Finally the Prime Minister has given us an election date.
On the 7th of September we Australians will be dragging ourselves to the local primary school or senior citz centre to have our say on who will run the country for the next few years.
Before we get our hands on the ballot paper though, we will have to run the gauntlet of the pamphlet wavers at the gate looking for a few late converts, and it is more than likely we will have submitted to the temptation of the traditional fund-raising sausage sizzle.
Until that day we will have to suffer through that most invasive of things, an election campaign.
The pollies will be doing their best to get their heads on tv and have their say on radio at every opportunity. They will be haunting our letter boxes and making unexpected public appearances. By the time the big day rolls around we will be so heartily sick of them it will be hard to decide which one we want to vote for.
Who are we least annoyed with?! Who has made the promises we like the best (although we know most of them are what is known as ‘non-core promises’ and therefore not real promises at all).*
Have any of them made real promises or is it all one-upmanship and will most of what they said be forgotten once they have won? (‘cos that never happens).
Do we even know who our local member is, or have they just kept a low profile because it is a safe seat and if they stick their head up over the trenches things could go horribly wrong….
I thought this was an appropriate song for the occasion, Highway To Hell (sung on the music quiz show, Rockwiz) by Sarah McLeod and the candidate for the Nationals in the seat of Throsby, NSW, Angry Anderson.
*How much money will Holden wring out of the winner before finding that it wasn’t going to be financially viable to stay here after all, taking the millions anyway and beginning the wind-up of the plant. (BRW)
WHOOO HOOO!!! … bring it on and colour me happy 🙂
My children grew up thinking that on election night everyone’s mum took up prime “possie” in front of the tellie, reclined in the easy chair, bevvie on one side, nibblies on the other and screamed and cheered raucously for every win, in whichever seat, for her party (team)… and booed just as fiercely if the “other-side” scored a win. ha ha ha…
As a consequence they’ve all been fully engaged with the political process… even local council elections in which voting is not compulsory. Although not as obsessive as their mum (well who is, eh? 😀 ) … We all have lots of interesting & spirited discussionsns, sharing of differing points of view on specific topics/ policies/ local members etc… Predicting which candidate, in which seat, is most likely to win the Guernsey is HUGE fun 🙂
Now the grandchildren, to whom this is a perfectly normal part of family life, are starting to offer their “two pennorth worth”… WHOOO HOOO!!!
You were the first person on my mind as I was writing this! 🙂 I bet you are stocking up on television pelting popcorn already.
I am hoping that there are a few debates before the big day. I would like to see Abbott and Rudd answering questions in the same room rather than the media editing together a ‘bitchiness of the day’ montage each night.
The only problem with a debate is that there is so much spin to get through it takes them ages to share actual information. A spin-free debate? I’d like to see that! 🙂
I’m nothing, if not predictable… eh metan? … I imagined you rolling your eyes at my comment 😉 …no worries.
Interesting listening to Greg Hunt (Shadow Minister for ?) saying, on Q&A tonight, that Abbott is willing to debate Rudd providing certain conditions are met… b-o-r-I-n-g same old story.
I had to laugh when,last weekend my lovely daughter, who is beginning to lean toward the Abbott camp, said… “I know it’s all about policy and my own candidate but really mum I can’t help thinking about who I prefer to represent Australia to the rest of the world… ” and then we cracked up about some people’s choice of swimwear whilst declaring that this is NOT… repeat NOT… and never must be part of the decision-making process 😀 Toodles…
I wasn’t rolling my eyes at all! I’m glad that there is someone out there who actually keeping an eye on what is going on out there in pollie-land. 😀
Provided certain conditions are met? I’m gonna interpret that as ‘having no debate at all’. Boring indeed. Maybe a deathmatch kind of format would be more entertaining. Not as informative of course, but entertaining. It might give ironman Tony an unfair advantage over pallid Ruddy though…. 😉
lol – your family sounds like mine Catherine!
Ooohhh… I like this Meeka. Wonder who this bloke’s mother is… I LIKE her 😉
http://www.cullenofadelaid.com/2013/08/australia-decides-let-hope-so.html?showComment=1375929267164#c4016744918903662590
lmao – wait, why his mother? Apart from the fact she brung him up right. 😉 He’s right in what he said. We can’t be apathetic, however I’m not that sure I agree with him saying the last 3 years were a waste of oxygen. I think the uncomfortable alliance of ALP, Greens and Independents actually achieved more in terms of public oriented issues than any one party would have done. Not everything worked, I’ll grant him that, but for once the legislation cut across purely party policies so we all got a little bit of what we want. Just not enough. -shrug-
I agree with you re: the “hung parliament”… however, it did mean that the govt had to compromise on some issues/ promises, in order to get particularly valuable/ socially progressive legislation passed, which gave them really bad “press”… and so on…
What I love love love is the willingness to engage in the process and form an opinion, ha ha ha… no surprises there 😉
Yeah. 🙂 I doubt there are many Aussies who don’t have an opinion on this one!
I heard a caller recently on the ABC talkback who cracked me up. She called to have a whine about Rudd changing his position on something and that “he should stop letting ‘them’ push him around, stick to his guns and to listen to what the people want” what the?? Obviously the ‘them’ was everyone who wasn’t her and therefore shouldn’t be listened to. 😉
Wow, his mother must be an intelligent and interesting woman….. 😉 Is he going to be right by you on the couch on election night throwing popcorn?
