Political Cuckoo

Yesterday was election day here in Australia. The incumbent Liberal party were knocked out of power by the ALP (Australian Labor Party).

The seat of North Sydney (where I currently reside) remained Liberal; The sitting member, Joe Hockey looking rather nervous on Channel 7 as his role as political pundit forced him to be both happy that he had kept his seat, and sombre as his party failed to reach the 76 seats required to stay in power whilst his leader (John Howard) lost his seat to Labor.

I've tried to remain non-partisan in this election; I've spoken to anyone I can find over the course of the last few weeks who has a view on the parties, and I've tried to learn about the important political issues: Coal vs Nuclear, Industrial Relations (IR) laws, "Working Choices" etc.

Last night, I grew tired of watching the election coverage* and went for a walk. I came across a Chanel 9 OB truck and went closer to investigate. The local Labor candidate was having a party in a restaurant.

Now, I hadn't had my dinner, and I was in the mood for some mischief.

Using what little Australian political knowledge I had gleaned, combined with my social engineering skills, I blagged my way in and, like all good parasites, ate their food and drank their beer. Whilst politely smiling to blend in, I was shocked by just how militant they were - incredibly pro-unions and very much socialist. There's no such thing as a free lunch, and whilst my belly was full, I had to endure them ranting to each other.

When Howard gave his farewell speech (which was gracious and polite to both his party and the newly elected government), the activists booed and hissed; I was glad to escape!

Still, it was an amusing evening. Nothing beats a good bit of gatecrashing, especially when there's free food and drink :D

If The ALP holds the same views all the way to the top of their party, I feel sorry for the Australians. It's likely to be a turbulent few years :/

*Election coverage was, well, interesting. The owner of the apartment was watching a certain channel that shall remain nameless. Said channel's corporate brand is red, and rather than doing the sensible thing of going for a neutral colour, their red status update DOGs were misleading and confusing, as to the casual observer, the whole election revolved around Labor.
I would rant about the awful sound quality, but then that wouldn't give me time to complain about the use of the somewhat dizzy breakfast show presenters to lead the show :/ - Can you imagine Ant & Dec leading Newsnight?!