Watching the Election Campaign 2010

Watching the Election Campaign 2010, you can’t help but notice how the attention this election has turned away from the prime contenders Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott to players who are not fighting the elections. Old Prime Ministers and old ministers and advisors are all over the air waves which gives an indication that the electorate thinks that two main contenders  have been forced down their throats by the political parties. Both of them don’t come across as dominant leaders who can steer Australia to a more commanding position. The elections have so far focussed on the former Prime Ministers primarily John Howard and Kevin Rudd apart from fringe players like Mark Latham and Laurie Oaks.

Julia Gillard’s position as an election winner has been compromised after Labor party invited Kevin Rudd to save them from the voter backlash. Julia was supposed to be the sole face of Labor after the mid night political assassination of former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Even if Julia wins, Kevin Rudd will share the limelight as he will be credited partly with the Labor win. In politics as soon as there are more contenders for sharing the spoils of office, the leader will always be on tenter hooks and Julia Gillard will not ever be in a commanding position if she becomes Prime Minister this Spring season.

Now if Tony Abbott becomes the next Prime Minister of Australia, he might be held in high esteem within Australia but he will never get the same respect which Kevin Rudd or a John Howard got when they went abroad. Tony Abbott’s policy of sending asylum seekers in boats back when they come into Australia is simply too harsh and is at conflict with the compassion and understanding which the world expects from the heads of developed countries. His notion that Climate Change is not man made will put him in direct conflict with the rest of the Heads of State in global summits and instead of making new friends, he will always find himself at cross roads whenever he travels abroad. The transnational media companies will sneer at his comments as he will be an easy target due to his extreme comments in the past. His refusal to ever set a price on carbon under a Coalition government is not sustainable.

Remember how the last Federal elections were fought on the policy of Afghanistan and Iraq . This was one of the main election issues as voters were keen to know the future foreign policy engagement of the Nation. One of the main highlights of this election is the complete absence of foreign policy issues and Afghanistan and Iraq is the last thing on the minds of our leaders. At a time when Australian causalities in Afghanistan have peaked and we should be discussing future commitments our leaders have steered clear of this issue. Unfortunately for our leaders in this election, the farthest they have gone on foreign policy discussion is Nauru and East Timor .

One of the defining characteristic of this election has also been the focus on the state of Victoria and Queensland . NSW seems to have been forgotten again. There have been no major policy announcements related to the deteriorating  infrastructure in NSW, except the last minute politically motivated announcement of Parramatta to Epping rail link.

The mainstream political parties are fighting this elections mainly on asylum seekers. By calling a no holds debate on this issue they are appealing to lowest common denominator in our society when we should be focussing on the economy. Equally appalling is the attitude of some talkback radio jockeys to create fear in the minds of listeners that Australia is going to be swamped by asylum seekers.

Is this the start of the frustration of people with the mainstream political parties?

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