Then the horrible realisation dawned on me. With neither party able to control the House of Representatives, Bob Katter could wind up holding the balance of power.
Oh ..... my .... God.
How did things degenerate to the point where this ghastly eventuality could come about? Unfortunately, after what must surely qualify as the most negative election campaigns of all time, the major parties have only got themselves to blame for the mess they find themselves in. And frankly, they fully deserve it. As the computer geeks know, if you feed garbage to someone or something, then you're likely to get garbage back in return. That's what now awaits the party which manages to convince an eclectic bunch of independents to support them - 3 years of garbage where they have no real mandate to implement their legislative agenda (whatever that is) and where it could well be a major battle to get even the most simple bits of legislation through both houses of Parliament.
I have to say that unlike the 2007 campaign which offered the tantalising prospect of seeing John Howard lose both the Prime Ministership and his seat, this time I lost interest very early on in the piece. Judging by the whopping 20% of voters which one poll determined as "undecided" only 2 days out from the election, I wasn't alone. Why did voters react in such an apathetic manner? I can only speak for myself but frankly, I think a lot of it had to do with the dreadful campaigns run by both major parties and the utter contempt they showed for the electorate's intelligence by doing so.
This was a campaign which was dominated by banal platitudes and was almost entirely bereft of policy. Is it any surprise that any voter with half a brain switches off when you consider some of the dross that was served up during the campaign:
- Gillard overusing the hackneyed and ultimately meaningless expression "moving forward" (or "Mervyn Ford" if you want to adopt the phonetic spelling) to such an extent in her opening speech that it became instant Chaser-fodder and had to be dropped by the spin doctors. Subsequent attempts to appropriate Barack Obama's "Yes we can" were equally pathetic and self-defeating.
- Abbott visibly wincing at the leader's debate because his PR people had told him to present a restrained, moderate facade when we all knew he wanted to cut loose and box Gillard round the ears.
- The complete failure of either leader at the debate to go into any policy issues, and then subsequently refusing to engage in any further debates except when polling showed their party slipping behind.
- Abbott refusing to be drawn at all on how he planned to pay for any of his measures because he well knew that they would involve deeply unpopular cuts to spending, and Labor failing utterly to take him to task on that.
- Gillard coming out at the start of week 3 of the campaign and announcing that she was going to be the "Real Julia"; well, that was terrific because the Julia who was behaving as the puppet of whatever focus group Mark Arbib and Karl Bitar told her to sure sucked big time. However, shouldn't we voters be entitled to see the "Real Julia" all the time? How can we be expected to trust her otherwise?
- The ridiculous focus of the both major parties on the 2000-odd boat people who arrive here each year and a piddling government debt of 2% of GDP as opposed to critically important issues such as tax reform, infrastructure building and climate change.
On the night of the election, Gillard borrowed Bill Clinton's line after the 2000 presidential election to the effect that the people had spoken, but she just wasn't quite sure yet what they'd said. Well, if she doesn't get it, the number of undecided voters 2 days out from the election, the Greens winning their first ever House of Representatives seat and the election of possibly 4 independents from rural Australia should give her a few hints. If not, I'll spell it out for her:
- We are sick of having politicians running the country whose policies and behaviours are directed not towards doing the right thing but instead towards getting themselves re-elected and who therefore let their actions be dictated by PR consultants, the media and focus groups. Here's a news flash - you are elected by the people, so start governing for the people instead of simply trying to appease a bunch of contemptible parasites.
- We elect leaders to lead the country, not to manage it. If we thought solid economic management was all that was needed to bring about a happy and prosperous society we probably would have left Howard in charge. However, it is not that simple and the government has much more responsibility for its citizens than just growing the economy at 3% per annum. It is up to you as the appointed leaders to determine the right social policies for the country and implement them decisively and without fear of the possible consequences.
- Pushing political "hot buttons" like attacking boat people is not a winning strategy except for bigots and xenophobes, people whose votes you shouldn't want anyway. Most people with half a brain and any sort of moral compass will see through these cheap shots and punish you electorally. Put forward genuine, well-thought out policies and people will give you the benefit of the doubt.
- Be yourself, not someone the spin doctors want you to be. It worked for Bob Hawke, Jeff Kennett and even Joh Bjelke-Petersen. The voters want to see the real person, not some plastic, made-over robot who speaks McKinsey-style management gobbledegook instead of plain English.
There are a few pointers for you, Julia. It may however be too late for her to take notice. As at the time of writing, both parties are fiercely lobbying the different independents in a bid to gain power. Bob Katter aside, my initial impressions of them were fairly favourable. They appear to be fairly genuine and passionate representatives of their electorate who obviously some time ago looked at the party machine and made the moral decision that staying in that system was not the best way for them to look after their constituents. How ironic it is now that real people like this now look like having a say in the country's affairs instead of a conditioned backbench hack involved with one of the major parties.
Despite both major parties getting their just desserts, this election result isn't a good outcome for the country. Both domestically and internationally, we will likely suffer in some ways as a result of the inevitable political uncertainty we now face. Locally, much needed legislative reforms may not occur now for 3 years or at least be so badly compromised as to not be worth passing in the first place. Internationally, companies who would have otherwise invested here may now face uncertainties over things like tax or changes to foreign investment laws which may now deter them from investing. Whichever party does win power will have to work twice as hard to keep the country on an even keel.
One can only hope that when the Cabinet is locked up in a room deep in negotiations with Bob Katter on climate change legislation at 2am on a cold Canberra morning, they reflect on their behaviour during the 2010 campaign, curse themselves silently and then vow to never let this sort of thing happen again. Who knows, by being his usual capricious self, Bob might yet force significant behavioural change on the major parties. What a delicious irony that would be.
In the meantime, get ready for 3 more years of garbage in, garbage out.
