Better the devil you know?
Or time to get rid of the biggest dork in world politics? and I'm not talking George dubbya here.

Politicians weren't meant to be charismatic, so Johnny for me.

Kind regards,

Ben (Ducky).

Neither. I'm really struggling with this one. On one hand, you have John Howard: a lying, bigoted weasel. Or Mark Latham: an violent thug with a huge chip on his shoulder.

Thankfully, my seat is one of the safest Liberal seats in the country (Petro Georgiou won 61% of the TPP vote last time), so I can vote informal without feeling so bad.

I'm gonna vote for Peter Garret and his Nuclear Disarmament Party. A worthy cause..

I'm gonna vote for Peter Garret and his Nuclear Disarmament Party. A worthy cause..

Jack,
Peter's batting for the opposition. Hang on a sec, isn't that Bob Brown in a bald wig?

It is said politicians are like bananas.
They start off green,
they turn yellow,
and they are all bent.

Non-compulsory voting if you're living o/s...

so whoever gets in I can blame you guys... :wink:

anyone but the greens. :mrgreen:

I have been a labour man all my life, and i thought that Simon Crean would be the next Bob Hawke. But no he really lost me with his stance on the war and struck me as a total washout.

I guess that I am a floating voter now. ATM the Libs get my vote because of their stance on family values. It frightens me to think what kind of world my grandchildren will be living if society continues to degenerate further.

Lying about children being thrown overboard. Leading us into a war with questionable justification, which turned out to be false anyway. Reforming the university funding system so that it favours the rich even more than it did. "There will never ever be a GST". Putting innocent children into detention camps in the desert.

Yes marktheblake, values we'd like to teach our grandchildren :roll: No wonder society is degenerating when we have a Prime Minister like John Howard.

would you prefer 'a recession we had to have'?

woodsie,
This isn't about what I'd prefer, and it has nothing to do with the Labor Party either. My point was that the Liberal Party are on very thin ground campaigning on family values, and values in general, when their record after three governments is an absolute disgrace.

Like so many young people, I am thoroughly disillusioned with the state of politics and politicians in Australia (I study politics at university, so its not that I'm disinterested). I will be voting informally.

Henry, will voting informally get the message across?
I have always believed that there should be a box to say "I VOTE INFORMALLY or ABSTAIN' so that the politicians could see how we really feel.
Politicians can abstain from a vote in parliment, but we can't abstain at an election. What gives here?
I hate the description "DONKEY VOTE". Don't they realise some of us are not Donkeys and that we just don't feel that any of the parties asking for our votes are not good enough to earn our vote?

Grumblebum,

NEVER DONKEY VOTE. By donkey voting, the candidate on the top of the ballot paper WILL GET YOUR VOTE. The number of donkey votes aren't recorded, and there is no way to ascertain whether a ballot paper filled in with the numbers in order is a donkey vote or a signal of elector intent. I actually "donkey voted" at the Victorian state election, but my intention was to vote for the candidate at the top etc.

At least by voting informally, none of the candidates will get your vote, and won't get any electoral funding as a result.

Will voting informally get my message across? Probably not - but whats the alternative? I could not bring myself to vote for any of the candidates who will stand in the seat of Kooyong (representing the Liberals, ALP, Democrats and Greens). That means that my only option is to vote informally.

Henry

I think you are a spoilt little leftist rich kid

Uni funding was never equitable. When I went to Uni, kids got Austudy and never had to replay it. Péd m off as my old man earned too much - not that I ever got the benefit of it! As far as I was concerned HECS was the best thing the Hawke govt ever did. And Austudy should be the same thing. It's not something you have to pay off when you can't afford it - you only pay for it when you CAN afford it!

The REAL WORLD (you'll find out about that one day) menas you go out and make your own destiny. The world does not owe everyone a living. Live in another country and you'll realise Australia has it soooooo good.

Blakey - don't become bitter - your g'parents would have had the same concerns, but look how you turned out... 8O :wink:

Henry, if you vote informal you lose all your debating privelidges. Sorry, but voting informal is for the weak. At the very least draw a picture on the ballot paper or write them a short essay on why you cant bring yourself to vote for any of them.

At least the scrutineers will get a laugh out of it..

peanuts,

I've been called many things, but "leftish" is a new one :roll:

I never said that I have a problem with HECS - to the contrary I think its a terrific idea. Students should contribute to the cost of their education. My problem is with full-fee places, for which there is no moral justification.

The REAL WORLD (you'll find out about that one day) menas you go out and make your own destiny. The world does not owe everyone a living. Live in another country and you'll realise Australia has it soooooo good.

Please show me where I've disputed any of this... :roll:

Jack,

How about I write "Jaster Mareel for PM" :wink:

Henry, there is only one problem with the HECS system - all the lazy freaks doing 10 meaningless degress never end up paying a cent becasue they have no desire to ever get a job.

That is why full fees upfront is the only way to go. Why should you pay back your HECS debt in full so that some smelly, bearded, dope smoking, left wing career dropkick, career "protester for hire" pays nothing. It aint right!

Higher education is a priviledge, not a right. Its about time the financial side of the equation started to reflect it.

Jack,

I'm not sure how serious you are, but requiring full-fees upfront would be a joke. I, and most of the student population, would be at the golf course or working, rather than being at uni. How many families can afford $12-18k per year? How can people "go out and make [their] own destiny" (peanuts' words) when university places are reserved only for the rich?

Henry,

You spend most of your time at the golf course anyway, so what difference would it make to you?

Tertiary education in this country is a joke because it is TOO EASY TO GET IN AND STAY THERE FOR EVER. We need a full fee system with students loans to weed out the idiots from those who are fair dinkum.

The HECS "honour system" isn't working.

Jack, your idea doesn't solve the problem you cite. A full-fee system with student loans would do nothing to deter the career students/blokes with pony tails/Greens voters/professional protesters. When they have no intention of working in their lives, why would rising debt deter them from further study?

Henry, its a loan, not a faint promise to pay. If they refuse or cannot pay, throw 'em in jail, or the army, or send them to Queensland to post on ISG.

There must be some incentive to get students into the workforce to pay back their tertairy debts. The present system is a deterrent to getting them to work.

How about we get all the Olympians and Olympic hopefuls to repay all of the Institute of Sport funding they don't mind lining up for.
damo

damo - I like it.

I also like the USA practice of deducting unemployment benefits from your paycheck once you finally get a job.

And as for those lazy f&^%$#@ single mums - dont get me started...

JACK WROTE
"Henry, if you vote informal you lose all your debating privelidges. Sorry, but voting informal is for the weak. At the very least draw a picture on the ballot paper or write them a short essay on why you cant bring yourself to vote for any of them."
We should all have the right to abstain if we do not agree with what is being offered to us.
Jack, do some homework. If you draw a picture or write a short essay, YOU HAVE VOTED INFORMAL.
The scrutineers ONLY look for X's in the boxes ANYTHING else is informal and should be ignored by the scrutineers, and that goes back to my suggestion of having a box for a vote of NO CONFIDENCE in any of the political parties.
I feel I have the right to abstain for voting for any of the parties involved in an election if I have no faith/confidence in them. So surely I should have somewhere to tick to say none of the above, without it being classified as a Donkey vote.
Maybe this would help to get the message to politicians that they aren't doing the job they should be doing for us, the people they supposedly represent.