I WOULD like to draw to Senator Nick Xenophon’s attention to the 1892 English Court of Appeal case Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Company.

The company had advertised a 100 pound reward for anyone who took its carbolic smoke ball as instructed and subsequently contracted the flu.

Mrs Carlill took the smoke ball and got the flu. She demanded the 100 pounds – a substantial sum in those days. The court held that Mrs Carlill had an enforceable contract and awarded her the 100 pounds.

Xenophon said before the election that he would give a bottle of Grange to any journalist who correctly predicted a hung Parliament. Readers of this column may recall that last Friday I gave eight reasons why there would be a hung Parliament and why it would be a good thing.

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The column ran as usual on Newsport and The Canberra Times, and the opinion editors of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald also had the good sense to give it a run, too.

Further, the previous Monday on Port Douglas Radio, where I have a weekly gig with former US State Department official and station owner Michael Gabor, I said, “Predicting elections is a bit of a mug’s game, but I am predicting a hung Parliament.”

I cited the closeness of the polls and the disaffection with major parties throughout the democratic world.

My point is not to claim the Grange (presuming the Coalition does not scrape the 76 seats).

For heavens sake, Nick, do not send it to The Canberra Times or Newsport – knowing journos it will vanish like a snowball in the Gobi desert.

Nor is my point to deliver a lesson in elementary contract law. But rather to draw a few lessons and ask where to from here.

The election made clear that voters hold health and education dear and will not tolerate their under-funding. Nor will they buy trickle-down tax cuts for the rich.

But we are going to have to live within our means or end up paying large interest bills instead of having money for health an education. It is fine to borrow for productive infrastructure which will pay for itself over time, but it is madness to keep borrowing for ordinary recurrent spending.

In short we have both a revenue and a spending problem. The election tells us people will accept fair revenue measures. Labor was not punished for tightening negative gearing and capital gain tax. The Coalition was punished, but not for tightening superannuation perks, rather for cutting corporate tax.

So the place is not ungovernable if you listen to what the voters are saying. Some higher taxes at the higher end to pay for education and health, especially public education and public health, will be accepted.

Also, major parties are seen as serving those who pay them – big business and unions.

The rise of One Nation should tell us that we need a mature debate about population policy and the results of excessive population growth (infrastructure stress, congestion, environmental degradation etc).

Rather than hitting on the trickle of refugees, we should recognise that the seeming addiction of the major parties to high immigration is the real sign that we have lost control of our borders. And it is causing disaffection.

Perhaps the biggest lesson of all from the election is the importance of education and equality of opportunity in education. Without it ignorant, xenophobic candidates will get elected by ignorant, xenophobic voters. Without it, voters will continue to be duped by the Murdoch press into voting against their best interests.