Taking my own name in vain.
02 April 2025
You can’t go too far in the world at the moment without there being some influence from the US and their politics. Doubly so now that we’ve had our own election called and so what to do about Trump and his politics is even more in the spot light. Sometimes you sit and watch what Trump and the rest of his crew are up to and wonder just how he was voted back in again. I get that lots of people, these days, can feel disenfranchised and unrepresented in modern day politics. I stand by my belief that once being a politician was a career as opposed to a civic duty the representation went with it. Once those who we representing their constituency no longer had their own job or business to consider when passing policies that affected the masses I feel as though we allowed them to govern without fear.
That’s not to say politicians shouldn’t make the hard decisions, far from it, just that once they didn’t have any skin in the game, it didn’t matter who their policies affected. I’m by no means saying politicians before this change were perfect either, more that I felt they considered the people more than perhaps they do now. There’s also much more money involved, no longer is it just a stipend whilst your sitting in Parliament but a full on salary that far exceeds that than many of those who they have been chosen to represent.
Generally, I’m not overly worried about Australia and its policitics. At the moment it seems the vast majority of Australians, probably due to mandatory voting, are a far more engaged than I felt a lot of people back home were. It’s this disinterest in the politics and the machinations that leads, I feel, to leaders like Trump and Johnson getting into power. They make statements, false or otherwise they know the masses want to hear. The propagation of biased media can bolster these claims and directly influence potential voters. Equally, those who don’t feel heard or represented just don’t vote and so the cycle continues. It mystified me how the Conservatives stayed in power in the UK as long as they did but did so by saying what people wanted to hear, truth be damned.
I’m hoping Labor stay in power come the next election. I don’t personally agree with all of what they’re putting forth and perhaps having to share governance with The Greens might push them a little more than they have been. It’ll be interesting to see how the campaign trail goes, especially as there’s only a month to go until the actual day. More than anything I’d want to avoid the Liberals and Dutton making their way back into office. With the exception of the first year and change plus the last few years of the Labor government, the vast majority of governance that I’ve seen has been the Liberals and, much like their UK Conservative counterparts, I’ve been unimpressed.
From what I gather, under Dutton the Liberals are trying to take a little bit of what Trump has done in the US but tone it down enough to not seem too similar. There’s talks of mass cuts in the public service (let’s hope Elon isn’t asked to help) which will only hinder rather than help the public they’re meant to be looking out for. As ever it would be looking to privitise what they can and turn things that should just be a right into a chance to make money and maximise profits. With any luck, the vast majority of people, whether they vote Labor or not, will at least have their preferences aid in making sure we don’t have another Liberal government. Dutton’s track record in the various roles he’s had also doesn’t spark confidence in someone who would lead Australia well in the current climate.
Realistically, though, what worries me the most is what the future will hold. There are so many other concerns intertwined with what’s going on now. Who we choose to lead our respective nations have a direct impact on how the world will look in the future. Climate change is still front and centre and, with leaders like Trump, being willfully ignored as it hinders big business. The financial gap is widening with too many people on the bread line and who, quite honestly, are often overlooked. Tax cuts are great and all but there’s more work to be done. I know I’m lucky in terms of where I’m at and being somewhat settled financially but there are plenty who aren’t and need our support.
Equally, I worry about the future my daughters will enter into and what struggles await both for them and the society they will be a part of. There continues to be this hand-off from generation to generation with an expectation that the next generation will fix the problems they’ve created or failed to resolve. Pair that with the rise of some leaders who just seem to want to help the already rich get richer with short-term policies, there seems to be little focus on the long-term stability of society. My only hope, it seems, is that whilst the pain of these policies are being felt, it will eventually lead to those hardest hit making their voice heard at long last.