The elections are over and I have no words, so I’ll use images instead.
I am sad about the results
Worried about them even
Because I remember these words from Tony Abbott
and these
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And I HATE the fact that they can’t remember this
I’m horrified that we have our own “George Bush”
But it’s done and it’s up to all of us to make the next three years count. I strongly recommend you read this brilliant column from Andrew P Street and
Yes, in this instance images speak louder than words….
At least the images stopped me from being sweary and ranty 😉 xx
I came over expecting to see pictures of me. 😉
And let’s not forget that Abbott has said frequently that this election was a ‘referendum on the carbon tax’. Our prime minister doesn’t even understand what a freaking referendum is. I weep for our future.
The best thing I saw last night was Adam Bandt speaking and behind him a crowd of young, enthusiastic and very happy looking “kids”. The next few months/years may be hard but I think our ling term future is going to be good xx
I share your commiserations, Lana – thanks for the evocative pictorial representations. The Street article is spot on.
Excellent article from him, made me follow him on Twitter immediately (and almost begin stalking him)
That piece from AndrewPStreet is brilliant. I agree that the whole shamozal has gotten me angrier than ever before and while before, I may have been a little bit complacent with what was going on in Australian politics – I’m not anymore. I’ll be watching Abbott closely. Like a hawke’s eye.
The piece from AndrewPStreet was the best part of my blog post 😉
Thanks for your comment – and on behalf of all Australia, for your hawk’s eye.
And all this comes from the same people who asked the australian people in a referendum ” Do You want a GST” The answer from the Australian people war a resounding NO! Guess what they brought in it So I ask what is the point you cant trust them at all
People seem to forget that the Howard Govt. actually took the GST to an election as part of their policy. They were elected to their second term having campaigned stating they would introduce the GST. So in the end, the majority of people voted for the GST.
I’ve been reading lamenting electoral loss and celebrating electoral victory for a good part of the day. I’ve been reading the Tweets. I state without malice that I am extremely disappointed by a majority of the comments.
Thanks to watching numerous re-runs of The Brady Bunch when I was a kid, a quote from the series came to mind. Do you recall the episode when Greg was moaning to his father how his football team had lost the big match ? Greg was almost inconsolable with grief. Dad said the immortal line, “Lose with dignity. Win with grace”.
I am saddened by the visible absence of dignity and graciousness.
There are countless sensible and well thought out reasons why millions of people cast their votes the way they did yesterday. Some voted for a single issue. Some voted for the individual. Some voted to protest. Some voted to keep a government and some voted for change.
Our fellow citizens exercised their right to vote how they wanted to vote. It may not have been my way or yours. But a result was handed down by the majority. We can bitch, moan and groan that the result doesn’t suit us. But, hey…that’s life ! People wanted a change of government and that’s what we got.
As winners or losers we can behave to act like spoiled, bratty children because we have or haven’t gotten our own way. Then again, we can act like adults and accept the result (like it or not) and get on with it.
Two politicians I’ve never had much time for, were doing an election post-mortem on the INSIDERS program this morning. The LNP’s Andrew Robb and Labor’s Bill Shorten were both gracious and dignified in their personal appraisals of why their party won or lost. The behaviour and candour of both men was truly inspiring. How I wished that the “bad” winners and “bad” losers could have heard what was being said.
Thanks for the opportunity to say my piece, Lana. I would have liked to have had the opportunity to make the same observations on the site where we first met. But alas….I have been banned from commenting for several weeks and it appears that only the bad losers are being given air on that site today. Cheers
Thank you for saying your piece Bradley. I really appreciate having points of view that are different from my own on my blog. I try hard to understand how other people think.
It does appear though that we do agree on some things – “promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate” or as you say “As winners or losers we can behave or act like spoiled, bratty children because we have or haven’t gotten our own way. Then again, we can act like adults and accept the result (like it or not) and get on with it.”
Bradley, it’s not about your side ‘winning’ or ‘losing’, it’s not about teams? That seems like such a shallow, politician perspective. For most people it’s about the future of the country, and people are quite right to be deeply upset and disgusted, regardless of who was elected, if they believe that their quality of life is going to slide or that minorities like refugees are going to suffer.
Hello Charlotte. Yes, every election is about the future direction that a country takes. We all cast our votes on Saturday and the majority decided that direction. That is how our political system works. In effect, we did vote for our own “team”. The final siren has been heard and the crowd has run onto the field to pat the victors on the back. You may not be happy about the win, but you can’t change history. With grace and dignity to congratulate the winner and commiserate with the loser. Every win and loss should be greeted with grace and dignity. The bad winner is every bit as bad the bad loser.
