Snowed again during the night, but the sun is out, and about forty of us worked our little butts off this morning on several projects around Poatina village to clean up and beautify the place. There are certain jobs that are just too big for one person to do, or even if they’re not it’s a bit more fun to tackle them with someone alongside you sharing the load.
Election Day today, though I took the opportunity to join the long queue in town and voted yesterday. It’s in those moments when you’re faced with all those little boxes to tick next to many names you’ve never even heard of before, that you wish you could just get all the ones who really really know what they’re doing and give them the responsibility, no matter what political persuasion they are. A government that’s just a government, not a Labor or Liberal or Green or whatever, now there’s a novel idea.
One thing I am thankful for, is that the election campaign only ran for five weeks. It was plenty long enough, and compared to the interminable ordeal that US citizens have to put up with in their presidential election campaigns, we probably got off pretty lightly. Have tuned in to The Gruen Nation on ABC for the duration, appreciating their critique of the barrage of ads which have been driving us insane and probably have little bearing anyway on what our final choice will be. The best ads for each party have been those which the show commissioned advertising agencies to produce on certain issues. Done with so much more finesse than those we’ve actually been subjected to, you have to wonder who’s been producing them and endorsing them, believing they will actually have an impact on us poor unsuspecting public.
The last Federal election in 2007 was on my birthday, and I watched as the votes gradually tallied up in Labor’s favour. Well, there wasn’t anything else on TV that night, and tonight’s no different. The polling booths have been closed just over an hour here on the east coast, while those in the west with particular interest in regard to the mining tax issue still have time to influence the outcome. Watching the commentators interpret the 3% of votes already counted is a bit of a laugh, predicting swings this way and that, and you wonder what on earth they’re going to talk about while they wait for figures of any relevance on which to comment.
Tassie’s recent State election went down to the wire to such a degree it was three weeks before we discovered which party had won out. With this Federal election looking very similar and being on a knife edge either way, I certainly hope we’re not going to be dragged through a similar protracted agony while we wait for every vote cast from every corner of the globe before a conclusion can be drawn. That said, I have friends in
I shudder to think how much has been spent on useless campaign material which could have been spent a lot more wisely. No matter what blurb we receive in the mailbox declaring the credentials of whichever candidate, we really have no idea who they are, or how competent, until they’re actually in the position. I drive past the offices of my local candidates, both Federal and State, but I really don’t know what they do all day. Do they care about what matters to the small business owner round the corner, the young parents with kids in childcare both working to make sure they can cover the mortgage, pensioners having to squeeze more out of their small income as prices rise? I hope they do.
I’m tired of hearing both Julia and Tony rabbit on about “my” government. Sorry guys, but it isn’t about you. It’s about all of us out here who put you there. As far as I’m concerned whoever becomes Prime Minister doesn’t hold a position of power, but one of service. You have the interests of 20 million people to handle, so get over your own agenda and do what’s necessary to get the job done.
It wasn’t easy voting this time. I want a Prime Minister who will inspire me, who will be a leader, who will instil confidence, and I’m afraid that has been sadly lacking this time round for me. So whatever the morning brings, whoever has the job, here’s hoping they get the right people around them who have a heart for this country and who are going to share the load.
Time will be the judge to see whether they have the true leadership to bring the rest of us along to share it with them.
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