On Mother’s Day Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull finally announced the date for the federal election, ending weeks of speculation and launching us into the mother of all campaigns the likes of which we haven’t seen since the 1960s.
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While the polls tell us the likely outcome is too close to call, one result is certain – by the end of this marathon campaign we will all have had a steaming gutful of airbrushed photos of candidates on posters, endless claims and counter-claims from both sides and appearances by pollies bedecked in hard hats and high viz.
Our tolerance for spin will be worn down to the canvas as even our Facebook news feeds are infested by slogans, smear campaigns and mindless memes. Some of it will be clever; a lot of it, unfortunately, will be supremely irritating. But before we complain too much, we should be thankful for at least two things.
First, we don’t live in America where even the preselection of candidates for the presidential election is a mind-numbing, months-long marathon. Even from afar, it’s an awful spectacle to watch as candidates from the same political parties pour childish scorn on each other. And that’s before the real race begins. It’s been more insufferable this time around, with Donald Trump plumbing new depths of schoolyard bullying and posturing.
Second, this is not 2013.
Back then – it seems so long ago now but they say even a week is a long time in politics – we were bombarded with three-word slogans that made the most irritating advertising jingles seem positively musical in comparison. Every aspect of the campaign in 2013 seemed reducible to slogans. Stop the boats. Big new tax. End the waste. It was as if intelligence itself took long service leave.
A change of Prime Minister seems to have fixed that. Yes, there are still the slogans – “A plan for jobs and growth” is popular among government MPs – but so far they seem less abrasive (and less likely to provoke the hurling of shoes at TV screens). It’s early days but the tone does seem to have lifted somewhat. We are hearing our politicians discuss and debate policy, which makes a pleasant change from name-calling of campaigns past.
Could it be our politicians have twigged that we are not as dumb as they thought and do not like having our intelligence insulted?
Let’s hope so.