There’s an underlying contradiction in federal election coverage. Elections are deeply consequential for the future of the nation, but they are conducted via daily routines and rituals often trivial to the point of inanity.
We can’t completely ignore the inane bits; the leaders’ shopping mall walks, or visits to childcare centres to discuss finger painting with four-year-olds, the unexpected encounters with voters who accuse them of talking bullshit, or who cheer them like pop stars. Those speeches and interactions, in the glare of television cameras during the weeks when Australians focus on who they want to run the country, can make or break campaigns. They are how many voters get a sense of who leaders are, how they relate, how they react under pressure.
