As many will know, the last OzLotto lottery didn’t go off, and the jackpot is now $90 million. The OzLotto lottery is incredibly hard to attain, you need to get 7 numbers correct (out of 45) instead of the usual 5 – chances to win are slim!
Naturally, I like to enter it because if I win, the chances of me having to share it are minimal – imagine $90 mil coming into your bank account! Whilst I was in NZ, they let go their biggest ever jackpot ($35 million) to a woman in Hamilton. Naturally, Hamilton being a small and decidedly poor town, keeping that a secret wasn’t going to be easy, and whilst working on a TV headend (for that is my job) I saw a lot of news yet-to-be-broadcast news clips as journalists desperately tried to hunt down the winner and “out” her. All the interviews said this woman was a “completely unremarkable” and “normal” person, who worked as a dish cleaner at a local restaurant.
I wondered what would happen if I won something that big, especially something like $90 million. We’ve all sat around and wondered, haven’t we, about what we would do if we won the lottery. Would we give it away to charity? Would we buy a new house / car / boat ? Would we invest it? Sure, this is something you would consider if you won $1 million or so, but $90 million?
So I had a thought. What would I do? Would I want to remain anonymous? What would I do with such a stupid amount of money? Simple. I’d start a political party, and use the proceeds to fund it and gain publicity. My lotto win would not be anonymous – I would want people to know that I had won it and what I was going to use it for – instant cheap publicity!
For a long time I’ve dreamed about starting a political party – you know, the one that everyone is screaming out for but nobody is satisfying. It apears that the only time someone starts a political party is to satisfy some extreme view ala Greens, One Nation, Christian Democrats, Family First – nobody seems to want to start a party that is moderate in nature that satisfies what most of the nation wants! The Liberals and Labor do not come c;lose. So many people of my (our) generation are screaming out for a party that promotes conservative economic practice and progressive social policy. Where is it? Some time ago I was contacted by the “Liberty and Democracy Party” that purported to support all of this and more, yet on further analysis appeared to be promoting policies that were a copy of the American system – and look how well that’s turning out! I put them in the “extremist” bin with all the rest. The Democrats tried, but really their economic policy was not strong. They were middle of the road on EVERYTHING.
Could I do it? I don’t know. The only way to get elected in this country is to know the system, convince the right people and have the media onside. And have a lot of money so you access said system. Definitely not a one-man job – and how do you attract the right people into your party that won’t end up hijacking it for their own political purposes? NSW Liberals is a prime example of that in action. You must be sure that those people coming into your party have similar goals and ambitions to you and aren’t trying to twist and warp your policies.
Above all, it would have to be a party capable of winning actual *power* in this country, and put an end to bipartisanship. I think this may actually be possible if decent party members were found that would be willing to be electoral candidates. And all this would be attracted if I actually had the money to start it all up. Politics aint’ cheap!
So yes, maybe I’m dreaming – I’ve thought before of “infiltrating” the existing parties, hoping for change, but we all know that this isn’t going to work – revolution political overhaul is the only way to really make a directional change in this country. Those in the current system are corrupted well before they reach the top.
Speaking of the top, WTF is this with Malcolm Turnbull and this OzCar affair? What the hell was he thinking? Firstly, a very cheap shot to take if he was using that to upset Kommandant Rudd, and with so much risk to his own political career? I actually had hope for the federal Libs when Malcolm won the leadership – the wets were finally taking back control and steering the party back on course, and then this. Whether this email was “faked” or not (I personally believe it wasn’t faked, AFP can be persuaded to determine whatever they like and the original evidence will never be released for public scrutiny), it was a hell of a risk to put his career on. I thought this guy wanted to be PM? Misleading parliament? Hell, Johnny H mislead the whole COUNTRY, was caught, and he still got voted back in! What was the point of attacking Rudd over a free ute?
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