Die schockierende Wahrheit, die unsere Politiker kennen sollten, wenn sie nur zuhören würden.

Albo is trying not to look too smug at winning, ScoMo has departed stage left, and Australians have learnt that ‘teal’ is a catch-all for a totally different kind of politician. The wash-up from the recent election has brought mixed fortunes for our political leaders, with some feeling better about the results than others.

As the Australian population was preparing to vote, there were Polls everywhere trying to predict which way the election would go. Given the rigour these surveys are designed with, and the number you can tap into, we thought it would be interesting to take a different approach to our own pre-polling. Rather than ask about voting intentions, we instead asked what people felt about politics in general, their overarching views of the major political parties and how they feel about our politicians*.

The results are damning.

Given a wide range of options to choose from, and asked which one statement best reflects how they feel about the upcoming election and the major parties, there was a brutal assessment from the Australian population.

Nearly a quarter of Australians chose the statement “Our current politicians have lost sight of what’s important to Australians and the whole political system needs to change”. 1 in 4 Australians!

A further 20%, or 1 in 5, identified with the statement “Our current politicians don’t really care about the general population and are just interested in power for themselves/their party”.

14% chose the statement “Neither of the major parties will do a good job if elected”.

And 13% said, “I am not really interested in politics and only vote because it’s compulsory”!

To balance the ledger a little, only 1 in 5 agreed with the statement “One of the major parties will do a good job if elected”.

So, without being too dramatic, we can say around 70% of the Australian population are pretty disillusioned with the status quo. At best they don’t think Politicians are listening to them and at worst they want the whole system overhauled.

This should be a real wake-up call for Albo and Labour. They may be in power, but people are far from happy with the system and want to see change. Hanging up an Indigenous flag and putting a few more women in cabinet will not cut it. ‘Teal’ was possibly people’s only outlet this time around, but what if there are some more alternatives in 3 years’ time? What if the Greens get their act together and run a strong campaign, not just about the environment but about political reform?

With such a high level of disillusionment with the current political system, who knows how the landscape could change if our political leaders did the one thing they say they do: actually listen to what Australians want.

One thing’s for sure, a majority of Australians believe it couldn’t get any worse and desperately want to try something new. The real question is, are any of the leaders brave enough, or indeed motivated, to take it on? The status quo probably suits them just fine. And that’s the real problem.

*courtesy Ovation Research National Omnibus

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