AS the US and the world absorbs Donald Trump’s recent election to the American Presidency, many on both sides of the political divide, both in America and here in Australia, will be breaking down each vote and trying to come to terms as to why the expected election of Hillary Clinton did not happen.
No doubt each vote in each county across the US will be analysed, as to come up with a reason why the pendulum swung back so hard against the establishment.
Hopefully, in the midst of all this analysis, one of the very real reasons will be not only discussed but acted upon.
The past 10 years has seen those in the manufacturing states of America, mainly Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, have their jobs slowly eroded away by circumstances well beyond their control.
Their jobs were gone; the wife and children were probably gone, through divorce; the car was one mile from breaking down; and no stable form of income for years.
All these circumstances had built up to boiling point.
The system that they had put their faith into for their entire working life had let them down.
For at least the past two decades those without further education who had solid jobs in farming, manufacturing, building etc were referred to as the ‘un-educated’ instead of the more respectable and dignified and true term of ‘working-class’.
They were angry - rightly so - and they voted.
But Australia is not immune to this form of backlash.
The popularity of the minor party vote here in this country has steadily increased over the past three federal elections with the recent resurgence of One Nation and popularity of the newly formed Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) a case in point.
It would be difficult for parties such as One Nation and the NXT to garnish enough support to ensure they received the minimum number of seats required to form government but they can win seats in both houses of parliament and, more importantly, play a crucial role in our preferential system of voting.
The National Party, sensing this shift at the July election, worked hard on its ‘ground game’.
Leaving the campaign manual in the dash box of the car, The Nationals engaged with voters one-on-one, farm-to-farm, workshop-to-workshop.
This reflected with Party’s vote increasing not only at the ballot box but also in the party’s parliamentary room; arguably saving the Coalition government’s skin.
However, more needs to be done.
It’s important to note that a sizeable amount of One Nation vote, particularly in the Senate, comes from traditional ALP voters.
The working class of this country are slowly coming to the realisation that their former champion in the Labor Party have left them by the roadside to instead advocate on social issues rather than the importance of having and sustaining a job.
The imminent closure of the Hazelwood power station and the closure of our Ford and Holden plants coupled with the flow-on industries in these sectors mirrors exactly what has happened to the working-class in the US.
And our ‘Trump moment’ will come unless we have a brave government that is prepared to back our farmers, manufacturers and builders - our ‘working-class' - with the dignity and respect they command.
