Aussie Elections 2010

[Guest Vapourware]

Since our elections are drawing closer, I thought it might be a good idea to have a thread on it

So - who's everyone voting for?

I'm most likely voting for the Greens, as I normally do.

I don't like Labor very much and the Libs are worse. Tony Abbott seems to forget that Australia is a secular country and Labor's a mess.

HOWEVER - the Libs have pledged to give the mental health sector a massive boost in funding, which the mental health sector desperately needs...and geeze, that might make voting a little more complicated.

[Velvet Elvis]

I think the fact that you use IRV rocks.

[bfff]

Vote 1 GREEN!

I am handing out how-to-vote cards for the Greens. It should be any interesting exposure experience.

P.S. Greens mental health policy: From Greens site

[crtclms]

I want a parliament, too. Why can't the US have a parliament? *stamps feet*

It would be so totally rad to actually vote for a somewhat progressive political party, and not "conservative lite."

[isis]

i was excited with Kevin 07 but now that he's been ousted... well actually he was exciting and then he seemed to be a bit all over the place, although im sure bad media makes the picture a lot different than it actually is.

I like the idea of Julia Gillard as a woman... I definitely prefer Labor to Liberal. I do not agree with Tony Abbott bringing religion so much into politics and he's a bit of a nutter.. i think it would be better with someone a bit more - rational. I also think that theres a better chance of legalising gay marriage and improving the situation with asylum seekers if Labor is in, because Liberals have a very archaic kind of view on a lot of things. And with Tony Abbott there, we'd never see anything 'fair' happening, since he's catholic and very by the book.

if you see news.com.au they have a vote-a-matic 2.0 which is a survey which gives you a rundown of all the major issues and you pick your views, and it shows you which party is most like your views.

I will probably vote Greens or Labor, I might check Greens preferences and where they go, because if they go to Labor I'll probably vote greens. I like the idea of voting below the line, but to be honest I don't feel like numbering ALL those boxes...

I question people's ability to actually think with any logic when they seriously consider family first.

[Guest Vapourware]

The American system is not too bad really in theory, it's a little on the paranoid side but the intention of checks and balances is not a bad concept. One flaw we have is when the upper and lower houses are held by a majority party - then basically anything a government wants gets through. As long as it's constitutional, of course.

I'm definitely voting Green now. I hope the Aussie Sex Party does well too, I like their policies.

[bluelikejazz]

If anybody still isn't sure who they want to vote for get up! has put out a handy scorecard on some of the most important issues.

[nalgas]

I hope the Aussie Sex Party does well too, I like their policies.

I was just going to say that I wish I lived there so I could vote for them. It's very unusual for a political party of any kind to come along that doesn't have any major positions I have a problem with. I don't know every single little thing about them and might not agree on every little detail, but for the most part I have no complaints. We could use something like that here. You know, and some sort of system where they could have any sort of impact at all without needing to first somehow magically control an unrealistically large portion of the government...

[Courtenay]

Just voted below the line at the local primary school and thanks to belowtheline.cc it didn't take a lifetime to do It was hard to pick which parties were worst though even with the help of belowtheline. Some of them seemed just as ridiculous as each other as I got towards the bottom of my preferences.

Did Greens with preference to Labor. 

[Velvet Elvis]

Just get rid of that silly guy who wants to censor your internet.

[Guest Vapourware]

x2 Greens vote down the hatch!

I thought about doing below the line voting too but I got too lazy. The only reason why I didn't go for the Aussie Sex Party was because Greens are bigger and can effect more change. Their policies are fairly similar too.

[Guest Vapourware]

Election time's closed in the West, let's get down to it!

Liberals currently just slightly in front: http://vtr.aec.gov.au/

[Guest Vapourware]

Hung parliament looks most likely, with probable Liberal minority government. Not really MY personal preference...I'm still hoping upon hope for Labor minority government + Greens + Greens-leaning independent.

