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The Forum > Article Comments > The Californication of Australian politics > Comments

The Californication of Australian politics : Comments

By Jason Falinski, published 10/12/2007

In 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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Very well said, Jason.

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.
Posted by Bruce, Monday, 10 December 2007 9:33:40 AM
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if only we were to get the democratic features of california politics...

as you perhaps don't know, citizens of california can vote directly for senior officers of state, can demand accounting of their activities, can vote on current referenda bi-annually, can initiate referenda, and can fire officers that are not performing through recall referenda. this political structure is commonly called "democracy", and the resemblance to californian democracy of any australian state is currently: zip.

because oz voters have no substantive power, the chattering class must talk about superficial matters, or be silent. as there is no reward in silence, we get articles like this.
Posted by DEMOS, Monday, 10 December 2007 10:37:05 AM
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Adding to what Bruce has commented, it is my belief that the removal of mandatory voting would also minimise the intense pork-barrelling of so-called marginal electorates. It would be particularly good to see all pollies having to get out into their electorates and door-knock voters to try to ensure that people would actually get out the door and into a polling booth on election day.

There is another issue that really concerns and annoys me, and that is the media management ("spin") that takes place where the media are fed carefully hoarded media releases at the last minute, usually just after being bussed to a stage-managed photo-op. There is little chance for searching questions being prepared when the journalists are not even allowed to know where they are being taken or what the purpose of the "event" even is.
Posted by jimoctec, Monday, 10 December 2007 11:22:04 AM
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Good point Bruce. Sadly the majority of Australians firmly believe that madatory voting is a benefit, not a hinderance to true democracy.

How democratic is it to compel your citizens to vote? Never mind its corrosive effect on politics itself.
Posted by Countryboy, Monday, 10 December 2007 11:25:08 AM
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To Bruce and jimoctec,

I first came accross the idea of mandatory and non-mandatory voting in a first year political science class. Till then I didn't really think about different types of democracy - like Democratic Elitism (USA) or Participatory Democracy (Aust). While both have their pro's and con's, knowing more about the political process with age and experience I'm not convinced non mandatory voting would provide more benifits.

I don't see how it would stop pork barrelling and while it may give "caring, educated and interested voters" a little more clout it would also lead to more influence for specialised lobby groups that campaign and marginalise voters according to their issue of choice (eg. abortion?). Lobby groups fuction better with organisation and money - so those with more money would be in a better position to take advantage of such a system.

Mandatory voting forces people to at least engage for a moment in the process, and can be seen as a hand brake on political apathy and cynisism which is far too prevelent in many democratic countries.
Posted by Hotrod, Monday, 10 December 2007 12:23:18 PM
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Thanks for pointing out the obvious - and glaring - flaw in the article's title, DEMOS. If we did have the political structure of California, and its ability to elect leaders of vision and credibility, (and un-elect the gross failures, through grass-roots activism), we would indeed be blessed. We don't. So we aren't.

And Hotrod...

>>Mandatory voting forces people to at least engage for a moment in the process, and can be seen as a hand brake on political apathy and cynisism which is far too prevalent in many democratic countries<<

I disagree.

All that mandatory voting achieves is the magnification of the lowest common denominator, where actual "engagement for a moment in the process" simply amounts to hearing a series of sound-alike sound-bites.

The only process we were allowed to engage in was the physical placement of our pencil-mark on the ballot paper.

Mental engagement was simply not a requirement. In fact, for our troubles, we were allowed even less "engagement with the process" than we would have on a normal slow-news Wednesday.

Forcing people to make a choice between a smiling, new absence-of-policies and a grim, over-the-hill absence-of-policies should not be what democracy is all about.
Posted by Pericles, Monday, 10 December 2007 1:07:12 PM
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YES YOU ARE RIGHT but it's so encourageing that for all the money spent they were wiped out.Trust the man in the street, the woman who cares for her children's future,you can't fool all the people all the time.
Posted by TINMAN, Tuesday, 11 December 2007 7:11:57 PM
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I'm rather torn on the issue of mandatory voting - I do see and understand all the pitfalls described by those posters here who think it's a negative idea, but I also see many, many problems with a voluntary voting system.

Forgetting about elections for a moment, on another thread here, one poster was arguing that a voluntary poll conducted by a newspaper had come back with an overwhelming number of people in favour of restricting immigration for certain groups.

I made the point in response that the people who take time to craft a response to a controversial poll are most likely people with an axe to grind, and that the results of the federal election showed the failure of the parties who were agitating for this - Fred Nile's Party, Pauline's party and One Nation all performed quite poorly.

So yes - you can argue that voluntary voting will mean that the informed are more likely to be the ones that vote - but as another poster mentioned, lobby groups are likely to hold far more sway and it won't just be good causes. The nature of democracy means you're going to get groups with an axe to grind.

Also, the less educated groups that don't vote are likely to be ignored by the political class.

So I guess I narrowly fall on the side of the fence in favour of mandatory voting, but if anyone can point out the flaws in my reasoning here I'm open to reconsidering.
Posted by TurnRightThenLeft, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 9:27:20 AM
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Here's a thought - if we abolished madatory voting, do we just become a nation of special interest groups, where only the fanatical survive (on all sides of politics), where only the loudest are heard?

For example, if the KKK had 10 million members in the US, but they were very diligent about getting every member out there to cast a directed vote in the US elections, I am sure a lot of politicians would be paying them some serious attention. Despite the fact they make up only 3 percent of the population, they could make up 15 percent of actual voters.

I'm actually in favour of non-mandatory voting, but I do worry it leads to increased fanaticism and a greater division in society.
Posted by Countryboy, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 9:34:22 AM
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