A Lament for the Australian Government

I don’t usually get political on the blog, but tonight saw more high drama from the Labor party. It wasn’t unexpected – the challenge or the result – but it seems to have triggered a range of emotions and opinions. My social media channels have been buzzing and it’s cause me to dwell a little rather than just brush it off.

This isn’t a lament for Julia Gillard or the Labor party (no matter how sad the state of affairs maybe) but the state of politics and government in Australia.

We the people lost out today. 

We said goodbye to proper political debate in this country. Instead we have polls and the media cycle to churn through and fill our news.

We said goodbye to a swathe of motivated and genuine people willing to serve and not simply be elected. Those people have been turned off by the customs required to run for office in this day and age. Motivation seems to come from ego rather than any sense of duty.

We said goodbye to the last breath of ideology left in the political process. The grind of competing visions has gone and replaced with a beige, neutral, disgusting, saccharine goop that polls well, is totally confused and ultimately serves no one.

We said goodbye to a vision for this country. There isn’t a concept of what this country is, let alone what it should be, on the table anymore. Rather than feel mighty, tall and in control of our future, we look back in nostalgia of what we once were and take pity poor ourselves.

We said goodbye to actual political debate. Instead we get politician debate – a debate of personality, what they were wearing, thinking and doing that day rather than anything meaningful, factual, of impact or consequence.

We said goodbye to social reform, infrastructure and national development because its too expensive, long term and complex. Instead we get tax cuts that put money back in out wallets only to have it lifted back out to pay for half arsed services that are sizzle rather than steak.

We said goodbye to a media willing to inform, uncover, educate and interrogate. Instead we get drip fed lines, packaged press releases, a photo op and a nation left not knowing any semblance of truth.

I lament not what was, but what should be – a present worth fighting for and a future worth the sweat,  toil and  sacrifice. 

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