Agreed Pericles.

It also seems that I'm having a hard time explaining the problem.

Federalist seemed to imply only that a conscripted majority will act as a buffer to special interest groups/communities by thinning down their vote.

Otherwise I'm still getting 'aughtas' and 'shouldas' attitudes that people simply SHOULD vote.

I say if you want to actually encourage people to vote, reform the political system to something that gives more people a stronger say. Then they'd be right to think their vote would actually mean something.

Just listening to 'Australia Talks' on RN on this very subject (in the context of a wider discussion about Australia's electoral system) right now. Fascinating - if you didn't catch it it'll be available online.

While I thought the election campaign was about the least riveting I've seen, the result is quite the reverse. There's all kinds of discussion going on about the actual nature of our democracy, which has to be a good thing.

I think that citizens should vote, but I disagree that they should be penalised for not doing so. Quite simple, really.

Now all we have to do is completely reform the electoral system so that people are actually represented in government, in which case they might be more inclined to do exercise their democratic right without the need for the threat of the big stick. Multi-member electorates with proportional representation sounds good.

I'd vote for that :)

The question that has to answered is:
Is the present system working?
The answer is: NO.
None of the really vital problems that need a lead from the Government such as Peak oil, global warming, water supply, energy, were tackled by either of the major parties in this last campaign. All we had was the usual pork thrown out to the undecided to attract their votes.
Population was discussed but was bypassed into “boat people”. The Overpopulation issue was only brought up by Dick Smiths video and a strong reaction to Rudds “Big Australia or it would have also remained a non issue.
Paid parental maternity leave, less tax, money towards school books in fact all of the bribes on offer were only to entice the nonthinking voters.
We are going to continue down the path to total mayhem if this continues.
Abbott was asked his thought on peak oil and said he did not think it was an issue, Gillard as far as I know was not asked. We all know what Abbott really thinks about global warming: crap.
Gillard is a total wimp about it and will not do anything even if she gets back in.
The Rudd Government was allowed in because the thinking voters were conned into thinking he would do something about these issues and of course he was either bought off or wimped out.
All of this is because the so called leaders are only looking to the next election in three years time and pandering to the voters who might put them in the drivers seat.
This mindless auction every three years is the problem.
Stopping compulsory voting is not a panacea but it would help.

Agree entirely Sarnain and CJ

@Pericles,

I said that an unusually high number of people had rejected both major parties, not that a majority had.

Accordingly, one or other party - or both - will dominate policy. Once the new Senators come in, their only power will be to side with one major party against the other, and not even that if Labor and Coalition can agree on intelligent bills.

(Past behaviour shows the Greens do not even have the political acumen to play both sides down the middle. So for example they lost all their hard-won power in the HoR the moment Brandt declared he wouldn't work with the Coalition.)

I see your point that better generation and communication of policies would motivate more people to vote in a voluntary regime. But that's a lot of hard work for politicians, and there are lazier, more efficient ways of getting compliant blocs of voters out of bed.

Or of convincing undesired voters to stay in bed. See for example this famous piece of campaign-manager lore from California 1988, when Democrat polling detected a high level of voter alienation and realized they could exploit it to their advantage.
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=1glfCn6cbTIC&pg=PA41&lpg=PA41&dq=caddell+%22piss+them+off+with+politics%22&source=bl&ots=LxXlvfZxYz&sig=E0byFyc0taSeCUJZladde-uSitg&hl=en&ei=daxDTObAPMyVceSL8eYP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=piss%20them%20off%20with%20politics&f=false

There are many failings in modern Australian politics. Cornflower discusses some of them above, and I listed some others on Tuesday. I see no evidence from overseas that voluntary voting produces wiser outcomes.

Messianic democrats sometimes believe that democracy inevitably leads to good government, and any failure of good government must result from the process being "not democratic enough" in some way. Actually democracy is just one of the institutions used to keep government under control. In the absence of public responsibility, education in politics and economics, journalists acting as channels or communication instead of horse race commentators, and students being tought to listen when they don't know what they're talking about instead of endlessly "expressing themselves" ... problems in the political system will follow.

It doesn't all come down to some failure of the democratic feedback system to perfectly gauge the mind of the public, and its inspired understanding of exactly how it should be governed.

Federalist:"I see no evidence from overseas that voluntary voting produces wiser outcomes."

Who said anything about "wiser"? I'd be satisfied with "less inadequate".