Election Night 2007

Well I’m guessing that no one needed their surprised face come Saturday night when Morris Iemma was overwhelmingly re-elected and the much anticipated ‘protest vote’ failed to materialise. Having lost only 2 seats (and with only 1 or two in doubt) the government was returned with a wide (19 seat) majority. On the night, everyone tried to act surprised, and to read a message into the result – but ultimately, the numbers went almost exactly as predicted. In short, the Libs offered no alternative to a stumbling Labor government – and running against no one is as easy as it sounds.

In the wash up of the one the most widely expected election results since Saddam Hussein was "re-elected" after polling 100% of the votes with a 100% turnout in 2002, victorious Premier Iemma was humble (and yet smug looking). He claimed to have heard the message that a 3% swing against his party sends, but in the end he and his yet to be announced (new look) cabinet have 4 more years in power, message or no message. By that time, this Administration might be up and running, but just in case we’re not, here’s my advice to the increasingly pathetic opposition:

1. Let’s Pretend Peter Debnam never existed. If we all delete his number from our phones, cut his face out of all of the group portraits we own, and burn the tapes of all his incendiary A Current Affair interviews – it’ll be like all this never happened. He wouldn’t have whined for months about the harshness of Labor’s attack ads, and his wife wouldn’t have written a plea to voters to love him as she does. The whole sorry business would be wiped from our collective memory. Deputy O’Farrell claims to be challenging for the leadership, and that would be a good start.

2. Write some policies. It’s not enough to pursue an intangible protest vote, or to merely criticise the job Labor are doing. In the current political climate, the people want new ideas, fresh faces and a departure from old school political posturing. Pick a new leader, and get them to move in a new direction. Like making Australia a Republic, or something.

3. Pray that Howard loses. While we’re all onboard with this one, it’s the state Libs that have the most to gain from the end of the Howard dynasty. His IR policies, support for Iraq (and not for David Hicks), and most of all his refusal to fund state infrastructure and health projects gives the Libs a bad name and makes it real hard from them to gain any traction with voters.

Overall, the voters mostly want to see it become a contest again. To feel as though we have a real alternative and are not just choosing the lesser of two evils. My Administration continues to work our way toward a real campaign, and a real election – and so the time left for the major parties to lift their game begins to run out.