Election stuff is boring, but you can still make a difference. Here are 10 warnings for all the 18-year-olds and wish-they-were-18-again-year-olds out there – especially those who reckon nothing ever changes anyway so why bother.
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1. If a politician uses a three-word slogan, he or she is trying to deceive someone who couldn't be bothered to think more deeply. Don't be that person.
2. Know who and what you are voting for. Would you pay someone $200,000 a year to push their own agenda and you don't even know what that agenda is?
3. It's the policies, stupid. Not that you're stupid. If you don't check out a candidate's policies before you vote, you are buying expensive clothes online without knowing the size, colour or design.
4. It's not a level playing field. The Coalition has heaps of cash from big business donors wanting a friend in high places. Labor has money from the unions wanting something for themselves. The Greens have rich friends, too. The little candidates on the ballot paper often have to work extra hard just to get their ideas heard. Seek them out and listen.
5. Be generous. Your wallet might need extra money but we live in a community. We can vote out of self-interest or we can vote with a keen sense that some people don't have the opportunity and luck we do.
6. Social issues aren't everything. Yes, same-sex marriage and the republic are important. But so are creating jobs and putting food on the table.
7. Climate. The Coalition's policy stinks but not as badly as you'd think. Malcolm Turnbull will review his Direct Action policy next year. Australia will get a price on emissions no matter what. But who do you trust to stand up to the climate sceptics and big polluters, without damaging the economy?
8. Housing is about you. All this scary stuff about Labor's plan to wind back negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount is really just a way for the Coalition to entrench the financial clout of investors, existing home owners and, crucially, their children who will inherit the lot. It's at the expense of less fortunate potential young first home buyers.
9. The budget needs fixing. But both sides have roughly the same timeline to do it.
10. And remember: Some pollies ARE in it for the greater good. You just have to be bothered enough to find them on the ballot paper.
