John Winston Howard, former Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party, doesn’t think that the thumping great election loss his party received in the Victorian state election last weekend is much to worry about as far as the upcoming federal election is concerned.
“Victoria has had a history for quite some years now, some decades, in fact, of being slightly more to the centre-left,” he explained. “The Massachusetts of Australia, some people call it.”
Ah yes, the Massachusetts of Australia.
You know, that meaningful comparison that everyone makes all the time? It’s amazing they haven’t adopted it as the new licence plate slogan, so common has it become in day to day parlance.
The identities of these shadowy “some people” to which Howard refers isn’t clear. Neither is whether Howard has noticed that Massachusetts is one of fifty states and has nine senators and nine members of the House of Representatives while Victoria, the second most populous of Australia’s eight states and territories, has 12 senators and 37 MPs.
Thus Victoria is a tiny weeny bit more politically influential on the federal body politic, and probably something about which it would be prudent to panic.
However, in the interests of future weird political discussions involving state-comparing, let’s clarify which is which:
QLD: The Florida of Australia. Slogan: Beautiful One Day, Every Three Months Someone’s Torn To Pieces By A Crocodile The Next
NSW: The California of Australia. Slogan: No Other State Exists And We’re Not Listening La La La La La
WA: The Texas of Australia. Slogan: Making Empty Threats To Secede Since 1901
SA: The Colorado of Australia. Slogan: We Are Also A State
NT: The Arizona of Australia. Slogan: You Will Vanish Here And Never Be Found
ACT: The Rhode Island of Australia. Slogan: Why Are We A Thing?
Tasmania: The Alaska of Australia. Slogan: Stop Leaving Us Off Your Maps, You Bastards
Make your political comparisons accordingly, nation.