2016-06-23
MR BARBER (Northern Metropolitan) — I would like to wish all those political campaigners out there who will be spending the next 10 days trying to convince people to vote for their particular political party the best of luck. I can safely wish them luck because in the case of the Greens campaigners it is going to be a lot more to do with the quality of their shoe leather — or vegan vinyl — than it will be luck.
While I am doing that, we should bear in mind the miracle that is the largely peaceful nature of Australian democracy. In 2016 there will be elections in Iran, Uganda, Sri Lanka, Peru, Macedonia, the Philippines, Zambia, Ghana, the United States, Georgia, Libya and Morocco. Not everybody who is participating in those elections will be able to do so freely and openly, without the fear of violence. In many cases we are talking about countries that have been through periods of violence and even civil war, and they are only now moving towards democracy. In other cases we have countries engaged in civil war and other conflicts, but we know that at some time — 2 years, 5 years or 20 years from now — they will be engaging in elections.
Let us keep our personal rhetoric moderate and free of terms that suggest violence and always bear in mind how lucky we are to be able to have the elections that we have without the fear that is unfortunately so common in so many other countries.
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