The day after
I was up last night watching the vote count on TV, and the raw numbers seemed so close, and I didn't understand how the networks could already be calling seats based on projections from a few per cent. Even after Howard made his concession speech and Rudd his victory speech, I didn't quite dare believe, afraid I would wake up to find a flood of postal votes had overturned the result and that it was all a dream.
But when I woke up this morning, it was still true, and I could finally breathe a sigh of relief. The one good thing I will remember Howard for is gun control after Port Arthur. But the rest of it - all those years of wedge politics and deliberate deceit and lack of ministerial responsibility and appealing to our most shameful instincts - I can never forget that. But last night all that was swept away as the tide turned against his party.
Today the sun is shining.
And maybe, this country I call home can once more become a nation I am proud of.
But when I woke up this morning, it was still true, and I could finally breathe a sigh of relief. The one good thing I will remember Howard for is gun control after Port Arthur. But the rest of it - all those years of wedge politics and deliberate deceit and lack of ministerial responsibility and appealing to our most shameful instincts - I can never forget that. But last night all that was swept away as the tide turned against his party.
Today the sun is shining.
And maybe, this country I call home can once more become a nation I am proud of.