For the first time since I have been old enough to vote I am sitting here on the eve of an election still undecided as to who I will vote for at the polling booth tomorrow.
At 31 years old I remember the last big recession that hit Australia. I was studying it in high school economics class and then felt the full brunt of it as I exited high school into the highest unemployment in Australia in my lifetime. I went on to ride the Y2K boom in IT and then survive the dot-com bust that followed. Since then I’ve married and had children, and we’ve built a comfortable lifestyle through hard work, some good luck, and some bad luck. We own a house and two small businesses. I ride public transport every day while my wife deals with Gateway traffic. We worry about the environmental mess, schools, and health system that we’re raising our kids in.
When I vote I don’t necessarily vote for a leader, nor do I necessarily vote for a local candidate. Usually I vote for the party that has a message and policy platform that I can relate to the most. This means I try to pay attention to what is going on not just in my own electorate, but also other electorates and the state-wide issues being addressed by party leaders in their presidential-style campaigns.
Deciding who to vote for tomorrow is going to be tough.
Australia Labor Party
With the ALPQ at the wheel when the crisis hit it is easy to blame them. I’m not naive enough to think any party could save Queensland from some impact from the global economic crisis but it is alarming the speed at which we slipped into trouble ourselves. Health, education, roads, and utilities seem to be in more strife now than they should be considering the years of the mining boom and the stamp duty revenues that were generated by the housing boom. However I do like the idea of trying to protect jobs by continuing to invest and spend on state projects that generate employment, despite the deficit it will cause.
Liberal National Party
Springborg in the big seat again? How many elections has Lawrence lost now? Almost any other political party would have some other new face come bursting through the ranks to replace a leader that has failed to win more than once. It isn’t Lawrence himself that bothers me, its whether he has the bodies behind him to form a strong cabinet and run Queensland through some of the toughest years we’re likely to see in decades. I’d prefer to see less prime time attack ads against Labor (“Not good enough” does nothing to convince me to vote LNP) and more substantive policy. The main policy of saving $1 billion in public sector waste without cutting jobs has me unconvinced. Relying on natural attrition to reduce those costs is no strategy – I’ve worked in the public sector and some of those people will sit in the most boring, do-nothing job for years without resigning. And for those that do leave where is their next job coming from?
Greens
I’ve just built a new home and frankly was surprised that few sustainable initiatives were offered as mandatory or even as standard by the building industry. We had the option to do nearly anything “green” we wanted but at 100% our own cost with no government programs or subsidies on offer, with the exception of a rain water tank. The Greens want to lessen our environmental impact in a way that could create new growth industries and boost our economy at a time when traditional industries are struggling.
DS4SEQ
Daylight saving was great when I was a kid. I remember being disappointed when it lost in the referendum. The extra sunlight in the summer months meant more outdoor play time after school. These days I’d like to just be able to go for a run at night after work without it being pitch black. I also think kids might get out and be more active instead of getting fat in front of the XBox if there were more daylight. I know I would enjoy taking my kids down to the park after dinner when they get a bit older. All that said, it is hard to vote for single issue parties because the thought is always there “What if they actually win some seats and have a major influence in our government, without us knowing anything about their positions on other issues?”
Independents/Others
There are independents and some fringe parties running as usual but none of them have registered on my radar during the 3 week election. At this point I can safely rule out voting for any of them.
Who will I vote for?
A tough choice and one I’ll probably make as I look at the voting paper. Who knows, I may even be swayed at the last moment by what a candidate or volunteer says to me outside the polling booth. The election where the two major parties are locked in a tie in the polls is also the election where I feel my vote is more important than ever before. We’ll find out tomorrow what happens.
Are you watching the election results tomorrow night? Follow the #QldElection09 hashtag on Twitter to join in the conversation with myself and others.