Did you listen to Fight Club on ABC radio yesterday afternoon? The last caller gave the guests Joe Hockey and Chris Bowen a very calm and articulate lecture on the parties working together when a good idea was raised rather than bickering about everything and how sick to death of the spin the general public is. Neither of them interrupted him and when he was done they could do very little to object to what he said. He was great!
Maybe that caller should be given a mediation role between the parties! They don’t get to whine about each other unless they have put in an effort to work together first. If not, it is the naughty corner for all. 😉
HA HA HA!!! you flatterer you… STOP IT… I LOVE IT!!! 😀
Nup… he’ll be at home with his very patient wife, and less patient 3 children, probably chucking “a fruity”, rather than popcorn if things are not going his way… 😉 Not really, only joshing. However, it is better that we’re not together on the night because it could be that we’re supporting different teams. Although we all love discussion, and sometimes heated debate, there’s never a requirement to declare our voting decisions.
Good idea “the naughty corner” for mis-behaving pollies. I’ll vote for anyone who makes that their major promise… oh no… even “core” promises get broken, don’t they 🙂
once again, breaking news via Buried Words and Bushwa! And to think I’ll be there (though not perhaps enrolled, this time!). We used to have the abominable P. Slipper – I wonder if he’s standing again? Oh dear, we’re in for a bit of a ride 🙂
Slipper? I think he’s been keeping quiet since the James Ashby scandal and seems be intending to stand again. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-06/peter-slipper-may-contest-federal-election/4866908
He is still under investigation for those cabcharge vouchers though so he might not be the winner he hopes to be…..
An interesting ride indeed, we will probably be ready to throw a shoe through the telly by the end of it!
You know what? You’re beginning to sound as cynical as someone my age.
Get to your candidates early and ask them where they stand on things that are important to you. Ask which way they’ll vote on certain issues and tell them you’re keeping a record of their answers for the group of voters you represent, so you’ll know how to vote in the future. If that doesn’t make them sweat, nothing will.
Huge Hugs xxxx
Cynical?! How very dare you sir!
Ok, cynical, and with a titanium core of suspicion.
I really don’t think that any amount of pointing out their shortcomings when it comes to honesty will change the way they are. All they seem to do is tell us what we want to hear and then spend their terms telling us we can’t have it because…… Or we were just getting to that Very Important Thing and if you re-elect us it will be done post haste.
Unless you live in a marginal seat where a public movement could really damage the local member it seems there is really very little we can do. Other than stand yourself and, there is no way I would ever do that! (People would never vote for my Obey Or Be Destroyed dictatorship.)
Oh I don’t know – a bit of straight talking and beheading could be refreshing. 😀
Beheading can be so messy, I will be travelling with a posse of ‘sharks with frickin’ laser beams’ and dissenters will be vaporised immediately. No chance for appeal. 😉
Oh much neater! And no need for harsh chemicals. 😀
Highway to Hell indeed… perfect choice of election soundtrack. Billions of dollars wasted… political spin…advertising & election campaigns… Holden… I have never felt so unmotivated to vote… Last night the G.O. and I did the Vote Compass Tool http://www.abc.net.au/votecompass/ to find out how we “fit in the Australian political landscape”. We answered most questions similarly except a few and ended up very much in the middle but me on the left & him on the right! We still have no idea how to vote because we don’t trust any of the buggers but like many are very much over the Labour factional issues. If anyone can suggest a leader/party who will focus on running the country, keeping all promises and not send us into economic disaster, they will have our 2 votes. It’s going to be a VERY long month. At least yes, there is the sausage sizzle to look forward to.
Make that four votes! If there was a party who would give us all those things I expect that they would be VERY popular.
I find that by the time they have stopped with the spin and started saying something of substance I have already forgotten what the question was and just want them to shut up. Exactly what they were aiming for I suspect.
I don’t know who I am going to vote for either. I hate the oneupmanship politics we are seeing. One says something and a quick reply is cobbled together with a slight tweak to make it seem better. They are just trying to keep each other off balance rather than actually doing something. The problem is that whatever they say we can’t trust it anyway can we? What we vote for and what we get aren’t the same thing. 😦
To be honest, after the last 6 months of Claytons campaigning I just want it over with. My only problem is that I thoroughly dislike the local candidate of my party. Without getting into the nitty gritty of politics, I only really have to decide whether I dislike the her more or less than the Other Guy. See how I’m avoiding mentioning either Abbott or Rudd? lol Roll on Sept. 7!
It really is a hard thing to prise the two apart unless you are a dyed in the wool Lib or Lab follower. There seems to be very little difference between the two parties and I honestly couldn’t tell you who our local representative is. They are clearly one of the ones keeping their head down but that makes it all the easier for us to vote for one of the independents, we have no loyalty and even if they have done good things we haven’t heard about them!
lol – maybe the invisible MP is the best on the basis of ‘do no harm’?
Any musical suggestions for the New York City mayoral race?
We’re in party primary campaign hell right now. With a bunch of “bozos” including a disgraced, former congressman caught up in a sexting scandal. NONE of the candidates are worthy of a nomination — let alone an election. And, for added excitement, our former governor who quit after a sex scandal that involved actual, and not virtual, sex is running for an important financial office.
If you have a song to suggest, one that captures the moment… please let me know. “Send in the Clowns” is too sweetly melancholy.
Aargh! I answered this hours ago but the comment has vaporised!
My suggestion, due to your distinct lack of good choices and the horror of your long campaigns was You Sh** Me To Tears by The Tenants. 🙂 I think that it could probably be played each time a pollie anywhere in the world opened their mouth…