Australian Politics US Style

Much has and will be written about the events of 27 June by pundits more qualified that yours truly. But now with the 43^rd Parliament of Australia now officially closed the unofficial election campaign can begin in earnest. We can expect all sorts of trials and tribulations over the coming weeks but an early trend that is emerging is the excruciating charge toward American style electioneering.

It’s a trend that has been well underway in Australia for years, arguably since Bob Hawke came to power in the 80s.  In 2013 it’s reached a new level as evidenced by the launch of the Liberal Party’s federal election campaign in front of 2000 flag and placard-waving loyalists in Melbourne.

The effect is likely to be two fold, a further move away from the party political system towards personality driven politics and an explosion in the cost of campaigning in Australia.

The cost of campaigning is a topic for another day, but inherent in the rise in campaign costs is the risk of vested interests taking control of the political agenda through their financial support of political parties.

But back to personality politcs. Personality politics is largely responsible for the return of Rudd. Deeply unpopular within his own party but very popular in the electorate, Rudd will go to the next election with basically the same policy platform as his predecessor but with the ability to "sell" the message.  It says a great deal about the fickle nature of poll driven politics and the need to control the message of the day during the relentless 24-hour news media cycle.

Policy debate and the contest of ideas take a back seat as pundits find it easier to speculate about the internal machinations of the two major parties.  As soon as one leader is seen to become unpopular, then media speculation has a new topic to fill another 24 hours.

The need to control the “optics” of the news cycle sees our leaders performing stunts on a daily basis. Whether it’s gutting a fish, wearing lycra, fan forced knitting or being mobbed by school children, politics has become a daily circus show. So therefore is it surprising that the Liberal party has finally embraced US campaining holus bolus?

It is yet to be seen whether Australians will embrace the hyperbole inherent in this form of electioneering. I suspect not. Australian’s have a natural aversion to the phony and the fake and there can be nothing more constructed than rally’s with rusted on supporters mindlessly applauding every point that their leaders have been trained to regurgitate to maximum effect.

Anyway, Australia is a much smaller pond than the US and there will be only so many times that the two major parties will be able to wheel out the same supporters to hear the same message, spun the same way.