Three years ago I cast my vote in the Australian Federal Election at the Embassy in Washington DC. When I cast my vote I had no premonition that within 18 months my Country would abandon me and thousands of others. The Country would be set on a course of mass division, restrictions on civil liberties, segregated societies, the intervention of Government into medicine and forced medical interventions on individuals. Australia is a very different nation from what it was when I cast that vote in 2019 all the way from the other side of the world.
To vote overseas as an Australian Citizen you have to have the intention of returning to Australia within the next six years, at the time my simple answer to that was "I'm going to be here for a two year period." Now my answer would probably just be "Meh, will see where things go won't we?".
Never in all my life am I more excited to head to a ballot box. Australia on a whole is now broken. It has lost its way and on May 21st this is a chance to get back to the way of life that made Australians the envy of the world.
I have serious concerns about the future of the country depending on the result. The fact of the matter is, neither party deserves to enter 'The Lodge' and form a Government. The issue with Australia is the two-party system.
I heard a caller on Triple M's 'The Night Shift' this morning (last night Australia time) tell the host Luke Bona "I grew up with the Labor party always being for the working man and the Liberals were for the Businessmen, so as a working man, I'll just be voting Labor." That attitude is why Australia is a basket case, the two major parties know this attitude exists and as such if we continue with this attitude then we're just going to continue getting the same disastrous policies that have put Australia where it is right now. This isn't just limited to the one side of the political fence either. Just look at how the States behaved during COVID and it's clear the two major parties are just as bad as each other.
South Australia recently had a chance to show the Country that they wanted change, but all they did was vote for the other guy. Despite the fact that the SA Opposition Leader (now Premier), Peter Malinauskas was from the Labor Party, whose Premiers in other States did things like:
"People living in NSW have NSW hospitals. In Queensland, we have Queensland hospitals for our people." Which was the Queensland Premier's response to an expectant mother from New South Wales who nearly lost her twins because she couldn't go to a hospital less than two hours away based on where she lived.
In Victoria, the Police arrested pregnant women in their kitchens and also turned on others violently for protesting for their freedoms. The Premier simply dismissed it all and said "I honestly don't know what they're protesting about" and got the Police to do his dirty work.
In the Northern Territory, you had people been rounded up and sent to a Quarantine Camp against their will, simply because they were deemed a close contact to a COVID case. Despite testing negative it was still a full 14-day imprisonment for these people and at their own cost.
In Western Australia, the State was locked off from the rest of the nation, including citizens of Western Australia who were on the other side of a State border and couldn't get home. Even now to enter Western Australia you need papers to show you've been good and have had three vaccines.
Now it's looking like Australia wants to install a Prime Minister who leads the party whose State Premiers inflicted those policies on their own?
But it's not just limited to the Labor party.
In New South Wales a "vaccinated economy" was inflicted on the populous and contact tracing apps were only implemented and reimplemented admittedly by the Premier "only for show".
In South Australia, prior to the recent State Election, the Premier's advisors told people going to the football that since Victorians were on the field that if a football came into the crowd "just don't touch that ball". The Premier even implemented a lockdown because of a suspicious Pizza Box.
As for Tasmania they effectively decided to be a hermit nation, within a hermit nation almost like Western Australia.
So this is where I ask the question, is kicking out ScoMo for Albo really going to be any better? I doubt it.
After announcing the election Scott Morrison proclaimed that he "loved this Country".
Is he referring to the Country that locked out its own for over two years (and still is)? A Country that has citizens who have lost friends and family, even jobs, just because they have concerns or an opinion? A Country that now requires you to carry papers to have a coffee or go to the Pub? A Country where you can't cross certain State lines unless you agree to testing requirements or booster shots?
Morrison claimed that Australia lead the world with their recovery from a health crisis. Well, the mental health toll of two years of lockdowns is massive, health screens for other illnesses have been missed, domestic violence is up, as too substance abuse. Is that a leading recovery? Perhaps leading the world means the fact that doctors can't prescribe what they feel is in the best needs of their patients without the risk of being struck off? Or maybe the fact that if you don't get a vaccine it's perfectly ok for you to be locked out of society?
