A final word on the election.

I went to sleep last night worrying somewhat about what will happen at today's end.

But I woke up this morning with a pretty clear realisation of what the whole point of an election is. At the end of the day, no such thing as a single consensus of who will best lead Australia will ever come into existence, whether at this election or in the future.

In short, it doesn't actually matter what you believe in, or who you vote for, or even who wins. What it is important about an election is that the entire nation goes out and exercises a right that we were all born to, and generations before us fought for - a say in who is in charge of the nation.

It sounds cheesy, but for one day, it is eminently clear that democracy can and does work, is in fact working as we speak. People go out to polling booths, they take their kids and their dogs and they stand in line. No one speaks, but there's an atmosphere in the primary school assembly hall that says, "What we are doing matters. Maybe we hate election campaigns and spin, and we only do this every four years, but right here, right now, this is important."

So whatever happens today, be it a Labor victory, a Liberal one, or a hung parliament, no matter your emotions about the result, I think we can all take solace in the knowledge that whoever becomes Prime Minister will be so by our will, and our votes.