It seems like only yesterday, but here we are again.
By the end of the first week the infighting, the name-calling, the gotcha moments and the downright silliness were already tiresome.
It sounded like an Easter car journey with squabbling kids in the back seat — but it wasn’t. It was the start of the 2022 Federal Election campaign.
This week we’ve got pile-ons, fearmongering, misinformation and predictably hysterical Murdoch headlines — and we’ve got four more weeks to go.
There’s a cry that wells up from the heart of the nation every time an election comes around and it goes like this: Help!
What are the issues? Please explain your policies. We need solid information to make an informed choice.
Otherwise we’ll vote on personality, trousers, haircuts, orthodontic treatments and embarrassing moments.
We’ll vote on those things anyway, but it would be nice to have a few policies thrown into the mix as well.
This is the big moment that comes around every three years when we have a chance to see the wheels of democracy in action, when we can all participate in that noble thing our grandparents fought and died for and which has been famously described as the worst form of government except for all the other forms that have been tried.
So here we are at the starter’s gate and what are we talking about?
Gaffes, embarrassing tweets, and a Jimmy Barnes concert.
Thankfully, the gotcha gaffe moment was snappily reversed by Greens leader Adam Bandt, who told an over-excited young news-hound to “Google it, mate” when asked to state the current wage price index figure.
Anthony Albanese will be kicking himself he didn’t think of that one.
For me, that’s the best quote of the campaign so far because it slams the door on the media’s pointless obsession with facts and figures and headlines about gaffes.
It will be a brave headline-hungry journo who tries that one again.
The democratic contest for leadership may already be a circus, but voting decisions based on a politician’s ability to deliver random figures like a chocolate vending machine is game-show inanity.
I also like another of Bandt’s quotes when explaining his gotcha moment response.
“Politics should be about reaching for the stars and offering a better society,” he said.
Exactly.
Yes, the nuts and bolts about how those dreams are achieved and paid for need to be explained. Because after all, elections are always about the economy.
But if democracy is about the great game of change, then it must begin with dreams.
The prime minister, of course, doesn’t want change. He’s a conservative and he’s the man in the driver’s seat right now — change is not on his agenda. So if you like things just the way they are, then vote Coalition.
However, down here in Nicholls we are not voting for the prime minister. We are voting for nuts and bolts issues such as a bypass and second river crossing, fair and equitable water management and better health and aged care services. Now, for the first time, we have a truly dynamic three-cornered contest.
Our local nuts and bolts choice is between three good candidates who have each spoken and made promises about all the above demands and more. Of course, the haircut and trouser stuff will still be a factor because we are all human.
But our bigger choice is between whether to ditch the major parties or go it alone with an independent.
Now, we are a conservative bunch here in Nicholls, so change doesn’t come naturally. However, this election might just be our “reach for the stars” moment.
John Lewis is a former News journalist.