Who Would Have Thought?
A few weeks ago I predicted a marginal win for Julia Gillard.
While I was counting on the major parties tearing each other apart during the election, hardly anyone saw the Rudd camp throwing missiles into the ALP tent with damaging leaks against Gillard half way through the campaign.
So Tony Abbott, on present numbers, seems likelier than Gillard to form a new government with a handful of independents. Given my previous predictions however, I am very reluctant to say much more on what will happen in these coming days.
Labor however took one big boot this election. They lost the popular vote and their majority in the House of Reps was shattered.
What are some lessons that we can take from the campaign and result?
1. Even in the world, the foolish things sometimes confound the mighty.
Do you remember not so long ago the ALP doing high fives after they heard Tony Abbott (aka the Mad Monk) was the third opposition leader for the Liberals? Abbott was ‘unelectable’ given his views on abortion, his previous commitment to WorkChoices, devotion to John Howard, etc.
The media must have licked their lips wondering how long it would be before Abbott not only shot himself in the foot, but also put one through his neck?
Well Abbott did have his bad days but the man stayed on his feet! He ran an ultra marathon in Port Macquarie earlier this year then spent the last 36 hours of the campaign meeting every voter he could find.
Seeing someone exceed other people’s expectations (and perhaps even their own) does my soul good. I want to move forward in life and exceed my own expectations and do what God has called me to do, despite my weakness and failures.
2. Disunity is Death.
The inexcusable happened during this campaign. We know all political parties have, from time to time, ‘rats in the ranks’ but this time the rats didn’t stay inside the bins where it was good for them. Incredible havoc was wreaked on the ALP through divisive leaks. The public wondered: if the ALP can’t govern itself how can it govern us?
For believers, unity around the truth is everything. Churches need to move in one direction in faithfulness to God’s Word. Families need to stay close for the Lord’s sake and frankly, their own.
3. There is wisdom in discretion.
Abbott was often criticised for having ‘no vision for the future’, running a cynical campaign etc. But when your opponent is self destructing, why bother?
There is such a thing as discretion and keeping your cards close to your chest, when everyone expects you to reveal everything, all the time. Keeping your own counsel can be hard sometimes, but it is a valuable art to be learned and perfected.
4. The public have a warped sense of morality.
They were offended the ALP hung Kevin Rudd before they got the chance to!
The extent of this public sentiment is debatable, but I believe there were many voters disappointed they didn’t get to register their disapproval against the elected PM Rudd so they did it to the installed PM Gillard instead. Like the days of the judges, both the ALP and the public were doing ‘that which was right in their own eyes’.
5. Truth is stranger than fiction.
Bill Shorten MP was one of the reported assassins of Rudd.
Shorten’s mother-in-law is none other than Her Excellency the Governor General Quentin Bryce, so reports are that our G-G has sought legal advice about her role in any decisions she will need to make in the forming of a new government! The lawyers win again! But there is some very macabre humour in all of this. Particularly when Shorten is considered a future Labor PM in the wings.
6. Best of all God is still on the throne.
While we presently have a caretaker PM (it is an unfortunate expression in the circumstances), our hope needs to be firmly on Christ.
A change of government will not necessarily mean we will have more prosperity or less debt. Perhaps we need less prosperity and more debt for people to start looking to God rather than the government for answers to life’s troubles.
We simply don’t know what the future holds. But we do know the One who holds tomorrow in His Hand and that should be enough for us.
By Robert Apps
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Great post Rob, I think you summed it all up with your last point.
It was a very interesting election and the result will be just as interesting. Will it be a unity government like Rob Oakeshott suggested? Or a kinder, gentler one like Abbott said? Or will one of the major parties woo the independents?
It could take a while but time will tell.
thanks Steve, after looking at the post again I should have had 7 points, the sixth being ‘the power of one’ and then spoken about the influence of the independents. funnily enough our local MP is none other than Bob Katter!
Enjoyed your analysis, just a few comments –
1) The ALP deserves to lose, not necessarily for being a bad government but for lack of courage in their convictions and for the worst campaign in living memory.
(How do you end up losing so many seats when unemployment is lower than anywhere else in the world, debt-to-GDP is lower than anywhere else and interest rates are lower than when the previous government left office?!)
Perhaps there is a lesson for Christians about sticking by their convictions rather than folding at the slightest whiff of unpopularity.
2) I disagree with you re the knifing of Kevin Rudd. I believe it was an ugly but necessary move, the ALP would have been wiped out completely if Kevin was still the leader – perhaps no seats in WA over the mining tax and even bigger losses in QLD & NSW. Remember just how bad thing were in the polls before the leadership change. (Where would the Coalition be of they’d dispatched John Howard a year or two before the 2007 election?)
3) Undoubtedly the biggest winner on Saturday was the Greens – I wonder if this says something about the changing values of the electorate or whether it was simply a protest vote? And I wonder how any minority can work with the Greens – particularly when they’ll probably be relying on conservative votes like those of Mr Katter and Mr Windsor?
4) Agree with your conclusion completely – “But we do know the One who holds tomorrow in His Hand and that should be enough for us.” Amen for that – let’s get on with the spreading the Gospel!