Australian Federal Election thread - 2010 edition.

[Stark]

i can't help but feel that if Turnbull hadn't been poleaxed himself last year, the Libs would look like a really attractive prospect. I'd be keen to vote for Turnbull-led Liberal party.

I'd have voted for Liberals if Turnbull was in charge, because he's not a psycho.

[weemadando]

This'll be my first time voting, pretty psyched. Is that sad?

Hell no it's not. It's you demonstrating your enthusiasm for one of your responsibilities of citizenship.

DEMOCRACY!

[thejester]

Didn't end up changing my address on the electoral roll to Melbourne, which would have given me a fair stab at putting a Green in the lower house. OTOH the seat I am registered in narrowly went to Labor on Greens preferences so I still feel fairly important (we'll quietly ignore that anyone outside Queensland and NSW is basically irrelevant).

I said in the last thread that I'd probably vote Labor despite my reservations in the hope Gillard challenged at some point; that's happened so I guess I'll stay. Hopefully she'll show some more political courage than Rudd and, not being God Squad, will be less determined to tell me what I can and can't do (this isn't just the filter, BTW). I was reluctant to vote Green at all - not merely because of policy but because they strike me as having a total indifference to compromise and actual governance, as opposed to yelling loudly on their pet issues. A couple of things have changed that view slightly in the last month, so I'm thinking I'll give them the nod in the Senate.

[tim31]

This'll be my first time voting, pretty psyched. Is that sad?

Stay psyched! Easier to do with a short run in

This will be my fourth federal election as an enrolled voter; fifth for a few others in this thread. Polling day has the same kind of cheesy excitement as the Melbourne Cup.

[loomer]

This'll be my first time voting, pretty psyched. Is that sad?

You just haven't realized yet that your vote doesn't really matter and that the system is inherently broken and controlled by a vast conspiracy of freemasonic satanists.

Seriously though, it's good you're excited. The more people who care about politics and don't just follow the signs, the better.

[Lusankya]

Hey, don'y be dissing the Freemasons too much. They actually went around trying to give non-whites things like "rights" back in the 19th century. I'd vote for the Freemasons before the current lot of idiots any day.

[Archaic`]

Stay psyched! Easier to do with a short run in

This will be my fourth federal election as an enrolled voter; fifth for a few others in this thread. Polling day has the same kind of cheesy excitement as the Melbourne Cup.

If not more. The cup is done and over before dinner, but this gets the whole family gathered around all night until it's decided.

Not to mention that it gives us awesome things like Gruen Nation and Yes We Canberra, both on the national broadcaster. How many countries get something like that?

[weemadando]

Not to mention the imminent launch of ABC News 24.

[loomer]

Hey, don'y be dissing the Freemasons too much. They actually went around trying to give non-whites things like "rights" back in the 19th century. I'd vote for the Freemasons before the current lot of idiots any day.

I'd lay off them if they'd let me join. They still don't let atheists in.

[bobnik]

To be honest, I really think it's going to be "who will fuck this up the least?" when I vote for the lower house. My real interest is in seeing how the senate comes out in this one - I would really hate for someone like Faimly First to get control, whereas I think the senate is actually the best place at the moment for the greens to gain power.

[Lusankya]

As a South Australian, what I'd really like is for Xenophon to hold the balance of power. I was really excited last election when I found out that he was running, because it meant there was someone I actually wanted to vote for, as opposed to just voting based on who I hated the least.

To be honest, I think that having him hold the balance of power in the Senate (or him along with the Greens- basically what we've got now, but minus Family First) would be a good thing. Xenophon is mostly sensible in his policies, and knows how to negotiate. He is also very good at replying to correspondence from voters, to the point where he gets more voter correspondence than any other South Australian politician.

It would actually be interesting if one of our interstate members wrote him an email to see if he gave them the same attention that he gives to South Australians.

[Uraniun235]

Parliament has been dissolved and we're waiting on a date - there should be a press conference any minute.

Note to 'Muhricans. We'll show you how this is done. Four, maybe five weeks until we vote and we'll know that night who the victors are. None of this eighteen fucking months of primaries and other bullshit, then an election and then weeks of wrangling...

Cool. I'm sure your superior electoral system will enable your people to elect a competent and enlightened government with which you can be satisfied.

[atg]

Parliament has been dissolved and we're waiting on a date - there should be a press conference any minute.

Note to 'Muhricans. We'll show you how this is done. Four, maybe five weeks until we vote and we'll know that night who the victors are. None of this eighteen fucking months of primaries and other bullshit, then an election and then weeks of wrangling...

Cool. I'm sure your superior electoral system will enable your people to elect a competent and enlightened government with which you can be satisfied.

To do that you need competent and enlightened people to run, the Aussie system allows the vote of the incompetant people quicker

[pj1351]

I hope you're not going to get sick of hearing "moving forward"...
Over, and over, and over, and over, and over, ad nauseam
... You're going to hear that many more times over the next few weeks. The irony? While Labor wants you to turn a blind eye to all of its past (and recent) failures and simply trust the party on faith, its attack ads against the Liberals has been focused entirely on their past failures. Because voters are obviously too simple minded to look at the failures of both parties, and likewise the proposed policies of both.

