What Secret Harbour just proved

The battle is over.

The countless corflutes that once blanketed the quiet streets and roadsides of Secret Harbour like the banners of warring nations have come down, the moment of truth passed.

Unlike war, where often all sides lose, the winner of any political contest is clear. For all others it is really just varying degrees of loss. As a Liberal, it was a mixed experience. Triumphant in one sense that the spell of Labor dominance over the seat where I built my first home and started my family was finally broken, but sad in the sense that it wasn’t my team that was able to do it. 

In this case, there was no doubt who the greatest loser was, and equally so, who clearly won the day. One Nation took on the giant machine of the Labor Party and crushed them. Even with a war chest of half a million dollars and blistering media attacks, they were not able to defend against one of the greatest collapses of a Labor majority in a heartland seat. 

The panic of the government on the ground was unmistakable and the response since has been despicable. Especially from the Prime Minister who only now seems to take an interest. Does he forget that the insults, slander and claims that those who support One Nation are dangerous, fall squarely on ordinary Australians, many of whom were once loyal Labor voters? 

Does the Prime Minister, or his Attorney General know (or even care) that such statements further divide and incite violence already threatened by the same unhinged who already hate our country in a thousand different ways.  

Does he really believe he can win them back by talking down to them?

The tin ear is astonishing. Something has clearly changed in Australia and, despite the polls and recent election results, I think many in power remain oblivious. So, if you' ll bear with me, let me tell you what I've observed, not only in Secret Harbour, but across the country.

My own thinking changed years ago as a mature age university philosophy student. It was the first time that I had truly encountered the concept of critical thinking. It wasn’t something entirely necessary in my trade as a fitter, and it was the first time I realised just how much information reaches us in a filtered state. And it was also the first time I learned that with the right tools, an argument can be pulled apart and tested to see whether it actually holds.

It was an eye-opener for me, changing forever the way I was to view the news media.

For a long time, we appeared to live under a system of managed consent.  Most people didn't need to dive too deeply into the issues. We had experts for that. The system looked like it was working. We trusted that the checks and balances were doing their job, that the media was a reasonably objective watchdog, and that we could get on with our lives while the institutions kept themselves honest. 

Most of us had no idea how much of what we perceive was being shaped for us beneath the surface.

Then came the pandemic, and the mechanics were suddenly on full display. Governments and organisations used every channel available to control the narrative, and millions of people watched them do it. "Accept the evidence, accept the science, accept, accept, accept." They tried enforcing this with manufactured consent, mass censorship, and shamefully at times, hard power in the form of tear gas, rubber bullets, and arrests.

For a while it seemed that perhaps it was all going to work. But as Abraham Lincoln wisely observed: “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”

Bit by bit, people started asking questions.

Perhaps it was because measures taken at that time were so outrageous, or perhaps people got tired of being told what to think, but bit by bit, thanks to the courageous among us, the veil began to tear. The social license of managed consent was lost and a population learned to assess the facts for themselves and take a peek behind the screen. Like the young fitter and philosophy student discovering critical thinking tools for the first time, many ordinary Australians learned to no longer take on faith what they were told by the media, by the government, or by anyone claiming authority.

The age of curated personalities and manufactured messaging appeared to be over. Australians demanded integrity, and came to expect authentic leaders they could actually trust.

The hours that I spent on polling booths felt truly different this time. The people I witnessed and spoke to came prepared and confident. Most were ready with a clear explanation of why they were voting the way they were no matter which party they supported. 

This is the beginning of a critical-thinking revolution and I don’t think it is going away any time soon. While it may be untidy and fragmented and while it certainly indicates that we now have a lower-trust country that is harder to govern, it is not a passing phase. Wisdom is required rather than hubris and no amount of denigration from Canberra will reverse it. The people of Secret Harbour just proved that.

The battle for our national identity, who represents us, and where we see ourselves in the future is only going to intensify. In Secret Harbour, I saw hope. Whether founded or unfounded, only time will tell, but however it plays out I will always question, always do my best to discern motive, and always remain hopeful that this great state and nation of ours remains a fountain of prosperity and happiness for its citizens.