But I don't smoke, drink or gamble. What should I be concerned about?

that's afrobimbo crazy

I get better comebacks from my mate's 5 year old daughter.

See the problem with accusing me of being on the level of a 5 year old is that it does nothing to rebut the observation that you're beneath that level.

to be honest most of the population just aren't interested in politics and what's going on...they are to busy living and getting on with life.....and to the general Mr & Mrs plodder it doesn't make alot of difference who is in...they are more concerned of taxes go up on giggy's,piss and pokies.....

I think people wold pay attention to politics if the politicians were actually doing a good job and didnt sound like robots every time they spoke. Julia Gillard could have been talking about the most exciting thing in the world and i just felt like stabbing my ears. Its generally the same with all the politicians.

Australia does not have any politicians i would happily say is my representative and someone i would put on the world stage. There is a guy in my electorate who does a great job, but the Labor party and Graham Perrett screwed him over.

Politics thread: Batfink makes it personal.

Degrade his opinion, he degrades you. But you're always the idiot.

Gotta not be a two horse race for that to happen I spose.

Think the death of the Democrats has done more harm them good in the past decade or so.

-PB

The death of the Democrats has not done any good for anyone... although I admit to saying that as a former Democrats voter.

Proportional representation would actually be a change in the way our government works... rather than just the emergence of stronger alternative parties.

For example, if in the coming election the Greens were to get 15-20% of votes nationwide, they'd still only win maybe 1 or 2 out of 150 seats. Surely if 20% of people support them evenly across the country they should be represented by 20% of the parliament?!

Similarly, if 5% of people support the CDP for example... they have no hope of actually winning any seats in parliament. So those 5% have effectively no voice in the Australian parliament (save for the negligible factor of slightly influencing a major party's policies in return for preferences). Is it really fair to think that a party that receives votes from 1 person in 20 shouldn't be part of the national political agenda apart from a small window every 3 years when we have an election?

The Senate is effectively elected by proportional representation, but because all the main political occurences are in the House of Reps people only see the 2 main parties in operation, and therefore think a vote for a minor party in the Senate would be a waste. I don't think the Senate would be so Labor/Liberal dominated with only a handful of minor party reps (Greens, Family First, Shooters and Fishers in some states) if the same system existed in the House of Reps.

How many Australians actually believe either the Labor Party or Libs speak for them and their beliefs? You may prefer one over the other, but in most cases I'd say neither actually represents what people want our government to be doing.

Like ive said before, i dont think any party would do a good job running this country. I find politics in Aus to be rather childish and amateurish. Its just people arguing at each other and no one has any real policies or seems to do stuff.

I donkey voted last time. When you have a hung vote then you know people just dont think anyone is worthy of leading this country.

there is no need to rebut anything.....you are nothing and nobody .....best ask pauly for a rebutting when he felches you next.......


when i think about....you can relate to her because of her age and probably because you both have dolls.....hers is a barbie and your is a blowup.......

If I remember correctly, Germany had proportional representation just before Hitler rose to power. The problem was it required so many dealings between parties and these agreements were constantly breaking down. It created a sense of instability that people grew weary of.

Not saying proportional representation = next Hitler rising up but more so that we all hated the weeks after the hung parliament but proportional representation could lead to that every election on a bigger scale.

TASMANIA'S unemployment rate has jumped again with a 0.2 per cent rise to 8.4 per cent in July.

The trend term figure comes as Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott launches an employment policy for Tasmania in Devonport.

The ABS corrected the June trend figure to 8.2 per cent - up from previously published 8.1 per cent.

In seasonally adjusted terms the unemployment rate is 8.2 per cent in July - down from an adjusted rate of 9.0 per cent in June.

The increase comes the day after a crisis jobs forum in Launceston and in weeks after the announcement of a loss of about 200 jobs in the Launceston area.

The figures reveal a fall in the number of people employed from 230,800 to 230,500.

Along with the subsequent dealing going on politicians aren't accountable to any specific people. It makes them even more unscrupulous and unaccountable than they already are.

