The Australian General Election
On our last day in Australia we accompanied some friends to the polling station. One of the group was casting his first vote as an Australian citizen and so it was an auspicious day for him. It was quite amazing as a British voter, to see the long line of Aussies waiting to cast their vote and partake in their democracy. As voting is compulsory in Australia, the event has a somewhat carnival atmosphere compared to the 40% turnout of the British electorate.
Many polling stations have “sausage sizzles” -barbeques that sell “snags” or sausages for a couple of dollars. Stalls and raffles operate outside to raise money for local charities and to entertain children waiting for voting parents.
In the evening, the networks battled it out to be the first to break the news and grab the TV audience. The previous weeks had seen gross advertising campaigns by the major TV stations claiming to be the best at spicing up the “boring” election results. We opted for ABC as they had the deputy leader of the opposition -now deputy PM -, Julia Gillard, and Kerry O’Brien -a seasoned political reporter.
As the news came in that John Howard had potentially lost his seat as well as losing the general election, our pro-Green, pro-Labor house became very excited. Howard’s exit speech was met with jeers as he claimed to be leaving a great legacy behind. Julia Gillard became increasingly choked up and Kevin Rudd was positively tongue-tied by the time he made his acceptance speech.
We leave this country with a new government as we head out to meet our own new Prime Minister -Gordon Brown. I hope that the Labour Party in Australia prove to be as good as their promises and forge a great new future for all Australians.
As we look back at a wonderful 12 months spent in the company of some of the world’s best people and most shockingly beautiful wilderness, it is with a deep sense of gratitude and a touch of sadness that we step on the Qantas flight back to the dead of English Winter.
RSS
A year ago we were at your friend’s Citizenshio Ceremony and we are proud to have seen your friend join his new country. Thrilled to hear he has now been able to vote.
It looks as if whichever party is in power, whereever, a change is as good as a rest in many voters’ views. I just wish that those of us in the UK took our votes as seriously as the new Australians do.
But then I have always wanted a “none of the above” box, or abstention box, on my papers. I hate spoiled ballots; I hate people not turning out to vote (while realising it is compulsory in many countries); but I do want a positive abstention option.