Hi Paul,

It's going to be interesting what happens prior
to the next election and what policies are prioritized.
At the moment I think many voters are waiting before
deciding. As far as Labor is concerned - Shorten was
not popular and Albanese is more careful. He plays the
issues not the man, which is a positive trait. Scott
Morrison is still very much in the running. But he'd
better do more - miracles don't often happen twice.

Paul,
I generally agree with you but one small point, there is a legal obligation to actually vote, intentional informal voting is not legal but there is no way of catching an offender where the secret ballot applies; you’re safe.(*~*) (how’s that for improvisation?).

Dear Paul,

«if paying for vaccination is the overriding consideration that determines your vote»

Vaccination is only the tip of the iceberg.

The moral issue is of turning everyone into thieves (and/or robbers) through accepting, or benefiting from tax-payer's money, taken, in part at least, against the owners' consent or by coercion. In fact, since government is in a huge debt, this is money yet to be robbed of future generations, before they were even born to be asked whether or not they consent.

In most cases this can be avoided: I do not apply for pensions, payments, refunds or subsidies; I pay doctors and for other medical tests and procedures directly in cash, never giving them my Medicare number; I also do not declare deductions and rebates on my tax-return to avoid a tax refund.

Having a "private" health insurance is a sore issue, because health funds pay only the gap, taking the rest from Medicare. I checked and found that they are legally obliged to do so even if I wish to pay the Medicare portion out of pocket, and also that Medicare would never accept its unwanted money back. I have therefore quit my Australian health insurance and instead took an international health insurance policy from an overseas company that is not bound by Australian law. It costs more and provides only for medical expenses in access of US$15,000 p.a., but it does provide me peace of mind.

COVID vaccines are an exception, because of their urgent importance and because currently the only legal way to obtain them is from government. We are not allowed to import them or even to travel overseas in order to get vaccinated there.

As such, I expect the decent thing would be to allow me to refund the supplier, government, for their vaccine and vaccination costs, but alas, the current government would not allow me. I'll still pay them anyway by inventing some extra "income" in my next tax-return, but I would like to do it legally and I'll vote for an alternative government which will allow me to do so.

Paul we agree at last, neither major deserves to be elected if only for their immigration policies. However I don't vote informal. As we are going to get one or other, I put the worst last.

At the top I choes the one I would vote for if we had first past the post, & vote for them. At least I direct my election payment to the party of my choice, which may just help them improve their chances, or even influence in the preference buying ballot that effects the majors policies to some extent.

If people elected to work with the Govt rather than go against it at every turn, much more transparency would result. Most the mismanagement doesn't actually come from the "Govt" as such. It comes from people working within the the bureaucracy of the Public Service who aren't doing what they were hired for. One senior MP told me that more than 90% of his time goes into chasing up on complaints from people about Public Servant bureaucrats.
If people want to cut wastage & make our society better than they should focus on the Public Service Union. There are many Public servants who perform & no criticism is towards them.
It's those who spend their working hours justifying their position & salary instead of doing their job who are the real problem for which Govt then gets the blame.

Hi Indy,

In any large organisation be it public or private, you are going to get the whole range of people, from the competent to the incomperdent, and all those in between. The public service is no different to other large institutions I have worked for, incomperdence cased by both the bureaucratic nature of the organisation, right down to outright laziness and inability on the part of some employees.

Parliamentarians fall into the same category, as do ministers, some are extremely competent in their portfolio, others less so. Take one look at the Morrison ministry, some are "good at the job" others are incomperdent , and they are the ones targeted by the opposition.