While the campaign for the 2019 Federal election here in Australia has technically been running for only five and a half weeks in fact we've all known there had to be an election no later than around mid May because of the way our election cycle works. This means that the assorted political parties have effectively been electioneering for months with their advertising getting more and more strident since the election date was announced. It's getting more and more nasty as well and I for one am sick to death of that nastiness, the half truths and down right lies being told. These are people who are asking us to appoint them as our representatives. The least they could do is treat us with respect.
I've already voted - because we have compulsory voting we make sure that those who can't get to a polling place on election day have the opportunity to vote before the day or by postal vote (there are rules as to who is eligible for this, of course) - but the endless advertising is still taking its toll. It's everywhere and honestly it's verging on the ridiculous. Quite apart from the advertising on television and radio and in the newspaper there's the huge volume of mail being sent - in the last three days alone we've received seven separate pieces of electioneering material - and don't get me started on the phone calls at inconvenient times. We've actually given up answering the phone for now. It may make a change from the scammers but in reality the disruption from the political calls is just as annoying.
All advertising on commercial television and radio is by law supposed to stop at 12:00 AM tomorrow so there's that respite to look forward to. The only trouble is that the law was made back before on-line streaming and digital platforms existed so if I want a break I'll have to avoid all social media and digital media sites until polling closes. Then it'll all be about the vote count and that could go on for days. Sigh.
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