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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/20/australians-have-lost-hope-in-the-fair-go-with-profound-implications-for-the-election>
"The Australian electorate is fundamentally changing.
In more than two decades of social research I have seen economic ups and downs,
trends come and go, and public opinion about leaders and issues rise and fall.
But overall I’ve always believed the character of our country remained mostly
unchanged: that we believe in fairness and equality more than freedom; that we
have a trusting obedience and respect for our institutions of democracy and
government (albeit little regard for most of the political class).
Now I am seeing a shift that has caused me to rethink the way I view Australia;
a change in attitude that has profound and far-reaching implications for how
Australians think about what politicians are offering.
There are three main points that politicians of all persuasions now have to
confront when they think about voters and how to reach them.
The first is that our belief in a “fair go” is waning.
The second is that levels of engagement – how connected a citizen feels to
their community and how active they are in public life – is becoming a better
lens through which to analyse political attitudes and behaviour than almost
anything else. Better than professed ideology, income or geography, all the
measures by which we have traditionally analysed sentiment.
And third, if we view the Australian electorate through this lens, what emerges
is a clear story about how gender and generation are shaping the trajectory of
our politics."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
