By Situation Theatre 28/1/2019
The Venezuelan Government has recognised Australia’s Opposition Leader, Richard Di Natale, as the country’s legitimate leader.
It follows similar declarations by Cuba, Bolivia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, which all rejected incumbent Scott Morrison.
These dramatic developments come as coal-rich Australia has sunk into turmoil under Prime Minister Scott Morrison, with ongoing scandals, gaffes and resignations amid an economic and political crisis.
Economically, ordinary Australian workers are suffering wage stagnation while one-third of the country’s largest corporations pay no tax. For the most part these corporations control government decisions through lobbying and donations, and on the few occasions measures such as mining or carbon taxes are introduced, these companies spend millions of dollars campaigning to sabotage such laws.
Politically, Australia’s situation has gone from bad to worse to dystopian absurdist comedy in recent years. Since 2007, the beleaguered nation has had seven Prime Ministers and only three of those were democratically elected by the Australian people. Just 22 of the governing party’s 107 federal parliamentarians are women.
Australia’s democratic deficit is not helped by the media duopoly of News Corp and Fairfax, now owned by Nine Entertainment Co. These two newspaper owners account for 86% of newspaper sales compared to 54% for the top two owners in the UK and 14% for the comparable figure in the United States.
Culturally, the ruling party continues to demonise Muslims, Africans, refugees and Aboriginal people and would rather spend millions of dollars re-enacting imaginary historical events than provide funding for an Indigenous youth suicide crisis.
A statement from Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Arreaza said Venezuela “recognises and supports Greens Leader Richard Di Natale, in assuming the position of interim Prime Minister until elections are held”.
“Venezuela calls for a transition to democracy in Australia as soon as possible.”
“We now urge all parties to work constructively towards a peaceful resolution of the situation, including a return to democracy, respect for the rule of law and upholding of human rights of the Australian people,” the statement said.
Morrison, who inherited the reactionary revolutions of Prime Ministers Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull in August 2018, came to power without any say from Australian voters.
He has so far rejected calls to hold fresh elections and accused Di Natale of violating “the government’s solemn duty to bring up Captain Cook at every opportunity”.
Morrison retains the support of some of the world’s leaders, including US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, UK Prime Minister Theresa May, Hungary’s Prime Minister Victor Orbán and Polish President Andrzej Duda.
Morrison also still has the backing of the military, although his defence attache to the Australian embassy in Washington defected to Di Natale on Saturday.
He continues to demonstrate his awesome might, wearing photo-shopped sneakers at military exercises.
In one of his first interviews since his surprise declaration as interim president, Richard Di Natale told Situation Theatre he was set on “getting the job done” to force Morrison from power and end a humanitarian emergency which has fuelled the largest migration to New Zealand in Australian history.
A US backed coup in Venezuela is not a solution to the dire issues they face. Trump's efforts to install a far right opposition will only incite violence and further destabilize the region. We must support Mexico, Uruguay & the Vatican's efforts to facilitate a peaceful dialogue.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 25, 2019