2004 Federal Election Diary My Billions are Different to Your Billions

26th September, 2004  - Richard Farmer 
When John Howard announces what the Sydney Tele describes as "$6bn for families" he tells us there is no danger of interest rates being forced up. Yet my weekend footy viewing was continually interrupted by Liberal Party advertisements warning of the danger that Labor spending would force those very same interest rates up. How is a sensible voter to react to that?
Forget about reading political stories in the newspapers for the next 14 days and use the mute button on the television during commercial breaks. The best you can do on 9 October is make a choice on the basis of a gut feel about which team will best run the country rather than some serious analysis of respective policies. For the policies mean nothing and that judgment is not based on a belief that all politicians are liars but on the certainty that the Party that wins a majority in the House of Representatives will not actually be in charge. Which bits of the winning program end up becoming law will depend on a Senate where neither Liberal nor Labor will have a majority. Some combination of Democrats, Greens and goodness knows will be making the actual decisions.
This system of government by the minorities provides a wonderful excuse for the major parties. All they have to do is frame the legislation containing their promises in a way they know will be unacceptable to those whose Senate votes they need and they can claim that they tried their very best. Not a broken promise but a consequence of upper house obstructionism.

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