NEWS: Herald Sun [31/08/2004] - Greens policy backs illegal drugs

[smileyfish]

Beech: The current Labor economic policy differs only slightly from the Libera party. Hopefully the Labor policies will soon be costed by treasury to put fears of unsustainablility to rest.

Please don't vote Liberal purely for economics. Economics is not above all - what is the point of having a good economy when decent health care, education and home ownership are out of the reach of most of your countrymen? The picture is bigger than pure economics. Lies and manipulation should not be so readily forgiven.

Yes, the Greens have some radical views, but it's not like they are actually going to hold power. They may have the balance in the senate, but not in the house of reps., thus they will just be questioning policy and given the extreme right-wing views of both major parties, a bit of hard-left representation may not be a good thing.

Apologies for the thread-jacking. Hopefuly the Greens in the senate may actually stimulate real discussion on drug policy and reform. The voices are rising: Greens, medical professionals and front-line workers - the current policies aren't working. I think pretty soon the average Mum & Dad will stop believing drugs are the great evil the media and politicians make them out to be. The voices of reason are finally starting to be heard.

 

[JipTravolta]

The thing is, historically in Australia, when the Liberals have power the economy strengthens but social services (health, education etc) go to shit, and when Labour has power the economy slips but your social services become stronger. Its a difficlut balance.

Personally, I feel it would be unconscionable to vote for anyone but the Greens, social justice and sensible policies hold the most importance for me, after all what use is more wealth when society is falling to pieces with a huge rich/poor gap and no affordable education or health.

I'm ecstatic to see the Greens with the growing level of support they have now, it reaffirms my belief in Australia as a good society after the incredibly fucked things that have been done in our name in the past few years. The tide is swinging, the right-wingers know it and they're running fucking scared.

The conservative media can run as many blatantly derogatory articles about the Greens as they want, it's not going to turn away the voters who already support them.

 

[breaka da fuzz]

Senate- proportional representation

if i remember correctly the senate is elected by proportional representation. basically it aims to produce election results where winners gain seats in proportion to the votes they secure.

this link explains in detail howe this system works

http://australianpolitics.com.au/voting/systems/proportional.shtml

quite a different system to the lower house.
this is the reason why the minor parties gain seats in the senate.

 

[tranzystate]

I totally agree smileyfish. The Liberal party has two main election platforms. The first is that they are the only ones fit to run the economy. The truth is that in the long run you could vote in a monkey as PM and interest rates will move in the same manner as if the worlds best economist did the job. For Gods sake interest rates are set by the Reserve Bank who is independent of the Government, and at the end of the day the decision to adjust them is a complicated one based on international as well as domestic factors. But little Jonny still tries to convince all the Mums and Dads who went into debt to invest in property that if a Labour Government get in interest rates will shoot up and they will be fucked.

Secondly he just like Bush he tells everybody that we are under attack by the terrorists and that under a Labour Government the dirty Muslim Indonesians will be across the Timor Strait before you can say "thats unAustralian" and kill our children whilst we are sleeping (btw this is a dramatic extrapolation and not my own view, I do not intend to insult Muslims or Indonesians.).

The worst thing about that is that the average Australian is dumb enough to believe it. It is for this reason that democracy never works. Nazi Germany had democracy and the majority simply decided to persecute the minority. What if in Australia a political party gained absolute power and decided to change the law so that a certain group of minorities could be slaves for the majority. Thats democracy for you, majority rules.

As for you Pilltastic I would have thought that from your name you would be enlightened like the rest of us but that is sadly not the case. You say that if drugs were freely available the whole world would be fucked. It is obvious that the free availability of drugs has fucked your ability to compile a coherent argument. My favorite drug is MDMA and I choose to consume it only on special occasions, not because I don't have access to it, and not because I cant afford it but because I simply don't want to. Now some people might not be able to resist temptation but if we lived in a world where drug use was in the open rather than behind closed doors these people would be able to be identified and helped rather than persecuted as under the current regime.

 

[The_Great_Refusal]

Greens Proposed Policies

Here are some drug related proposed policies from the greens website.
The greens have a string chance of winning the seat of Melbourne city. All the inner city folks on this board should take a look.
______

3.24
independent research into the effects of short and long term use of cannabis and other illegal drugs, including cocaine, morphine, amphetamines, LSD, ecstasy and other drugs as they appear in youth and other subculture

3.25
investigations of options for the regulated supply of social drugs such as ecstasy in controlled environments, where information will be available about health and other effects of drug use

3.26
more social education and other programs on the dangers of drugs of concern such as GHB and the so-called ‘date-rape’ drugs

3.27
continued research, expert advice and public debate on the most socially responsible options for the use of cannabis including that of eventual legalisation.

more policies here http://www.greens.org.au/policies/

 

[keystroke]

there's a more detailed thread that's already available in Australian Social here


if you get a chance take a look at that

 

[backindauk]

The fact that they want to possibly legalise said substances wont make me vote for them


heres to another 4 years of Johnny!

 

[keystroke]

vote for Mark Latham, at least he admitted to smoking pot AND inhaling.


and besides, Johnny has done his time.... badly.