Initially, I was bitterly disappointed to be missing out on my favourite portion of the electoral cycle, especially in a travel situation where it would be so hard to keep up with all that was going on at home. But after nearly two weeks of campaigning I’ve got to say that I’m actually relieved to have some distance between me, my country, and its politics.
Scott Bridges, writer
The degree of disinterest that this election season seems to be generating is truly fascinating. I’ve been overseas for an election before — the last Victorian poll — and so I know what Scott Bridges is talking about when he describes being cut off from what’s going on back home. As a political junkie, missing out on an election should be tough. Yet I can honestly say, were I travelling abroad right now, I don’t think I’d even bother to check in with what’s happening on the campaign trail here. Almost two weeks in, and I remain despondent about the depths of banality to which Australian politics seems to have descended. The title of Bridges’ article for The Drum is “Australian politics: an embarrassment”. I couldn’t agree more.
