The General Election

norbie

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Yeah, it's finaly the 24th of November.

Pleeeease pjw rethink: let's not loose ONE vote. If you are unhappy with the two major parties you can always vote green or independent, but please don't loose your vote.
Don't forget there are a lot of countries, people would be happy to have the democratic right to vote!
 
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lmnop9876

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Yeah, it's finaly the 24th of November.

Pleeeease pjw rethink: let's not loose ONE vote. If you are unhappy with the two major parties you can always vote green or independent, but please don't loose your vote.
Don't forget there are a lot of countries, people would be happy to have the democratic right to vote!
I don't vote as a matter of principle. If i was going to vote, it would probably be for family first. my reasons for not voting are, a. I do not think the Government has the right to force anyone to vote, b. The United Nations and nearly every country in the world has recognised my indigenous right to refuse to participate in the political processes of this country, and c. I believe that the Australian Constitution and the whole Commonwealth of Australia is based on a lie and built on the back of invasion, oppression, and colonialism, and thus refuse to participate in its government.

and anyway, even if i did want to vote, it would be too late now, as I'm not enrolled and the election has been called. if I get fined for not voting, so be it.
 
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lmnop9876

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I heard that votes that aren't votes go to the current party? (say somebody's supposed to vote but he doesn't?)

and can anyone enlighten me what the preference is for Green?
votes that aren't votes aren't counted.
I'm not sure how the Greens have set up their distribution of preferences, although I imagine it would include Labor & the Democrats quite high on the list.
 
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Blessed-one

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votes that aren't votes aren't counted.
I'm not sure how the Greens have set up their distribution of preferences, although I imagine it would include Labor & the Democrats quite high on the list.

thanks for the info. It's interesting really.. in a way. Is the vote determined by the primary vote for The party? or to whom the preferences go to? :scratch:

pjw said:
If i was going to vote, it would probably be for family first. my reasons for not voting are, a. I do not think the Government has the right to force anyone to vote, b. The United Nations and nearly every country in the world has recognised my indigenous right to refuse to participate in the political processes of this country, and c. I believe that the Australian Constitution and the whole Commonwealth of Australia is based on a lie and built on the back of invasion, oppression, and colonialism, and thus refuse to participate in its government.

forfeiting the vote is like saying: let the government do what they want. Unless you can truly escape from the effect of the government, I see little value (no offence here) in not voting. At least if you vote, you're somehow affecting the outcome of which government gets to control Australian policy. What if that government listens more to the people but they lose because of missing votes? As somebody said in a previous post, getting to vote is a right that many people don't have in less democratic countries. It's a great privilege to have the right to vote -

- however much of a joke politicians make democracy out to be! but I don't think all politicians are made from the same cloth.
 
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lmnop9876

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thanks for the info. It's interesting really.. in a way. Is the vote determined by the primary vote for The party? or to whom the preferences go to? :scratch:
in the House, and with "below the line" Senate voting, the preferences are distributed however the person voting sees fit to distribute them. with "above the line" Senate voting, votes are distributed as the candidate/party have previously determined, and the person just marks a single vote for the candidate they wish to vote for.
forfeiting the vote is like saying: let the government do what they want. Unless you can truly escape from the effect of the government, I see little value (no offence here) in not voting. At least if you vote, you're somehow affecting the outcome of which government gets to control Australian policy. What if that government listens more to the people but they lose because of missing votes? As somebody said in a previous post, getting to vote is a right that many people don't have in less democratic countries. It's a great privilege to have the right to vote -

- however much of a joke politicians make democracy out to be! but I don't think all politicians are made from the same cloth.
for me, participating in the political process of this country is recognising that Aboriginal people have lost their right to sovereignty. I do not believe this to be the case, and I do believe that the whole Australian constitution and system of Government as it now stands is built on a lie, a lie that the courts established by said constitution have already shown to not apply, namely terra nullius. therefore, I refuse to participate (as the UN has recognised as my Indigenous right) in the political processes of a system that I believe is invalid and illegal.
 
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DavinMochrie

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Everyone is predicting a win for labour.

I believe that the liberals only maintained their power by bribing the public with materialism each election.

As my brother said: He only voted for the liberals because of the baby bonus at the last election, which was conveniently announced around election time.

But now Howard has shot himself in the foot with workchoices.

But part of me feels that the seceret rulers behind the government decided to get workchoices in at any cost and probably thought Howard has done his run.

I think the public has finally become awake with Workchoices.
 
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Bamboo_Chicken

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But if people are genuinely do not feel like any of the parties represent their views - surely they should be allowed not to vote?
I think the problem is that, given the choice to vote or not, the votes would mainly consist of middle/upper class. Looking at sociological studies from uni, I think it was something like 80% of the working class wounldn't vote if they didn't have to, and that, instead, it is the wealthier middle & upper classes that are interested in official politics. If that happens, the government is more likely to appease their voters - namely the middle/upper classes - and widen the already-viewable gap of inequality between the classes. If the parties don't need the votes of the working class, or those who are disinterested, I'm not optimistic enough to believe that they would make decisions benefitting the non-voters.
 
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