SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA– Australia just had an election. But unlike the Philippine election the Aussie one is more like a holiday.
There is nothing like it around the world. It is so relaxed that people take their time going to the polls. One even voted in his swimwear, also called budgie smuggler, or a very tight men’s swimwear that leaves very little to the imagination.
To give you an example of how relaxed it is, I woke up at 11am to vote. I drove two minutes to the nearest school and queued up for around 10 minutes. It took the guy on the desk two seconds to find my name on the list and then it took me another three minutes to cast my vote.
I then left the polling place to help other mothers sell hotdogs to voters. This is one of the biggest Aussie tradition that happens every chance there is an occasion. The Sausage Sizzle.
A sausage sizzle is when groups or organisations sell hotdogs to the public in order to earn money for a cause. In our case, my daughter’s school committee was trying to raise money for renovations in the school. Parents volunteer their time, cooking and selling hotdogs, drinks and chocolates to the people waiting in the queue to vote.
A lot of people ordered their meals while they were waiting and then had lunch afterwards. It was all very relaxed. In fact, a 10-minute wait is actually long in Aussie standards.
Unfortunately, unlike the Philippine election results, the Aussie one wasn’t as clear cut. While Filipinos clearly picked who they wanted to put in power, Australians were left muddled as to whom the winning party was. It took over a week for the polls to finally declare a winning party — and it was only because the other side conceded.
The problem with Australian politics is that there are only two ruling parties and the rest are just minor players. Very minor players. With what’s been happening in Australian government for the last five years, the voters are thoroughly confused who to vote for. This was clearly reflected in the results.
Aside from that, there were so many nuisance parties that confused the voters even more. Australian Sex Party, Smokers’ Rights Party, Pirate Party Australia, Science Party, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, Help End Marijuana Prohibition Party, Australian Anti-paedophile Party and so on.
Would voters actually take the time to know the platforms behind these dozens of parties? One party even called themselves a Health Party when in fact they were an anti vaccination party. Confusing? So very.
But at least we have our sausage sizzle.
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Author’s email: kmlevis@gmail.com
