Electoral Laws
If our election on 21 August had been held under British, Canadian, Indian or American rules, we wouldn’t have had to wait. We would have known the results that evening.
It would have been a landslide to the Coalition. Their majority would have been about the same size as that of the Rudd government. The three independents would have had no role in the formation of the government, and neither the Green MP nor Mr. Willkie would have been there.
There is no perfect electoral system, and none is sacrosanct. Politicians being human, they prefer the system which they think will favour them. But circumstances change. What favours a party at one time can disadvantage them at another.
Continue reading "Let’s ditch preferential voting - but only in the House" »
Australia has one of the best democracies in the world and it’s something we should be immensely proud of. Our democratic system is one which encourages everyone to be involved in the political process, and thus shape the future of this great nation.
However, during this year’s South Australian election the Labor Party threw our whole system in jeopardy. Instead of contesting the election in a fair and open manner, instead of putting faith in their own policies to capture voter support, they chose to engage in a deceptive and misleading campaign by impersonating another party.
It was a disgraceful act and one which bought the whole integrity of our electoral system to its knees.
Continue reading "The Family First farce that shamed our democracy" »
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Danny Lewis says:
The Liberals needed to pick up 10 seats to form government. They didn’t come close. Labor used this tactic (which, incidentally, I don’t agree with) in SOME polling booths in SOME marginals seats. There weren’t enough FF votes in it to swing things anyway, which is part of the reason… Read more »
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Charles Kelly says:
ONCE AGAIN Christian Real, if the Liberal party hands out (along with its usual how to vote cards) material visually and verbally supporting “Australian LABOUR” (but actually containing instructions for voting Liberal) at the next election, that would be just fine with you? WELL??? Read more »
Coalition Senator Michael Ronaldson decries the current mixed funding system of elections in his post on the Punch last week.
Early last year the newly elected Government introduced the Commonwealth Electoral Amendments (Political Donations and Other Measures) Bill 2009 to the Senate to make political donations more transparent. However the bill was defeated by Liberal Senators who did not want to clean up our campaign finance system.
Australia has a very clean electoral system by world standards. While we don’t hear complaints in Australia that elections have been rigged, the funding system is in need of some reform.
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Peter says:
“the Coalition at least in its recent Turnbull incarnation had a unity ticket with the Greens Political Party to ban all donations to parties, from individuals and organisations! “ This is a lie - the Libs have only said that donations from business and unions should be banned. In fact,… Read more »
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Pablo says:
“Interesting to see that none of the Green’s party advocates (on this site) dispute that they want to stick Australian tax payers with a $500 million bill to fund all political parties. Quite understandable, when you consider the naked self interest of the Green’s Party. They don’t get union or… Read more »
Can our politicians win elections based on good old-fashioned debate and sound policy, or will they continue their crass cash contests of aggressive marketing campaigns bank-rolled by the wealthy?
And once in office, how can we prevent politicians coming under undue influence from donors at the expense of the interests of their constituents and the broader public?
Until recently, reforming the system of political funding has been the elephant in the room for our esteemed elected representatives. They’ve been acutely aware there is a problem, but reluctant to talk about it.
Continue reading "We all pay the price of buying access in a democracy" »
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frBoblvx says:
Très favorable matinée à chacun des individus de cette assemblée , En premier lieu , offrez-moi l’occasion de vous démontrer ma gratitude pour chacune des très intéressantes infos que j’ai découvertes sur cet agréable site web . … Read more »
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urbancynic says:
Simon - get your facts right: on current political donation cap amount (it is not $11,200), on union contributions to ALP, on ALP owned clubs that have gambling to generate ALP funds, and ALP acceptance of tobacco donations. Then you might have enough credibility to get ALP pre-selection for a… Read more »
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marley says:
I'm one of the older ones, so I've certainly seen a few changes in my time. When I started school I learned to write with a nib pen, dipped in an inkwell (no, I'm not kidding). My mother became a dab hand at getting inkstains out of my clothes. Flicking ink at one another in the classroom was an essential… [read more]From: I’d rather have a piece of toast than listen to crap lyrics
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No wuckin forries. These nuckin futs are tuckin fops
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