Hi Bradley,
Yes, I’m aware of how our political system works. I don’t really need to be talked to like a toddler but thanks for the revision lesson anyway.
I guess there are three reasons why I object to your position
1. You might have voted for what feels like your ‘team’, but millions of people aren’t attached enough to take a side (for example, swinging voters). I don’t see the problem with those people calling it as they see it and not gracefully conceding, if don’t feel like they belonged to team that lost to begin with. Not everyone who disliked the election result is a Labor supporter but you seem to be tarring Labor supporters with the brush of ‘sore loser’ by lumping the group all together.
2. Even if people do feel like they belong ‘Team Labor’, I don’t think it’s rude for them to express genuine dismay or concern at what might happen next. I think it’s simplistic to label them all as just sore losers and in doing so you invalidate real concern. I personally voted Liberal and I think it goes both ways – I’d absolutely resent the tag of sore loser if I was genuinely concerned or upset because Labor won. Wouldn’t you?
3. Most of all, I feel really uncomfortable at the idea of politics being about two teams and winners and losers. If that’s what we reduce politics to, that’s what we’ll get. I’m probably just naive but I’d like to think of politics as having a higher purpose than a footy match.
Hello Charlotte. First and foremost I am sorry that you think that I was talking to you as if you are a child. That was not my intention.
Ultimately one political ideology was accepted by the voting public, One ideology was rejected. Therefore one “team” won and the other lost. The same thing happened in 2007. Enough people wanted and supported a change of ideology and that’s what they voted for. That same desire for change presented itself on Saturday. Since the decision was announced, some people have been behaving badly. Some of those behaving badly voted for the LNP and some did not. I had hoped that I had made this point salient in my original comment.
You may well resent my use of the “sore loser” tag. I believe that there is a right way to express your approval and dismay and disappointment about the result.
Think grace and dignity. There is nothing graceful of dignified about flicking someone the bird as you celebrate his/her disappointment or call for the assassination of a democratically elected political official.
I steadfastly stick to my statements. If you cannot be gracious or act in a dignified manner….then shame on you. You don’t approve of my football analogy. That is totally up to you.
Like it or not, it appears that only 34% of the population voted for the previous government. The big question to ask is “why”? I certainly won’t try to put words in your mouth or allow you an opportunity to say that I tried to force my views on to you. You, and you alone should ask “why”? I’d be interested in your response.
You disapprove of my use of the words “winners & losers”. Sorry ! But at the end of the night, the experienced political brains from both sides of politics were declaring one side of politics the victor and the vanquished. No blue ribbons for participating, this time/
I should state that use of the word “you” in the paragraph that begins “I steadfastly stand by my statements” does not apply to you personally. It was a very general use of the word, encompassing all those who are behaving badly at this time.
I agree with you on all of this Lana. I am so sad about the result even though I did hand a good idea it would be the case of course. I will never be a conservative voter but at the moment I am particularly finding conservative policies hard to take. I even understand and respect free market economy type of approaches as an underpinning reason to vote Liberal but I just can’t be happy about the policies the new government has on the environment, asylum seekers, education, workplace relations and more. I don’t much like the ALP’s policies on many things either for the record! I was vocal on twitter last night but I never insult people. It’s just not right to do so. Dare I say that Julia Gillard was the very epitome of grace in her social media presence last night?
I can’t help but feel disappointed that my fellow Australians think “stop the boats” is an acceptable campaign slogan. Anyone who can manipulate people’s hardships for election gain is just not a good or compassionate person. What does this say about us as a nation?
It horrifies me. And saddens me. Everytime I hear the words “stop the boats” I cringe!
I’m sorry you feel this way, Lana. I feel nothing but elation and relief. Abbott is a good and humble man who will serve the country rather than have the country serve him. I’m relieved that the thugs, spivs and outright criminals of Union/Labor have lost their power.
I’m relieved that a man of action, rather than flowery spin, will use his personal passion for the advancement of our Indigenous.
I’m relieved that muscle bound Iranian men with Louis Vuitton luggage will stop taking the place of desperate women and children in our refugee intake.
Lana, foreign aid hasn’t been cut. Labor’s proposed increases have. It will still rise in accordance with CPI every year. And now that we have Julie Bishop overseeing it, perhaps more of it will reach the needy rather than support the millionaire lifestyles of the UN fat cats and despots.
