A Momentous Moment

This weekend has been rather momentous in world history, with the appointment of the first ever national leader called Kevin. It’s been interesting I suppose watching an election unfold in which you can’t vote. So what’s different to elections around the world? Not much really… millions spent on advertising and dissing the opposition, convoluted voting systems and even more convoluted presentation of the results and promises promises promises. Friday night looking down on Parliament House and all was serene.

Saturday was polling day and I didn’t really see much of what was going on but am told the polling stations are like little industries in themselves – cake stalls, sausage sizzles, book stalls. It’s compulsory to vote here, unless you happen to be from overseas yet still pay considerable taxes. I got my chance to participate in an alternative ballot down at the M16 artspace, which is run by a friend of mine. Plenty of people were drawing pictures and alternative ballot papers and scary union bosses. Democracy in action.

Election coverage is bewildering at the best of times, but the Australian networks report the votes from each polling station as they come in…rather than adding them all up and giving the result at the end. This means the TV networks are calling winners after 1% of the electorate have voted. As it turns out, a day later we still don’t really know if John Howard has lost his seat or not. Canberra had its little place in the sun though, as the networks broadcast from the National Tally Room, a noisy hub of numbers and swings and Chaser generated mayhem.

Come Sunday, new leadership, future thinking blah blah blah. But all was pretty much the same, Canberra was warm, the flies were out, the Canberra Centre was busy with Christmas shoppers and Australian Idol was on TV. That one had a winner too, and I daresay more people voted for that than the election!