Vote independent

In contemplating a choice between continuing the ALP government of Albanese and the prospect of an LNP government led by Dutton, there is no need to wish with Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, “A plague o’both your houses!” Both options are potentially unhealthy for the country and neither is fit to govern. There must be an alternative.

Consider the track record of both ALP and LNP over recent decades. Both, when given the opportunity, have:

• Neglected First Nations issues, offering substantive progress neither toward Voice, Treaty, and Truth nor toward closing the numerous socioeconomic gaps,
• Indulged in performative cruelty toward refugees at enormous cost to the budget and to the national psyche through trashing the national value of a ‘fair go’,
• Prosecuted whistleblowers who have revealed wrongdoing within government agencies rather than the politician and civil servant wrongdoers,
• Forced 4 to 5 percent of the population to live in poverty on grossly insufficient unemployment benefits as the presumed price for keeping inflation at bay,
• Minimised government transparency by legislating a crippled National Anti-Corruption Commission and defunding Freedom of Information processes, and
• Adopted the vastly expensive, improbable, and inappropriate nuclear submarine fantasy of AUKUS which some sources say was conceived by Boris Johnson as his post-Brexit revenge on the French.

There are more examples of inept positions adopted by both major parties. Neither can be relied upon to pursue the national interest if challenged by big business and neither seems prepared to engage in serious conversation with the voters about their vision for the future. Both can be relied upon to do whatever they think will gain and maintain power for themselves and their cronies.

Given the unattractive proposition of majority government by either ALP or LNP the best option appears to be to vote for independents who make an effort to engage with their local communities. They can be expected to demonstrate capacity for responsive independent thought rather than mindless support of a party position. Given the balance of power they may to steer government toward positions that address the needs of ordinary Australians rather than those of special interests.