Australian General Election November 24
 

There's no thread for this topic as far as I can tell, either that or us Australians are so insignificant it's plummetted to the bottom already.

So yeah, discuss. I myself must confess I am a supporter of John Howard and the Liberal Party to my bootheels, but that's just my point of view. Actually I like Treasurer Peter Costello a lot and I hope the Liberal Party/National Party coalition wins so he gets to the Lodge at long last.

My politics is weird like that, I'm largely what you would call RINO or even a "Democrat" in U.S. politics, but I'm a firm believer in freedom of association and low taxes/full employment, hence my support for the centre-right coalition here in Aus.

I am starting work on Monday for the Labour party woot!

Which one?

ha ha K-Rudd

Whereabouts you working?

I hear he has custody of Britney's kids now.

melbourne, where are you?

Go Rudd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! even though he has a mouth that looks like a cats arsehole I wanna see what he can do. I'm so fucking sick of Howard man I reckon it really is time for him to go.

god fuck no more howard plz

lol.


okay being inside the beast that is a major political party is very twilight zone. My cynisism has reached an all time high just from listening to and watching how things operate from the inside. It's not only interactions with political oponents but between people who are trying to achieve the same goal.

I'll admit I'm shitting myself over this campaign. Workchoices and a decent opposition (I quite like Rudd) should have Howard out on his arse but I don't have faith in the Australian people to do it.

yeah you're not wrong there.

Doesn't help that it feels very much like certain media outlets like 7, 9 and the Hun are obviously pulling for Howard. I couldn't believe my eyes and ears as I watched 7's 4:30 news presenter practically beg the bloke from newspoll to tell her that Howard was still a chance after that last poll that swang Rudd's way.

I'm with you on that. But I think it's the end of the road for Howard. Costello will be pissed off. :D Howard did a really good job with the Australian economy especially in the early years and I'm a little surprised voters are forgetting that. Then again... they are voters.

Labor as a party might as well not have existed for 10 of the last 11 years tho. What a hopeless excuse for a political party.

(me = Australian living in USA)

Can you vote abroad? How does it work for Australians?

oh yeah he's gotta vote, I had to last time when i was in the UK, lines of pissed aussies at the embassy trying not to fall over. Its compulsory to vote if your a citizen.

yoshinobu's revenge totally agree with that. the labour party have been a poor excuse for an opposition, form leadership merry go rounds, how many times for Beazley? to no policy that was appealing to the majority of voters for the last two elections at least. Howard love him or not knew how to speak to the issues at the forefront of people's minds

It's not compulsory to vote, it's compulsory to front up at a polling booth so they can tick your name off. Then you can just leave, draw dicks all over the selection form or whatever.

yes very true.

but to answer Ropey's question if your over 18 you have to be on the electoral role. If not you get fined. if you are on the electoral role and don't vote you are also fined. Democracy in action.

This is true, it's been painful watching Labour in opposition shooting themselves in the foot for so many years.

I don't think it says much for the Australian voting public that what Howard says has been successful, the man has some terrible ideas and some of the policies they've been following, Jesus :noway:

I really can't stand him though, so colour me biased I guess.

My anus is sore from the diarrhea I had yesterday.

went to a public forum last night in a safe labour seat, The Libs didnt bother to so citing scheduling conflicts, which where then explained away by the moderator. I was the youngest person there by a mile, does no one care when the seat is safe?

voted yesterday, final answer "the greens" lock it in eddie.

the real answer, who did you prefernece in this bs instant runoff voting, and 2 eddie you shall never be my prezident, go elizabeth ii any day or failing that b0lly i. and go australians for staying number 3 on the politics forum. and let me say this, even though the labor reunion may be going, it will last only as long as kevin krudd + julia gillard + ginger reyes + jeff schroeder. then we'll all drown in al gore's global warning.

centrebet is paying $4.35 for a coalition win ... think i'll be slipping a lazy 20 on that horse this afternoon
I consider this my contribution to the australian political landscape

country's gonna be fucked again if labor win.

no one seems to remember or even know about paul keating's run and the way he handled the economy and the resulting recession. supposedly we're due for another recession next year and if labor are in, it's gonna be handled terribly and yeah, we'll be fucked all over again.

anyone in their right mind (admittedly there are few) can't stand the coalition for maybe not-so-obvious reasons (as in, besides criticising howard for the way he fucking looks...), but putting a labor government in now, especially when our economy is doing so well (93 cents to the US dollar i think? i understand this is only one facet of it and probably has more to do with the US economy going down the shitter, but the point still stands), is just asking for trouble.

