In all the conversation about people who pay taxes having the right to vote, no one has mentioned the group who are adults, never worked a day in their life and will vote for anyone who promises to increase their Centrelink payment.
Personally I think voting should only be the right of people who have contributed to the public purse, even once they have retired, and restrict those who have never contributed or only contributed a small amount.
Permanent welfare recipients generally see no benefit in any policies that don’t benefit them directly and aren’t concerned with long term economics.

At Aldi this morning, had bog paper, limit 1 pak per customer. Mrs Old Fart agro with staff, the old duck had 2 pkts . I told her to stick the bog paper up her arse! The wife don't like me doing that.

Dear Big Nana,

Those were pretty much the same arguments which were put forward against housewives getting the vote.

They were also employed by those wanting to preserve the right to vote only to landholders.

We thankfully discarded and moved past them as a society.

Steele,

Back in the day, nobody would have said that 'housewives don't work a day in their lives'. Women still worked, by the way (and on lower pay) - as well as doing their housewifely duties when they came home each night. My mum did that probably from when she was 14 or so, with a few years out to raise us kids, and until she retired at 63.

I think Big Nana means people, able-bodied people, who make sure that they either acquire no skills or live where there is no possibility of work, or both - and who never do a day's work in their lives.

I vividly recall one family of two sons and a daughter who, between them, as far as I could tell, did exactly that - not a single day's work. They all died of the grog in their thirties, so they didn't get to enjoy their free time for long. They coasted along on the reputation of their father as a top tracker.

And of course, in many communities, women, by definition, never work again once they have started to have their kids, even though seasonal work on fruit-picking, etc., is freely available.

Joe

When my folks were married in 1935 my mother was dismissed from her job.

Women were not supposed to work after marriage, they were supposed to take to home duties, & start raising kids.

In the country towns where we lived after the war there were very few or no jobs for wives. It was only after they returned to Sydney that she went back to work in the 60s.

Dear loudmouth2,

This could be an interesting discussion.

As Hasbeen said “Women were not supposed to work after marriage, they were supposed to take to home duties, & start raising kids.”

But you would rather them out fruit picking?

Obviously kids are raised in households with parents who are unemployed. This requires work. While not directly paid it is work none the less. Why is it any different to when women were not a large part of the workforce?

I know a number of single mums who do not do paid work except for minding other kids for cash. Should they be denied a vote as well?

When unemployment is allowed to surge because of government policies should those impacted not have a say about them?