Whatever your politics, I think we can all agree that our electoral system is infinitely better than rotten, corrupt, toxic shambles they have in the United States.
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I've only lived in a riding where my preferred MP was elected ONCE in 50 yrs voting.
2 decades ago, even if the party I'd preferred wasn't elected, my new MP DID represent me, talked/responded w facts.
For at least 15 yrs now, the Reformatives respond to me w lies & pandering.
I have no rep.
They have rigged it so that the the minority has more power than the majority. They have also rigged it so the bottom 90% get fucked and the top 10 gets Romance by your taxpayer dollars
No. It was broken, has been broken for a long time. Allowing partisans to set electoral boundaries and rules for elections is not what modern civilized countries do.
Whatever your politics, I think we can all agree that our electoral system is infinitely better than rotten, corrupt, toxic shambles they have in the United States.
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Yes.
Main problem is the huge amount of money involved !
It invites corruption.
The nationalist party, which brought in the compulsory vote (1924), was a merger of the earlier Liberal party (1920) and a splinter group from the Labor party.
The point is, there is *no* historical continuity between Joseph Cook’s Liberals which as a matter of practicality ceased to exist after 1918, and Robert Menzies’ Liberal Party. To pretend there is, is to deliberately mislead people.
The amount spent on all federal elections in 2024 is estimated to be over $15.9B
(Includes outside and dark money groups.)
In the Ohio US Senate race alone, a record-breaking $483.4 million was spent. The job pays $174,000/year
The worst democracy $$ can buy
If you're not nauseous 🤢, you should be
I agree with you, but there are those — even in influential government positions — who would promote a more American style, largely because they assume they personally would be more successful financially under such a system. The country and the rest of the citizenry be damned.
I wonder how many ignorant people acknowledge their own state’s history to bind w/national treasures of government?
The museums exists for old relics in a variety of states
We had a farmer who donated two big steel buildings to create Klein Museum
Local history w/ brief descriptions
.
Well to be fair we have an electoral system in the USA. It sucks and is a big part of why our elections are fucked up. We need to be a true democracy. Power to the people and the popular vote is what wins.
It is not the electoral system that sucks. It is a corrupt supreme court that has allowed gerrymandering, and voter suppression and racial discrimination.
Well actually it’s answer D. ALL OF THE ABOVE. And the electoral system does suck. It’s an outdated system created when most people could not read or write and there was no mass transportation.
Absolutely. We should all be hugely grateful that our elections are in the hands of an independent body that takes its brief so seriously and not in the hands of partisan, corrupt local authorities. I don't know who set up the AEC but they're national heroes.
It is not within the AECs remit to police truth in political advertising.
If you want that you’ll need to convince the politicians to create laws to make it so.
There was a Bill to do that, but it wasn't the AEC who were to police the truthfulness (I think it was ACMA). Regardless, discussions with the Senate found it lacked support to be passed. Talk to the cross bench, if enough of them supported it, it would already be law
I wasn't suggesting that our system is perfect, but at least we can be confident that the votes which are cast are the votes which are counted. And AEC goes to great lengths to ensure that everyone who's eligible gets the chance to vote .But yes, truth in advertising would be a vast improvement.
That toxicity comes in a small part to toxic voters, but mostly from the Electoral College which was introduced to drown out the voices of the rabble, but perversely disenfranchises voters
Plus we are fully aware at what a POS Murdoch and his media are. It took a long time to understand he destroyed the best government, under the greatest PM (Gough) we ever had, now @albomp.bsky.social has the chance to emulate him. He has some outstanding ministers among this lot.
Power & money, always trying to increase both, a sign of insecurity, but he thinks it's the opposite. He could spend $1M a day for the rest of his life & still leave a fortune. He's self made, but a never satisfied megalomaniac, could do good, but doesn't. I very much enjoy life as a pauper.
Not Jacinta Price, apparently. And if you hold your nose and check out X / Twitter you'll find a whole gaggle of right-wing nut jobs alleging widespread election fraud, many of them dumbly suggesting computers were hacked, apparently unaware that we still have paper votes.
