You can’t open a newspaper at the moment or turn on the TV without someone telling you how you should vote at the election in a couple of weeks’ time and it’s no wonder that voters are turning off in droves. I was reading an article this morning which bemoaned the fact that the two major parties will be lucky to bring in around 40% of the vote each. In the 1950s, the two main parties received over 95% of the vote; today it will be more like 70%. On those figures about 30% of the electorate is turning its back on the traditional parties and that is an understated figure because I suspect that a much larger chunk of the electorate only vote because they have to and putting a tick somewhere on the paper fulfils their obligation and they won’t be fined. Name recognition comes into play here and the party they’ve seen more often on TV will likely get the tick.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the two-party system is broken beyond repair. A very nice man called Brian Mitchell is the MP for my electorate and, next door in Bass, there is a very competent young woman called Bridget Archer. But they’re only foot soldiers in a system which places all power in the hands of the two people who have played the political game well enough to grab the top jobs. I’ve said often that, in an open election, neither Mr Morrison or Mr Albanese would get my tick but, no matter who I prefer, it’s the party which chooses the leader.
The other concern is that Australian politics may be going down the same path as the US and the UK where complete fools make their way into the top jobs and chaos rules. Heaven help us if that’s the case.
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