Kevin '07 - Rudd sweeps to victory in Australian election

Well, it was a long shot, and 10 minutes is not a long time to attract your first comment... Oh well.

So, which option did I take??? I thought I'd start off with the extremely safe subject of politics. No danger there of enflaming any passions....

This was my first election in Australia having voted in the last two general elections in the UK and it was a very different experience.

For the uninitiated, Saturday saw the federal election in Australia with all seats in the House of Representatives up for grabs. In the blue corner, the government of the Liberal coalition led by John Howard who has been Prime Minister for the last 11 years. In the red corner, the Labor party, led by Kevin Rudd for less than a year. The final results in all seats are not yet counted but Labor have won a resounding victory, with Kevin Rudd set to take over as PM. It's also likely that John Howard will lose his Bennelong seat, the first sitting PM to lose their seat in 78 years.

So, what went wrong for the Liberals? Or was it a case of Labor winning rather than the government losing? Unfortunately I can't really comment as I don't know enough about the details but the overriding opinion seems to be that the government's controversial work choices policy was the main culprit.

What I noticed most was the amount of advertising on television and print, much more so than back home in the UK. Also, most of it tended to be negative advertising, bashing the opposition rather than promoting the policies of the advertising party. That was my outsider's perception anyway. Not that politics back home is any better; anyone's who's seen Prime Minister's questions on a Wednesday afternoon can testify to that.

Australia has a policy whereby everyone who is eligible to vote, must vote; under penalty of a fine. It could be said that Australia has a very active democracy and the people need no encouragement to vote. However it could also mean that there is a large pool of people who, would not necessarily vote without the threat of a fine. Whatever the case may be there was a small army of volunteers around in Sydney canvassing. It was refreshing in many ways, as someone ineligible to vote, being able to watch the spectacle knowing that I personally would bear no responsibility for the outcome.

On polling day, I was driving through my suburb and passed several polling stations. I was amazed at how many Labor supporters had gathered and were canvassing, right up to the end. I saw a few from other parties, mainly the Greens, but no conspicuous Liberal presence. Maybe that's the area I live in, but for a government many expected to lose, I was surprised not to see a larger Liberal presence.

11 years in government is a long time and there is always the argument for a change. So what happens now? Labor have pledged to abolish work choices, ratify Kyoto and start an education revolution. I'll await the outcomes and pass judgement in the future. One thing that worries me slightly is that I've never been a fan of unions and Labor is heavily union oriented. Hopefully abolition of work choices will not stifle innovation and job creation but we'll have to wait and see on that one.

Finally, since the election loss, the former Treasurer, Peter Costello and the deputy Liberal party leader have stood down from the front line of politics. Hopefully there will not be a vacuum in the Liberal coalition which prevents a strong opposition to the Rudd government as in any democracy, the opposition is cruicial in keeping the government in check.