A Federal election that was woeful in its delivery of anything that resembled a policy has given us the possibility of rigorous discussion that may actually lead to policy.
At this stage I don’t really care who gets in to power – as long as minority government holds for 2-3 years we may get a glimpse of good policy development with discussion, compromise and outcomes.
I voted green in this election which has been a break of practice for me. I am a lifetime Labor voter following on from my father who is also a lifetime labor supporter from the UK. When someone said to me – “you have to vote Labor or Tony Abbott will become Primer Minister”, I said – “Labor cannot take the left flank of their party for granted”. Also quite frankly, they didn’t deserve my vote. Their backdown on the Carbon Price along with their right leaning Timor-Leste solution for asylum seekers left me aghast.
If you look at the swing away from the Labor party – there is an overall swing of 5.4%. The swing to the Coalition was a paltry 1.6% whereas the majority of the swing went to the Greens at 3.8%. This is an interesting statistic if you remember that the Labor government was campaigning on a very middle ground agenda in order to try and stem the losses that were coming to them from QLD. I guess in a way they were classically wedged between the left in the southern states and the seats won in the ‘Ruddslide’ from 2007.
But i guess what underlines the figures is that while they were chasing the right in QLD and western Sydney they lost the left in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia (and even some parts of Sydney). If they had decided to actually stump with some policy that was positive and progressive then they may have held onto Denison and Melbourne and other seats that went close. Sandbagging seats in Sydney appears to have heped them but to what end? The policy vacuum means that the party will struggle on with a grip on power but nothing else. I just have to hope that Gillards much vaunted negotiation skills will enable to her to fashion a set of policies from the inside out. That somehow the hung parliament creates a need for detail and analysis that has been lacking.
If the Coalition manages to form government, I hope that the rabid partisan attacks that have come from the senior members of the opposition quieten down and they get into the serious business of putting together a government. What would be terribly sad is if we saw a gloating Coalition instead of a constructive one. There is cause for optimism that the Nationals and Country Independents will hold the Liberal party to account on most issues and that also the prospect of a Greens held senate will allow for an intelligent (if not gentler) polity.
Maybe I am an optimist, perhaps this is all too much to ask for that after a century of partisan politics everyone is going to put down their guns and smoke the peace pipe. But is it? really? We certainly deserve better, perhaps thats what we voted for?
