Civic Duty and Sausages Too(An Australian Election Thread)

[Radiatia]

Australia and Australian politics are the strongest argument against compulsory voting I can think of. I don't think I'd bother casting a ballot if I were Australian, and besides it doesn't matter who you vote for, there will be another six changes of Prime Minister before the polls open.

[Farnhamia]

We DO have one of these, thank you: https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=461598

It's just been quiet since we've all been waiting for the date to be set.

I should have remembered. Hang on, merge coming ...

[Shrillland]

The UN not listening, what a surprise.

Lets not derail the thread so early

Anyway with all the turmoil and revolving door leadership its a hard call to make on Australia, especially when you consider just how much it wants to suck up to the US now that Chinese investment has slowed down and the countries record on Climate Change, Immigration and Racism are starting to show it up a bit.

I'm tending to agree though that ALP has the best odds so far

They'll definitely win, the question right now is will they meet their 1983 threshold of 82-84 seats? I believe they can do so. As for Australia's record on the issues, Labor isn't as tough on climate change as some think, and they want to keep the detention centres running, which is why I put them at 3rd in my preferences behind Reason and the Greens.

[Shrillland]

So, I was going through the Senate lists for this year's vote, and I found that just a few days ago, Anning's set up his own party: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_Anning%27s_Conservative_National_Party

[Ardoki]

Will Reason be running in NSW any time soon?

[Shrillland]

Will Reason be running in NSW any time soon?

I haven't seen anything, they're not even on Victoria's list from what I saw. NSW does have some Science Party candidates though.

[Ardoki]

Will Reason be running in NSW any time soon?

I haven't seen anything, they're not even on Victoria's list from what I saw. NSW does have some Science Party candidates though.

Yeah, Reason and Science seem the best for me. After that, I'll probably just have to vote Greens.

[Costa Fierro]

I'm tending to agree though that ALP has the best odds so far

ALP currently holds a decent lead over the Coalition, but how long Shorten will last in the Prime Minister's chair remains to be seen. Not sure if there's anyone currently in the Shadow Cabinet with potential eyes on the top job.

Three Prime Ministers in a year though. Something's gotta give.

[The Xenopolis Confederation]

So, I was going through the Senate lists for this year's vote, and I found that just a few days ago, Anning's set up his own party: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_Anning%27s_Conservative_National_Party

Because conservative parties are *cough* liberal, national, family first, Australian Conservatives, One Nation, Katter's Australian, Democratic Labour, Liberty Alliance, Palmer United Party *cough* in very short supply.

[Neu Leonstein]

So, I was going through the Senate lists for this year's vote, and I found that just a few days ago, Anning's set up his own party: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_Anning%27s_Conservative_National_Party

Because conservative parties are *cough* liberal, national, family first, Australian Conservatives, One Nation, Katter's Australian, Democratic Labour, Liberty Alliance, Palmer United Party *cough* in very short supply.

Remember how Anning was elected in the first place. Apparently he got 19 votes, and made it through only on the back of One Nation doing relatively well as a third choice. He was supposed to be a stand-in for a guy with dual citizenship problems, but instead of doing that he just quit the party once he had the seat, and so he wouldn't have to give it up.

So he can't get by on One Nation's ticket as a member, and he likely can't get the votes as an independent. But maybe, if he stays in the headlines and runs candidates in enough seats, he can get enough preferences to make a deal with someone that will allow him to get one seat for himself. Kinda like trading votes in all the other seats for one in wherever he runs.

I haven't thought through the precise electoral logic of whether that works, but that seems to me like the best explanation for why he would do this now.

[Shrillland]

It's official: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/scott-morrison-prepares-to-call-the-federal-election-20190410-p51cxn.html

Morrison's going to Yarralumla today to call the election for Saturday, May 18.

[Shrillland]

Here's Australia's vote compass from ABC: https://votecompass.abc.net.au/?fbclid=IwAR1Paqnj6nMPGZpDz0W9h5ViELmCOtpTf6tWVSePgtMBO493poVvZ1gVMk4

Where do you stand on it?

I got 86% for the Greens, 71% for Labor, and 38% for the Coalition myself, more or less what I was expecting.

[Neu Leonstein]

Went to South Melbourne market for groceries today... not too much going on actually. During the Victorian state election campaign you had Libs running around handing out bags and stuff. Maybe it's still too early.

The ABC has a handy calculator to go from the polls to the number of Lower House seats. At the moment the TPP polling suggests about 52% ALP, so that gets them to 82 seats (win 10) and the Coalition to 63 seats (lose 10), with the rest going to others.

Where do you stand on it?

After assigning weights to the issues, I got 68% Greens, 63% ALP and 41% Libs. Probably fair, though after the Turnbull knifing, Dutton still being in office and the Christmas Island stunt, putting the chances of me supporting the Coalition this time around at anything greater than zero is stretching it.

[East Meranopirus]

Hmm...now the election's actually been called the thread is eerily silent...

Regardless, here's my vote compass: https://votecompass.abc.net.au/results/ ... ccde67207a
I'll be honest, that's not exactly what I was expecting...40% One Nation? I thought I was leaning between Labor and Greens...
I see the coup against Turnbull as a great mistake, and for me, a complete turnoff from the Liberals, and I'm glad the perpetrators - Dutton and Abbott, are facing a tough re-election (though I want to see Dutton elected to another term, for personal reasons).

