By MAMAMIA TEAM
Okay folks. After much speculation, a few false starts, and innumerable Twitter rumours – the 2013 election date has been announced.
Australia will decide its next Government on September 7.
Kevin Rudd delivered a press conference at 4.00pm, in which he outlined the key issues for the coming campaign – and spoke about the values that Rudd believes differentiate the Labor party from the Opposition.
Rudd spoke about the end of the China Resources Boom and said conclusively, “that boom is over”. But the Prime Minister also said that ‘Australia is too positive a nation … to retreat into a tight little ball of negativity’.
Rudd talked about the need for a new attitude in politics – a theme that he has touched upon in previous addresses to the Australian public – and said that ‘the old politics of the past just won’t work for the future’.
“Three word slogans don’t solve complex problems – they never have, and they never will,” the Prime Minister said.
Kevin Rudd acknowledged that the Labor Party had made mistakes in the past – and also made reference to the fact that he had developed on a personal level in recent years – but reasserted that the Labor Party was in the best position to manage economic challenges in the future.
Rudd asked, “Who do the Australian people trust best to lead them through the difficult new economic challenges which now lie ahead?”
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott gave a press conference shortly after 5.00pm, in which he said that this coming election was a ‘choice between the positive plans of the Coalition, and more of the same from the Labor Party and Kevin Rudd’.
Abbott said: “My team is determined to build a better Australia. We will build a stronger economy so everyone can get ahead. We will scrap the carbon tax, we will get the budget under control, we will stop the boats…”
“Who is more fair dinkum?” Mr Abbott asked. “The people who have been stable and united for three years in opposition, or the government who haven’t had the same policies from one week to the next?”
The Opposition leader posed a question to the Australian public: “Do you really want three more years like the last six?” Abbott said that he would not lead a minority government – and promised that he would not be doing deals with Independents or minor parties to form a government.
Greens Leader Christine Milne also delivered a press conference shortly after the Prime Minister, in which she also criticised ‘old politics’, and expressed a need for Australia to move forward.
Milne said, “This is the election that people can choose… to care for people and the environment, that’s what the Greens are offering this election.” Milne stressed that we live in a society – not an economy.
Milne said that she didn’t think that the Australian people wanted cruelty from our political leaders – and would rather see compassion – but ‘that’s all the old parties are offering’. The Greens leader further criticised the two major parties for talking about the future – but being entrenched in the past.
Earlier in the day, Kevin Rudd visited the Governor-General Quentin Bryce to let her know he intended to call an election, after flying out of Brisbane only a few hours previously.
The country will go to the polls on September 7, which means polling we be a week earlier than the date set by Julia Gillard.
Following his meeting with the Governor-General, Kevin Rudd tweeted a message, asking Australia to choose between a ‘positive plan for Australia’s future or old negative politics’.
Just left Government House. It’s time for Australians to decide. A positive plan for Australia’s future or old negative politics. KRudd
— Kevin Rudd (@KRuddMP) August 4, 2013
The Labor party also sent an email out to supporters soon after the election date was announced. The email, a message from Kevin Rudd, read:
It’s on.
A few moments ago I saw the Governor-General and asked that she dissolve this parliament and call the Federal Election for September 7.
An image from Kevin Rudd’s Instagram feed. “Just some final touches to my speech about the choice Australians will make on September 7. KRudd”Australians now face a choice. And the choice couldn’t be starker.
I have a positive vision about the country we can be. In this election I’ll be talking with Australians across the county about better schools for our kids, investing so we can create good jobs, and about how the NBN can help keep our economy strong.
Tony Abbott has a different approach. He’ll bang on with the same negativity that we’re all sick of. He’s only got three word slogans because he doesn’t have the ticker to debate his real agenda.
Right now the only thing standing between Australia and an Abbott-led government is you, me, and as many Australians as we can rally to fight for the kind of nation we all want to live in.
It’s time to rally the troops.
This election will also mean the end of several political careers, as many members of the 43rd Parliament will not be standing again. This group includes a number of Labor MPs: the former Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Simon Crean, Nicola Roxon, Martin Ferguson, and Stephen Smith. Independents Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor will also be retiring from Parliament, and from the Coalition Paul Neville and Alex Somlyay will not be standing again.
