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The Forum > Article Comments > An open letter to the citizens of Australia > Comments

An open letter to the citizens of Australia : Comments

By Matt Large, published 2/7/2013

I write this letter sitting on a bed halfway across the world, yet outraged by what can only be described as the farce of a political system currently being played out back home.

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Wait, did Lego just bring up Pauline Hanson? Isn't that like the Australian Godwin's Law or something? For shame, sir (or madam - I guess Lego is non-gender specific).

Interesting that so far the detractors seem to be attacking the author himself rather than the argument - as a previous poster notes above, Mr Large attacks only the system that causes him this frustration and the political situation that we are watching here in Australia (some of us, with popcorn and beer).

I don't see Mr Large's open letter as a condemnation of Australia - I see it as the lament of the heartbroken. Clearly, the author loves his country - you know, that ingrained way we love our parents - and just as clearly, he's afraid that maybe we're letting it get taken away from us.

I don't know if he's right, but I think it's reasonable to agree that the current political climate in Australia is causing a lot of uncertainty. I also think that we're about to base a very important decision on a lot of very emotional arguments, none of them the right ones.

And we really, really should be talking about it and maybe having the maturity and responsibility as a nation to consider our alternatives. After all, if you've got a project that isn't working, do you not look for ways to improve things? Even if that means starting over?

Aussies, when you go to the polls this time, do us all a favour - vote for the party you want to see in power - don't vote against the one you want out. More to the point, don't reward the opposition for not being the incumbent - make 'em earn it, goddammit.

Otherwise, a few more of us might start feeling like Mr Large. We might even start voting for him.
Posted by The Idiot Gallery, Tuesday, 2 July 2013 9:37:59 PM
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PhillipS >>It tells a lot about you that you believed him and his FALSE figures. You have lost the little credibility you had."

Charming.
I didn't realise I ever had any credibility with you Phil?
I must say I am now shattered I have lost it!

I don't really care much about figures actually.
Refugee acceptance, boat people or whoever, is not of major importance to me.
I trust that the immigration authorities are doing their best.

I am more concerned about our economy at present, so I will be looking for policies that address that issue when the election comes around.
Posted by Suseonline, Wednesday, 3 July 2013 12:36:26 AM
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It seems there are two kinds of people here. Intelligent open minded people who are able to embrace and discuss realities we all live in, leaving any personal bias at the door, and intelligent closed minded people that, regardless of their understanding of these realities, can never really give weight to their points of view because it is to polluted with their own dogmatic and biased mind set. Surely we all know who falls where, just for the record the author of this letter fall into the former, just as clearly as it's quite obvious, for the most part, which box each will tick in any given election.
I didn't feel Matt was in favor of either party. What he was doing, was simply voicing the complete disgust that we all should feel in the machine that drives the entire political world to such depths in the first place. His commentary on the Gillard downfall was exactly that, commentary.....not support. There is no denying that Gillard rode into the position to form her ramshackle failure of a government on this same machine we speak of. Just as there's no denying that voting for Abott cannot, simply for the essence of what he stands for, be beneficial to the vast majority of Australian people, or indeed our Mother Earth. I feel Matt was stating that a protest vote in the opposite direction does not make one a political activist deciding to take their country's well being into their own hands. For reference to this, ask anybody living in England where that got them, and if given the chance would they have voted differently. To be uninformed in any decision making situation is dangerous, but in a majority vote 'winner takes all' situation it can be disastrous.
So well done to you Matt for doing something to help inform people that may not know, what stinking piles of bull they are fed on a daily basis.
And people, learn to recognize and embrace the essence of a topic, or indeed point of view. You may find you're taken serious a lot more.
Posted by jellyman, Wednesday, 3 July 2013 6:39:39 AM
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I am certain that Matt Large loves the landmass of Australia, Mr "The Idiot Gallery" (singularly appropriate name). It is just that he obviously despises his fellow Australians who do not share his Internationalist, social climbing, Socialist worldview. That's OK, we don't think much of Matt Page and his coven of supporters either.

I find it funny that you accuse Matt's detractors of attacking him personally, when it is perfectly plain that Matt has nothing but contempt form his opponents anyway. This inability to grasp simple, self evident double standards in your own logic appears to be a feature of the trendy lefty mindset. And I note that, true to form, both you and Matt have submitted your articles in the tone of moral outrage, with you even suggesting that I should be "ashamed" of supporting Pauline.

This convergence of fundamentalist moral Puritanism, with fundamentalist religious Puritanism, is another feature of your brahmin caste mindset. Evangelical social crusaders seem hell bent on saving their wicked proletarian inferiors from their sinful nationalistic and racist thoughts, and strive to instil the (carved in stone) holy word of Human Rights to the wicked pagan suburbinites.

If anybody should be whining about the electoral system, Mr TIG, it should be people who oppose Matt Large. Not only is our democracy being eroded by importing foreign nationals to vote in our elections, the statistics relating to the last One Nation election clearly displayed how the two main political parties conspired to disenfranchise people like me, using perfectly legal means which any Tammany Hall huckster would instantly recognise and approve of.

(From memory) the 14% of Australians who voted for One Nation got no seats in parliament, while the 8% of Australians with Matt Page's worldview who voted for the Greens, got 6 seats in Parliament. And Page had the audacity to claim that he and his supporters are hard done by?

Yeah. Try pulling the other one. It plays "Jingle Bells"
Posted by LEGO, Wednesday, 3 July 2013 6:57:57 AM
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Although some have interpreted this article as a non-partisan critique of Oz media and politics. A deeper reading shows it to be little more than another sermon from a member of what Lego has aptly described as the (left-leaning) Brahmin caste

It criticizes the major political parties:

<<on one side an outdated misogynist who has 1970's era views on everything from climate change, women and immigration to homosexuality and indigenous affairs>>

and

<< a recycled narcissist who is undoubtedly more interested in the effect that power will have on his own ego than he is inhis ability to change the country>>

Significantly, Abbott's faulted for his policies and Rudd for his personality.

It criticizes the media for focusing on the wrong issues:

Citing the example of the *unreported* 60,000 Anglo illegals rather that the boaties -- a fact that is so *under-reported* that we must have each heard it 60,000 times.

And having just told us this is made up of <<illegal immigrants [from] America, Britain, China and Malaysia>>

sees fit to add:
<<(and remember it's the British and Americans we should be most worried about here)>> ?

Thank you PhillipS for pointing out the articles deceptive use of stats.

PS I am always very suspicious of new posters who suddenly pop up to spruik an article.
Posted by SPQR, Wednesday, 3 July 2013 10:13:58 AM
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Ok, ok, - normally I refrain from feeding the trolls, but let's flex our brains in the right direction and boil it down to the point of the article.

It's a question: Australians, are you happy with your current system of government?

If not, what do you think we should do about it?

Mr Large has weighed in. Who's up next?
Posted by The Idiot Gallery, Wednesday, 3 July 2013 6:49:35 PM
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