DadAgain

My vote will be a carefully considered listing of preference with 'the big 2' very near the bottom (just above 'Family First' and any other overtly neo-nazi or uber-christian group).

Generally speaking I think the weak 2 party system in Australia really hurts democracy so I'll do my bit to try and give anyone independant of those parties a chance to throw in a different opinion.

Of course given that there will be 20 or so different parties on the Senate ballot I'll have to do some research into which looneys deserve to be to the top of the list and which looneys deserve to be lower down and I dont have time to stand at polling day ordering the 50 different candidates in the desired order. My solution? As always - postal votes!

Fill in one of these: http://www.aec.gov.au/Elections/files/pva-2010.pdf and get sent a postal vote to pour over in good time with the appropriate research tools. It means my voting will be done and dusted a couple of days before the election and I dont have to queue with the other suckers and lose my saturday morning.

Swerv-o

Yes, my GF and I were discussing doing this yesterday - I see that there are a list of eligibility criteria - none of which are "I don't want to waste my Saturday queuing with the hoi palloi to make a quickly and uninformed decision about what particular bunch of wasters are going to run the country..."

Which one are you going for?


S

ABCDiamond

Which is what Abbott has basically said, from what I read into everything I have seen.

I suppose compared to many I have it easy. No vote for me, so no worries and no having to even turn up

Until the day that I feel strongly enough to wish to vote for one or the other, I shall stick the way I am.

DadAgain

on election day,
you can’t get to a polling place because you:

• are outside the state or territory where you are enrolled to vote

Thats enough for me - I'm happy to provide a stat. dec saying I'm going to Tweed Heads for the day. But even if that doesnt work then:

• have religious beliefs that prevent you from attending a
  polling place

ought to cover it - my very personal religious belief being that its completely reprehensible to mix with political wannabes on a Saturday.

Sherlock Holmes

And that is just the sort of comment that the filter will take out!!

DeadVim

Then Old Jug Ears may just scrape some votes from people who prioritise such things. Personally I'd rate having a decent health system/economy/education system higher but that is just me ...

You should see the stuff I self-censor ...

Coryate

Well he certainly wants to add to the Education system

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/a...-1225812010013



Why doesn't he just offer to move the Vatican to Canberra?

DeadVim

I bet he wouldn't say that know ...

bcworld

You never know (no, really, you don't!) - it may have been the 'gospel truth'.

DeadVim

Or was it just an off-the-record-non-truth?

Was it scripted?

Did he have his fingers crossed?

asprilla

Slightly off topic, but I think that it would be a great idea to ban politicians from using the following words during an election campaign.

Australia
Australians
Australian families
Australian people

If a ban is not possible, then at least limit them to using the word "australia" no more than once per day.


http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news...-1225894507368

koalakim

Don't forget the "hardworking Australian families" so no one else in the world works hard?

Actually it's something I've noticed with a lot of nations, Americans do it as well but we never seem to keep reiterating the fact we are British in the UK! Maybe Brits just know who they are?

So it's moving forward, moving forward Australians.....

fish.01

For those who haven't followed the link:

All kids must read the Bible, federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says

BIBLE classes should be compulsory so children have a fundamental understanding of Christianity on leaving school, Tony Abbott says.

"I think everyone should have some familiarity with the great texts that are at the core of our civilisation," said the Federal Opposition leader.

"That includes, most importantly, the Bible.

"I think it would be impossible to have a good general education without at least some serious familiarity with the Bible and with the teachings of Christianity.

"That doesn't mean that people have to be believers."

But former Howard government Islamic advisor Dr Ameer Ali, said Mr Abbott's remarks were "over the top".

"It's one thing to say every child needs a good knowledge of history and geography or science," Dr Ali said.

Pollyana

And of course its only families that work hard, us singles just sit around on our not-so-fat arses, don''t we

=============================

In case this affects anyone - if you have your citizenship ceremony between now and the election, see the sticky thread here. You only have a few days to do it though, hence plugging it in several threads

spalen

May I suggest "Fair Go" should be eradicated as well please.

As in giving some unidentified person a 'fair go'.

I am by no means a jeebus beleiber but I agree with what abbott said, if you are to be intelligent you need to be aware , people should be aware of the bible , and they should be aware of the other texts like the koran , if more people understood the koran there may be a hell of a lot less intolerance and stupidity. Certainly would get more out of reading either of those two than the crap that was forced down my throat in english literature (Rogue Male http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_Male_(novel)) about some guy who spent most of his time hiding in a hedgerow was hardly Shakespearean quality and I cant say I used it again in later life except to ponder if our man Moat had been under the same curriculum.

Perhaps we should pander to the lowest common denominator in education too, and remove all reading, then people can all have a fair go at battling at centrelink to get benefits for their hard working families.

I dunno, I prefer costello's candor - I recall with fondness him telling some reporter that he cant give any more tax cuts to the 'battlers' at some income level because they werent paying any tax anyway.