Top Comments
With this coming election, I've read some comments and heard many younger people (I'm 40-something) state that they have decided to neither vote nor enrol to vote, because there is no-one worth voting for in the 2013 Federal election.
For anyone reading this and who is considering not voting: true, we currently have poor leadership quality and the choice seems to be between the 'devil and the deep blue sea' in the lead up to this coming election. However, we in Australia are fortunate to live in a country which affords us the right and opportunitiy to remove, by people power, any government that is not performing to standards that are expected, or what has been promised.
In my humble opinion, in countries that grants its population a democratic right to vote, I consider the individual act of voting to be an ethical and moral obligation. Throughout the world, many great changes have occured through ticking the ballot. So many brave women (and men) fought for women to have the right to vote. And it was a vote which changed inheritance laws, allowing women to inherit property. It was a government vote that contributed to the freeing the slaves in America. It was an overwhelming 90.77% people-power vote in favour of counting the Indigenous peoples as part of the Australian population during the 1967 Referendum on the Constitution Alteration (Aboriginal People)(1967).
And for the Australian Republicans...voting is one thing we get to do that Queen Elizabeth II is unable to partake in back in the UK.
Before you 'choose' to not vote, or think it easier to throw away your vote than to make a decision, please remember that there are millions of people in the world who will never have the opportunity to at least attempt to voice their opinion regarding who should lead their country. Consequently, in less democratic areas, many people are tortured, disappear, and murdered because of the political leader they support. Voting is power. As Voltaire (not Spiderman) said "with great power comes great responsibility". Australians as a collective have a great responsibility to ensure that the government steering this country, whichever it be, does not abuse that power. So it is important we vote for a party who will think long-term and do what's best for the country.
Whichever political animal is elected - Labor and Kevin Rudd or Liberal leader Tony Abbott - l am just as confused as many as for which party I will vote. But please don't throw away your democratic responsibility - and it is a huge responsibility- our collective responsibility.
Not just a "right".
It has always seemed to me that if people choose not to vote or do an invalid vote then they have no right to complain about the results. I have previously acted as a scrutineer and a drawing of a penis or 'get f$&ked' on a ballot paper sends no political party a message, it's just a wast of a vote.
Anon, earlier I had a heated debate with a young lady of 24 (I'm 40-something) about this very issue, and got so worked up that I forgot to write my name in the name section of my above comment!
I suggested to this young lady that okay then, if she forfeits her democratic right and responsibility to vote, then she also forfeits her post-election right to complain about the outcome if she didn't agree with however the elected government manages Australia. I think in many cases (not all), it's apathy and intellectual laziness which is the cause of attitudes such as hers. I mentioned to this young lady that in 1913 a famous Suffragette, Emily Davison, who in an attempt to bring attention to the cause of women's suffrage, threw herself under the King's horse during the Epsom Derby.
This young lady had no idea what suffrage was, and not heard of Emily Davison. She was completely disinterested and slightly annoyed - our conversation was interrupting her Facebook browsing.
Bohemian Seahorses, I agree wholeheartedly with what you've said. I appreciate my right to vote and I accept the responsibility that comes with it. I think it's really important to engage in the political processes of our country, even if that means only numbering a few boxes (I know not everyone reads or engages in political discussion outside of elections).
For the record, I'd just like to state that I am in my 20s and many of my friends are also committed to making their votes count - so there is hope for us young ones yet!
I was bored of your essay in your first sentence. Sorry
I was living overseas during the last election and missed a lot of the coverage that inevitably went with it (I did vote though!)...I have to say I'm not particularly optimistic either way.
Neither Labor or the Coalition have strong policies for the issues that concern me, both appear to be going against human rights issues too. I don't really want to vote for the Greens because they are so far left that I wonder if they understand the economic issues Australia is and could face, and there aren't any independents in my area that are any better.
Having said all of that, however, I will still vote properly. I think that it's really important to have a say, and I encourage everyone to have theirs. I'll be voting for the person and party in my electorate that best aligns with my values (and I guess we have a month to figure out who that is).
It's always so refreshing to come across members of the younger generation who take an interest in may aspects of the world around them and not just what's "trending" on Twit-hard or Facebook.