Ludwig... I am not going to try to disagree with you at all.

I think it's encouraging that someone sees something positive in the campaign.

I certainly believe we should be interested in it, and I always have been, up til now, but I really don't care who wins anymore because so little ever really changes for the better.

Gillard is such a two-faced politician, where as everyone knows that Abbott is a dead loss at the outset.

Having Rudd pretend he was not a neo-liberal has not helped credibility, I think.

The GFC, which we are paying for, should have been a wake up call, but it has not been at all.

No one is serious about changing how we conduct global business, and that shows up in the way politics is run.

The problem seems to be the parties themselves and whom they represent. It's not us !.

I'm relieved to know that so many agree(about being over it), so that I don't have to suffer my indifference alone.
It's also reassuring to know that so many devote some thought with regard to our national direction.

I can't help thinking that if Malcolm Turnbull had have remained leader of the Libs
and we passed an ETS we would now be having an election between Rudd and Turnbull.
Surely a far more palatable choice for most Australians now, and how different things would have been in a different Australia.

Even in the above situation we would still have the parties
(the unrepresentative swill they are), pulling the policy strings of possibly
the last 2 conviction politicians we'll ever see again in this country.

Do I have to vote ! ? no please , don't make me do it.

<< Do I have to vote ! ? no please , don't make me do it. >>

No you don’t have to, thinker.

If neither of these repulsive entities appeals to you, then don’t vote for either of them…..and don’t vote for any other candidate either, coz your vote will almost definitely filter down and end up counting for one of the two repugnant parties.

So go to the polling booth, get your name crossed off and then put in a blank ballot paper.

You don’t have to vote for the major party that you feel is slightly less evil than the other major party!

I wonder how are all the disillusioned people on this thread, which is probably a pretty good indication of the general community, are going to vote??

I bet the majority of them will vote directly for either Gillard or Abbott, despite really quite strongly disliking both of them, and having tuned out, will be voting for someone that they really don’t have much idea of what they are offering or how it compares with the other prime ministerial candidate.

When you think about it, this is pretty terrible.

If you are going to tune out, then you should put in a null vote, IMHO.

Don’t vote for a minor candidate because your vote will filter down and count for one of the two big buggers, such is the disgusting nature of our compulsory preferential voting system.

Just drop in a blank ballot paper.

Best to write something on the paper, for the benefit of the scrutineers if nothing else....doesn't have to be a vote it could be a slogan.

If it's a spoiled one, with an anti-politics slogan on it, it might amuse someone counting the votes, before it vanishes into the deep.

The Senate is worth taking time over, even if the lower house is deadwood, knowing that either Labor or the Coalition will be in there it hardly makes much difference.

But you can make them work for their votes if you fill the entire sheet out in the upper house.

Don't give up just yet, it's worth an effort.

It was not a debate, it was a structured question and answer thing.
Why while we think this formula was set by the TV was it so we would not see both leaders as they truly are?
Boring yes but made to be so by the format.
I while wanting that second term am asking why 5 weeks?
Surely most know who they want.
In a debate we may well have seen a winner, it could have been either one, but if we had elected a leader on that would it be the right way to do it?

I am afraid I am the same being once a bit of a political junkie myself, although I have to confess I still like to watch Insight, Insiders and Q&A. Lately I am turning off news perse in favour of great documentaries like Britannia last night with great photography.

There are many MPs with strong values and who look toward better democracy and accountability such as Senator Faulkner but even the good ones get swallowed up a bit in 'caucus solidariy' (as Graham Richardson put it), and the party machine. Not much room in that left for citizen participation.

The debate left most of us none-the-wiser with more of the same which was nothing of substance.