00:00As we've been reading through the tens of thousands of Your Say contributions during
00:07this election campaign, we've been seeing the same words popping up over and over again.
00:12Words like vision, big picture, bold ideas, structural change.
00:17It's coming from voters who are desperate to see those things.
00:21I think in this election campaign I wanted to see bigger picture thinking.
00:26More of those future forward thinking proposals.
00:30A vision and a road map for what Australia could look like in 15 to 20 years.
00:35Where are the bold ideas?
00:36Where do they see Australia be in 20 years from now?
00:39So have they seen it?
00:41They're too scared to actually come forward with some bold statements.
00:46There's been nobody from either side of politics in recent times that's been in a position where
00:52power has been willing to take any kind of risks.
00:55People have told Your Say, they remember when this used to happen.
00:58John Howard introduced gun laws.
01:01Gough Whitlam provided free tertiary education.
01:05That changed my entire life.
01:06I feel that we, at least for 25 years, we never had a bold vision going forward into the 21st
01:15century.
01:16Everybody's trying to have a narrow platform and creating a small target so they can't
01:23be attacked.
01:24They, I feel, have taken the populist approach here.
01:27Look, there's no doubt that taking a big policy platform to an election in Australia is risky.
01:33John Howard took the GST to voters in 1998 and won.
01:37But when Bill Shorten tried big tax reform on property investors in 2019, he lost.
01:43Anthony Albanese had the biggest failure of his prime ministership with the defeat of
01:47the voice referendum.
01:48For Bill Shorten it didn't work out, but I don't think that that's a reason that we
01:52should cower away from actually tackling the bigger issues, and that political courage
01:57is, I think, what people are looking for, I'm certainly looking for it.
02:01Politics feels stuck in three years cycle with little tangible change beyond the election
02:10cycle.
02:11I know that they probably have big picture ideas, but they're not showing enough courage
02:18to bring them forward.
02:19They should be on the table for discussion, maybe changing to a four-year program.
02:25Four-year terms are also popping up a lot in your say, and there may be signs it's time
02:30has arrived.
02:31Four-year terms, yes or no?
02:34Mr Dutton?
02:35I support four-year terms.
02:36Prime Minister?
02:37Yes, but they'll never support a referendum.
02:40In the meantime, what sort of big picture ideas are people looking for?
02:44Single women in my age group, so my contemporaries, are the fastest growing group of homeless
02:49people.
02:50So I want something done about that.
02:52Climate policy, which is a very personal thing for me.
02:58Housing is absolutely the crisis.
03:01Governments of all levels need to be taking it more seriously, like as if it is as acute
03:07as the pandemic crisis.
03:09From housing to immigration, education, energy.
03:12One of the biggest challenges we have in front of us is the energy transition.
03:17Energy is an interesting one, because if there is one big nation-changing idea on offer from
03:23the major parties, it's probably the Coalition's nuclear energy plan.
03:27I think the Coalition likes to think that nuclear is big picture, but I mean it just has so many
03:34holes in it.
03:35It seems like it lacks thought and proper consideration.
03:41What I see is a lack of data and modelling.
03:44All the interesting stuff for me I think comes a lot out of minor parties or independents.
03:49Dental into Medicare that the Greens are proposing, that certainly is something that is real big picture.
03:56Critics of the Greens' policy to put dental and mental health into Medicare by taxing big corporations
04:01say that's easy to propose when you're not a party that can form a government and you don't have to
04:07put it into practice.
04:08But as the major parties are watching their primary votes fall at each successive election,
04:14there are plenty of Your Say contributors who are telling us they're not at all worried
04:17by the idea of minority government.
04:20I would so look forward to having a minority government.
04:23I'm actually quite hoping that the Greens will hold some sway with the getting dental
04:28into Medicare.
04:29The only positive future for Australia politically is more independence, pushing the major parties
04:34into doing the right thing.
04:36They should contribute to the debate.
04:38They should shape up the policies and for that you need people working together.
04:41So where does that leave us?
04:43Well, as you'd expect, it's a mixed bag.
04:46I feel very disheartened.
04:49Disappointed.
04:50I'm quite frankly disappointed.
04:52So I think a lot more is possible than people or major parties might want to make us think.
04:59I am quite hopeful.
05:00I am quite hopeful that we here in Australia, we can come together.
05:07It makes me feel like I want to get involved, I think.
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