Among the genius of our system noted in your responses should be added how how compulsory voting means no dodgy ID rules need to lock out voters. The system self checks to make voter fraud impossible to work. Oz is the world leader in election fairness.
What the United States has is a corrupt Supreme Court. All the toxicity and shambles can be traced directly to our Supreme Court, not holding Trump accountable for his crimes. OurDemocracy is 250 years old and now we know how it dies.
Gutting the civil rights act proved that the court is corrupt and owned by oligarchs. We suspected before. Now it is obvious to anyone not wanting to profit from that corruption.
I like the compulsory part. Otherwise we end up like America with half the population not bothering. Like I said to a young man on Saturday when he asked if his vote mattered. Yes it does. Your vote is a very poetful thing.
Extraordinary that in some states the electoral systems are run by the governments themselves as opposed to an independent electoral administration à la AEC.
It really depends on the state. I live in Oregon, US. Our elections are all vote-by-mail, postage paid. Super convenient. Or you can drop off your ballot at one of the many secure drop boxes statewide. Take as long as you need to go through the voters' pamphlet at home and make an informed decision.
As an American, I agree with this 100%. Big money controls our elections, money is the only way to get elected too. It's a scary thing as someone who wants to run, who wants to make a difference, knowing that if you can't appeal to the rich, you won't even be able to run at all.
Last night was a united rejection of Trumpian style populist BS and the toxic Murdochracy that fuels it. AUS values genuine Democracy and we expect more from those who seek to lead our awesome country
Sure, we’re not perfect….but I was very proud of us last night ✊
Same here but living in a rusted on National's electorate there was no way we could give McCormack the boot which is a real pity - we had a couple of excellent alternatives.
As American citizens we feel comfortable in confirming that American democracy sucks, its Constitution is problematic rubbish, and it's electoral mechanisms can eat a giant bag of dicks.
Australia and Canada would have put rightwing losers in charge if they didn’t have the example of Trumpism to scare them back to the good side. Everything in America that is fucked up now can be traced to our current corrupt Supreme Court. They refused to hold Trump accountable & this is the result.
Well, you are right about that but the real reason we are teetering on the edge of the abyss is a corrupt Supreme Court that refused to hold an evil criminal accountable
We went from replacing Scalia with a progressive to the most corrupt rightwing court in the history of the United States. And I will never forgive the people who voted for Trump.
Or forget Elon who manipulated the computer program to change votes
Because Donnie keep professing his sins on national TV
Don’t worry you don’t need to vote
We have it taken care of it
What it took was Obama not calling McConnell’s bluff. When McConnell refused to even hold confirmation hearings for MG, Obama should’ve waited four months, which was the most anyone ever had to wait and then announced He was unilaterally installing Garland on the Supreme Court.
I’m not sure what you’re asking. No one has ever refused to hold a confirmation hearing for a Supreme Court justice before. And of course, no one has ever used the power of the presidency to say fuck that I’m putting this guy on the court.
The Social Sciences (Psychology/Behaviour etc) have matured to the extent that they can accurately vet political & Public Service candidates for suitability. We need an oversight committee of professionals & public to prevent the election of trumps /Farages/Starmers/Bravermans/Johnsons.
Interesting in Australia & Canada's elections they both resoundedly voted against right wing trumpian candidates, so much so, both losing candidates, lost their own seat's.
How do you like that trump, you complete lowlife, the world hates you.
On behalf of my Canadian ass. What we did was narrowly defeat extreme right wing lies and disinformation. One small riding resoundingly took out PP. We also solidly defeated the left wing and shifted towards the center and time will tell if it's center right or center.
Agreed! But we should close the do-over loop hole PP is usingYou loseyou lose! You can't run again until a seat opens up No getting someone to step down so you can parachute into their seat! Now the person stepping down will say it was totally their own idea/choice! But we all know what's happening.
