Respondents appeal for bolder ambition from political leaders

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Throughout the election campaign we have been hearing from thousands of Australians via the ABC’s ‘Your Say’ project about what is most important to you ahead of Saturday’s poll. Just as importantly, who you think is best placed to tackle those issues. Here is the ABC’s Ben Knight with a look at what you have been saying.

Transcript

00:00As we've been reading through the tens of thousands of Your Say contributions during

00:07this election campaign, we've been seeing the same words popping up over and over again.

00:12Words like vision, big picture, bold ideas, structural change.

00:17It's coming from voters who are desperate to see those things.

00:21I think in this election campaign I wanted to see bigger picture thinking.

00:26More of those future forward thinking proposals.

00:30A vision and a road map for what Australia could look like in 15 to 20 years.

00:35Where are the bold ideas?

00:36Where do they see Australia be in 20 years from now?

00:39So have they seen it?

00:41They're too scared to actually come forward with some bold statements.

00:46There's been nobody from either side of politics in recent times that's been in a position where

00:52power has been willing to take any kind of risks.

00:55People have told Your Say, they remember when this used to happen.

00:58John Howard introduced gun laws.

01:01Gough Whitlam provided free tertiary education.

01:05That changed my entire life.

01:06I feel that we, at least for 25 years, we never had a bold vision going forward into the 21st

01:15century.

01:16Everybody's trying to have a narrow platform and creating a small target so they can't

01:23be attacked.

01:24They, I feel, have taken the populist approach here.

01:27Look, there's no doubt that taking a big policy platform to an election in Australia is risky.

01:33John Howard took the GST to voters in 1998 and won.

01:37But when Bill Shorten tried big tax reform on property investors in 2019, he lost.

01:43Anthony Albanese had the biggest failure of his prime ministership with the defeat of

01:47the voice referendum.

01:48For Bill Shorten it didn't work out, but I don't think that that's a reason that we

01:52should cower away from actually tackling the bigger issues, and that political courage

01:57is, I think, what people are looking for, I'm certainly looking for it.

02:01Politics feels stuck in three years cycle with little tangible change beyond the election

02:10cycle.

02:11I know that they probably have big picture ideas, but they're not showing enough courage

02:18to bring them forward.

02:19They should be on the table for discussion, maybe changing to a four-year program.

02:25Four-year terms are also popping up a lot in your say, and there may be signs it's time

02:30has arrived.

02:31Four-year terms, yes or no?

02:34Mr Dutton?

02:35I support four-year terms.

02:36Prime Minister?

02:37Yes, but they'll never support a referendum.

02:40In the meantime, what sort of big picture ideas are people looking for?

02:44Single women in my age group, so my contemporaries, are the fastest growing group of homeless

02:49people.

02:50So I want something done about that.

02:52Climate policy, which is a very personal thing for me.

02:58Housing is absolutely the crisis.

03:01Governments of all levels need to be taking it more seriously, like as if it is as acute

03:07as the pandemic crisis.

03:09From housing to immigration, education, energy.

03:12One of the biggest challenges we have in front of us is the energy transition.

03:17Energy is an interesting one, because if there is one big nation-changing idea on offer from

03:23the major parties, it's probably the Coalition's nuclear energy plan.

03:27I think the Coalition likes to think that nuclear is big picture, but I mean it just has so many

03:34holes in it.

03:35It seems like it lacks thought and proper consideration.

03:41What I see is a lack of data and modelling.

03:44All the interesting stuff for me I think comes a lot out of minor parties or independents.

03:49Dental into Medicare that the Greens are proposing, that certainly is something that is real big picture.

03:56Critics of the Greens' policy to put dental and mental health into Medicare by taxing big corporations

04:01say that's easy to propose when you're not a party that can form a government and you don't have to

04:07put it into practice.

04:08But as the major parties are watching their primary votes fall at each successive election,

04:14there are plenty of Your Say contributors who are telling us they're not at all worried

04:17by the idea of minority government.

04:20I would so look forward to having a minority government.

04:23I'm actually quite hoping that the Greens will hold some sway with the getting dental

04:28into Medicare.

04:29The only positive future for Australia politically is more independence, pushing the major parties

04:34into doing the right thing.

04:36They should contribute to the debate.

04:38They should shape up the policies and for that you need people working together.

04:41So where does that leave us?

04:43Well, as you'd expect, it's a mixed bag.

04:46I feel very disheartened.

04:49Disappointed.

04:50I'm quite frankly disappointed.

04:52So I think a lot more is possible than people or major parties might want to make us think.

04:59I am quite hopeful.

05:00I am quite hopeful that we here in Australia, we can come together.

05:07It makes me feel like I want to get involved, I think.

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Transcript

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