On the bright side, the Greens won Melbourne!

[crtclms]

Wow. Is that as surprising as it seems to me?

[BIMBO]

For sure. Just thought I'd add.. the Greens MI policies were by far the best. It's about time mental health services became important in an election.

[bluelikejazz]

a boring election turned out to be really interesting...

[Guest Vapourware]

Anyone still following our protracted election?

I've been watching Bob Katter the Mad Hatter. The guy who thinks he can bring down the government, wants the Kimberleys in WA to become part of the NT and rants about fruit bats one time on ABC during an interview. He's crazy and scary, but I guess he's entertaining.

[exl2398]

Sex party? Explain.

I take it liberal there and liberal here mean two different things?

[crtclms]

He wants to change the borders of W.A.? That just sounds insane.

I know that there is still something of a deadlock, but I don't know the details, to be honest.

[isis]

Ok the Australian Sex Party - here there are many different parties, although only a few are significant. The sex party started because of the proposed internet filter, and they also have a pretty good lineup of ideas to do with investigating child abuse and supporting gay marriage etc. They have been a bit more entertaining and sort of became popular because of a number of funny ads combined with hilarious interviews where they totally rocked against other very conservative parties whose policies dont make too much sense.

Changing the borders of WA isn't as nuts as it may sound, because WA is HUGE and not that many people live in the northern parts. Most of the people in WA are located in or around Perth, or on the coast, and the rest of it is just desert and bush. I really have no idea whether it would be a good or bad idea, but Northern territory has quite a significant area of national park, and they might think they can do a better job. In any case, WA is massive, but its not like you'd have to get a lot of people to suddenly be in another state. There are 21 million people approx in australia, and most of them live on the eastern side of australia.

At the moment we are still waiting for the Independents to make up their minds about which party they are going to support. This happens because our lower house is voted in with a 'first past the post' or majority vote, based on first and subsequent preferences. Smaller parties direct their preferences to other parties so that they don't win but still influence the election. In this case, the party or coalition of parties that was to win needed 76 seats, and neither got 76. They have about 72 or 73 each, and the remaining seats went to Greens and Independents. Which means that they then have to decide which party they will give the power to be in government. There are 3 independents that have been working together as a team to decide, so it depends on their decision as to what will happen, because it could still go either way. This is generally really annoying and if they don't hurry up we might all go back to the polls to vote again. Because it was so close, the counting of votes took longer because they recounted a lot to make sure and when its really obvious (like the last election) it doesnt matter so much, but this time, its almost equal.

In Australia, the Liberal Party is conservative, more like Republicans, except they don't support a Republic, since we are still part of the Commonwealth. It is represented by the colour blue, just to confuse things. The Labor party is more liberal in nature, (less conservative) and is more like the Democrats, except represented by the colour red, and some of them support a Republic, (but that won't happen for a while, if ever).

If thats not confusing enough, both parties are fairly similar, in that neither are extremely conservative or liberal in nature and regardless of which way it goes, fairly similar things will happen in Australia. There are obviously differences in policy, but for most Australians, it doesnt actually make a massive difference. The liberal party is more 'right wing' and the labor party more 'left wing' but both are really not that far from the center.

I would suggest reading up online if none of what i've written made sense... www.abc.net.au/news has good coverage of the election, and wikipedia probably explains our voting system and our major parties more effectively.

[exl2398]

Thanks for the explainations. Down with the liberals, then. Kind of odd that they call themselves that, though, I must say. And the Sex Party is oddly named, but seems alright.

[isis]

yes well, every political system has its own brand of strangeness i think. And the sex party - i agree, it would do better with a less shocking name.

[Guest Vapourware]

YES!! LABOR GOVERNMENT!!

The lesser of two evils but I'd go for Julia Gillard over Tony Abbott anyday.

RE: Aussie Sex Party - at least they got your attention, right? I thought it was clever because it was the sort of name that would spark further interest into who they really were.