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The Californication of Australian politics : Comments
By Jason Falinski, published 10/12/2007In Australia political journalists want to be the story. There isn't much room for discussion of policies or for serious questions.
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However, there is very little reason for the politicians to go into any discussion of their party platforms. This would only confuse the general electorate - you know - the ones who think it is cool to have your prime minister hanging out in a strip club.
The biggest inhibitor we have to any meaningful discussion of party platforms or requiring politicians to backup their wildest assertions is the mandatory vote.
If we eliminated the mandatory voting requirement only those who care and are interested would vote. Of course we would loose from 35% to 60% of the voters but these are the donkey voters anyway. This is the uncaring, uninterested, and uneducated that give our current pollies so much pleasure because they never pose hard questions nor do they demand the truth. They want only to hear what may affect them directly such as a swing set in the playground and lower taxes on beer.
Elimination of the mandatory vote would give much more strength to the caring, educated and interested voters. These are the voters that would demand an explanation and public debate of the party platforms. They would demand thought out public policy statements. And they would demand significantly more intelligent questioning by the press.