"Let's go vote together!" Steve suggested, grinning at the idea. "Let's vote as a band!"

"Not if you're gonna vote fucking Liberal again" Eric replied from behind the drum kit.

"I told you, dude, that was one time. And I was a kid. It was my first time, I just voted how my parents voted."

"What's all the big deal, anyway?" Mal asked. "I mean it's just an election. It's like, there's a whole bunch of boring people talking about boring stuff, and everyone gets all excited about it! They're all the same, anyway." He thought about this. "Except Bob Brown. He's cool. I'd vote for him if he was going for Prime Minister."

Eric rolled his eyes. "Mal, first of all, you're not in his electorate. Second, he can't run for Prime Minister, he's a senator. And third - the Greens aren't . . ." He gave up. "Just, you're too young, Mal."

"I'm only a couple of years younger than you!"

"It makes a difference, though. What do you remember about '96?"

"Not a lot." Mal thought about it. "I can remember there was a lot of Nirvana on the radio. Wait, was there? When did Cobain top himself again?"

"Yeah, exactly" Eric said. "So you can't remember Keating. You can't remember what the country was like back then."

"Hot and dry" said Steve. "It's only ever hot and dry."

"It was just . . . there were ideas then!" Eric said wistfully. "Everything wasn't all about money. We all thought we were going to become a republic. No-one thought the arts were a waste of time . . ."

"Dude, you were fourteen!" Mal laughed.

"He was a square" Steve said.

"Yeah, and you were a Liberal" Eric replied. "I know what I'd rather be."

"Yeah, well if Keating was so great, how come he got kicked out?"

Eric shrugged. "Can't remember" he said.

"Anyway" Mal said with insight that shocked Eric and Steve for its keenness, and the fact that it was several minutes too late, "we can't vote together. Don't we all live in different voting places?" He tuned a string on his bass and looked at them both expectantly. "What are we gonna play next?" he asked. "The new one?"