The election result was a dream come true for me and millions of other Australians this weekend. It signals the end of the mean and tricky Howard government and the end of the political careers of some of its major players - including Howard himself, and his presumptive heir.
A record-breaking win for Labor was more than I would have hoped for. If only it came with a clear Senate majority, or at least a Green balance of power there.
Watching the Liberal Party self-implode as it regroups will be fun. The ideologues will split from the pragmatists and moderates and it will take years for a united party to emerge from the ashes of this monumental defeat.
Howard's concession speach on Saturday night was the only time I've ever sensed genuine human feeling in the man. Here's me giving him a compliment... It was dignified. There you go, the first and only nice thing I have to say about his political life.
The Labor party's adoption of "Friends" - seemingly replacing "comrades" was a bit of a laugh too. Nice though. I can't imagine the Liberals ever even trying to come across as warm and fuzzy.
This is the end of Howard's cynical manipulation of society and sections of it. The end of support for sectional interests that are designed to shore up Liberal Party support and the beginning of a new era of concensus, co-operative federalism and vision for the future.
Now is the time to get behind the new government and be grateful that the country has finally emerged from it's political coma.
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