Would you look at what happened last Saturday night? Australia spent
millions on election advertising (which also carries and environmental
cost), strategy and initiative, not to mention average citizens having
to tolerate their TV shows and letterboxes being swamped with all of
that shit, only for Australia to get her second hung parliament in six
years. It's hard to imagine nobody wanting to slap a few XXXX Golds down
over that...
Now, if you must know I'm a Labor man
overall, though I've really never agreed with all of their policies
either. And I've voted ever since I was old enough. But ignoring all the
issues themselves for a second, as a keen follower of politics, I
believe this election results' nexus point is a lack of uniqueness among
the key players, personally and ideologically. Firstly, the leaders'
debate was widely condemned as a snoozefest, and I must agree. From
where I was watching it was simply an hour of tired rhetoric from both
Turnbull and Shorten. Then, during the campaign, they both repeatedly
gave what felt like rather rehearsed answers during interview. How
gullible do they think we are? Even Richard Di Natale to me played it
too safe, and then there's Julie Bishop, who could be Australia's most
aloof politician in recent memory. Browse our political history, from
all sides, and the names most prominent are usually because their
owners, for good or bad, stood out from the crowd: Curtin, Hawke,
Dunstan, Bonner, Hanson, even Menzies. Whether consciously or not, they
were unmistakable individuals. That individuality, personally and
ideologically, is sorely lacking in Australian politics in 2016.
But
so is sincerity behind the spin. Our leaders must stop making
dishonest, sugarcoated promises, whether during or between elections,
which they think their constituents will trust them to keep. This time
of course it was the proposed same-sex marriage plebiscite, which, even
if successful, will still have to pass through both Houses, and we all
know that would be a piece of cake for it. I'm not angry at Australia
for this result, either; I actually had a feeling it would unfold rather
like this. I just really hope all the key players learn from it. And I
am concerned about Bob Katter now siding with Turnbull, and Pauline
Hanson succeeding in her parliamentary comeback. It speaks volumes about
those two when you consider they're so right-wing even the Tories don't
want to know them.
But what was the decisive factor? Was it the
Brexit? Immigration? Marriage equality? The economy? I'd say all of
those may have tipped the scales toward this result, and for numerous
reasons they are all significant. But if we don't find a way of
achieving or managing them all, I'd say we will just keep reaching this
election result.
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