The Australian Democrats of which I am a part of are now well and truly lost in political wilderness with no food or water.

Last week their remaining Senators gave their final speeches and that was that. 31 years of Democrat representation has now disappeared maybe forever. To make matters worse in the same week, the Democrats remaining MP in SA, Sandra Kanck made another controversial statement on drugs during question time.

I actually agree with Ms Kanck’s views on drugs in that all drugs are dangerous when misused and that there are some drugs that currently are illicit but could possibly be used under medical supervision for medicinal purposes (provided they are proven safe for medical use.) What I disagree with is the way she has personalised the issue by calling for trials of MDMA (pure form of ecstasy) on our war veterans returning from Iraq who have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The way it has been personalised is reminicent of her other slip up when she claimed ecstasy was not a dangerous drug and that it should have been used on Eyre Peninsula bushfire victims.

To show what sort of damage this has done to the Democrats, one only has to look at the opinion polls which showed the Democrats polling plummet in May 2006 when she first made controversial statements on drugs and compare that to now on her second controversial statement. The Democrats don’t even register in the polls now in what was their heartland state in South Australia. Admittedly in 2006, it didn’t help that the party went to all sorts of lengths to resolve internal conflict on the matter in public, rather than behind closed doors as should have been done.

I feel that it is time for Ms Kanck to hand the reigns to someone else. She has clearly discredited herself and the Democrats on the drugs issue by the way she has presented her arguments. When questioned about her statement in 2006 about giving MDMA to Eyre Peninsula bushfire victims, she steadfastly stood by her statement. I strongly believe this was a serious error of judgement.

Ms Kanck is a courageous woman, but sometimes her positions put her at odds with accepted community standards and opinions within her own party and this harms her credibility and also the Democrats credibility.

The Democrats now face an uncertain future. There are talks of a merger with the Climate Change Coalition and also party reform which is being driven by the Young Australian Democrats and will be subject of debate at their sold out National Conference to be held in Adelaide.

There are new, young, bright and enthusiastic faces in the Democrats who see that Australians yearn a real alternative to the hyperbole of the major parties and the special interest minor parties.

Australia’s democracy will be poorer without the Democrats, but years of turmoil and infighting is what had brought them undone. It is now the strong desire for change and unity from the young members of the Democrats that will drive the creation of a new political force.

Whatever happens, one thing is for sure. The Democrats need new credible faces who can win back the trust of the electorate that they betrayed one too many times.