One Of Terry's Corners Of the Online World

Sally and I voted at Echuca Public School up on the Murray River border between Victoria and New South Wales. They broke the cardinal rule of polling booths there - have the sausage sizzle up and running when the punters show up to vote. It's a guiding principle of Australian politics - voting equals a sausage sizzle. From Echuca, where we'd spent the night in the Steampacket Inn right in the middle of the old river port, we drove over to Shepparton where we bulk-bought canned fruits and veg, then cut across the state through Murchison and Rushworth to Bendigo for lunch, then back home. Every little town had a polling booth, so we got a great sense of the breadth of the election. People were smiling, socialising, eating sausages (which we had missed out on) and had their say. No guns or UN Peacekeepers, just a good solid democracy doing its' thing.

Being the political junkie I am, I spent the night watching the election. Needless to say I am extremely happy with the result. The idea of having so many women in positions of power is interesting too. Our local member, Julia Gillard is now the first female deputy Prime Minister in the country. Like most people, I channel surfed the coverage. Channel 7 did the worst job with their cartwheeling Kevin Rudd graphic, David Koch's Sunrise team who are to political coverage what Bg Brother is to reasoned intelligent discourse. Koch got Rudd and Howard mixed up several times and the people he had at the various venues were extreme lightweights. Channel 9 did better, though Ray Martin added fuck all to the coverage. The sole joy of Nine's effort was the outside broadcast guy who was in the seat of Lindsay where the Liberals carried out their dirty tricks campaign, he kept calling Martin Raymundo, which was amusing. Channel 10 showed The Empire Strikes Back because they've got the moronic twenty year old male demographic nailed down solidly. Sky News did well, having Bob Hawke (wearing a badge that said "Union Thug"), John Hewson and Kim Beasley. But the ABC had the best show. Julia Gillard, Nick Minchin and Antony Green on keyboard.

So the good guys won. Hopefully the country will become a better place in future. No SIEV-X, no economics as the only measurement of a country's worth, some action on climate change, broadband and education, a more humane method of handling desperate refugees...

I'm a big believer in the light on the hill. Hopefully, it will be a guiding principle for the new government. Good luck to them all, and to all of us in Australia.

Also, I managed to troubleshoot the new wireless connection with my new ISP, TPG and so I have cut loose the laptops from the cables and can roam the property without being disconnected from the WubbleYou WubbleYou WubbleYou. See, things are already better under Labor.