It's Thursday evening. On Saturday, the people of Australia get to vote for our Federal Government, and for the third time, I feel like I'm going to stand in that polling booth with the voting slip in my hand, and not know what to do. In fact, at the last election I wanted to write on the slip "Oh God, forgive us for what we are doing to ourselves." But I didn't.
So what should I do? Here's my dilemma. We have two major political parties, the Labor Party led by Kevin Rudd (our current Prime Minister), and a coalition of the Liberal and National Parties, currently led by Tony Abbott. Our third largest party is the Greens, led by Christine Milne. After this there are a ridiculous number of minor parties, most of whom probably believe that they are doing something good, but whom I think just muddy the already cloudy waters.
I find that I simply cannot vote for the Labor party. I have in the past, when I believed that they were ready to do the right thing. This time around, I just can't vote for them. Here are some of my reasons:
while the Australian public don't vote for the leader, the Labor Party have been a leadership joke over the last five years. In 2007 they won with K. Rudd as leader. Then the people he worked with couldn't stand him anymore, so they removed him and Julia Gillard became Australia's first Prime Minister. She wasn't very popular, and while they did win the election in 2010, it was a tight win. She might have been a good PM if she didn't have the battle of a hung parliament. I guess we'll never know because a few months ago her party abandoned her and went back to K. Rudd.
And five senior ministers left the parliament. If these five experienced and qualified people can't work with Rudd, why would I want him to lead our country?
Then there was his answer to the question about his support of same-sex marriage on Q&A on Monday night. I fully understand that my view of same-sex marriage is not the same as every one else's view. I also understand that many who call themselves Christians have a different view (although I cannot comprehend how). Kevin Rudd absolutely calls himself a Christian, is consistently interviewed outside a church, and seems intelligent. And he is a bully. And he is scripturally ignorant.
I can't vote for the Labor Party.
Which leads me to the Coalition.
Even before the election was called, the Coalition promised all their costings would be made public in good time. They talked a lot about financial figures, and they do have a pretty good track record financially, but they failed today. With the election on Saturday, they didn't release their costings until today. And while I make no claim to being able to understand all the finances, I am appalled that the Coalition is happy to slash support for overseas aid. When our country is quite affluent, and so many around the world are starving, surely we should be doing something to help!!
So, I'm not sure about the Coalition either. Others talk about Tony Abbott's character to be questionable, but I have no reason to accept this viewpoint.
Both parties have quite disgusting policies to deal with asylum seekers. I know that this situation is a vexed and difficult one, but both parties seem to be working hard to be worse than the other one. And the poor are the ones who continue to suffer.
Should I vote for the Greens then? Not a chance.
So what to do. As I look ahead to the election, I don't have much hope for our immediate future. It's times like this that I'm glad to be a follower of Jesus Christ. I don't have much hope for the leadership of our country, but I have a firm hope in God.
Remember what I nearly wrote on that voting slip back in 2010? Maybe it will happen this year.
