Have you turned 18 since the last election? Have you moved house since the last election?
The election looks like it's about to be called, and once it is, you have only THAT DAY to enrol, or 3 days to change addresses. So get on over to the electoral commission and make sure your details are correct. You really can't join in the whinging if you didn't even vote.
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Yes but u can whinge because you HAVE to vote! Its maybe the ONLY thing I like about the USA lol
ReplyDeleteAnd while I am at it, (mostly because I am bored lol) I dont like the fact that if you vote for a member in your local electorate, you may be voting for a party you dont want to get in power. I think this is the most silliest system! So what ends up happening...? People vote for the party and not the person...You cannot tell me that this is the best system lol.
ReplyDeleteAlso I dont like the way the party in power can choose their leader either. I want a leader who is going to represent Australia well...I don't even know why we even have a bloody Prime Minister at all! The focus on every election is the the Prime Minister and we have all seen how expendable the position is; get rid of them and get someone chosen by the people! Frick dont tell me I have chalked another one up for the yanks?? lol
Oh and I prolly shouldnt have commented, because I usually stay away from politics, religion etc...But if someone thinks that we have a great system of government here they are just pissing in the wind!
Oh and i meant the way the party can choose OUR LEADER not "their leader"... I think the country would be better off leaving the decisions to Paul the octopus!!! Vote 1 Paul...
ReplyDeleteENROL ENROL ENROL! Every robot step right up...and join the rabbits...
OK, one response per comment. :)
ReplyDeleteWe are about the only country in the world that has compulsory voting, and I can't make up my mind if it's a good thing or a bad thing.
Pros: Politics is more moderate because pollies have to appeal to all people, not just the most rabid ones who are most likely to vote. Our government has truly been elected by our people, not just ones passionate enough (and often, as a result, more extreme in all directions) to vote.
Cons: Lots of disinterested and intentionally ignorant people are contributing to our choice of government.
These are my practical considerations. On a principle level, I tend to think every citizen has an obligation to be involved in the political process.
I hope voting can become more streamlined as technology becomes plausible so that it loses more of the "pain in the arse" factor.
I can understand the desire to vote directly for our leader, but the flip side is... well exactly what has happened in the US. One person is easy to buy. So you might get to choose who leads the country, but you have no control over who's bribing them and doing other underhanded things to make sure they are far more answerable to other interests than to the people who elected them.
ReplyDeleteThe PM doesn't, technically, run our country. She leads her party, and they run our country. Which makes sense, because we voted in that party. It's an imperfect system, because as you say, your best local candidate may belong to a party you abhor (Turnbull seems a plausible example). On the other hand, if you have no parties, or lots of them, government tends to be unstable, and it's really hard to make big decisions or long term plans (witness Italy).
So I reckon it is the best system of the options we have kicking around the world at the moment, but clearly far from perfect. If I was going to change it, I probably wouldn't change the way we do the representation, because it's not that bad really. What I would do is include much more participation from the people between elections. I haven't got a full blown solution, but I'd suggest something along the lines of non-compulsory, internet-based voting on major policy decisions.
And we are already seeing increased popular discussion in these kinds of forums - blogs and GetUp and other online places, which has to be a Good Thing.
Technically the GG is our country's leader, which is possibly a bit messed up. Then again, I think it's pretty cool that our country doesn't really have a leader, it has a nominated representative, but she is answerable to her party, who we elected, and can't be a little dictator between elections. Well, unless, like Howard, they rule their party with iron fist. That's kinda hard to do in the Labor party. :)
ReplyDelete(Of course, the Labor party has its own issues, like enforcing voting on party lines, which really shits me.)