First: The Election
Australia? I am so goddamned excited!!! I just... I'm overjoyed. I mean, when I think back to the last two federal elections, and how frigging depressed I was at the results, it's just so amazing to think that John Howard and the Libs are finally out. We can wake up from that nightmare. It's time for change.
I mean, put it this way: John Howard first came to power in 1996, when I was 11. He has been Prime Minister for as long as I have been politically aware. I don't know what it's like to live under a leader whom you actually voted for. (I'm so bummed that I won't be there for Kevin Rudd's first year.) Maybe Kevin Rudd and his Labor government will turn out to be just as bad as Johnnie and the Liberals. Who knows? But at least the long overdue change has been effected, and we will get to find out.
Having not been in the country, I really can't give a personal account of how the campaign went, but I do wonder if perhaps it came down not so much to Kevin Rudd vs. John Howard as Anyone v. John Howard. Apparently the youth vote was huge this year, and I imagine that a lot of the young voters would have been like me: absolutely sick of a government and Prime Minister that did nothing for us at best and actively worked against us at worst. Kevin was the only viable alternative, and who cares if he went on Rove? (Smart move, though.) Plus, I love the Julia Gillard factor.
I haven't checked in a while, but I think the Liberals have maintained a majority in the Senate. And I'm okay with that. It's what the Senate is for. This last term of government has shown us the dangers of one party holding majority in both houses. I am, however, disappointed that the Democrats and Greens have won hardly any seats in either house
I mean, put it this way: John Howard first came to power in 1996, when I was 11. He has been Prime Minister for as long as I have been politically aware. I don't know what it's like to live under a leader whom you actually voted for. (I'm so bummed that I won't be there for Kevin Rudd's first year.) Maybe Kevin Rudd and his Labor government will turn out to be just as bad as Johnnie and the Liberals. Who knows? But at least the long overdue change has been effected, and we will get to find out.
Having not been in the country, I really can't give a personal account of how the campaign went, but I do wonder if perhaps it came down not so much to Kevin Rudd vs. John Howard as Anyone v. John Howard. Apparently the youth vote was huge this year, and I imagine that a lot of the young voters would have been like me: absolutely sick of a government and Prime Minister that did nothing for us at best and actively worked against us at worst. Kevin was the only viable alternative, and who cares if he went on Rove? (Smart move, though.) Plus, I love the Julia Gillard factor.
I haven't checked in a while, but I think the Liberals have maintained a majority in the Senate. And I'm okay with that. It's what the Senate is for. This last term of government has shown us the dangers of one party holding majority in both houses. I am, however, disappointed that the Democrats and Greens have won hardly any seats in either house