When I arrived in Australia at the beginning of August the country was in the throes of a federal election for Prime Minister. The campaign had all the elements of a sensational American slugfest for the nation’s top spot, including a left-leaning single woman who lived with her hairdresser boyfriend vs. a conservative in the George W. Bush mold, a Catholic who talked about family values and sending unwanted immigrants back to where they came from.
Julia Gillard vs. Tony Abbott, Labor vs. Liberal. To debate or not to debate. Should tomato sauce be free with your meat pie? Red budgie smugglers. Rooty Hill. Mark Latham ambushing each candidate for a 60 Minutes ratings scheme. Greens and Independents and the “above the line” option.
I took it all in on the evening news and talk shows – and watched as Australians dutifully went to the polls on August 21 to cast their compulsory votes. From that I thought, Americans could learn a thing or two.
But then, as the returns came in, I got the feeling I had been here before. There was not going to be a decision in this race on election night. Neither party was winning the needed majority of Parliament seats to put it in the driver’s seat for the next three years. Just like in America in 2000, when the decision came down to counting hanging chads, the word “hang” hung over this election in an eerily similar way. By the next morning it was clear – Australia had a “hung” Parliament. (“Well-hung Parliament” went around the Twitterverse a time or two, until it was determined that it wasn’t really funny.)
What Australia has going on two weeks later is its first female “caretaker” prime minister, Ms. Gillard, who negotiates daily with four Independents who could sway either way to side with her and Labor or Mr. Abbott (who also negotiates daily) and the coalition. As of this evening, the 73-73 tie, has swung in favor to Labor, with one of the four Independents now backing Gillard, bringing the tally to 74-73. No one wins until one side has 76 supporters – but with three rural Independents still trying to decide who to back, a 75-75 is entirely possible.
And then what? More should be known next week.
Source: The Ottowa Citizen.
Kathy Drasky regularly writes about online culture. Her marketing and communications work with the ANZA Technology Network, Advance Global Australians and with various Australians and Australian enterprises has led to at least a dozen trips Down Under.
An accomplished digital photographer, her photos have appeared in 7×7 Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and Google Schmap.
