A Well Oiled Machine

 

Recently I had the opportunity to watch the Prime Minister and her senior MPs address the public.

I sat in amazement as Julia Gillard and her MPs walked in and were greeted like rock stars by an obviously very pro Labour crowd. I then watched fascinated as Ms Gillard never missed a beat, she never ummed, ahhd or ermed once, she had the crowd in the palm of her hand and was even at times quite playful.

Her answers and those of her ministers were very well rehearsed, playing to the crowd and creating as much rah rah as possible. It was like watching an incredibly well oiled machine in action.

It was apparent as Julia choose people from the audience to ask a question that it was a very stage managed event set up to make the PM and her ministers look good, patting themselves on the back for all their achievements and never passing on the chance to dig at the opposition when it arose.

Having never been to anything like this before I had no idea of the game, plan, tactics or strategies at play and didn’t even have a question or comment prepared. I am not politically affiliated but thought it would be interesting to see if they would choose me or if they had already pre handpicked members of the audience to “randomly” go to.

I sat with my hand in the air with my heart beating out of my chest, boy I was anxious but didn’t really know why. And then Julia picked one last person for the evening, strangely I felt relieved that I didn’t have to stand up in front of the crowd.

I went with no expectations, I know the world is not going to change over night but I never underestimate the power of the ripple effect and that of the voice of the common man.

We, the people, the electorate, may not be a well oiled machine but each time we speak honestly and from our hearts about what is needed to support and better a community we can be better prepared……

and that together with love makes us a formidable combination.