The music has abruptly stopped for Greens leader Adam Bandt

As those of you who have been paying attention will know, last week’s federal election delivered a thumping win to incumbent* Prime Minister Albanese and his Labor Party.

The result surprised even the most one-eyed* Labor supporters with the size of the majority and the decimation* of the Liberal Party.

The other big take out from the election was that the leaders of two of our biggest political parties lost their seats. Gasp! The happy-go-lucky Liberal leader Peter Dutton in Queensland’s Dickson, and Greens leader and chief protester Adam Bandt in the Victorian capital Melbourne, both lost their meal tickets* and will have to put all their office belongings into a cardboard box and trudge forlornly* out the front door of Parliament House in Canberra and join the unemployment queue.

Dutton had been there for 24 years and Bandt has held Melbourne since 2010, so both were very familiar to the electorate* – probably too familiar, it seems, because they both got tossed. Bandt’s style of politics was very activist*. He had taken the Greens into the new territory of political protest big time, particularly on the war in Gaza.

He was also not afraid to block government policies in the Senate when they didn’t agree with his Greens agenda, as happened with housing.

During the election campaign, it was predicted that Labor and Albo wouldn’t get enough votes to form a majority government and would need the Greens’ assistance. With this in mind, Mr Bandt had his peacock tail up* and campaigned all over the country with a giant toothbrush (he had a policy wanting to add dental to Medicare) and held “rave* parties” where he DJ'd, obviously trying to attract the younger voting public. You have to be 18 to vote, by the way.

I like to draw the outgoing Greens leader and have drawn several cartoons of him at his DJ mixing desk, trying to make Albo dance to the Greens’ tune.

When the news came through after the election that Adam Bandt had lost his seat to a rival Labor candidate, it was a gigantic shock. I knew I had to create a cartoon on this breaking news.

I thought I would continue his “DJ” theme and sketched him at the controls of a mixing desk, looking rather sad that the sun had set on his political career … and that line gave me an idea.

The Greens are strong supporters of renewable* energy, and I figured that Bandt’s DJ equipment would be 100 per cent powered by wind and solar but, sadly, when the sun went down on his seat in the parliament, the music stopped.

“Out of Power” is the tagline on the cartoon. It was the end of Greens leader Adam “DJ” Bandt.

The “doof doof*” disappeared with a poof*.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• incumbent: the person currently holding a position
• one-eyed: myopic, one-sided, partial, unable to see another point of view
• decimation: severely reducing something, widespread destruction
• meal tickets: something that provides you with income and the money you need to live
• forlornly: sadly, unhappily
• electorate: eligible Australian voters
• activist: someone who works to bring about political or social changes by campaigning in public or working for an organisation
• tail up: an expression that means feeling confident and in good spirits about something
• rave: large dance party with electronic music, typically featuring a DJ
• renewable: energy produced using natural resources like sun and wind that are constantly replaced and never run out
• doof doof: slang to refer to the beat of techno music used at dance parties known as raves
• poof: puff of smoke

EXTRA READING

Albanese’s Labor scores landslide

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QUICK QUIZ

1. Who lost the seat of Dickson in Queensland at the federal election?
2. Who lost the seat of Melbourne?
3. How long did Opposition Leader Peter Dutton serve as a Member of Parliament?
4. What unusual item did Adam Bandt travel with during his campaign?
5. Why does Mark feature Bandt in full DJ mode in his cartoon?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Design a card
Design a special card or meme that could be given or sent to the leader of a political party who has just lost their seat in an election. You can use humour if you want! 

Time: allow at least 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Civics and Citizenship, Visual Communication Design

2. Extension
How do you think cartoons like this help us to understand or think about  important events? Create a mid map or brainstorm your ideas on this question.

Time: allow at least 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, History

VCOP ACTIVITY
What happens next?
Imagine this story is part of an animated series made up of three cartoons. The three cartoons tell the complete story and this article is only Part One. Think about what the rest of the story could be and draw the next two cartoons that tell the story.

Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity

Curriculum Links: English, Visual Arts, Visual Communication Design, Critical and Creative Thinking