Ping-Off Buggerlugs!

AS I was walking up the stairs, I met a man who wasn’t there, he wasn’t there again today, I wonder why he went away?

It would seem that all too often in Australian politics, we are witness to the rise and fall of some truly talented and visionary politicians. Luckily for us though, there are those genuinely liberating moments in Australian history when the voters simply say, “Ping off buggerlugs, I’m over the bullshit, sorry. It is no longer funny!”

I can’t help but think that this is what really happened on Federal Election day 2007 and to be absolutely honest I was so totally cool with the result I surprised even myself. Did I predict it? No way. Did I vote for Rudd? No, I did not. Am I disappointed with the outcome? Nope, not at all. Welcome to democracy.

Let’s face it, the election was not entirely judged on the performances of the candidates alone, and sorry, nor was it all about the unions dominating government or Work Choices paranoia. It was not about global warming, health, aged care or the war on stagnant economies. The 2007 Australian Federal election fell rather befittingly into the circa 1972 category: It’s time.

And ‘time’ it was. It was not necessarily John Howard. It was not the fact that Peter Costello actually has a rather wonderful wit, as most previous former federal treasurers seem to have had. It was not even the fact that Tony Abbott lacks a somewhat sincere humanity.

It was time. Time to change; and good on you all for politically edjimacating me. I really needed to be pushed from my comfort zone this time, I really did.

Hey, talk about the really young Libs, I grew up in the Queensland Liberal Party. It was all around me back in the seventies. As you get wiser, though, you start to swing with your vote. Like Dad does nowadays.

But wait, there’s more. When I was only six years old, I remember going to a Liberal function at a truly magnificent home at New Farm on the banks of the Brisbane River and I sat on the knee of a really wonderful man whom I have fondly quoted in the first paragraph of this story, (go back and read it again).

I remember his smile and I remember asking what it was that he meant by this and he replied, “That’s politics, Brendan. When you’re needing a politician most, they’re never around, and when you vote them out they wonder why.”

The man’s name was Senator Neville Bonner. (R.I.P.)