The left media have hammered and misrepresented this man for years. He is everything they aren’t and they fear him. I have every confidence that TA will prove to be an outstanding PM. You will probably never know though because, like so many, you believe our idiot media and are incapable of sorting reality from lefty spin.
Thanks for your comment “I’m happy”. I genuinely did believe you were happy until you ended your comment with a barbed insult that doesn’t sound like the words of a genuinely happy person.
And the Louis Vuitton comment? that sounded like maybe perhaps you’ve been exposed to some right wing spin…..
Let’s agree to disagree
No, Lana, not spin. Fact. You can find it on Michael Smith’s site. The same Michael Smith whom Gillard threatened for exposing her AWU links (a police investigation is current, not fabricated)
The same Michael Smith who has fought for years to adopt an Ethiopean orphan only to have the compassionate, caring ALP thwart him at every turn.
The photos of the poor, cashed up, starving, roided, muscle bound asylum seekers with their ‘fear for your wife’ tshirts are all there. I have contacts within a detention centre. Your compassion is misplaced, Lana.
I’m sick to death if being called a racist. I’m sick of the abuse and vitriol the left have thrown around for six years.
From your high moral ground, that is nothing more than a pile of horse manure, you refuse to see that the poor are poorer, that women are worse off, that thousands more children are under DOCs, that nothing has been done for the environment ….. you’re more interested in empty words than actual results.
Let Abbott send in the army, gather up 50000 refugee orphans and bring them back. I guarantee that by nightfall every single one of them would be homed and loved and the electorate would embrace the cost of their healthcare and education. Then go back, get another 50000 and the same would happen. It’s not asylum seekers that ‘redneck bogans’ hate, it’s being taken for idiots.
I don’t intend to subject myself to another six years of reading the shit of the sanctimonious, superior and stupid left, Lana. Therefore, I’ve now stopped reading here.
Labor is gone, the idiots have left the building and the adults are back in charge. Thank God.
Watching the election results and the week leading up to voting I felt sick. I felt sick that this party who so obviously has disdain for the lower class (of which I am part of) of it’s citizens. ‘I’m happy’ talked about Labor taking our money but as someone who has lived through ‘the change’ that is the LNP in Queensland I fear for the future of the public sector. Funding and jobs have been cut left right and center from health and education. Systems that are already pushed to breaking point are expected to work with less. It’s going to be a scary 3 years but I hope that Australia will see the damage that he will no doubt do and we can be lead again by a less conservative government.
I think the article that I linked to will make you feel better – it certainly helped reframe my thoughts – it’s brilliant http://www.thevine.com.au/life/news/why-an-abbott-election-victory-would-be-good-20130905-264996/ xxx
Yep, it’s great isn’t it!? A friend sent it to me yesterday.
Lana, I am appalled to report that a page has gone up on Facebook advocating the assassination of Tony Abbott.
Is this really what we are to expect from now on ?
What sad, pathetic people.
I would hope that all free thinking, fair minded and intelligent supporters of ALP would be out there condemning this page via FB, Twitter, Instgram….whatever ! Such lunatic fringe groups cannot be allowed to flourish. I have nothing but utter contempt for those supporting political assassination and even more contempt for those not willing to speak out against these low bastards.
Bradley, I am appalled. But not surprised, the thing to remember when looking at Facebook or indeed any online forum or blog (except mine 😉 ) is that even the criminally insane have access to the internet.
There have always been awful people and hateful extremists but it’s a Facebook group and that is all, and in the end I choose to believe that the good people outweigh the bad. Ignore the haters and look for the do gooders
What is done is done, I didn’t vote for the conservatives but we’ll all have to live with the decision of the majority of voters. I’m beginning life under the new regime by starting to make regular donations to the asylum seeker’s resource centre, which I’ve been slack about organising earlier – now I’m doing it.
What’s extraordinary to me is the people from the right who seem so bitter and angry that we from the left still don’t want Abbot as PM! Sorry, not going to change my opinion any time soon.
Great blog, by the way.
Hi Lana,
Thank you for being a saner voice in the aftermath. This is not a government of my choosing but as Bradley and no doubt others have said, this is what the majority wanted. I don’t want to use this result as an excuse to moan for the next 3 years how terrible everything is, even though I’m expecting some tough changes. I want to focus on working towards a better political alternative and a voice for issues unpopular with a conservative government.
We are fortunate to live in a democratic society where we can have a voice, even of dissent. I don’t want to waste that 🙂