TWO LITTLE WORDS

In the end it seems it comes down to something that John Winston Howard either feared all along or stubbornly refused to accept. Or a combination of both.

Two little words, as the song said, that Gough Whitlam successfully rode to victory to end another marathon of Liberal Government.

The words: It’s time. That simple. It’s time for a change. If only for the sake of change. And once that perception started to seep across the country there was nothing John Howard could do to stop it.

Remember the so-called coup de grace, in the first week of the campaign, the thirty-plus billion dollars of tax cuts. That had about as much effect as a paintball on a terrorist.

And as the campaign tediously lumbered on it all became a blur of numbers to the people both sides were trying to woo. These ‘economic conservatives’ Howard and Costello and the new convert Kevin Rudd tossed billions around like confetti. The punters weren’t listening.

It will be known as the Climate Change election which in itself is incongruous. Both Howard and Rudd and their entourages used up more carbon credits criss-crossing the nation in six weeks than most people will use in a lifetime. Rudd says one of the first things he’ll do is sign Kyoto even though it is pointless and dangerous without the main polluters like China and India. Even though he chastised Peter Garrett for suggesting that very thing.

In Wentworth, Malcolm Turnbull is feeling the heat over Government support for the Gunn’s timber mill in Tasmania. Even though the Labor Opposition also supports it and Labor’s largesse in Tasmania will cost taxpayers about $100 million to build the road that will carry the timber to that mill.

The 2007 election will also be known as the ‘working families’ election. As if there is any other kind. And if you are single or co-habit or have no children or about to retire or a pensioner there was tiddly squat from either side for you. Barely rated a mention. Neither did the war on terrorism.

I believe it will be much closer than the polls have been saying for months but  Kevin Rudd will be the next Prime Minister. I believe John Howard has tarnished a stunning economic record that grew while countries around us have stumbled, by staying too long at the fair.

He should have handed over to Costello a year ago. And when he and Janette stubbornly refused to acknowledge the inevitable several months ago Costello should have had the balls to topple him.

That’s not to say the eternal bridesmaid would have won in his own right. Now they’ll never know.

There are genuine concerns about where federal Labor will lead this country with wall to wall Labor Governments across Australia and a still voracious union movement. And with a Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, who has managed to keep her socialist left agenda respectably concealed.

One thing that niggles me is that the same men and women who I believe will govern this country from tomorrow night all tried, so sincerely, to convince you last time round that a messianic flake named Mark Latham should be Prime Minister.

Still, you can’t argue. It’s time John.

Friday, November 23, 2007

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2007