On Election Day I must admit I became rather lost as I attempted to fill in the massive white Senate paper. Instructions were to either number six boxes above the line or number a minimum of twelve boxes below the line. My attention was drawn to below the line. But I must admit I ran out of patience trying to sequentially mark all 151 candidates across 41 groupings!

The green House of Representatives ballot was a lot easier. In my electorate I think there were only six candidates. But even here some people became impatient or cynical.

In the Federal seat of Higgins one disenchanted voter penciled in an extra candidate giving them their first preference. The additional candidate was the heroic Jon Snow from the cable television series, Game of Thrones, fame. He is the immutable, indestructible “king of the north”!

Other volatile voters penciled in the name of the flamboyant SBS news reader, Lee Lin Chin, while another irate voter included the name, Harambe – the gorilla shot in May after a child fell into its enclosure in a Cincinatti zoo!

We may well laugh at this. But electing a government is serious business. And it’s important to honour our democratic responsibility to turn up at a polling booth and carefully choose our parliamentary representatives.

Choosing a government is a vital part of our responsibility as Christians. And this week we are reminded by the Old Testament prophet, Amos, that national leadership involves justice, integrity and a particular concern for the vulnerable and the poor. Jesus echoes this call and over the centuries the Church has honoured such a critical imperative.

Whatever happens in Canberra, it’s certainly not a game. Pray that our federal leaders will be faithful to what God commands. Pray that justice, mercy and compassion will override efforts to foster the self-interest of groups preoccupied with their own power and prosperity. Pray that the mutual well being of all people will have precedence over pressures to kowtow to the self-serving prejudices of groups intolerant of difference and diversity.

We live in uncertain, challenging times. Nominating the fictional hero, Jon Snow, on Election Day may look like a bit of fun. But choosing our leaders is, indeed, serious business.

Our future and the future of many others depend on it.

John Barr