatholicChurch in Australia would be devastating."
AAP pw
KEYWORD: EDITORIALS
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