Kim’s 100% right – at best, the policy we’ve gotten from both major parties thus far has been bite size policy. They tackle – and often in craptacularly bad fashion (as noted earlier) – only tiny, digestible parts of the challenges facing the nation. However, it’s easy to get caught up in the sheer awfulness of it all to lose any sense of historical perspective. Were things ever thus?
Thanks to the wonders of the National Library of Australia’s Pandora Archive, we can actually make some fist of answering this. And it appears that things have gotten worse than even the relatively recent past.
For instance, here’s the ALP policy set from the 2001 federal election – or, for that matter, the Liberal Party equivalent. The differences are striking. While there’s plenty of soundbite policy in there, both parties at least attempt to sketch out something approximating a governing philosophy and a comprehensive program covering the key policy debates of the time.
Another interesting counterpoint is the United Kingdom. The Labor Party manifesto from the recent election runs to a wordy eighty pages. It contains prose. Not diagrams, not photos, not bullet points, but prose. No concessions to dumbing down in the manifesto itself, though you can also have the cute animated video version.
So while it’s hardly a scientific survey, our elections are not only policy-free zones compared to what they used to be, they appear to be policy-free compared to the UK.
Sort of related … older observers will remember when Budget Night was a big event – nothing was leaked out weeks in advance. So it worked as a defining moment of what a party stood for and the changes it was making.
Maybe people pay more attention to politics when it’s presented to them seldom, but substantially – elections and budgets. It’s hard to maintain focus on never ending tiny adjustments and endless promises.
Maybe once we get some dark stability for the next three terms of Coalition government things will calm down.
The Liberal Party set out its stall in black and white back in 1993. Anyone who was surprised at the direction Howard’s mob took the country wasn’t paying attention.
Maybe because Fightback is widely regarded as having cost Hewson the unloseable election, neither party has tried a similar exercise since. It’s all about ‘values’ now.
And this is why the Coalition will win. Because they have a stable narrative. Unlike the ALP which at least to everyone who has eyes appears to be dead set on ripping itself apart.
both of the old parties are just that…..old. they are no longer relevant to the new century and this is shown in the way their standards (of policy and people) keep falling.
neither party seems to be able to adapt to the progressive and innovative policies needed by a very different post-industrial age.
only the greens have vision, integrity and – quite obviously – stability in this uncertain world.
I’d say the only big risk to Abbott is The Greens now. If I was Tones I’d be creating the sort of Coalition the Tories have with the Lib-Dems where the end result is that the Lib-Dems have been effectively isolated from affecting Tory policy too much.
generally speaking, the Victoria State elections aren’t haven’t been this, you tend to get firm commitments of doing this, costing this much.
tssk, I’m not sure how your comments relate to the topic at hand.
I love politics, but I’m so bored with this election campaign. It’s the mediocre leading the dull. If the mainstream media stopped focussing on meaningless campaign incidents, and start pushing the two parties for policies, we might start getting some actual news.
Were elections this negative before? All the ads are just attacking the other party – they’re not saying “we will make the country better and here’s how”; they’re just relentlessly negative, saying “the other party suck and everything is terrible.”
I know attack ads have existed forever, but were they ever the entirety of a campaign?
This is what happens when the spin doctors take over.
Actually a spin doctor on ABC radio was very critical of the MSM’s role in hysterically amplifying any error, misjudgement or change of mind and in effect causing the kind of campaign that they are now decrying. He said you get more interesting election coverage on the new media such as blogs.
It was, for once an interesting observation, but the host, Deborah Cameron wasn’t interested- probably because she’s a part of the old media herself.
They are getting dumber and are policy free zones. However, if people continue to insist on voting for the ALp or preferencing number 2 to them then they have no credibility in complaining. If you don’t like the policy free zone that is the ALP don’t vote for them because they may be a one millionth bit better than the Libs. The ALP is a machine driven, shallow stand for nothing party of careerists. If you vote for them you endorse this.
And now, a constitutionally irrelevant day of being ‘tough on crime’.
What next – a federal hoon summit?
Worst. election. eva.