Being on the couch for 3 weeks of an election campaign has meant I’ve followed more election news than any sane person outside of politics or media should. Mostly it has involved being infuriated and offended, but it also continually reinforces to me how poorly we engage with politics in our country, and that is reflected in the bullshit that politics then gives us. Tony Abbot really spearheaded the descent of politics into a shouting match and waggling of penises. How can prime ministerial debate in the days before an election consist of responding to a criticism of the LNP childish racist name play on Albanese with Scott Morrison saying if Albanese isn’t able to handle some namecalling he can’t be tough enough to run the country? Are we in the playground here? How is this toxic macho bullshit still at the top levels of our country? Oh, yeah, because this is also a government riddled with accusations of sexual assault, harassment and bullying.
Australia has long had this cavalier “oh we’ve had enough of this lot, lets give the other lot a go” approach to politics. I have also long been infuriated with the lack of analysis of policy involved in this decision. This election it seems to have morphed into “we’ve had enough of the major parties, let’s give others a go”. Which sounds fine in theory, until one looks at who those others actually are. Unfortunately, most of them are single issue, raving nutters from the far right. I’ve had the dubious pleasure of looking at their policy platforms (and I use the word policy loosely in many of these cases) and they are rife with climate change denial, religious extremism (the Christian sort), nationalistic bigots, antivaxxers, billionaires and other self-interested people of privilege seeking to promote their interests. Clive Palmer doesn’t give a shit about you. Reignite Democracy aren't really seeking democracy. They stand against democratically elected governments acting within the law, with the support of most people and backing of evidence because it differs from their opinion. Sorry guys, that IS democracy. They did cosy up to Clive, running candidates under his platform, but that relationship has largely fallen apart. They have no polices, no plan, no action, just a bunch of blurb. Not unlike the LNP net zero stance. United Australia, the liberal democrats, the federation party, the citizen’s party, one nation and some of the LNP all specifically reject climate science. Australian Christians, Federation Party and parts of the LNP oppose a bunch of women’s and queer rights. Informed medical options are conspiracy fed non-medical hoohaa (picture anti 5g and fluoride to the antivax agenda). All of them do have websites listing some sort of ideas or policy if you too want to nearly fall off you chair in horror, disbelief and fits of laughter. I’m not going to bother linking you to them though.
So if you are thinking you just want to avoid the major parties this election, have a really close look at who you are voting for instead. Of course, there are some reasonable independents out there. Much has been made of the community supported independent campaigns and the teal independents this election. Whilst I find the combination of socially progressive but economically conservative to be a bit oxymoronic, these are pretty solid grass roots campaigns with a good policy foundation and genuine community support. Check out the Voices Of and Climate 200 websites for further information. Other left wing minor parties started with a very specific platform, but have extended their policies to a broad range of issues. Once you work through the gazillion animal focussed policies of the Animal Liberation Party, they have excellent people and climate policies https://www.animaljusticeparty.org/our_policies . Similarly, Victorian Socialists https://www.victoriansocialists.org.au/our_platform. Or Reason, who started out as the Sex Party (a much catchier name, I admit) and progressed to a broad policy platform https://www.reason.org.au/policy_suite. Fusion is a recent alignment of a bunch of microparties that also put together a reasonable perspective https://www.fusionparty.org.au/policy. These parties are examples of how passion for single issues can evolve into a broad and constructive vision of the future that the far right just aren’t doing, because really, they don’t care about others or society or the environment or the future. It’s an inherently narrowminded, selfish movement.
Lumping the major parties together is also disingenuous. Whilst I think there are a bunch of problems in the Labor Party, there are fundamental differences between them and the LNP that make them a much better option. The Greens aren’t exactly a major party, sitting at about 10% of the vote, so I find it mildly entertaining, albeit frustrating, that they are lobbed into that category by right wing scare mongering. The Greens have a solid policy platform across all issues https://greens.org.au/platform . They don’t accept funding from mining magnates or the fossil fuel industry. They don’t have a history of abuse, harassment or corruption. Have a read of the 7 key issues they want to negotiate a balance of power upon. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/may/16/adam-bandt-outlines-seven-demands-for-labor-in-greens-balance-of-power-wishlist. If you can’t be fucked reading it, they are: no new coal and gas; dental and mental health into Medicare; building 1m affordable homes and better renters’ rights; free childcare; wiping student debt; lifting income support; and progress on all elements of the Uluru statement from the heart and are funded by ended fossil fuel subsidies, big business tax avoidance and a billionaire and super profits tax. Sounds terrible, doesn’t it? Who in their right mind would want any of that? They also have the only plan to address the actual cause of the housing unaffordability, to address rental issues and a plan that will limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
The two party system and first past the post counting sucks. I’d love to live in a world where we had proportional representation in the lower house instead, but given it is what it is, it’s better to work with it than not work at all. RWNJ largely direct voters back to the LNP and if they do get any balance of power, it’s good bye to climate action, backwards on queer and women’s rights and hello to more racist dogwhilstling. Drawing a dick on the ballot paper is just throwing away your vote in a time when conservatives are far more politically motivated than the disillusioned left. It just lets their votes look like a larger proportion of the population. Vote based on policies and actions and evidence, not on blurb and nonsense. It’s been a campaign light on policy and high on hyperbole, but here are a few summaries of where the parties stand on issues to help you consider.
https://climateanalytics.org/media/auselection22_partyclimategoals_climateanalytics_1.pdf
https://www.anmf.org.au/pages/federal-election-2022
People trying to lump the LNP, Labor and Greens in the same
basket are misleading you for a reason. They are very, very different, and the
best possible outcome I can see for this election is a minority Labor govt,
with the support of Greens and Teals. If it happens, I’ll be drinking to
celebrate, and if we get stuck with the horrorshow of the LNP again, I’ll be
drinking to drown my sorrows.
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