The Ponder Room remains a neutral zone, Switzerland on the blogosphere, but lately I’ve been pondering about elections, well it’s hard not to with all the media going on. The catalyst was an email received from the Australian Electoral Office, lamenting the fact that there are 1.4 million Australians who are eligible to vote but haven’t enrolled. Half a million are aged 18 to 24. This got me pondering … the general public seems to have an insatiable appetite to vote, just not in political elections, but I may have stumbled on a solution.
Thousands upon thousands of people vote every year for Big Brother, The Voice, Australia’s Got Talent, The Block, My Kitchen Rules, So You Think You Can Dance etc. There seems to be no limit to their ability to make a choice between candidates. Perhaps then I pondered, Election Night should be re-branded to something more palatable for the general public’s viewing pleasure… Eviction Night.
Queue the streamers, glitter and screaming masses.
Naturally the candidates, Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott, would need to follow the tried and true formulae of all worthy reality contestants. But this being the ultimate reality show they’d need to excel on all levels to prove themselves a worthy ‘Every Man’ to represent this fine country of ours. They’d need to:
- Display great physical prowess … 100 star jumps performed Commando style in jungle greens, Doc Martins, and dark glasses (shirts compulsory)
- Relay a story of hardship from their past that spontaneously sets their tear ducts oozing
- Warble through a soulful ballad which breaks down into a Rap half way through
- Whip up a delectable Heston Blumenthal concoction from a Mystery Box containing cream, chillies, anchovies, saffron, offal and Liquid Nitrogen
- Perform the Dance of the Seven Veils, Gangnam style
- Spent 48 hours in a House of Mirrors until they eventually emerge, having finally found themselves, ready to lavished praise on their opponents and display a sense of humility.
True it may not work, but it’d be a lot more interesting to watch and it might just attract some of those missing voters. In the meantime the deadline for enrolment is 8pm this coming Monday 12th August. You can check if you are enrolled at www.aec.gov.au/check
For more information go to: www.aec.gov.au
1 Comment
What a great idea.Perhaps they could be asked to spend three nights in police uniform sorting out the characters in Northbridge (Kings Cross in Sydney and the equivalent in other capital cities.)
Or they could do a shift as a nurse in a public hospital.
Love your ideas and the list could be endless.
Hopefully it would have the desired effect in the end.