5 Months Later....

And I think it is time to give this blogging caper another go.

It has been a fairly intense 5 months and there are plenty of things to blog about and have decided to go with the least exciting first, mostly because it's 4am and I don't care if I don't do the topic justice. Ironically that last sentiment is exactly what this blog post is about.

On Saturday 17th of July Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard called the Federal Election, to be held on Saturday 21st August. That is a campaign of little over a month, so far, as I daresay many if not the majority of Australians have paid little to no attention to the election campaign. The fact that the Government has chosen to go to the polls on the back of such a short campaign period, and as far as I know the Opposition has hardly shouted their anger or disapproval of such a short campaign, it makes me think that neither Party wants the Australian public to engage in this election at any greater level than listening to their sound bites, rhetoric and cliches on the nightly news (if only I got a dollar everytime a politician used the term 'working families' this election, well I would end up having many dollars).

It is saddening to think that it's not so much the cynic in me that makes me think the Government called for such a short election campaign so the Opposition doesn't have enough time to make up the required ground in the polls to actually win, but is more likely the realist in me. It also seems to be an indication of the Government's lack of policy initiatives, although after all the policy stuff ups during their first term (Copenhagen & ETS, the Insulation Program, the Mining Supertax, the "I Can't Believe It's Not the 'Pacific Solution' Solution to 'illegal boat people", the Education Revolution etc etc) I can understand why they might be a bit gun shy about policy announcements.

I'm struggling to develop any interest in this election, because both Parties seem to get more and more alike everyday, depressingly because Labor seems to drift more and more to the Right (as demonstrated by their non-Pacific Solution Pacific Solution to illegal immigration), rather than the Liberals drifting more to the Left. Disappointly it seems the Labor Party has been making all key decision on the basis of opinon polls. Kevin Rudd got bad opinion polls and the Party knifed him in the back and replaced him with Gillard. Opinion polls showed illegal immigration and 'border protection' to be key areas of concern for the Australian Public. All of a sudden Labor rushes out an announcement about planning to set up a 'processing centre' in East Timor, without bothering to consult with the East Timorese Govenment, who have since stated that they are not interested. It was poorly thought out and executed policy that was a desperate attempt to show they too are strong on border security.

What I find particularly scary about the Labor drift to the Right, it has also allowed the Opposition to drift further Right. Labor announces their plans to reintroduce off shore processing, which is shortly countered with a very vague response from the Liberal Party demonstrating they are truly the toughest on illegal immigration for they are going to make the boats turn around and return to whence they came. Apparently proving you are the biggest heartless bastard is what wins you votes in this country. If so this country is fucked.

It's now two days since I first started this post and still have no idea what has been happening in the campaign, whatever it is I'm sure it will have been driven by an opinion poll that has an over-representation of white anglo saxon males aged 18-49.

If you too are as cycnical and pessimistic about this election, I welcome you to join me "throwing away your vote" and voting for a third party/indpendant candiate, who knows they could just end up holding the balance of power and prevent us from all being enslaved and forced to build a giant ray gun aimed at some planet we have never heard of.