Federal Election

There is no sense of excitement, no sense of determination, no sense of purpose. I got up at 7am so I could get to the booths early and there was already a long cue of rugged up, frozen South Australians standing there with resigned faces and umbrellas. We had to vote so we were getting it done and the cold, wet weather was chilling us through. I was glad to get home for my breakfast and the fire. I am sick of the waste of money on the placards. I felt really sorry for the people who were helping the parties and at the booth. They were obviously cold. It all ran very smoothly and it is a credit to the dedicated souls who were running it that it was ticking over so well and that they were actually making a real effort to try and keep us in a pleasant mood. Some people were declaring they didn't care and they couldn't be bothered with all the numbers. That is an indictment of our system that our voters don't actually understand what it means to vote beneath the line and how to do that sensibly. Who gets in is something we'll find out later. We have come to a big realisation these last few months and there is some real education to be done so that more people become worthy candidates and that more people can survive our political system and that we are not going to fall foul of the like/dislike Facebook model and let that be our approach to politics.