Nope, not natural justice, but we woke up to what looks to be a hung parliament in Australia. This seems to be the 'in' thing in politics with the same situation in the UK and in Canada. It may be a coincidence but I think it's probably due to evolution of politics. The left has slowly moved towards the centre as the power of the unions has been lost and the idealists of socialism are slowly facing the realities of everyday existence. And the right has slowly moved towards the centre as society has become more accepting of difference and people are becoming more aware of their rights. Idealism has been replaced with the rise of the individual, and the concept of mass political movements has been replaced with a grab-bag of policies.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Instead of resorting to grandstanding and bombast today's leaders will need to learn to communicate and to collaborate. Will this lead to policy by committee and a lack of vision? Maybe. The interesting thing is I think we will soon find out who wants to govern for themselves and who wants to govern for the good of their country.
The TV coverage of the election last night was interesting as well. Because of the close race & the preferential system there were fewer hard & fast victories. The various TV channels interpreted the close electorates in different ways which betrayed their political leanings. At one point one channel was declaring 72 seats for Labor (sic) and 68 for the coalition, another the same figures but with the parties reversed. And the number of 'definite' seats regularly fell as the counts continued. There are apparently some seats which will take another week before they can confidently be declared.
So now we just wait & see which way the independents will go. The major thing Australia is dreading is another election, so let's hope that the requirement for strong & representative governance overcomes the parochialism shown by the major parties over the last few weeks.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Instead of resorting to grandstanding and bombast today's leaders will need to learn to communicate and to collaborate. Will this lead to policy by committee and a lack of vision? Maybe. The interesting thing is I think we will soon find out who wants to govern for themselves and who wants to govern for the good of their country.
The TV coverage of the election last night was interesting as well. Because of the close race & the preferential system there were fewer hard & fast victories. The various TV channels interpreted the close electorates in different ways which betrayed their political leanings. At one point one channel was declaring 72 seats for Labor (sic) and 68 for the coalition, another the same figures but with the parties reversed. And the number of 'definite' seats regularly fell as the counts continued. There are apparently some seats which will take another week before they can confidently be declared.
So now we just wait & see which way the independents will go. The major thing Australia is dreading is another election, so let's hope that the requirement for strong & representative governance overcomes the parochialism shown by the major parties over the last few weeks.
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