Half way through Election 2022

 

Image: Clipart Panda
Are we there yet? No. It is going on and on with very little of great consequence and a lot of people loving the sound of their own voice and image, though perhaps that isn't very fair to those who are doing a sterling job. Much of it is drowned out by mass media white noise. Classic was electorates holding meet the candidates evenings. LNP candidates in key seats were often missing. Mr. Frydenberg held his meeting in Kooyong at the pub while the other candidates were gathered elsewhere. Today he had big coverage in newspapers because his seat is  hotly contested by an independent, Dr. Monique Ryan.  We have had some film noir photos of Anthony Albanese, opposition leader , as he spoke with Grace Tame  for In Style magazine. We have great photographers i in Australia. They are being underutilised and unchallenged on our election trail , so the black and white photos of Mr. Albanese were a refreshing break and so good. Art and elections can co exist. WA's Senator Jordan-Steele put up a Tik Tok asking why we couldn't have a person with disabilities become the Minister for Disabilities? He would make a very good person for that position because he articulates his experience and case well. Bill Shorten has also done a stellar job of advocating for NDIS funding and improvements. He has a genuine interest in disability support. 

Mr. Albanese had to isolate for a week because he had contracted Covid. This is happening to various politicians and is part of the potholed campaign trail. Mr. Morrison strangely said he had worked much harder than Mr. Albanese when he was in isolation. Jaws dropped across the nation and the air was filled with speech bubbles with question marks. 

A lot has happened and nothing has happened. We have had cranky press conferences and cranky media people. Grumpy has thrived and lack of social graces from media pack has often been noted. Maybe because someone slapped the shed just before they were sent into the conference and off they have squawked?

We are wondering how we shall survive the next three weeks but we shall. We shall go to the source. We shall ignore favoured special pleading in the press and we shall be patient and tolerant with those who cannot filter their thoughts as most well mannered people can. The gems are there in this campaign. You have to go looking for them. 

Mainstream media miasma

Image : Janeh15

 What a crashingly unspectacular week it has been for our 2022 election campaign. Media have focused on trivia and tripe. Social media have allowed politicians to speak with us directly  , if they wish , and at least you get the information from the horse's mouth. Twitter has largely swirled the morning bait from the msm sources and pictures and thoughts have been repeated incessantly. If you want a break from that you have to go off on a foraging journey to try and find some good information. Many candidates are new. We need to know more about them. One, in particular, has been high profile this week and it has been too much unpleasant  information. The leader of the opposition didn't know a figure, which was then labelled a gaffe on msm , which was cleverly rebuffed by Green's leader : Google it! But it came back again as a gaffe. They are stuck in a groove and capable of redescribing reality, splicing videos to clean them up, insulting the public and , no, I won't go on. It is uninspiringly dull. Swill. Dirty dishwater. We used to have good election coverage and we used to be able to get a good understanding of candidates and issues. By now, we know LNP  government exceedingly well and we know what the issues are but we are not allowed to talk about them. We are not the only country where mainstream media is driving the general populace mad. Some just get information from social media. Some just tune out as I have said before. Meanwhile , our mainstream media is locked into an alternate reality which is doing it harm. Is it a play to get rid of it? Shall we all then be on Tik Tok, Twitter and Facebook and those sorts of sites? In many ways , throw Twitter a problem and by the end of the day there are many views and solutions. It is a good way to problem solve. Mainstream media and our federal government throw out the bait in the morning and it can often backfire spectacularly but sometimes it just depresses people. Not a good use of an aggregate of well informed, motivated people. Media shouldn't dull the senses and thoughts, especially at election time. Mindless repetition can drive people crazy. And the point is? 

Our media is narrowly owned. We have some good independent sources of news but they need more funding. They are worthwhile and keep us on the ball. AIM has published an article which is well researched and well argued so we can understand the benefits of a broad range of media. Right now we have bland and nothing everywhere. Same message and it is stifling the airways. We need to open up and let the fresh air in and the new ideas with it. 

We have an election

 Image: Electoral Commission SA

At last! May 21st is the date of our Federal election. Immediately after the last one we all sank into a depression. Every single indicator, which had always been an indicator of an election result , was wrong. Everyone and everything. Wrong. Mr. Shorten did not win , as predicted, but Mr. Morrison. Since then there has literally been a lot of water under the bridge and people are still waiting for homes from the disasterous floods and catastrophic bushfires we have had. We have learned a lot. We have learned about each other, our state leaders, our refugee treatment, our financial management, our organisations and public services.We know so much now. Including how disgraceful and murky our own Parliament House has been. I hope it will be thoroughly cleansed and purified in the coming weeks.  On May 21st we cast our votes again. I should like to think the result will see us buoyant and ready to tackle the changes we have endured and the changes we need to make. Everyone will have their opinion but we all have one vote. 

South Australian State Election 2022

 We are here. It is voting day and I enjoyed my walk to the voting booth and back as it wasn't hot yet. Lots of firsts today in all the years I have been voting. No sausage sizzle, probably because of coronavirus restrictions or considerations. It was busier at this booth than it ever has been. I had to wait half an hour. Oddly enough, round the corner, my daughter walked in and out in her electorate because most of the voters were voting from my electorate! Most people were masked but, sadly, there were some who were not ,including the lot behind me. Even those with little children had had the sense to put masks on them and it was great to see little children learning about voting and community health. The social distancing was poor until we were close to the hall. People don't seem to understand we have a pandemic. What was really odd, and something I have never seen as a voter, is only the Greens and Labor were there to hand out leaflets. No other party was represented. Not a good look at all that they could not be bothered. 

It is a welcome election and it will be interesting to see how it pans out. No one seems enamoured of Mr. Marshall's basketball stadium plans or his privatising of  our trains . Most would have forgotten he turned us into a nuclear waste dump when we had clearly said no under the Weatherill government. He was , however, really good during the pandemic until November 23rd when the borders were opened and suddenly our great team, which he was a sound part of, came up with garbled, confusing and unhelpful approaches. Like the one for voting in our election today if you are covid affected. If you do not have a car, you have no option to vote. If you are too sick to get in your car you have no option to vote. Not good enough. Thousands are affected and it puts an unpleasant look on democracy if we, after all this time, haven't worked out a way for covid affected people to vote in an election. There are those who are very happy with the borders opening and fewer restrictions so we'll see. It does make this election interesting and there are things we can learn for the upcoming federal election.