You would think that the past three years of Australian politics would be a lesson to be avoided at the coming election. The voters delivered a " hung " parliament and Labor went into coalition with the Greens to form a minority government, but even this balance was distorted by three " independents " - who ruthlessly exploited their power to gouge benefits for their electorates.
As a result, we had three long years of bad government. This time around we have Clive Palmer and Bob Katter hoping to launch new political parties - and now wealthy businessman John Singleton is bankrolling two independents for the Central Coast seats of Robertson and Dobell.
We get good government only when we put a political party into office with sufficient voting strength to make the hard decisions that advance the Australian economy. The " health " of a nation relies on it having a stable economy that pays for the servces we need and that economy delivers the jobs that keep the workforce humming along. The moment a powerful minority has the opportunity to use it's voting power to cause distractions and demand that funds be syphoned off to socially ambitious projects - the wheels fall off the economy !
Australia has had a long history of alternating socialist and conservative governments. When Labor is in office the socialist side of the agenda flourishes, but Labor is a " tax and spend " government and it rarely leaves office without leaving behind a huge fiscal defecit.
The conservatives tend to be " slow and steady " on making changes, but they usually manage to pay off Labor's debts and put a steady hand on the ship of state's tiller.
Whatever decision the voters take when they go to the ballot box, they would be wise to deliver one of the major parties sufficient votes to actually govern in their own right.
We have had the experience of of government by compromise. That old expression " Once bitten - twice shy " - comes to mind !
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