• 🇳🇿 🇲🇲 🇯🇵 🇨🇳 🇦🇺 🇦🇶 🇮🇳
    Australian & Asian
    Drug Discussion

    Welcome Guest!
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
  • AADD Moderators: swilow | Vagabond696

Politics in 2004

who are you voting for?

  • liberal/the nationals

    Votes: 18 20.0%

  • labor

    Votes: 20 22.2%

  • the greens

    Votes: 49 54.4%

  • the democrats

    Votes: 1 1.1%

  • another minor party

    Votes: 2 2.2%

  • i don't know

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • i don't care

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • i don't vote (non-australian citizen)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    90
drEaMtiMe*@# said:
hmmm, i never actually enroled myself to vote (i know; shame on me, shame on me)... and now im kinda scared if i do finally go to enrol they'll go right, that's like 3 years worth of fines for you! :(

anyone know the policy on this?
Click to expand...

They can fine you for not enrolling but they don't. The whole point is to encourage people to enrol and exercise their democratic right to vote, fining people for not enrolling in the past doesn't help anyone.

Trust me, I've done this and know plenty of others who have, you will not be fined for enrolling "late", whether thats four years or forty.

Regardless of how people vote, I hope everyone reading this takes the time to enrol and excercise their voice, God knows this country needs the youth vote more than ever, what with our rapidly ageing population and all.
 
i have actually been in two minds since the election has been called. im thinking of swinging my vote toward the greens actually now, just because of some of the stuff i read on their policies yesterday such as the gay marriage policy and the personal use of drugs policy.....

hmmm dunno yet though....
 
I'd at least like to have a party employed that sticks to their word. If they do something shitty, at least be fucking honest about it. John Howards main campaigns and tactics have been so motivated towards how to get more liberal voters (to keep him in power) rather than to do whats best for the country.

Hes forgetting the most important fundamentals. Don't let me start with eduction with more money going to private schools than public...*groan*

I hope they can hurry up and get someone like peter garret in whos an environmentalist, rocker, surfer and has probably taken loads of acid so he would be the sort of person with the right experiences to make decisions for the right reasons. Too many politicians get stuck in the political games which always get in the way of the interests of the country.

They don't see what their decisions do from a good enough perspective, its all a job to them riddled with games, media, tricks to better themselves, what a waste of time. We need someone to just stomp their foot down and say "shut the fuck up, all of you, I know how to solve all your problems and make the right decisions for the country. Who gives a fuck about your job, what is it compared to this country? Now listen and do what I say."

Until that happens politics will never be a subject to have faith in....So lets having said that, its not really worth worry about it is it? Just keep the worst party out.
 
I'd prefer not to vote on 'vibes' or 'gut feelings', and if I don't know much about a leading political figure Id go out and scour the media until I do.

Latham shoots from the hip, calls it as it is and I really respect that.

John Howard has been outed by senior bureaucrats in defence (who have passed a lie detector), officials in his own party, and even members of his own government as an out and out liar re. children overboard who stole an election on the basis of that lie.

To then, by relative contrast brand Mark Latham as 'completely untrustworthy' for no apparent good reason other than some vague feeling is beyond me.

The 'better the devil you know' argument is pure laziness as far as I'm concerned. Voting for an incumbent party on the justification that they are the incumbent is simply circular thinking.

I'm a card carrying labor party member and I'll be voting for my main man Marky Mark.

That's about all I have say.
 
Last edited:
onetwothreefour said:
^^^ exactly.

i don't mean to get personal, but it seems that most liberal voters do exactly that; if there's such good reason to fucking vote liberal, why don't you TELL US what it is?

and i mean this with no disrespect to you personally :) (any probs, feel free to pm me with random abuse ;)).
Click to expand...

But why should I? Although i probably don't follow politics as closely as others, i've been able to form my own opinion on what i think is best for me. Obviously there's always going to be pros and cons for both parties. Why should i preach the virtues of the liberal party? Am i going to convert the labor supporters on this site? Of course not. I don't want to either. I enjoy political discussion but all to often it turns nasty, where you have the staunch labor voters vs the staunch liberal voters when nobody is ever going to win the argument. Friendships are often soured through politcal discussions and for what?
 
^^^ no, and that's fair. but my point was a larger one; that most labor or greens voters seem far more willing (and obviously, imo, *able*) to back up their political convictions than those who vote liberal.

of course you shouldn't feel it necessary to justify your political views, i just get the feeling that liberals have far more difficulty actually doing so, and that is often the reason *why* they don't :)
 
Donny Don't: I have more respect fort people who can articulate why they vote a certain way than I do for people who agree with my political views without good reasoning. As such, I'd like to see your argumnets as to why another term in office for the Liberal party would be good for Australia.

To the people who were asking about preferences: You don't have to worry about preference deals - all they are is the parties deciding who to put on their "how to vote" cards. You don't have to vote according to the suggestions made by your party of choice - they are merely that: suggestions. You get to pick your own preferences and put the numbers in the boxes yourself.

