Democracy sausages, cakes, books, & plants - the funny big sausage that's Australian democracy!

It's federal election day today. It's finally arrived. Some of us take our politics seriously, while others couldn't give a stuff, and regard voting as an unwelcome chore.

There's something for everyone at the polling booth though. The 'democracy sausage' is a big deal these days. It's often run by the relevant school's parents' fundraising group, as here at Normanhurst West Public School today.

As well as the sausage sizzle, there's a fabulous looking democracy cake stall, a democracy book stall, and a democracy plant stall.

Outside it's a very friendly atmosphere, with convivial helpers from the incumbent Liberals, the opposition Labor Party, the Greens, the Sustainable Australia, and the Australian Conservative Parties. On the Senate ballot paper there are over 30 parties listed, and 106 individual candidates. You don't have to vote for them all, but the more preferences you mark, the more likely is your vote to count fully. For the House of Representatives it's a little simpler, though you have to mark every square. Nobody understands the rules fully, even many of the party workers, I've noticed.

Somehow Australian democracy will deliver a verdict, though it could take a few days (or weeks) to assess it. Hopefully it will be a sensible verdict, involving our liberation from the current regime. Hopefully we'll have lots of Greens in the Senate supporting and guiding a new Labor Government, and keeping it on track.

The very confident Labor worker below was giving me her (hopefully not premature) victory salute.



























Next day's postscript:
I'm afraid it was indeed premature. The election went disastrously for Labor, and for all of us really. Even the exit polls were wrong, maybe implying that a disproportionate number of the victorious Coalition's voters were embarrassed to admit how they'd just voted?