The 2010 federal election campaign is likely to be remembered as the boring election.
The large volume of jaded commentary and analysis was unfortunate, as on any objective assessment the policy differences between Labor and the Coalition were greater in 2010 than in many other recent elections.
In Wollongong, however, something different happened. Here, the election of 2010 served to reinforce the vital role of education in our region.
Typical of this focus was the organisation of the major candidates' forum at the University of Wollongong, by the Wollongong Undergraduate Students' Association.
In most other seats, these types of events were held at clubs or community halls, with Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard appearing at the Rooty Hill RSL.
The contents of the Wollongong debate were just as telling, with Labor candidate Steven Jones recalling his past as a UOW student and Labor, the Greens and the Socialist Alliance all stressing their commitments to restoring funding to student organisations.
Jones, it should be noted, is not the only local political leader with a background at UOW.
Socialist Alliance candidate Jess Moore is a former president of the UOW Students' Association, as is Shellharbour MP Lylea McMahon.
The Students' Association current Treasurer, Jess di Blassio, contested the Campbelltown-based seat of Macarthur for the Greens this year, while academic George Takacs stood for them in Cunningham.
It wasn't just these candidates, however, who showed that they recognised the importance of education during the campaign.
Cunningham MP Sharon Bird, along with Greens candidate Peter Moran, Moore and Jones formally pledged themselves to "fund our universities, create a more equitable system of Youth Allowance" and to "support student representative organisations".
These were and are not insubstantial commitments.
Indeed, the gulf between the major parties is particularly wide on these and other education issues.
During Labor's 2007-2010 term, changes to the Youth Allowance were introduced only after a protracted struggle in the Senate, whilst when it comes to student organisations, the supportive policies of Labor and the Greens appear in stark contrast to the ideological opposition of the Liberals. Indeed, it is notable that while the Coalition sought to distance its self from WorkChoices, it presented positions on education which have changed little, if at all, since the era of John Howard.
Aside from their aforementioned ideological attachment to the failed voluntary student unionism experiment, the Liberals promised to re-introduce full-fee paying places for Australian undergraduates, which were abolished by Labor in 2008 as socially unjust.
The divergent approaches of the Government and Opposition on both these items were and are matters of national importance.
The commentators, however, seemed to be more interested in such trivia as Julia Gillard's faith, the menacing yet clownish behaviour of Mark Latham and the soporific rehashing of the events surrounding Kevin Rudd's downfall.
Australia's opinion makers, it seems, could well do with a lesson from Wollongong as to what is and is not worthy of attention in an election campaign.
Chris Monnox is president of the Wollongong Undergraduate Students' Association
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