Meanwhile in the antipodes, a countrywide production of Waiting for Godot is being played out in the corridors of power and in the media. We join Vladimir and Estragon as they wait the election result to be determined.
A country road. A tree. Evening.
“And what did he reply?”
“That he will see.”
“That he had to think it over.”
“In the quite of his home.”
“Consult his family.”
“His friends.”
“His agents.”
“His Books.”
“His bank account.”
“Before making a decision.”
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett Act 1.
The Australian nation has been plunged into an absurdist drama following the inclusive result of the federal election. It is now two weeks since the people voted and we do not have a government.
The backlash against Labor has been diagnosed by the pundits and seers of the political class as a protest vote, a vote against the State Governments of Queensland and NSW. A vote by some voters who find the fact that a godless atheist would be Prime Minister. A vote for the future. A vote for the Greens. A vote for what no one in particular has been able to work out exactly what it was all about.
Personally my take on this whole sorry imbroglio I think its vote against the fools and mandarins of Sussex Street the faceless men who shafted Kevin Rudd. These astute political power brokers who in their amoral pursuit of power for powers sake, have by their own deeds and actions destroyed the credibility of the Labor party. After all just look what the NSW Right has done with Labor in NSW. Mind you these apparatchiks and egotists are the people who forced Kevin Rudd in the backfilp over the Emissions Trading Scheme. Which had the direct effect of causing his ratings in the polls to collapse. And lets face it politicians live and die in the glare of public perception. Yes politics is about polls not values, not ethics, not effective governance but how the public image of a politician is perceived and registered by voters as viewed through the analytical lens of Newspoll and Neilsen and Morgan Research.
What ever the reasons Labor failed to obtain a majority as a nation we are up the creek in a barbwire canoe.
Or are we?
The wheels of government still turn the masses are not rioting there are no food queues, or national strikes by students or workers. Everything is the same but difference is that our political system is being held ransom to indecisiveness.
The Australian newspaper in a poll states that the majority of the voters they polled want Labor to govern. The SMH states that the majority of votes they polled want Labor to govern. What is going on here? Strange days indeed.
Or as the ancient Chinese curse states “May you live in interesting times.” But here in Australia we have a few good curses of our own. “May your Chook’s eggs turn to Emus and kick your dunny door down.” Yes that is what has happened. The lunatics have taken over the asylum.
I know the gravitas of the situation and frankly I am scared for the future of the nation. If the Mad Monk and his ideologues get in, so hence the facetious nature of this post. We all deal with fear and uncertainty in our manner. Its just that the absurdity of the current situation just makes me laugh then weep.
This Sunday morning on ABC radio nation, one prominent Liberal hack was barking on about how Labor is the cause of all the evil in the world. No mention of the how Labor effectively saved the country from the ravages of the GFC. No this hack is barking on about Labor being ineffectual about boarder protection and boat people. Tell me this the 21st Century? Or is this the century of fear? So then what do these bankrupt Neo-Cons do? Resort to fear, in the 1950’s it was the Red Menace now it the ‘boat people’ ‘Muslim terrorists.’ ‘the Other.’ Yes the politics of fear are back in vogue, after all what does the Liberal have to offer the electorate in terms of ethical credibility? Nothing. What about ideology? Again bankruptcy. The Neo-Cons failed. Just look at the presidency of George the Second.
But wait we are not alone amidst all the chaos, the voice of reason has emerged. Three wise men from the rural hinterlands have come to our rescue. One a Queenslander ‘the force from the North.’ Is demanding that the government end the independence of the Reserve Bank and that the dollar is overvalued by four times. Excuse me?
Either way these wise men have assumed power beyond their constituent’s dreams to influence national policy and affairs. And so we wait for them to decide. Democracy is being held to ransom because a few fools who are basically Nationals by any other name are enjoying their time in the Sun. But then I could be surprised, stranger things have happened. Although I don’t remember when. At the best the country will be back in the polls in six months or twelve. Either way its like being trapped at present in a rather absurdist drama.
“But what Saturday? And is it Saturday? Is it not rather Friday Or Monday?(Pause) Or Friday?”
“Its not possible”
“Or Thursday?”
“what’ll we do?”
We wait for the voice of sanity and reason to gain the ascendancy, we wait for what else is there to do but wait.
