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Timid Democrats Have No Chance

Friday, 7th July, 2006

That shrinking minority who are members of the Australian Democrats are getting their knickers in a knot because their solitary remaining member in the South Australian Parliament has dared to say she would prefer to be at a rave party with people on ecstasy than at a pub with a bunch of drunks. Sandra Kanck MLC even went so far as to attend the Winter Enchanted rave on Saturday night at Adelaide 's Night Train Theatre restaurant.

From the reaction of some of her timid fellow Democrat party members – and from an overwhelming majority of radio show hosts - this week you would think that Ms Kanck was advocating that ecstasy consumption be made compulsory and that alcohol be banned. When all she was really stating was the obvious: ecstasy users might be hurting themselves but they don't go around bashing up the innocent.

Ms Kanck told ABC radio that she felt safer at the rave than in a hotel. “These people using ecstasy and whatever they're using,” she explained, “they are not aggressive, they are not shouting, they're not fighting, you don't get people puking all over the place, it's a far, far better environment.”

No sooner had she finished speaking than some of the non-elected Democrats were grumbling about expelling her from the organisation. Daring to challenge the accepted wisdom is no longer, it appears, an acceptable thing in this once influential minor party.

Which probably explains why the Australian Democrats are fast becoming a political irrelevance. Ms Kanck has one party companion in the NSW Upper House and four Senators who are approaching the next federal election with fear and trepidation.