As for the election in general, Labor looks likely to win, but I wouldn't put it anywhere near certain like some of you did. Anything could happen in a month's time, and plus, I have suspicions that the media is trumping up Labor's chances, kind of like the 2016 US election. But at least One Nation is losing steam, which some people have attributed to Morrison being PM (since he's more conservative than Turnbull), so the Coalition is looking better with possibly more first preference votes.

Oh, and Captain GetUp, anybody?

[Dazchan]

Regardless, here's my vote compass: https://votecompass.abc.net.au/results/ ... ccde67207a
I'll be honest, that's not exactly what I was expecting...40% One Nation? I thought I was leaning between Labor and Greens...

Yeah, I’m not sure about the accuracy of Vote Compass. It put me closer to Labor than the Greens, which isn’t the case in reality.

[Special Aromas]

So, I was going through the Senate lists for this year's vote, and I found that just a few days ago, Anning's set up his own party: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_Anning%27s_Conservative_National_Party

Because conservative parties are *cough* liberal, national, family first, Australian Conservatives, One Nation, Katter's Australian, Democratic Labour, Liberty Alliance, Palmer United Party *cough* in very short supply.

Conservative isn't sufficient for Anning, he needs the sort of full blown fascism that even Pauline Hanson wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

[East Meranopirus]

Because conservative parties are *cough* liberal, national, family first, Australian Conservatives, One Nation, Katter's Australian, Democratic Labour, Liberty Alliance, Palmer United Party *cough* in very short supply.

Conservative isn't sufficient for Anning, he needs the sort of full blown fascism that even Pauline Hanson wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

He named the party after himself? Why do Australians always do this? What's next?

[Shrillland]

Conservative isn't sufficient for Anning, he needs the sort of full blown fascism that even Pauline Hanson wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

He named the party after himself? Why do Australians always do this? What's next?

Maybe the Coalition will finally merge altogether and become Scott Morrison's Conservative Clusterfuck...provided there haven't been at least six more spills by then.

Also, with Reason out of the picture, my new ranking is Greens 1st, Science Party 2nd, Labor staying at 3rd.

[East Meranopirus]

He named the party after himself? Why do Australians always do this? What's next?

Maybe the Coalition will finally merge altogether and become Scott Morrison's Conservative Clusterfuck...provided there haven't been at least six more spills by then.

Also, with Reason out of the picture, my new ranking is Greens 1st, Science Party 2nd, Labor staying at 3rd.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-18/ ... s/11025260
Oh no, oh no...It might as well be called Fraser Anning's Nazi Party now...
As a Queenslander, I wonder if the Coalition will follow Queensland's example and merge...especially after that disastrous result in the NSW election.
As for my own preferences, there's not a whole lot of options in Queensland, it'll probably just be Greens 1st, Labor 2nd, Centre Alliance and Liberal Democrats might be tolerable, but I only agree with like half of their platforms.

[Arkhastok]

Well, honestly 80% of the leaders are memes in my opinion. According to Votecompass apparently I support One Nation, which isn't exactly false but it isn't exactly true either. I prefer the Australian Conservatives over One Nation but I don't really have very strong opinions about either.

I'll just leave Liberal and Labor to do their thing I guess. Just please, no more spills.

[East Meranopirus]

Well, honestly 80% of the leaders are memes in my opinion. According to Votecompass apparently I support One Nation, which isn't exactly false but it isn't exactly true either. I prefer the Australian Conservatives over One Nation but I don't really have very strong opinions about either.

I'll just leave Liberal and Labor to do their thing I guess. Just please, no more spills.

VoteCompass doesn't have the Australian Conservatives on there, it only has Liberal, Labor, Greens and One Nation.

You know there's more spills coming...

[Arkhastok]

Well, honestly 80% of the leaders are memes in my opinion. According to Votecompass apparently I support One Nation, which isn't exactly false but it isn't exactly true either. I prefer the Australian Conservatives over One Nation but I don't really have very strong opinions about either.

I'll just leave Liberal and Labor to do their thing I guess. Just please, no more spills.

VoteCompass doesn't have the Australian Conservatives on there, it only has Liberal, Labor, Greens and One Nation.

You know there's more spills coming...

Yes I know. I was talking about what result VoteCompass gave me (One Nation) but I added that I preferred Australian Conservatives over them

And ohnoIhavetogetready

[Trumpisslavia]

So, I was going through the Senate lists for this year's vote, and I found that just a few days ago, Anning's set up his own party: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_Anning%27s_Conservative_National_Party

Because conservative parties are *cough* liberal, national, family first, Australian Conservatives, One Nation, Katter's Australian, Democratic Labour, Liberty Alliance, Palmer United Party *cough* in very short supply.

The sane ones seem to be in short supply, but then again, Aussie leaders who aren't hot garbage are few and far between --

[Jack Thomas Lang]

What this country needs is a hero. What this country needs is a man like Jack Lang.

A man who has balls big enough to stop all the far-right nutjobs like Fraser Anning and Pauline Hanson. A man who laughs and pisses in populism.

Shame we don't have a politician like that.

[Shrillland]

Here's proof that climate change denial is not unique to America: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-23/lnp-senate-candidate-gerard-rennick-bom-climate-conspiracy/11036404?fbclid=IwAR3GAzrD1gnv2LL9nhFRPO_gIs1dKOgBAX0cOoThdtIwgXk6uGP1e8uH_jI&amp%3Bpfmredir=sm

And this guy is running on the Queensland LNP Senate lists.