brace yourselves: none of you has a clue about what democracy is.

as all of us who took the trouble to acquire classical greek while you lot were watching the races on pub tv know, 'democracy' is rule by the people. ozzies are excused from knowing this, since oz schools and media leave it out when quoting from the gettysburg address.

opc, and cpv, are manifestations of a different political society, that aristotle would have called 'oligarchy'(look it up). in more modern terms, westminster monarchy. say it a few times, quickly, to break the conditioning that oz schooling has imposed: "we are a monarchy, not a democracy, we are a monarchy, not...".

orwell wrote '1984' to save people like you from subjection to thought control. on present examples, he failed miserably.

We are a democracy. The people voted to keep the role of GG and Queen. Just because you don't like what the people voted for doesn't mean it isn't a democracy.

Bring in the first past the post pommie system.

All finished and done with within a day.

Those who care, vote, those who couldn't give a rats, don't.

Why should I have to stipulate where my 'n' th preference should go?

"Bring in the first past the post pommie system.

This would create a lazy, unresponsive dupoly similar to the US and destroy minor parties.

"All finished and done with within a day.

Like Bill vs George? Why would you want the cheapest possible democracy?

"Why should I have to stipulate where my 'n' th preference should go?

Because in the later elections, it could be your first preference.

freediver
I would add another negative to your list
* Confusion between Federal and State Systems (in NSW at least)
many believe they can optionally preferentially vote in Federal as well as state elections.

Of course you are assuming that people know the difference between State, Fedral and Local governments. Often they do not.
remember that 50% of the Australian population has below average intelligence. A point bought home to me when I gave out how to vote pamphletes and scrutineered for a friend.

and, who apart from graduate mathematicians, can work out the Senate System of PV?

I like PV, as guessing on the outcome of an election, I can have two votes instead of one
I always PV in State elections as is my right.
Your (The/) answer might be better civics and politics training in school?
Although a recent ACER report said 50% of Australians could not comprehend you average magazine or newspaper article (Which are usually written for those with a reading age of 8).
So, if we can't teach half the population to read, we don't have much chance of teaching them to vote do we?
(Long live Oligarchy :))

"many believe they can optionally preferentially vote in Federal as well as state elections

Thanks. I'll add that to the article.

"who apart from graduate mathematicians, can work out the Senate System of PV?

I am not a graduate mathematician. I have no trouble understanding it. Anyone who is actually interested would be able to get their ehad around it. laziness is the only real barrier.

"Your (The/) answer might be better civics and politics training in school?

The good thing about PV is that people do not have to understand how it works in order to vote correctly and rationally. They just have to rank all candidates in their real order of preference. However it is unfortunate that the major parties were able to push through OPV, to their own benefit, without adequate public discussion.

"Although a recent ACER report said 50% of Australians could not comprehend you average magazine or newspaper article

Would you mind posting a link to that?