I still don’t know what to do. This is one of those weeks when it’s very hard to believe that ordinary Australians have any power at all to influence the government, or even politics in general.
But that’s only half true. I have to believe that.
At this point, I don’t see that there is much to be gained from writing to Tony Abbott, to Joe Hockey, or to any other members of the Coalition. From everything I’ve read in the last day or so, they really believe in this budget, and they aren’t going to change their minds about that.
But the Coalition is not the only party in the Senate, and frankly, they aren’t the majority, either.
In fact, if this graphic from the Australian is to be believed, the Coalition is going to have a lot of trouble getting some of its policies through the Senate at all. It’s a giant game of chicken, and we just have to hope that the ALP, the Greens, the Independents and the micro-parties don’t blink first.
(well, except the LDP. They can blink as much as they like. But I think we all know I was never going to have much in common with them – in fact, their sole issue with this budget is that some of the taxes have gone up.)
Let’s have a look at what they are saying, shall we?
