There’s no denying The Handmaid’s Tale is terrifying viewing, positing as it does an all-too-possible dystopia where Old Testament religion has become the basis for a theocratic government that forces people – especially women – into specific roles. In its wake, there have been in the US warning of the slippery slope that could see their fertile-yet-morally-heterodox women forced into red robes and white wings.
But it’s not the sort of thing that could ever happen in Australia. Here’s why...
Watch the first episode of The Handmaid's Tale here:
We’ve always been deeply suspicious of religious rhetoric
From the moment the First Fleet slid into Port Jackson, it was a lot easier to get sly grog channels up and running than convince anyone to help build a church. (We got in 1793, and it was burnt down by convicts in 1798.)
No matter what the shadow-jumpers and curtain-twitchers in the far right tell you, there’s zero chance we’re going to see anything resembling sharia law in Australia. Yes, the mandatory 11pm closing of NSW bottlos feels like religion-inspired lawmaking. And the in NSW and Queensland certainly smacks of Handmaid's Tale-type legislation, but the coupled with the of maintaining the status quo gives the impression that things will change soon.
We also have an in-built aversion to totalitarianism
It’s a cliche of Australian politics that when one major party is in power at a federal level, we tend to vote in the other party on a state level across the nation. This duopoly on governance ensures cooler heads prevail in a crisis – or at least both sides argue to a stalemate. Incidentally, this is another benefit of our compulsory voting laws – it’s very difficult for extremists to pander to Middle Australia in an electoral campaign, when in other countries all they have to do is energise the lunatic base to put them in power then commence the ritual quashing of civil rights and suspension of the Constitution. Mate, here , and we don’t even have a Bill of Rights.
Queensland under Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen bore some similarities to Gilead. Source: AAP
We don’t have the military culture to enforce nationwide theocracy
The only time and place that something like this could have happened in Australia was Queensland under the aegis of Joh Bjelke-Petersen. in The Courier Mail about Queensland's longest-serving premier could just as easily be describing Gilead: "It was also a time of great suspicion of new ideas and an iron-fisted stifling of dissent and intolerance of debate or questioning of government actions."
Also, every public scene in The Handmaid’s Tale is backed by the threatening presence of militiamen with semi-automatic weaponry, which would be a far harder ask Down Under. You’d basically be looking at building a violent theocracy with the backing of the only population sector with access to a significant arsenal – and farmers have better things to do with their time, like bringing in the harvest, finding wives on reality TV, and maintaining their conservative choke-hold on the Australian government through legitimate means such as and . Who needs God when you have Barnaby Joyce looking after your interests as Deputy PM?
We’re way too pro-science to ditch the tech
It’s not as though the Federal government has made a firm commitment to , or of everyone who didn’t go to a private school, is it?
Oh.
Well... Questacon is still pretty popular with visitors to Canberra. And we’re about due for a remake of The Curiosity Show. It’s probably fine, right? Right?
The Queen wouldn’t allow it
She’s fairly hands-off with the colonies these days, but there’s no chance HRH would allow Margaret Atwood’s dystopia to become a reality in one of her favourite holdings – since 1952, she's visited us 16 times. Although she does look as good in green as Serena Joy...
The Handmaid’s Tale 2 airs on SBS and SBS On Demand 8.30pm, from Thursday April 26. #HandmaidsTale
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