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.

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.

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.