I’m not one that usually shares my political views that openly. Generally, those close to me already know how I feel about things, and I don’t want to impose my views on others who probably don’t care. Those who are observant can probably pick it out from my Mastodon (and earlier, Twitter) reposts.
However, I feel a bit differently about the state of the world this year. And I’ve also reasoned with myself that I’m not going to tell anybody how to vote. But I will tell you who I’m going to vote for, why I’m going to vote for them, and why I’m telling you who I’m voting for.
I’m going to tackle that last point first. I’m well aware that as a mid-thirties straight white male living in the “global north” (a term I loathe with the power of a thousand suns, as a resident of Hobart and the Huon Valley the only place I’m north of is Antarctica) I have a lot of privilege in being able to share my views without placing myself in any danger. And I’d like to perhaps speak for others who aren’t quite so able to speak for themselves.
Secondly, who I’m going to vote for. It’s important to note that in Australia we have preferential voting, so you can put minor parties or candidates first, and go down the list in decreasing order of how much you want them to represent you until finally you end up at the party who you least want to represent you.
I said “want to represent” there, not “will be the best for me”. That’s critical. I’m already (relatively) well off. There are more important issues than my personal well being, and I believe that what’s good for society and the environment will be best for me in the end.
In my electorate of Franklin, there are five candidates (as I write this, anyway) and my ranking of them is as follows:
- Peter George, Independent
- Owen Fitzgerald, Greens
- Julie Collins, ALP
- Brendan Blomely, Independent
- Josh Garvin, Liberal
- Stefan Popescu, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation
“Five” candidates and yet the list has six? A demonstration of why, despite absolutely loving the Greens as a concept, they completely fail as a modern political party. This is basic stuff. Like white girl ordering pumpkin spice lattes kind of basic.
My first preference will be for Peter George. He’s running primarily on an anti-salmon farming platform, but has a complete policy platform that I quite like. And my take on the salmon farming issue? If you can’t run an industry for 100 or more years in the way that it’s currently being run, it’s an unsustainable industry. And we shouldn’t be taking from our children’s future just to make profits now. This is also why I’m opposed to generative AI / large language models (ChatGPT, Deepseek, etc) and cryptocurrency. Is there a way of running all of these industries in sustainable ways? Yes (although in the case of crypto I’m less sure). Are we doing so? No. So something needs to change.
My second preference will go to Julie Collins. Whilst I’d like the ALP to win the election, I believe that Julie Collins has been safe in her seat for far too long and is not representing or delivering results for the people of Franklin. She needs a scare, and I really hope that Peter George delivers her a scare (at the very least). I want to make her to work again.
My third preference will go to the Greens, but for what purpose I don’t know. But if I rank them below the others I couldn’t forgive myself.
After that it gets depressing. The Liberal party is probably more preferable to me than either One Nation or Brendan Blomely, but that’s hardly saying much. I have a lot of queer friends that I care about a lot, and any candidate that wants to make their lives harder is not a candidate for me. Then there’s the issue of migration. A lot of people are opposed to migration either because it’s “bad for the culture” or “increasing property prices”. On property prices, just change the law so only citizens and permanent residents (or companies majority owned by citizens and permanent residents) can own property, like most other countries do. Sorted. And on culture? The culture of Australia is by definition a multi-cultural one. My family are migrants, and just because I’m white doesn’t mean I should ignore that fact. Every single person in Australia either came from somewhere else or has ancestors who did. Every. Single. Person. Even the Aboriginal people.
That was a bit of a ramble.
I’ll be voting in the senate in a similar way to the house of representatives. Now that Eric Abetz is a member of the Tasmanian parliament rather than a senate candidate, I no longer feel compelled to vote below the line just to put him dead last, so I’ll be saving some time by voting above the line for the party groups.
Finally, I hope you can all join me watching the ABC election coverage on election night, for no other reason than that it is Antony Green’s last election. What a legendary man.
Photo of Antony Green from Wikipedia.