Australia does have a good unemployment rate, but many people aren't in the same jobs as they had before the pandemic. Meaning they aren't making the same amount of money they once did. Even if they are, they're now paying down debt. Debt from two years of lockdowns and living off credit cards because JobKeeper/JobSeeker wasn't enough to make ends meet when they couldn't work because of a lockdown.
Once upon a time, the Liberal Party was seen as being a party that "balances the books" and was for fiscal conservatism. That all went out the window and for nothing in the last two years. Billions were spent on welfare programmes, money that could've been used for building up the healthcare systems, infrastructure programmes and defence. So at the end of the day, you can say we have something to show for it. Instead, the nation is saddled in billions of debt to pay people to stay at home, only to delay the inevitable that lockdowns only delayed and isolated Australians further. Even with the latest budget, it was another cash splash. The fact is the Liberal Party has abandoned its base.
He stated that his Opponent Anthony Albanese only focused on politics and you wouldn't know what he stood for. Granted that is horrid having politicians that are only focused on focus groups and the politics of the day. That isn't leadership and doesn't belong in The Lodge but neither does Scott Morrison who is an appalling leader too.
At the start of the pandemic, he appeared to be a strong leader who wanted to bring people together in what he called the National Cabinet. All the States would come together frequently and agree on a course of action for the pandemic. Well, that happened, but then the States did their own thing anyway and he sat back and did nothing but blamed the States saying it was their issue.
I am no celebrity or influencer that is going to tell you who to vote for. You need to make that decision yourself, but I do hope that you realise that the two-party system in Australia is broken and why it needs a wake-up call immediately.
Could a third party rise up and take the Government in its own right?
No, obviously not. However, a strong crossbench in the Senate and the House of Representatives can be the wake up call the two-party system needs. That caller to 'The Night Shift' conceded that he'll just vote the same way he always had before. Australia you can't do this again on May 21st. It's time to get involved and take an interest in your local candidates and consider sending votes their way.
As Civics studies have been somewhat deleted in Australia it means that the Preferential voting system is something that many don't understand or are even taught anymore. If you haven't seen it, then check out these videos from Topher Field, Director of the documentary 'BattleGround Melbourne' and a Senate Candidate for the Liberal Democrats in Tasmania.
The host of 'The Night Shift' said later in his programme "Australia can't afford to have a hung Parliament". I disagree. If there was ever a time for a hung Parliament to occur in Australia, the time is now.
When the Electoral commission finalises the Candidates in each seat, and for the Senate then I encourage you to study each of them individually and consider sending a vote to a minor party. If this results in a hung Parliament then so be it. We need accountability in the Parliament at the Federal Level (even when the next State Elections come around). Australia has to return to a pre-Pandemic way of life.
If Australia doesn't have a crossbench of pro-freedom parties in either house then under an Albanese formed Government, Australia will probably continue down the path of what we have seen in the Labor States, but now on a Federal Level. As for Morrison, I don't see him winning this time around, the best he could hope for is a hung Parliament.
Now I want a hung Parliament. But that isn't an endorsement of a return of the Morrison Government because, as I say, neither side deserves to take 'The Lodge'.
If Australia has any hope of a return to that Pre-Pandemic life then it's time to kick out those that endorsed and allowed the segregation of societies, the division, Government interference in medicine and have avoided accountability.
A hung Parliament is the best case for Australia this time around because whoever ends up in The Lodge is only there because of supply and demand from a crossbench of those MPs who support individual liberties above all else. This is the best Australia can hope for in the next Parliament.
Many times I hear in the US that Australia shouldn't have given up its guns because if they didn't then what happened in the last two years wouldn't have occurred. Because Government is meant to fear its people. As the words in Willie Nelson's song 'Vote 'Em Out' says "The biggest gun we've got, is called the ballot box".
That has always been Australia's attitude when it comes to Government, just punish them at Election time. Well, that won't happen if the two-party system continues in its current form. the change will happen only when and if the minor party vote spikes massively. The important thing is to never forget what both major parties have done to your lives for the last two years at both the State and Federal levels, it's unforgivable.
So on May 21st, consider all the Candidates in your electorate and know that you have options. To get Australia back on track start by voting for those that support individual freedoms and less government interference, not simply flipping your vote to the other side of the fence. It's make or break Australia, don't continue with the same tired old thing.
Ash
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