We already use proportional representation in the Senate in Australia and that turns into one big shit-fight every time there's a major issue on the table where half the house abstains from voting and the other half just call each other names.

Liberal Party ‘copyfraud’ a salient reminder of copyright as censorship
Posted on August 8, 2013 | Leave a reply
As the major parties descend into an ever increasingly infantile debate, Fairfax reporter Judith Ireland reports that copyright law is being engaged as a tool to suppress parody videos on YouTube in the Australian election campaign[1]. While this may appear trivial, it illustrates a larger, more serious issue.

“It’s an alarming development, however not surprising, that copyright is now being used as a tool for censorship in Australian politics. This is a perfect example of how copyright can be utilised to undermine free speech. While the subject here may be a relatively childish parody, if such abuse of copyright law were to become normalised it could impede legitimate political discourse and speech during a time-sensitive election campaign,” said Simon Frew, President of Pirate Party Australia.

Unfortunately it is very easy to use copyright as a censorship tool as the onus of proof is on the person being targeted with a takedown notice. In issues where time is of the essence, a takedown notice can be used to silence an opponent and by the time they have appealed and had their material reinstated, the opportunity to get a message heard can be missed. According to Google over one third of takedown notices are not valid copyright claims[2] and examples of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) being used for censorship are broad and many, be it doctors using it to silence negative reviews[3], businesses silencing competitors[4], through to it being used to remove video footage of war crimes[5].

“There are many issues with copyright and this is a clear illustration of one of them. The Pirate Party provides the most comprehensive intellectual property rights reform platform[6] of all parties in this election, and with the copyright monopoly threatening to step up the campaign after the election[7], those that value free culture, information and knowledge and reasonable intellectual property rights should consider a vote for the Pirate Party as insurance against draconian reforms proposed by industry bodies,” concluded Mr. Frew.

[1] http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/liberal-complaints-see-labor-parody-ad-removed-from-youtube-20130807-2rgih.html
[2] http://www.pcworld.co.nz/article/483729/google_submission_hammers_section_92a/
[3] http://www.digital-digest.com/news-62976-Doctors-Using-the-DMCA-For-Censorship.html
[4] http://torrentfreak.com/dmca-horrors-of-a-broad-and-automated-censorship-tool-120304/
[5] http://blog.serkowski.net/tag/copyfraud/
[6] http://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Platform
[7] http://www.itnews.com.au/News/352530,copyright-owners-group-tears-apart-law-review-process.aspx

True use of the Westminster system requires 3 or more major parties. Right now we're caught half way between the Westminster system and the american two-party system.

Yeah we've basically delved into our British history and fused it with elements of the American political machine. I'd like to see us take it a step further and take another leaf from the US by moving to a presidentialization method of voting to differentiate between your local MP and party head, as I feel a lot of voters ignore the best local option and focus too much on Rudd vs Abbott.


Edited by fredsta: 8/8/2013 06:38:09 PM

I concur, we either need to legitimately vote individually for the leader or bring in a legitimate third party.

Did the DT really portray Rudd as a nazi today? :-S

Labor and Coalition agree to Sunday night leaders' debate at National Press Club

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-08/parties-agree-to-leaders-debate-on-sunday/4874838

The two major parties have agreed to the first leaders' debate of the federal election campaign, to be held on Sunday night at the National Press Club in Canberra.

Labor wants the ABC to moderate the debate, but the Liberal Party has not indicated whether it supports that.

Both parties have agreed for the debate between Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott to start at 6:30pm (AEST).

The ALP had been pushing for a debate hosted by Channel 7 in conjunction with Facebook.

Labor's campaign director George Wright says he wants that debate to go ahead the following Sunday.

He said all major networks should have the opportunity to host a debate during the election campaign.

Liberal federal director Brian Loughnane says he looks forward to the National Press Club finalising arrangements.

He says two additional forums proposed by Mr Abbott should also take place.

Abbott to get destroyed.