Indeed. Ours is antiquated and doesn’t reflect the will of the people. It has been a problem all of my life, and it is doubtful it will change bc it is decidedly in repub favor. The fact that Alabama and California have the same number of Sens. but I think we will be lucky if we have it at all
Shitty education system
Shitty dental
Shitty healthcare
Shitty retirement system
Shitty mat & pat leave
Shitty women’s rights
Shitty child protection
Shitty prison & legal system
..but “great” because it’s been pounded into the brain since birth.
Yeah I guess we will just ignore Australias higher cost of living, fewer entertainment and career opportunities, geographic isolation, stricter internet laws, limited consumer choices, more hazardous wildlife, worse tipping culture, and less developed public transport because “orange man bad.”
This is without a doubt true-- but as the USA can attest, it is also a VERY VERY SHORT trip from "everything is OK" to absolute catastrophe. Self-congratulation can get in the way of self-improvement and make the trip happen faster.
Oh absolutely! Compulsory voting is saving our arses because people have to investigate and make educated decisions there are a few sheep 🐑 but more Aust actually make informed choices and that’s down to decent journos like yourself
We have serious problems, especially with voter suppression, in some states. And the Electoral College. But most states have excellent voting systems. In some, like Colorado. It's amazingly easy to register and vote. Remember, everyone else learned not to use an EC from us.
Not up on how Aus does it. In Canada we have Elections Canada (est.1920) to set ridings, voting hours, locations, rules for voting.
There is no partisanship involved. Each Province also has a similar agency.
To be fair, our system would by superior to anyones except we have greed and dark money in our politics. Your system can also succumb to corruption with that. Use us a lesson and don’t gloat!
If you mean Canada It is ONLY by comparing us to the WORST electoral system among the Western democracies that this is true. Look at the abuses of the notwithstanding clauses enacted or proposed. Look at wasted or 'loaned' votes in First-past-the-post.
I think he means Australia. Also a Westminster derived parliament. IDK how they elect representatives, but it’s a legal requirement to vote, and elections happen on Saturdays, with a barbecue to make it fun, I hear.
Our electoral college is a racist relic of the past and we allow money to run our politics. It's not surprising. Not all of us are arrogant, thinking we're the best in the world.
But it can be better.
Start by publicly funding candidates, and making private fundraising illegal. And then real time reporting of all lobbyist meetings and representative financial holdings
I thought you were talking about the UK for a moment and was going to post 🤣😕😭, but now I realise you're Australian. Your system is 100% better than ours - no proportional representation here and they make it as hard as possible for people to vote.
Can we please stop measuring ourselves to literally the worst preforming of our peers. Genuinely we're one of the worst/ least engaged and representative democracies and that we haven't spiraled into dictatorship is more luck than anything else
And the UK, albeit the UK is also far superior in democratic process to the USA. I miss being a voter in Australia which definitely has the superior system for capturing the true will of the people.
OTOH the USA has had *some* presidential electiions where the president was democratically elected (as opposed to appointed by the undemocratic electoral colleges).
The next democratically-elected UK Head of State will be the first.
The last democratically-elected UK Government was back in 1931.
I note with interest the number of relatively politically stable democracy there are as opposed to democracies in republics. I am not a monarchist but sometimes the facts do not necessarily align with your beliefs.
Would be of the opinion it is more about too much power invested in the HoS regardless of it bei g a President or Monarchy. Government based in the legislature works well in systems that have Presidents who are not also Head of Government (e.g Ireland)
Fair point about HoS but remember they do not have the same role. Independent Electoral Commision and lack of gerrymandering makes for the UK being more democratic overall, but still poor given FPS voting.
The electoral system that allowed the dnc to subvert 2 primaries, thus giving us iq45 Twice?
Meanwhile Germany, Aus, & Canada saw everything and that happened/is happening here and Rejected it outright.
How do you keep defending a system that allows that? But it wasn't the system, it was the ppl.
There's a VERY important #4: All candidates entitled to have representatives scrutineer the count. 1 & 4 together means that claims similar to the Orange Shitler's 2020 'rigged' bullshit are close to impossible and, if made, are greeted with the disdain they deserve.
