Well it has taken me a couple days to gather my thoughts. I was somewhat surprised by the result. Despite the poor performance of Labor in campaigning and up to the election I believed that they went to the election with at least some plans for future. To me the coalition seemed to want to undo a couple key Labor initiatives (namely the NBN and putting a price on carbon) but otherwise maintain the status quo.
Both sides fought disappointing negative campaigns and for the most part seemed to be seeking power for powers sake and little else. Lies about Workchoices, lies about debt and lies about boat people from all sides.
At this stage it seems likely that the coalition will get the nod to form government from the independents and perhaps rightfully they should, they are not bereft of the divisions that are taking place within the Labor party. Unfortunately this means that it is likely that the NBN will be canned. I believe that this important infrastructure will only ever be built by government as the private sector will not undertake a project with that risk profile or length of time before it get a commercial return. It will disappointing to see it go and if does it we will be stuck with poor speeds and the domination of Telstra for a long time yet.
I often wonder if Australia will just become an economic backwater, dying just like many towns in rural Australia. There seems to be no appetite in the broader population for the kinds of reform that need to take place for Australia to continue to have sustained economic growth into the 21st century. Be it taxation reform, reduced business regulation (Tony Abbott was quite right to say that parts of Workchoices were good), government infrastructure development or population policy.
Unfortunately not many of politicians are keen to take a role that defines a future for Australia, instead choosing to pander to fear and special interest groups. Time will tell if the next parliament will do any better. I don't hold out much hope.
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