What we're talking about

Troy on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I have seen this family fighting day after day for months trying to get their kids/siblings back home. The dedication and ... more
Pauline on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' DHS have destroyed my own family. They failed in their duty of care to provide a baby moniter for the deaf , thousands of ... more
Christine on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' isn't it funny how DHS don't recognise the psychological effects of domestic violence on children and continue to allow ... more
Warrior princess on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' There is a family In the Cairns Area who are Foster Carers.Atherton Child Safety have threatened the carers and own ... more
duncan on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' i have spent time with this family. it is a house full of love. "mum", grandfather and older sblings.this cannot be an issue ... more
Tracey on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Family Law is different from the rest of the law in this country.. Ie. Family Law is based on probability: ie if it might ... more
carol annetta on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' having known this family for some time i am disgusted with the treatment she has received. it seems more of a witch hunt ... more
Maureen Hillary on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Derryn,I have counselled traumatized parents as a result of DHS staff.There are great staff workers who care but they ... more
Janet Tavener on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I am a visitor to this country.My attention was drawn to the case of these children and their foster mother by a relative of ... more
sam on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Happening in Tasmania also.Wewon a court case over 8 months ago and due process still hasn't been done.We spent 17,000 ... more
Anne Glover on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I just cannot believe what the DHS has put the Foster Mother, and the children through - I thought the DHS was supposed to ... more
Tracey on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' DHS are the most disgraceful organization I have ever had the displeasure of becoming involved with. They are so ... more
Vicki on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Hi Derryn,I have known this carer since primary school, she has always put others above herself. Being a carer myself I know ... more
Gran'ma Pam on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' As any of us with any sense know, these children should NEVER have been taken from this lady (mum) in the first place, they ... more
Dominic Lombardo on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' I see my daughter every six months DHS are conducting a vendetta against me I have not been told why I can only see her ... more
cassy houghton on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Hello Derryn,Firstly i would like to thankyou for your support and the willingness to help this beautiful family.I ... more
Warrior princess on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Im a carer also in Qld. I see this happen way too much from our Government. They are starting to use Carers own children as ... more
paul on "I'll pay the fee," says Hinch I believe what Liberal Party has done is stupid. But I feel for candidates like Joh Bauch and James Buonopane who want to ... more
Andrea on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' Why are these public servants allowed to blatantly flout the law without the same consequences the rest of society faces? I ... more
birth mother on Help Hinch fight DHS 'pinheads' i am the birth morther of these 4 children and i just want to say dhs dont care they just want the kids in care so they can ... more

'None of the above' would romp home

Posted by: Derryn Hinch | 13 August, 2010 - 4:54 PM

REPORTERS ON THE TRAIL: Listen to Latika Bourke and Michael Pachi's reports to Hinch from the election campaigns of Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott.

Play Audio - Click Here

EDITORIAL: A week tomorrow you go to the polls. To elect (not ‘re-elect’) a Gillard government or install in The Lodge the Liberals who are on their third leader since the last election. The man who swept into office, dislodging not only the Howard Government but John Howard from his own seat, remains the elephant in the room a week from polling day.

Kevin ’07 has (for public consumption) swallowed the bitterness of his betrayal by Gillard, his deputy, and Wayne Swan, his Treasurer, and hit the hustings in Queensland where Labor is on the nose. Still not talking to the media and definitely not appearing on the same stage with Julia Gillard as the Bobsy Twins.

Rarely, at this stage of a federal election, have I heard so many people not only disillusioned by the leaders but by the negative campaigning, the relentless attacks,the political parties in particular and politicians in general.

If a bloke called ‘None of the Above’ were running he’d romp home.

Talk about ‘a pox on both your houses’.

The usual status of an election is this: Every time, 40% vote Labor, 40% vote Liberal and the leaders battle for the votes of the 20% undecided. This year I suspect that 20% is higher - especially amongst younger voters and first time voters.

That is reflected in the Greens polling at their highest level on record but a lot of people don’t realise that a ‘protest’ vote for the Greens in the House of Reps is really a vote for Labor under our weird preferential voting system.

Labor’s Barry Jones today said people have turned off in this election. He says the exaggerated ads on both sides are ‘appalling’ and believes ‘we are better than that’.

And John Hewson, who lost the ‘unlosable’ election against Paul Keating in 1993 says the campaign has become a circus with Mark Latham just another act in that circus.

With a week to go what gets me is how robotic, how passionless, how scripted and guarded it all seems.

Where is the fire in the belly of either leader? You can’t always have the soaring rhetoric of a John Kennedy or the ‘Yes, we can’ inspiration of Barack Obama. What do they believe in? Who or what inspires them? What is their dream for Australia? Even Kevin ’07 put a spark of hope in young voters – even if the Government he briefly led with Gillard and Swan in the Gang of Four – did stumble from promise to crisis. From pink batts to school rorts.

Abbott has buried the ‘Mad Monk’ under a straight jacket of plodding, safe, uninspired speeches. Including his launch.

Gillard, presumably now the ‘real Julia, is like a droning machine. I reckon if you asked her ‘What time is it?’ you would get five minutes on the national broadband or education.

As one-mailer said: "To be perfectly honest with you I am not voting for either of the current major parties mainly because I think they’re both complete twits.

The pundits always say you vote governments out. You don’t vote governments in. A week tomorrow you’ll decide whether what the Rudd Government did deserves punishment ... of if they deserve a second chance with a new leader.

Hinch blocks the leaders

BANNED: "This morning I made an executive decision and decided to ban them both. Not interested in talking to them. I’ll talk about them. And give you plenty of chances to air your views."

Derryn Hinch's Election Coverage

Derryn Hinch never leaves listeners wondering exactly what he thinks about political issues affecting us all. Don't miss any of his political head-kicking throughout this 'gloves off' 2010 campaign.

Email Derryn Hinch here

Blog comments

My ife and I would like some info on the $43bn for the NBN. If it was costed - what are the details. Where iss the money coming from? Why are the public swallowing this spin when Wireless seems to be the go elsewhere?

B.M. Flynn Tuesday 17 August, 2010 - 10:27 AM
It is so apt that Julia Gillard wants Education issues as a high priority in her government. The fact is she needs a little edumacation in basic English herself . With words like....gunna, wanna, labour pardy, mervyn ford and mister rabbit...she certainly needs some basic instruction from one of our places of learning.

Ken Gaffney Monday 16 August, 2010 - 9:19 AM