The Australian Politics Thread

[Chiilaa]

Well, ladies and gents, just a matter of months until we vote again (we voted today in WA as well, hence my inspiration for starting this thread lol) so I thought we could have somewhere to come and discuss in true Aussie style the pressing issues of our Federal Election.

Does anyone else notice that for a party called "The Liberals", the Libs are actually really conservative???

[SouthernTrailsGA]

Originally Posted by Chiilaa    

Does anyone else notice that for a party called "The Liberals", the Libs are actually really conservative???

Makes sense, in the USA when it is Winter, it is Summer in OZ, so Political Parties are opposite too

How many Political Parties do you have in Australia?

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[Chiilaa]

We have quite a number, but we run a two party system, so the party in power is either Liberals or Labour. The next biggest is probably the Greens, followed by the Nationals, then you have all the small "niche" parties - Australian Christian Lobby, Family First, Australian Sex Party, and so on, you can tell by their names what they stand for and they tend to not have a "whole country" view, but strong views on one or two key issues.

Here is a good list of them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...urrent_parties

If enough Australians got sick of the two major parties, there is usually enough Greens candidates that they could actually win a majority and take power, but enough devious pollies have put out the word that a vote for Green is a vote for Labour, and so a lot of people feel voting Greens is a wasted vote. Aside from that, no other party really has enough clout to actually take power really, and none have the support.

[Allison Finch]

How about posting the names of the "most likely to be elected" so that we can read up on them? It's hard to speak on a matter I know so little of. I'm certainly willing to learn something here.

[Chiilaa]

The long and the short of it is that either Labour (led by our current Prime Minister, Julia Gillard) or Liberal (led by Tony Abbott) will gain power. Both are pretty much horrible, and it really does seem that we have to pick the lesser of two evils, rather than a really good party. The two main parties have had total power for so long that it makes them complacent, and they don't need to really try (IMPO of course).

[Kayty]

If Abbott gets in, I'm moving to NZ. I can't stand him, I find him vile, devious and very 'backwards''. All of his so called policies are purely the opposite if what the Gillsrf government has introduced.
Julia Gillard has made some very good changes, and yes, some poor ones.
But I feel much more comfortable with her in power than I would with a slimy little weasel like Abbott.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Chiilaa]

Originally Posted by Kayty    

If Abbott gets in, I'm moving to NZ. I can't stand him, I find him vile, devious and very 'backwards''. All of his so called policies are purely the opposite if what the Gillsrf government has introduced.
Julia Gillard has made some very good changes, and yes, some poor ones.
But I feel much more comfortable with her in power than I would with a slimy little weasel like Abbott.
Posted via Mobile Device

Kayty wait for me! I don't want to live in a country led by the Mad Monk, no thanks!

Fortunately, I think that he has successfully alienated women voters, so I don't think he will get in... but I will be watching prices for flights to NZ just in case lol.

[ellygraceee]

This youtube vid doesn't really represent my opinion... It's just that it's 5am or so and I haven't gone to bed yet and I've gone to a very weird part of Youtube and this is what I found. I laughed way too hard at this - especially at "Rudders! It is time! Release your true forms!".

Parliament Deathmatch - YouTube

I'm not hugely into politics, but I'm not really a fan of either Abbott or Gillard. Really the only strong political opinion is that I'm hugely against ex-Queensland premier, Anna Bligh.

[tinyliny]

Just wanted to say that it's nice to see some Aussies willing to air their "dirty laundry" the way we Yanks are constantly doing . It's nice to know that we aren'the only ones with a contentious political environment.

[jaydee]

Is Gillard really as outspoken as she's supposed be - there's a 'round robin' that frequently lands in my email with things that she's (allegedly) said?
Could you have a situation over there like we currently have in the UK with a Conservative/Liberal alliance if one of the two major parties didnt have a large enough majority?