sorry about all the brackets

because to some unselfish people there are more important things than money.

human rights
equality
environment
war

the liberal / coalition history and current stances on these issues makes me angry.

i'd rather be poor and in debt than have the worst of the above other issues.


and to answer the question of my preferences:

my representative preferences went to labor.
my senate vote was green above the line.

don't be an idiot man

the government has nothing to do with any of that stuff. come on you think labor are interested in your human rights? they're interested in money and power just like any other sociopath politicians and they're always going to put the economy first. this is capitalism, wake up and smell the horsehshit

and i think this is the dumbest thing you've ever said

first off i don't think labor are perfect, or the best. and i never said so. they are much better than the coalition though.

i voted greens. i think they have the best ideas for this country.

how can you think the government has no effect on those issues? they decide the national stance and action on war. they decide what is legal or not in terms of discrimination; including gender, sexuality, race, etc. they decide what environmental standards businesses must keep. it is only the government that has the most immediate power to control these issues with legislation on a national scale.

yes interest rates and taxes and economics are under their control too.

isn't the whole liberal scare campaign based on the fact that labor will "screw up" the economy? that would be almost impossible to do if it was their first priority.
"can you afford to pay your mortgage under a labor government" - pretty important stuff liberal is pushing there. big world issue, mortgage repayments.

but it's all about values and principles. money doesn't mean much to me. having australians in the war means a lot to me. liberals claiming that producing 4.5 times our fair share of the worlds current high level carbon emissions as being "ok" means a lot to me (sourced from liberals own policy website - australia is producing 1.5% of the worlds carbon emissions. our percentage of the worlds population is just 0.32%). i could go on, but i wasn't trying to argue huge issues here, it's pretty pointless. i mean we all know where to go to get the information, i'm just sharing my point of view. well at least i hope we are all smart enough not to rely on the information the media feeds us, and to actually read through each parties policies available online at each parties website.

money is not the be all and end all. regardless of how many people believe so, it's a personal issue and a personal choice, you don't have to play the game if you don't want to. there are many alternative sustainable and in my opinion better ways to live. it's not easier, but to get rewards in life, in this case the reward of a healthy planet, you have to make some sacrifices. it's not rocket science to understand that.

Conservative labour politicians = :|

Ruddslide!

I hope Rudd is even just half as competent as what he pretends to be. Australia took a while to grow up after the Hawke-Keating years (granted, Hawke and Keating were both tenacious politicians). Values and principles mean nothing if they can't be put into action without jeopardy. I get the feeling the whole Labor campaign is based on embracing people's desire for change and something new, but essentially without a lot of substance.

I'll miss ol' Johnny Howard. I remember him from the days he fought for Coalition leadership with Andrew Peacock. Now that Rudd is in power, I really hope for Australia's sake that he does as good a job.

^ I felt a little sad for john when I saw this photo
http://blogs.abc.net.au/photos/uncat...p1020304_2.jpg

I guess people like clever slogans and T-shirts more than full employment and a thriving economy!!!


Im disagree with Howard on a number of Issues (eg monarchy ) but I respect him as a very good political leader.

BUT

KEVIN07 gives me the total creeps... the campaign was all smoke and mirrors - man behind the curtain stuff.... "An educational revolution"...wow....wtf does that even mean...oh and my personal fav.....faster broadband...wait...did you hear the words "faster broadband"kids...im a rock star!!!! And guess what the kiddies buy into it. get ur kevino7 shirts on line!


Its like the episode of the Simpsons when homer makes runs for sanitation commissioner... makes a bunch of crazy promises then fills the town full of crap..


oh well, let the interest rates sky rocket...(and btw in my line of work ill be reaping all the benefits)

^ yeah seriously, you guys just got Tony Blair mark 2, enjoy the spin

sigh

maybe my biggest problem with this whole election was howard losing his seat to maxine mckew

voting out a politician with 30 years experience and a successful career as prime minister in favour of a journalist with exactly zero years political experience made me lose faith in the country all over again. the mind boggles.

man

just watch australia turn to shit

I have to agree with you there. It's only the second time ever a PM has lost his seat.

well, just to even out the political spectrum a bit, i did put liberal as my last preference

i dont really see labour as being any better/worse than liberal, but it'd be nice to see the leader of our country give a shit about something other than making us all rich

during the entire month of campaigning, howard and costello couldnt open their bloody mouths without mentioning 'interest rates' or the 'economy'