Chris Lewis -
I don't think the major parties are doing so badly because it's all so hard. It's always been hard, and nobody thus far has made a worse mess of it than these two major parties.

I think that no matter how easy it was made for these self-absorbed power hungry mediocre unimaginative dorks, on both sides, they would still stuff it up.

And they would do this because fundamentally they aren't interested in making the country and the world a better place - they are interested only in their own gratification and well-being, and they will do anything, and follow any poll that seems likely to most assist them in that realising that ambition.

We, the punters, are a means to an end. It matters not a jot what alternatives might be suggested to them - if they don't first address the politicians personal ambitions, they will be binned

Briar Rose,

I agree, we need our politicians to do better.

But I do not believe that they do not have the national interest at heart.

There are policies that can make a difference, but most will have different strengths and weaknesses.

Further, contrary to what the former PM Fraser says, i do believe that it is much harder for Western govts today. We now longer have manufacturing on a mass scale, and our recent reliance upon debt and consumption is almost exhausted given that a similar rise in the next ten years would be national madness.

I think those two reasons alone tell us that things are getting harder.

Chris, I gave into the impulse to wildly generalise.

There are indeed pollies with a sense of responsibility who actually want to do some good.
They are usually relegated to the back benches, stripped of their influence and otherwise thoroughly trashed until they learn to keep their mouths shut.

I want to know what the next government intends to do about the frightening lack of resources for ageing Australians.

I want to know what they're going to do about alcohol abuse and its repercussions, which is off the charts in this country.

I want to know what they're going to do about our unbelievable rates of youth suicide and depression, and mental illness in general.

The Howard and the Rudd governments saw us safely through difficult economic times, and we are better off than any other western democracy post GFC.

But as far as social reform is concerned they're a dead loss, both of them,and they don't seem to care much either

Briar rose,

yes, on the social front we need to do more, housing affordability especially.

The Iraq war remains as a stain on Australia's community.
Until that stain is removed, Australian politics will never take its rightful place amongst the nations of the world.

Australia's then Prime Minister John Winston Howard sent Australia's SAS into Iraq on a shooting spree in the dead of night, killing thousands, BEFORE the ultimatum by Bush to Iraq had expired.In effect Australia's SAS conducted a Turkey Shoot in Iraq, or in other words a massacre. http://johnwinstonhowardandtheiraqwar.blogspot.com

06 August 2010

Justin George,

You rightly lament the vacuous-ness of the current Australian election.

Could you kindly indicate one election that has not been vacuous or, at least, one in which a politician has honored the pledges given at election time