I want the polls to close so they can start counting and the ABC can start posting Australian electoral results. I’m at a friend’s in Austin and we’re staying up for at least a while so I can keep watch.
I want to come back to a country which does not have John Howard as its Prime Minister. I’m scared that despite the predictions and the polls, the lies of the Liberal-National Coalition will sway the peoplethey have swayed in the past. I’m scared that this latest boat with refugees on it was another scam and that it will work, again, although I’m dumbfounded as to how.
My vote in the lower house is almost nothing: I’m in a safe Labor seat that needs a 21% swing to the right to shift it. It’s all the voters in marginal seats that count. And I will be so thrilled if Howard loses his seat to Maxine McKew. What brilliant vindication that will be.
To quote one of my favorite Prime Ministers ever:
“Nations get a chance to change course every now and then. When things become errant, a wise country adjusts its direction. It understands that it is being granted an appointment with history. On this coming Saturday, this country should take that opportunity by driving a stake through the dark heart of Howard’s reactionary government.” (Paul Keating, in the SMH, Nov 21, 2007)
The upper house is just as important, no matter where we live. If, for some reason, you haven’t voted yet, please check out
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