Advertisement
Advertisement
It's not hard to blame them, either. The same forces that have remade the US and UK, and given the world Trump and Brexit are also at work in Australia. Over the last few years, the Coalition has been drifting to the radical right. Labor, which is supposed to be the alternative, has been struggling to keep it together. All up, it's made for a growing feeling that politics has stopped talking to ordinary people. Wherever this feeling takes root, people start weighing their options.Voting for a micro-party is one way to go, though this is a lucky-dip. Out of the mix sometimes comes a Clive Palmer, at other times it's a Ricky Muir. Family First may be a bit much for some, and not all states have a Nick Xenophon, so others may end up with the Islamophobic Australian Liberty Alliance.For young people, feeling disengaged by politics is often disregarded as apathy. And the lack of engagement is palpable, about 25 percent of 18- to 30-year-olds didn't vote at the last election. But would you really be inspired by the rhetoric of this year's campaign? For eight weeks we've been listening to our Prime Minister tell us to get our parents to buy us a house. To work for below minimum wage if there are no jobs. The Opposition offers no discernible alternative to Australia's brutal refugee policy.So whether you agree with the decision or not, the fact is that when people feel the only choice on offer is a bad one, the decision to opt-out is not apathetic. It's political. It doesn't matter whether you're a miner in Perth, a steelworker in Whyalla, or a young person just about anywhere, if you feel no one represents you, no one will get your vote.Follow Royce on Twitter.It doesn't matter whether you're a miner in Perth, a steelworker in Whyalla, or a young person just about anywhere, if you feel no one represents you, no one will get your vote.