Justine Larbalestier

reading, writing, eating, drinking, sport

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Landslide?

Not really.

For all the papers are touting the enormity vastness hugeness snufflufflagusness of Labor’s win back home I think it’s important to remember that the gap between Labor1 and the Coalition is not that big: 41.59% of voters gave the Coalition their first preference and 43.9% gave it to Labor. Then there’s the 7.57% who voted for the Greens and the 1.97% who gave Family First the nod. In fact the only places where there was a genuine landslide for Labor was at certain polling booths in the Northern Territory. Indigenous voters gave Labour more than 90% of the vote. Hmmm. I wonder why?

But in most of Australia, there are people around you who did not vote the way you did. Who do not agree with you and are not happy right now. I kind of think it’s important to remember that. They’re feeling now what we were feeling over the last eleven-and-a-half years.

That said, here’s what I hope the new government does over the next three years:

  • Make the banking system not the most expensive in the whole entire universe
  • Not go ahead with Gunn’s pulp mill in Tasmania or any new pulp mill ever
  • Do more than just say sorry to the Stolen Generation
  • Get rid of all refugee detention centres
  • Do everything that can be done to combat global warming
  • Devote way much resources to working on the Australia-has-no-water problem
  • Fix broadband. I’m in the US of A right now which has—compared to Europe—a very crappy broadband service and it pees all over what’s on offer back home
  • Start funding the arts again. Especially the Australian film and television industry which has almost disappeared entirely. And could you spend some of that money on script development?
  • Not sell uranium to anyone. Don’t mine it either.

And lots of other stuff I can’t think of right now. Like can I have a Vivienne Westwood ballgown?

Do I think it will really happen? All of it? Prolly not. But some of it’d be good. I reckon, anyways.

  1. For those who are wondering, no, I’m not spelling it wrong. It really is the Labor-without-a-U party. It is confusing and annoying. [↩]

Posted by Justine at 0:02, 28 November 2007 under State of the World, Sydney/Australia | 13 Comments »

Comments

  1. girlie jones Says:

    The “landslide” comes from the large swing away from Libs including the fact that many Libs won last election through swings towards them. That Labor could win from so far behind is the landslide. Liberals lost many voters.

    November 28th, 2007 at 1:41 am

  2. Jonathan Shaw Says:

    pedantic but devoted lurker speaks: ‘enormity’ doesn’t quite mean what you want it to mean here, or at least it didn’t used to.
    Also: we may be surrounded by people who voted for the coalition, but they are keeping very quiet. Last night in a restaurant in crow’s Nest, the waiter said, as he laid the dishes in front of us, ‘we’re liberal voters here.’ My companion, being tactless, said, ‘we hate the bastards.’ whereupon the waiter showed his true colours and delivered an impassioned rant against peter Costello.

    November 28th, 2007 at 1:50 am

  3. MooseGuy Says:

    But few of those things are actually gonna happen. it is the sad truth that, while we DID elect the better party, they weren’t better by much.

    November 28th, 2007 at 5:04 am

  4. 4. Justine Says:

    Girlie Jones: Relatively, sure. But I was talking about the actual numbers of people voting. True landslides don’t really happen in our kind of democratic system. That’s prolly a good thing.

    Jonathan Shaw: All words mean what I want them to mean!

    Did your companion want the food to be spat on? Eek! Is it naughty that I am enjoying the Liberal party disarray?

    Mooseguy: I know. But a girl can dream, can’t she? Though I will get my Vivienne Westwood ballgown, won’t I?

    November 28th, 2007 at 11:16 am

  5. Mark Says:

    How much of a probability do you give that the new government will actually do those things instead of simply giving lip-service to them and then continuing on as-is because the big money tells them to do so. Sorry, living in the USA makes one quite cynical about how governments work.

    November 28th, 2007 at 11:33 am

  6. 6. Justine Says:

    Mark: They’re definitely ratifying Kyoto. And the water crisis at home is so very bad that’s it’s become a bipartisan issue. So that’s definitely going to happen but whether it’s too late or not is another question. And more and more big business is realising that global warming is hurting them too but whether enough will be done? I don’t know; I just hope. All the signs look good for fixing broadband too. But the rest of it? Well . . .

    November 28th, 2007 at 1:06 pm

  7. Kadie-Wa Says:

    Those were good points. i really agree with you on the arts one. I haven’t heard much of any Australian movies, or shows or much like that, except for Australian Idol. (I think that was what it was)

    I also agree with you on the global warming!! We are totally overheating our earth, and we should all do everything we can to protect it. Simple things is what people need to know, and govermnemt can help a LOT with stuff like that.

    Good points, justine. very good points.

    November 28th, 2007 at 5:47 pm

  8. Kitty-Maree-Dahlila Says:

    Can i say *yes* to all of the above? The first six on your list need to be adressed immediately. I knew there was a reason i loved you. besides NT, one of the biggest moves was from tasmania, with a lot of people voting green. i wonder why that would be?

    I mean, aside from the incredible writing skills.

    November 28th, 2007 at 11:31 pm

  9. Jessica Says:

    katie-wa: we do have some great movies. you just have to search for them and, uh, be over the age of 18 to watch some of them. or 15, but i guess it depends on the movie.

    Ones that come to mind if anyone’s interested: cosi, head on, lantana, looking for alibrandi, little fish, the rage in placid lake, somersault, three dollars, the castle, muriel’s wedding, priscilla queen of the desert, the big steal, the monkey’s mask, picnic at hanging rock.

    They’re probably not very well marketed overseas but they’re worth a look. personally i’d start with looking for alibrandi and the rage in placid lake.

    I know it’s incredibly selfish for me to say, but funding for the arts and faster broadband is what i’m really gunning for! the rest? totally important, but if those two things came true it would be like christmas!

    November 29th, 2007 at 11:22 am

  10. Jonathan Shaw Says:

    plus: Noise, My Father Romulus, Lucky Miles (all this year) & Ten Canoes (last year). All brilliant. (But can we please keep enormity to mean something really horrible even if excellent people want it to mean something really big? The not-really-a-landslide was enormous and it ended an enormity.)

    November 29th, 2007 at 4:47 pm

  11. robin cave Says:

    WHEW! yeah, WOW, YEEHAH!
    Trish and I are still recovering from days of all night partying and celebration.

    The only bummer is that Howard took away my AK-47 years ago, and I was really looking forward to the dream of one day running out into the streets firing wildly into the sky and shouting ” We are Free! Death to the Coalition!! then jumping onto the back of a ute and doing much more of the same. Just like they do in all those other countries…

    Oh well, there is a good chance I’ll feel the same way in a few years about the current load of rabble, but at the moment it certainly is a good thing.

    November 29th, 2007 at 11:07 pm

  12. Kitty-Maree-Dahlila Says:

    Glenda Larke:
    Okay, you want a flame war? Nuclear power means using tax payer funds that could be spent on developing renewable solutions, taking years to develop, polluting the heart of Aboriginal lands, using loads of precious water to mine, risking nuclear weapon proliferation and leaving a toxic legacy for the future. Nuclear power and uranium mining aren’t a viable option when you look at the big picture.

    If nuclear energy is the answer, it must be a very stupid question.

    December 3rd, 2007 at 5:09 am

  13. michael Says:

    Well it looks like the refugee detention centres will be closing down, much to Nauru’s economic dismay
    http://www.pacificmagazine.net/news/2007/12/19/nauru-wants-urgent-talks-on-detention-center-closure

    now how long before we get really good broadband, not for a while unfortuantly

    December 18th, 2007 at 11:29 pm

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