Daily Times

THERE has been a lot going on in the world of politics over the past few months. Britain has decided that, no, they don’t actually want to be part of the European Union. The Philippines went to the polls and elected the outspoken Rodrigo Duterte as their president.

And the US is still lumbering toward November, when it will be decided whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will take up the top job in the Whitehouse. Meanwhile, in Australia, we have been in the throes of our own election season. A process in which, for the first time in what seems like a very long time, our major parties both went to the polls with strong messages and supported leaders.

Elections in Australia aren’t without their challenges of course. While the two major parties garnered 75 per cent of the vote, the remaining one quarter of Australian voters decided to vote for what I like to call, “the others” – parties that tend toward racially misguided attitudes, and are really appealing to the nationalist voter.