By DANNY BUTTLER
WHILE some people in society see voting as a privilege, it seems most of us see it as a burden.
Contrasting experiments in the local area have shown two distinct attitudes to our political system.
A campaign to educate voting newcomers to our political system (see elsewhere on page) has seen older Australians who hail from foreign countries voting for the first time in their lives.
Often coming from places with struggling and corrupt political systems, they relish the chance to have their say in a free and fair democracy. They know how precious the chance to vote is.
At the same time, the Gazette did a survey of 100 random people in the main street of Pakenham, asking them if they would vote this Saturday if they weren’t required to by law.
The answer was an overwhelming and disturbing 82 per cent of people saying they would not cast a vote.
So what is behind this lack of interest in the political process- at least at the state level?
Is it the same apathy that sees our community organisations struggle to find people willing to put their hands up to do the heavy lifting?
Or is it a deep-seated cynicism about politics that has turned people away from being willing participants in politics?
It’s hard not to think it is the latter.
Anyone who follows the day-to-day political discussion – and there’s not too many who do – would be sadly disheartened by the petty point scoring that is today’s excuse for political debate.
The relentless negativity of blame-shifting between the Labor and Liberal parties stifles intelligent discussion and reduces politics to the level of a school yard squabble. Even when significant announcements are made, they tend to be in the form of populist promises released on the eve of elections. Hospitals that are desperate for funding have to wait for the four-year state election cycle for sudden floods of money to come rolling in their doors.
People might be apathetic, but they aren’t stupid and know when their votes are being bought.
When less than one in five people actually wants to cast a vote, it’s time to ask serious questions about the state of our democracy.
Are we getting the representatives we deserve or are they getting away with their behaviour because we simply don’t care?
There’s people in our community who still relish the chance to vote and have their say in shaping our society. Perhaps politicians and voters need to take the lead from them and treat democracy and public service with the gravitas it deserves.