Oh well, it doesn't matter even if I get pissed off with mind-numbingly stupid political slogans and policy knee-jerks like proposing building off-shore asylum seeker detention centres in East Timor (without, you know, asking the East Timor government?). I live in the Federal District of Batman, the safest Labor electorate in the entire state of Victoria. Even if I vote completely based on Liberal preferences in this election just to punch Labor in the face, it's not even going to be a ghost of a blip on the radar, especially when I've got so many family members and co-workers who have stated that they will be voting for Labor for no better reason than because Julia Gillard is a woman.

[bobnik]

Greens do preference deal with Labor

This gives me hope that the Greens will control the Senate - I just hopes they didn't sell too much for it.

[Archaic`]

They're selling their primary votes, that's what they're doing. They stood a real chance of getting House of Reps seats, but aligning themselves with Labor will turn off a lot of voters who were looking at them as the anti-Labor protest vote.

[Twoyboy]

They're selling their primary votes, that's what they're doing. They stood a real chance of getting House of Reps seats, but aligning themselves with Labor will turn off a lot of voters who were looking at them as the anti-Labor protest vote.

You're joking right? Even the anti-Labor protest votes which are directed towards the Greens will still want to preference Labor over Liberal. I mean, unhappy about the ETS? Well Libs don't want one at all! Unhappy about the treatment of refugees? Don't worry, the Libs will shoot them humanely out of the water (a joke, but you get the point). Social Liberties such as gay rights? Tony Abbott is about as far from Green policy as you're likely to get in Australian politics.

I have serious difficulty believing that too many people defected from Labor to the Greens, but would want to preference Liberal.

[bobalot]

They're selling their primary votes, that's what they're doing. They stood a real chance of getting House of Reps seats, but aligning themselves with Labor will turn off a lot of voters who were looking at them as the anti-Labor protest vote.

You're joking right? Even the anti-Labor protest votes which are directed towards the Greens will still want to preference Labor over Liberal. I mean, unhappy about the ETS? Well Libs don't want one at all! Unhappy about the treatment of refugees? Don't worry, the Libs will shoot them humanely out of the water (a joke, but you get the point). Social Liberties such as gay rights? Tony Abbott is about as far from Green policy as you're likely to get in Australian politics.

I have serious difficulty believing that too many people defected from Labor to the Greens, but would want to preference Liberal.

Well, there are some truly moronic people. There are still people who think that Tony Abbott is an "honest" person despite admitting on national TV that he gets carried away sometimes and lies.

[Stark]

I've heard recently that he isn't particularly religious from people I work with.

[Archaic`]

They're selling their primary votes, that's what they're doing. They stood a real chance of getting House of Reps seats, but aligning themselves with Labor will turn off a lot of voters who were looking at them as the anti-Labor protest vote.

You're joking right? Even the anti-Labor protest votes which are directed towards the Greens will still want to preference Labor over Liberal. I mean, unhappy about the ETS? Well Libs don't want one at all! Unhappy about the treatment of refugees? Don't worry, the Libs will shoot them humanely out of the water (a joke, but you get the point). Social Liberties such as gay rights? Tony Abbott is about as far from Green policy as you're likely to get in Australian politics.

I have serious difficulty believing that too many people defected from Labor to the Greens, but would want to preference Liberal.

Except that if a vote for Green is seen as being effectively a vote for Labor, people who don't want to vote either Labor or Liberal will not vote or preference the Greens either if they can avoid it. Especially now that a lot more people are savvy to how you can exhaust your preferences without being declared an invalid vote.

Don't be surprised if you see some Independents get in. There's even a decent chance for the Democrats to have a bit of a rebirth here if they can place canditates in enough seats and get their policy message out.

[Stofsk]

I'd love it if the Democrats made a comeback - I would seriously squee with delight and do a happy dance. Someone should keep the bastards honest.

But it won't happen.

[mr friendly guy]

Rang the electoral commission today because I am moving before the Election. However they said unless I have moved into my new residence by Thursday, I should still register under the old address. God damn it, the new electorate seems a contested area, while my old one is a liberal safe seat.

[GuppyShark]

I'm trying to imagine what a Green government would be like, if they started picking up a ton of seats thanks to Two-Party-Preferred. It's almost worth trying just to see the old guard shit themselves.

[weemadando]

Greens do preference deal with Labor

This gives me hope that the Greens will control the Senate - I just hopes they didn't sell too much for it.

Bob Brown's statement after this was fantastic (ABC is down so I can't get the exact quote), but he effectively said:

The Greens don't do How to Vote Cards and if you vote Green you should vote beneath the line.

[Lusankya]

One tip for voting below the line: if you think that seventy gazillion, or how ever many candidates there are for you to number is too much for you to reliably number correctly, if you vote both above and below the line, your below the line vote gets preference, but if it turns out to be invalid because you were being dyslexic or something, then you'll still be represented by your above the line vote.