Elections are to that electors can elect the representative they desire to represent them but in reality the elections have been hijacked by the political parties and where the elected representative in Parliament votes as told by the political leader (some exceptions) and as such no longer represent the constituents. We lack a system of accountability because there is none, hence the lies by candidates. We have no fair elections because an INDEPENDENT candidate cannot spend up big on elections not knowing how much he gets per vote while political parties may get more then $12 million each and so can liberally advertise if not saturate advertising to the maximum. We can take it back by voting for INDEPENDANTS as to teach all political parties enough is enough but then filling in every square is what most voters refuse to do as it is easier just to mark a square and there is where the political parties got you because they know you are too lazy to endure the filling in of all squares and use that in their favour. As such endure 3 years or so hardship because you couldn’t bother a few minutes to fill in a ballot paper that is what elections have come to represent.

Ginxy says:

"An election is an illusionary perception of a democracy."

And she is absolutely correct!

Well.. this needs to be qualified a tad.

IDEAL Democracy.

House of Reps... elected proportionally.

Senate ABSOLUTELY devoid of "party" influence/membership/control

REAL Democracy (ours)

House of Reps... Proportional representation. Marginal seats.. preference deals. So.. it is entirely possible for crackpot fringe group (even ours :) to control the outcome of an election in terms of....
-Winning party.
-Prime Minister and Ministers.
-Foriegn Policy.

SENATE.. fringe crackpot parties like Greens and Demawho's trying to have the balance of power over the rest of us.

Well..thankyou very much.. I now feel 100% legitimized IF..I suggested we move toward a Theocracy, representative of oh.. 50 people ?

So.. what we've got is what we've got.. I don't see it changing any time soon. I'm ok with working within the system.. but it doesn't mean my mob win much. Such is *this* life :)

foxy JG will win the election, and well, it will be mid term before her gloss is challenged.
And maybe much longer, her problem when it comes will not be with the voters but internal ones as she controls who rises within the party.
An election?
We have the best type I have no doubt of that.
But I never claimed it is perfect.
Third force? greens are just that, you may not like it but voters support nothing else makes third forces.
I ask those who want more independents to look at our senate.
Liberal or Labor in government represent more votes than our two senators, one is lost in a different world, yet they have power beyond votes worth.
If every seat was won by an independent we would still hate politicians and still more than ever, get nothing done.

(apologies if this comment appears to go off on a bit of a tangent but I believe it is relevant)

An election is supposed to be a way for citizens to excersise a civil right and have a vote. In Australia we don't have this civil right because it was turned into a civic duty.

Voting should be voluntary.

Australia is one of the few democratic western nations that still has compulsory voting and fines citizens who choose not to vote.

There are many arguments in favour and against voluntary voting, I do not wish to go into the arguments here but if others wish to comment that's fine.

I firmly believe voting is a civil right not a civic duty!

If you have the right to vote you also have the right not to vote!

An ever growing number of Australians are expressing theis view so I have just started a Facebook Group called 'No More Compulsory Voting'

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=145462422130774&ref=mf

Facebook can be a powerful tool to ad the weight of numbers to any cause or argument.

If you support voluntary voting for Australia please go to the above URL and join the Group.

I will be inviting people to join through any online forum I have access to or word of mouth... but of course we need many more like minded individuals to help it go viral.

Interesting post, vociferous.

But….voting IS voluntary!

We are not obligated to vote for any candidate/party. We can put in a null vote if we wish.

What our supposedly compulsory voting system actually does is get us down to the polling booth and make us think a bit about who deserves or doesn’t deserve our vote.

I think that this is much better than just having voluntary voting which would allow a large section of the populace to just stay home or to resign themselves well before the election to not voting and therefore not giving a damn about any party or candidate’s policies or philosophies.

So, I’d say that it should be compulsory for all of us to have our names crossed off at a polling booth and to register a vote, whether it be a vote for a particular candidate or party with all contestants listed in order of preference or a vote for no candidate!

Two things need to happen though:

1. there needs to be a box on the ballot paper for no candidate, so that the voter can formally vote for no one if they feel that no one deserves their vote and

2. we need to dump the compulsory preferential voting system and move to the optional preferential system so that voters can only allocate preferences to the extent that they want to, instead of being compelled to mark every square.

The compulsory preferential system is disgraceful, as your vote can very easily filter down and end up counting for a candidate/party that you have no intention of voting for and have specifically put low in your order of preferences.

Ludwig...

While I totally agree with your points on the problems with the preferential system it is for the most part a separate issue to the voluntary voting issue.

Furthermore suggesting that our system is voluntary because one may cast a null vote is not a good argument in support of compulsory voting.

Also not all people who choose not to vote are necessarily apathetic, some are simply not comfortable supporting any candidate or are not interested in participating in the flawed electoral system you highlighted.

On the other hand obliging people who are apathetic to cast a vote (even a null vote) only increases the chances of I'll informed voting and carelessly completed forms inadvertently playing into the problems you highlighted with the preferential system.

If a person is not interested in politics or does not understand the issues and policies it should be their right to choose note to vote without having to go to a polling booth and slow down proceedings or effect an outcome they don't care about.

It's like obliging someone who has no interest in Autralian Rules Football to cast a vote for rule changes or new league board members, makes no sense.