Crackcup and TBC have it right. I always follow TBC's election strategy, although I would make an exception if I were in Kelvin Thomson's electorate and intend to vote for the Stable Population Party for the Senate. It is obvious to most of us that the vast majority of politicians are greedy, eager to do the bidding of their corporate masters for personal advantage, and feel no special obligation towards their fellow citizens or concern for the welfare of anyone outside their own circle. That, among many other examples, is why Australia's UN diplomats recently opposed a General Assembly declaration condemning junk food advertising to children.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/public-health-policy-at-the-mercy-of-corporate-greed-20110906-1jv50.html

You can't even count on enlightened self-interest. In their case, you can forget the enlightened part. The real problem is that they are short-sighted and pig-ignorant about the biophysical basis of our prosperity and, indeed, of our survival. That is why Australia ranks near the bottom of the developed world in comparisons of environmental management

http://epi.yale.edu/epi2012/map

It is also why we have the fastest rate of population growth in the developed world, despite the lack of evidence of any per capita benefit and lots of evidence of negative impacts on our environment and quality of life. In a country with less reserves, I would say that they are setting us up for a collapse. The Greens appear to have lost their original environmental focus and become captives of the Far Left, as they emote on gay marriage and open borders for asylum seekers, and pussyfoot on population growth, the major cause of growth in domestic greenhouse gas emissions, even though they claim to be concerned about climate change.

Anyone who exercises the slightest interest in Television
Current Affairs programmes would have noticed that there
is a general trend of indignation towards Local Councils,
right across the nation, many of whom are considered to
be way out of line in their treatment of constituents and
the nefarious methods thatare being utilized by these
Councils to boost their coffers!

Many of these Councils are out of control and are treating
ratepayers as simpletons, to be milked as seen fit by these
arrogant little demi-gods who are working against the
constituents, instead of for them!

The simple and most obvious answer to this problem would
be to vote OUT all the members of a morally questionable
Council,.....unfortunately it does not quite work that way,
as sitting Councillors can apply costly media advertizing
bias and word of mouth campaigns against potential
"do gooders" and anyone nominating for one of these
positions can be faced with a costly and psychologically
challenging few weeks leading up to the actual day of the
Election.

The other and more drastic answer to this problem would
be to eliminate Local Council bodies across the country, and
leave the day to day running of these Local Government areas
to the particular State Government.

This option would only be succesful if the State and
Territory Governments were HELD responsible to the people for their
actions, ...a move that appears to be long overdue. It all
sounds frought with problems, but the nuts and bolts of this
type of administration would have to ensure that the State
and the constituents` needs would be met in a more satisfactory
method than the archaic system that is in place at the present
time!

Why do we have to fear beneficial change?

Crackcup, quoting from your opening post:

<< I flounder in the knowledge that regardless of the direction
that I may cast my vote, the system will remain, a runaway train
thundering downhill towards the inevitable derailment! >>

Yes. So don’t vote for either! They are both essentially the same in their political direction, and are both rotten.

It makes no sense to struggle over which one to vote for. The only sensible thing to do is to vote for neither, by either lodging a blank ballot or voting for a minor candidate only, so that no preferences filter down to either of the ‘liblabs’.

At least you can vote for a minor party or independent candidate in Queensland, which has the optional preferential voting system, whereas you can’t federally without your vote ending up counting for one of the two big buggers, under the disgusting compulsory preferential system.

Returning a blank ballot paper is NOT a wasted vote. Voting for one of the big dinosaur parties on the basis that you think it is ever so slightly less disgusting than the other one IS a morally corrupt vote!

Don’t do it!

hELLO crackcup. Yooohooo, are you out there?