Making sense of Australia’s understated election
In an era of political uncertainty, what lies ahead?
At a time in which campaigns for US President and the UK’s ‘Brexit’ referendum have grabbed global headlines, one vote is flying under the radar. Australians head to the polls this weekend, in a country that has already had four prime ministers since 2013.
Voters say they have become disillusioned due to the political instability, as well as the fact this has been the country’s longest lead up to an election in half a century. Many claim the candidates they’re faced with aren’t helping the situation. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberal-National coalition is seen to be offering little more than maintaining the status quo, and Bill Shorten, the leader of the opposition, has also failed to energise voters. Both candidates have been accused of lacking on their policy specifics and charisma. But ideological differences between the two do exist on many key issues, such as immigration and climate change policies, the economy, healthcare and marriage equality.
So what future do Australians want for their country? We discuss at 19:30 GMT.
On this episode of The Stream, we speak with:
Jonathan Brown @JB_AU
LGBT advocate
jbau.com.au
Lewis Edwards @lewisetaylor
Freelance journalist
the-newshub.com
Amy Gray @_AmyGray_
Writer
overstimulated.wordpress.com
Mohammad El-leissy @MoElleissy
Community worker
What do you think? Leave your thoughts below.