The Big Day, A Little Later

Saturday, 30 November 2002

I'm back from the polling booth and a little embarassed to report that the ballot paper for the Victorian Legislative Council is pink, while the Legislative Assembly paper is white. This creates a bit of a problem with my previous post on the election: should I do a Mike Moore and delete it or is there a better way to deal with the faux pas. Right now I'm more inclined to emulate my intellectual heroine Janet Albrechtsen and declare very firmly that if the facts don't support my opinions then the facts have some serious explaining to do. So there. I plan to write to the Victorian Electoral Commission demanding an explanation of this disgraceful affair, just as soon as I've done that Google search so that I can at least protect myself from making a greater fool of myself than I already have.

The party advertising around the booth was interesting. The Liberal Party have hung up banners with the memorable slogan (well it is if you repeat it to yourself at least three times - I really should have taken a pen and paper to write it down):

Vote for your local Liberal candidate to keep Labor under control.

This approach was roundly criticised by some senior Victorian Liberals earlier in the week as sending the wrong message - and it does. It sounds a lot like a desperate party making a last ditch effort to salvage defeat from the slavering jaws of humiliation. I wasn't impressed by the Labor message either:

Bracks. Listens, Acts.

It's much pithier but to my cynical ears that word "Acts" makes it sound like we're in for 3 years of a Reagan style premiership where form is more important than substance. Of course there are some who will say that this is what we've already got and I'm not going to disagree with them.

No doubt both of these slogans have been passed by those modern arbiters of good taste and sound political opinion, the focus groups so no doubt they reflect the aspirations of the people, or at least that small segment of it that is prepared to cop fifty dollars in the kitty for an hour of free association on such matters of weight as what do you want in a panty liner. I have to admit that I was never any good at focus groups, so perhaps the only reason I'm underwhelmed by the way the democratic process is being run these days is a deep seated resentment of those who know how to get themselves repeat invitations from the market researchers.

And however much my error on the subject of the Legislative Council might compromise any claims I might make that I can provide objective and informed commentary on this issue, I'll probably do the election post-mortem anyway. I'll only be following well established and well respected precedents in doing so.