Should voting be compulsory?

[ozbreaker]

that was a quality show tonight. Ah sweet sweet satire....

 

[silvia saint]

^^^
i just hope abc funding is not cut so much as to stop them picking up the next chaser outing.

 

[- l - u - c - e -]

No way! People who dont follow all this crap about who governs our country dont vote properly. They will just tick whoevers names off to avoid the fine. I know a lot of people who do it, its bullshit and I know I will do the same.
It should be by choice. At least then whoever got chosen to be the government, it would be fair dinkum, and not just luck!

 

[ozbreaker]

^^ *points to the US system..*

i still think it forces people to have a go.

and just because they are like that now it doesn't mean they will be like that for all of their lives.. But if htey are like that now annd they change later and its not compulsory odds are they won't be arsed even thoguh they are interested as they've built up a culture of not voting. If they change their attitude in a few years then they will vote properly. This way everyone knows that they had their say.

 

[Wacky]

Well it seems the poor/uneducated people this time round voted completely against their best interests. Maybe it would be better if people who gave a fuck about the country were the ones out there voting, without their valid votes being smothered in a plethora of uninterested apathetic votes.

I agree to a point*

Sadly , I know too many people who have no interest in politics but still vote.

Sadly,for the Liberal Party in MOST cases,from my experience, just because "they are currently in government" and "mummy and/or daddy told me to".Even when I try to point out for them and for the country, I feel that voting for another party would be better.They seem to be more interested in who will win 'Australian Idol 2'.

*But,I think the best thing would be to educate people on how important politics is to there life and the life of others(Of course some people would still be beyond help sadly ).And sticking with compulsory voting or we could end up with the 'extreme right' being the majority that vote(Look at America).

 

[katmeow]

Nick Minchin the Finance Minister wants to introduce non compulsory voting... with Coalition control of the senate this could become a possibility.

Minchin's new election game plan: dump compulsory voting
By Kerry-Anne Walsh
October 2, 2005
The Sun-Herald


Voluntary voting will become official Coalition policy for the next election under plans to be promoted by a trusted confidant of Prime Minister John Howard.

Finance Minister and senior cabinet strategist Nick Minchin told The Sun-Herald that the current system of compulsory voting was undemocratic and should be dumped.

Senator Minchin said he hoped the Coalition could reach agreement that the policy, which would represent the greatest shake-up of Australia's electoral system since 1924, be offered to the community at the next election.

If the Coalition won again, it would make amendments to the Electoral Act during that parliamentary term to enable voluntary voting from the following election.

A debate about electoral reform is poised to ignite when a powerful parliamentary committee report advocating four-year federal parliamentary terms is tabled in Parliament tomorrow week.

Labor has already said it will support extending parliamentary terms, but Senator Minchin is passionate about increasing the tempo of electoral reform by persuading the community to embrace voluntary voting.

"This is a matter of quite profound principle, that in a democracy a fundamental civil liberty should be whether or not people choose to vote," Senator Minchin said.

"I find it thoroughly offensive that Australians who choose not to vote are guilty of an offence. It should be a democratic right not to [vote]."

Unlike the move to four-year terms, constitutional change is not required to introduce voluntary voting. All it takes is the deletion of the compulsory voting clause in the Electoral Act.

A campaign by Senator Minchin to make voluntary voting Coalition policy and a key 2007 election platform will cause tensions with the Nationals, who strongly oppose it, and small "l" liberals within the Government's own ranks.

It could also wreck any bipartisanship regarding electoral reform, with the Labor Party also strongly against it.

The ALP argues that voluntary voting discourages those less connected to society - who are its traditional supporters - from voting. Others who support the status quo believe abandoning forced voting would disengage the community from Parliament and political debate.

But Senator Minchin refutes both arguments, using the recent third-term re-elections of both the British and New Zealand Labour governments as evidence that "left" voters still vote in a voluntary system.

Senator Minchin urged MPs and the community to embrace a "sensible and sober" discussion about voluntary voting. It was "fundamentally good policy", he said, citing as possible evidence of popular support for the change a recent opinion poll which revealed that 97 per cent of Australians said they would still vote even if it was not compulsory.

Mr Howard supports voluntary voting as a principle, but he has been cautious to advance the cause.

While it is not expected the report will advocate the introduction of voluntary voting at the next election, it is believed it will outline the arguments supporting it.

Australia had voluntary voting from Federation until 1924, when Federal Parliament passed legislation making it compulsory.

 

[ar_gee]

Do you think voting should be compulsory?

No.

What reasons do you see for and against compulsory voting?

We should have the freedom of choice.

If voting wasn't compulsory, would you continue to vote?

No, I never have voted and I don't think I ever will. I will never be fined either.

I would vote however if I agreed with a candidates stance.


EDIT: If you don't want to vote, you don't even need to turn up. Simply await the fine in the mail, then just tell them that you are a Jehovah's Witness and you are exempt. No questions asked. Fuck turning up.

 

[m4dd0g]

Voting should be compulsory even if 95% of people donkey vote.

IMO 'democracy' and the idealism of 'rights' has nothing to do with it.

The reality is if voting is optional then only certain people would vote.
Namely: Idealists and people with strong viewpoints.
This means that partys will only support the views of these people.

The notion of an individuals viewpoint being represented by what they happened to vote is a wank.
Government policy is dictated by the threat of the vote.

Its been my experience the radical strong viewpoints type are very narrow minded; confusing thier own emotional experience with reasoned argument about the greater good.
Imagine these types of people having a greater 'threat' in dictating policy!

Oh .. im not enrolled either.
Me voting is pointless as long as everyone disagrees with me.
Tell me Im wrong
Paradox gives me wood

 

[THR!]

I don't think it should be compulsory. I will always exercise my right to vote and have just recently (I am actually a New Zealand citizen where voting is not compulsory), but I do not see that in a democratic political environment anyone should be forced to vote.

As has been stated, I think everyone has a duty to vote. People have fought and died to preserve the current economic and social stability we now enjoy. I think it is ignorant to ignore the sacrifices that have been made to provide us with that opportunity.

But at the end of the day, it is a personal decision.

It all comes down to the fact that politicians are all fucked, will always be fucked and just enjoy screwing the common taxpayer.

 

[Pleonastic]

I agree with what I said this time last year! I'm glad this was the thread that got bumped, cos my earlier post took ages to write!

 

[anna!]

I just think that most people have a "someone else will take care of it" mindset that will afford them the right to sit at home on election day.

If less people vote, the idiot voting for the family first party will have more of an impact. So, go and vote.

It should be compulsory.

 

[ButrosButros_Grantos]

Amen...

See the problem with having non-compulsory voting is that we'll end up like America, wait, I hear you say, isn't that already happening? But think of this, the republican party relies upon the voting system as that's how they get into power!

Seriously, if we had non-compulsary voting introduced here then Liberal would probably reign for the next 20 years? Why's this? Because it's less hassle for the investment broker to swing by the voting booths on his way to the golf course and blue label scotches than it is for the battler who will probably be working on the day....