ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
As the federal election campaign enters its final stretch, residents of our cosmopolitan desert community say they are deeply envious of Spain and Portugal, where a large-scale power outage this week offered the kind of reprieve no Australian can currently access without turning off their phone and throwing it in the creek.
The blackout began across the whole Iberian peninsula just after midday Monday local time, cutting power to more than 60 million hot-blooded mamacitas and papacitos. Trains stopped. TVs died. The news cycle disappeared. Across the Iberian Peninsula, locals wandered into the streets, poured wine, smoked cigs, yelled at one another and played cards by candlelight.
Meanwhile, voters in Betoota say they remain trapped inside a political apparatus that continues to operate long after their vote has been cast.
Jason McNally, a 34-year-old electrician from Betoota Heights, said the blackout appeared to offer a kind of peace that no political party in Australia could realistically promise.
“I saw on the news, they just had beers and a chat. No candidate debates. No policy costings. No teal billionaire flying in to save the bush,” McNally said.
According to the Electoral Commission, over one in five Australians have already pre-polled. Despite this, the full weight of the campaign continues to bear down on them in the form of robocalls, text messages from sentient beanbags named Clive and unsolicited driveway conversations with local volunteers.
Courtney Auld, a 29-year-old pharmacist from Betoota Heights, said the blackout offered something modern democracy cannot.
“People need a circuit-breaker,” Auld said.
“They got one. All we get is another candidate making a fool of themselves on breakfast television.”
Power was restored in Portugal late Monday. Betoota remains fully electrified thanks to our 400 Deutz diesel generators.
More to come.