To People making voting decions based on "gut feelings": please think about what you are doing. Why not educate yourselves on the issues that are out there and where the candidates stand on them. Pay attention to the (most unbiased) news, listen to interviews, read the hansards. Decide what issues you feel strongly about and select a candidate based on that, not on a "vibe" or who your parents' vote for. Your country deserves better than a guess.

Same goes for the "better the devil you know" argument, but I know I'd just be wasting my breath...

:\Smiley
 
Have done so, think Latham is a jerk, think his ideas about family suck, the "vibe" is just one small part of my overall reason not to vote for him.
 
^^^ anna, and all liberal voters: what do you have to say in response to: gay rights, tampa, refugees in a general sense, public versus private schooling, iraq, our relationship with dubya and the u.s.?

they're my main issues with the liberals (amongst plenty of smaller ones, don't worry), so i'd love to get a response from anyone... :)
 
smileyfish- i was under the impression that parties have preferences of voting for labor or libereal in the senate or something like that... so in actual fact, it *does* matter.

you wouldnt want to be in an electorate where you vote greens, not knowing the greens actually prefer and vote for liberal if you simply thought u were just getting greens.

if that makes any sense at all.

but thats just what i thought- who can back that up, and word it better than me? thanks :)
 
Howard is oh so good at manipulating himself into representing what seems to be an objective 'common sense' kind of vibe on most issues. Even when confronting questions that directly assert his dishonesty he manuvers out of them with practiced ease. We generally like to think of little johnny howard as a boring suburban accountant type, and the kind of kid we would have all given shit in high school. The reality is, he is probably one of the most gifted politicians of our generation, which makes it all the more regrettable to note that he is indeed a COMPLETE FUCKER. This prick is the Sun Tzu of Aussie politics, the ammount of bodies this dude has buried from his OWN party is testament to his staggering abilities of manipulation. He is also hideously (and I am talking Victorian era) socially conservative. Even if you agree with his economics, (which many do) this guy is NO progressive thinker. Remember, this is the focker who sent One Nation to the grave by just stealing all their policies.

If you are a liberal, and are looking for an alternative, Mark Latham is easily the most right winged opposition leader in the history of the party. In other words, to echo DrShrink, he differs in economic policy with Howard only in the fine details. If there was a time to jump ship, (and there is, just check out the current state of the world) that time is now.

For everyone else a little more left wing, VOTE MINOR PARTIES FIRST, and just preference labor ahead of the libs.

A note on Australia's full preferential voting system:
Your vote works like this. You order your preferences. If your first preference does not succeed in winning, your vote automatically is transferred to your second preference. If that fails too, it is sent to the third, and so on. What does this mean? THERE IS NO PENALTY FOR VOTING FOR A CANDIDATE WHO MAY NOT WIN.
For example: Say you want to vote green, but you know there is a snowball in hells chance of them getting up in your electorate, so you think 'right, fuck that, vote labor 1 instead.' THIS MISUNDERSTANDS THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM. You can still vote green 1, and preference labour 2 etc. If the greens fail to win that seat, YOUR FULL VOTE GOES TO LABOR. If they fail to win the seat, it devolves to the next in line, and so on. This is important to remember when you cast your vote. Preference your ballot like it is an outlandish fantasy for how you would like the government to look, because that is how it was designed to work.

Also, PAY NO FUCKING ATTENTION to the party aparatchik plebs handing out 'how to vote cards.' Ignore their fucking propaganda. You don't need it. As an example:
smileyfish- i was under the impression that parties have preferences of voting for labor or libereal in the senate or something like that... so in actual fact, it *does* matter.

No, it doesn't matter. PARTIES HAVE NO CONTROL OVER HOW YOUR VOTE IS DELIVERED UNLESS YOU FOLLOW THEIR HOW TO VOTE CARDS DISTRIBUTED OUTSIDE POLLING STATIONS, or you select THE TOP 'PARTY' LINE OF THE SENETE BALLOT, INSTEAD OF FILLING OUT THE WHOLE BOTTOM HALF. This is important.

:)
 
Well said -Thoth!

I agree the general public underestimates Howard. He is not a gibbering idiot like Bush, he is a conssumate politicician. What scares me most about him is his ability to convince Australians to think and feel what he wants them to. He says Australians don't care about him lying about Children Overboard, and lo, no-one cares that he lied. He is a supreme manipulator of public opinionand puts his own political survival above all else.

The Liberal party have admitted their advertising campaign this year will focus on delivering a subconscious negative association with Latham's image. Pay attention to this: the incumbent party is using psychology tricks in its advertising campaign. Politics has never been particularly fair or honest but this is a new low...

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10633778%5E2702,00.html

Choose your own preferences! The senate ticket looking intimidating? It is - there's a lot of people there. Why not download a copy from the AEC website and take your time over deciding where you want your preferences to go, then take this in with you and copy the details over when you go vote. You've made your own personal "how to vote" card.

:)Smiley
 
Where do you work? There are voting places in all areas.

Your work would make sure you are able to go vote, on lunch or whatever. Because everyone else has to aswell that works there. Im pretty sure in city sydney you can at town hall.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top