As this snooze fest election campaign soldiers on, general Australians really wonder: what is in for us?
A lot of things have been touched on but as Evita once sang “there is no hope or solution”. In fact what it felt like in the past two weeks was that our so called political leaders were just doing one musical number after another. They sang tunes to voters’ ears hoping one of them would be catchy enough and thus take them pass the finishing line first.
One thing I found quite interesting was that at this weeks’ Q and A both representatives of Liberal and Labor parties were attacking the Greens leader saying “You were not invited to the leadership debate because you are not considered as a viable Prime Minister candidate”. Personal attack on a public discussion forum is pathetic in my opinion. But personal attack without considering their declining position and still clinging to the past about the glorious two party rules is even more pathetic. And if this is what our so called leaders in the country are, Australia is doomed.
What one needs to remember is that in the past 6 or so years the Government is controlled not by Liberal nor Labor but by independents. In fact their influences were so great that the Government was unable to pass socially unwelcoming and unpopular policies because of them. This is why the current Coalition government and the Greens were trying to get rid of them through voting legislation changes.
For me this is sad and aggravating. This without a doubt reflects what our politicians are – power mongers who have no regards to what the society wants. And this is the exactly why the Australian society is punishing them by granting independents more power through voting them in. Liberals and Labors nowadays are basically the same set of people with a different skin. When they are in opposition they will say whatever that sounds like pleasing general voters but once they are in power they just do whatever that pleases themselves and their cores. This might work in the past but then one thing our politicians nowadays do not understand is that – the world has become smaller and new generation of voters are more exposed to knowledge than they thought they are. Manipulated data to facilitate sales of policies no longer works as it used to, for anyone can check facts and distribute that knowledge to everyone via social media.
The inability to understand how technology and ease in transfer of knowledge have affected voters understanding of our society, the world and ultimately politics is what is bringing the downfall of our so called “veteran politicians”. They thought by using social media they can get their messages through to the younger generations but they do not understand that by doing so any mis-steps in or attempts to manipulate messages will inevitably backfire – and the current generation of voters will not hesitate to raise their cyber cannons against these politicians.
What our society wants is a government that truly represents the view of the society – be it on issues such as education, healthcare, infrastructure, refugees, global warming etc. When the society questioned about “why are we using our tax money to support private schools running as private businesses instead of providing funds to government schools that have the responsible for providing equal education to all?” The society expects the Government to answer the question and respond to the society’s wish. When the society questioned the Government’s understanding about healthcare for underprivileged people in our society, the society expects the Government to rectify the error instead of protecting the insurance businesses. When the society rallied against coal mines and for protecting our natural environment through clean renewable energy, the society does not expect the Government to use legislative measures to justify doing something against the society’s wishes.
If our Australian politicians continue to neglect these strong voices from the majority of the society and continues to protect the interests of a small sector of the society, it is just dictatorship in under a democratic disguise – and our current society can easily see through that. Traditional Australian politicians are failing because they failed to evolve with the society. Australia has not experienced its Trump moment yet but if they continue to fail to align themselves with an Australian society that has evolved beyond them, they will be eventually be abandoned. Jingoes and slogans might work in the past but our current generation of society, like it or not, is a lot smarter than that.
The Evita style of politics is truly a time of the past but if our Australian politicians continue to neglect this I am sure Australia will not cry for them when the society finally decide to completely abandon them.
