Is this it?

There was time when I thought the Sydney v Melbourne argument was the most inane in Australia. It's not. Without question, the most inane argument in Australia (and yes, I include Holden v Ford in the pantheon of Great Australian Arguments(TM)) is what is loosely referred to as the Australian political system and the Labor v Liberal divide specifically. Yes, you can vote Green but in the words of Kang (or Kodos); "Go ahead, throw your vote away."

I lean to the left, you already know this. Lean?; Christ, I've nailed my feet there, but in Australian politics there is no left. And while I can appreciate liberalism as a philosophical/political standpoint, liberalism in Australia doesn't exist. And it sure as hell doesn't exist in the Liberal Party; not by a long shot.

The problem with Australian politics is that the two parties occupy the same point on the political spectrum. Its the football equivalent of two players stading nose to nose, goading the other to "have a go", each safe in the knowledge that the other guy is too scared to do just that and get rubbed out. The result is that if you're to the left of that point you vote Labor, to the right, Liberal, or you decide whether you look forward or look backwards. It also creates the impression of choice and, indeed, differences between the two parties, but in reality you're voting for either side of the same coin.

As a result of the above, I vote for the party who's leader, were I to point him or her out to a foreign friend unfamiliar with Australia, is least likely to embarrass me to admit it. On that basis alone, I can't possibly vote for the Liberal party but I lament that whether or not that party is sucessful at the next election is not a descision that is entirely mine alone to make (would to God that it were). That being the case and in light of the Labor ructions overnight, if they get up at the next election I swear to God I'm moving to Canada.