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The election we had to have? Scratching a little below the surface.

Article Excerpt
The federal election has provoked more than the usual dose of post-mortems and soul-searching. Explanations for the defeat of the ALP have concentrated on such factors as Latham's youthfulness or 'inexperience'; the ill-judged last minute release of new policies, especially on Tasmania's forests; the effectiveness of the Government's advertising scare campaign; the reasonably good shape of the Australian economy; and Family First's unexpected success at the expense of the Greens, based in part on the bizarre allocation of preferences in the Senate vote.

No doubt all this explains something of the result, but very little of the mood of the nation, or the health of our political processes and institutions. A deeper analysis would begin not with political parties, their leaders, strategies and tactics, but with the electorate itself. If we look at present-day Australian society, we soon discover a widespread sense of insecurity or unease about the future, which is not to say that the future is perceived in the same way by...

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