5. Saturday voting
6. Multiple polling locations in every electorate
7. Easy access to early, postal, and absentee voting
8. Strict rules about political conduct in and around polling locations
9. Public funding for candidates proportional to #1 preferences
So important we hang on to what we have. I have big doubts about whether the introduction of compulsory voting would get past the post today. Judith Brett tells us there was little/no opposition when it was introduced. (Her book and RN last week”
The ppl take to the streets. It's coming. Trump will implement the Insurrection Act. He will defy the courts. He will use the army against the ppl. He has given sex pest and drunkard, Hegseth, 90 days to come up with a plan. Will the generals resign.
The US lost the pretense of Democracy years ago. They are a corrupt authoritarian state close to being condemned by The Hague for human rights violations
Is it? A system that allows a massive majority on far less than 50% of the vote leaves most of us without proper representation.
Even Labour Party members want it scrapped.
Maybe the physical old-fashioned paper ballot form (even the senate tablecloth of a form) takes away computer hacking issues. Paper can still be recounted.
...and this thought is from my very un- technological mind.
AEC did a brilliant job.
All ballots are counted at least twice, by hand. Then a third time if it's close, or just requested. Then kept for a number of months as well. You probably already know this.
It's currently unclear whether computer voting is even capable of recreating all the desirable features of paper votes at the same time. What is clear is that basically nobody would be able to understand the mathematical proof, whereas almost everyone can see the way paper ballots provide them.
For example, with computer votes how can I be sure my vote was counted accurately without being able to prove to someone else how I voted? If you can prove to someone else how you voted, then people with power over you can insist you vote the way they want.
The problem with modern democracies is that "conservatives" have abandoned all pretense of behaving in good faith. They say whatever gets them elected then do whatever their political owners tell them.
Wonder how that little entitled fuckwit,Ben Fordham will cope ? Luckily,or unluckily I’m in QLD at the moment.
No doubt he’ll have a relevant guest on to ease his pain. Such a cock !
No doubt about that.
The Trump disaster has increased Australians' pride in our electoral system which usually functions very smoothly and feels like a national holiday.
Yes and no. Not having an electoral college is great, but our system is still very easily distilled to a popularity contest for the party leaders, instead of people actually voting based on their local reps and what they want to do with their time in parliament.
Why does the USA not remove the electoral college? Fix tenure of congress representatives for 5 years. The majority party nominates the president for fixed 5 years.
The efficiency of a system that can call an election result just a few hours after polls closed in Western Australia is amazing. No fear of voting fraud or mishandling of votes. Definitely the lucky country.
Although we should have proportional representation. Greens have 13% of the vote. Better than the Nats yet they have virtually no seats. The people that voted for them are not represented in parliament
No the system keeps 13% of the population unrepresented whilst the gerrymandering of the regional seats gives less people a heap of Nationals seats. The Nats control the narrative of the LNP. It’s not a true democracy when it’s skewed like this.
Agreed. Our electoral/voting system is a saving grace. But let's not get complacent! These pricks are pushing hard to poison the well here too. They won't stop coming.
I dunno man. Fed liberal is now looking like Vic state liberal. Destined for long term obscurity due to losing touch with the fair go types that swing the election one way or another
Not just for the Libs and Brethren, but for all parties to leave people alone. The day is for voting not getting accosted while trying to vote. They can leave their how to vote information only, inside the building, where I don’t mind my taxes paying to have someone keep it stocked and recycling.
I agree. While some people overseas regard our compulsory voting system as 'against our free rights' I think that our system here in Australia is great. We offer EVERY Australian over 18 years a voice to shape our democracy for local, state/territory and federal elections. And -- 2/2
Exactly. And it’s the act of turning up to vote that’s compulsory & encourages true democracy - people don’t have to tick the ballots if they don’t want to, but at least the compulsory turning up encourages everyone to think about the kind of people they want running the country.
That's what I keep thinking to myself as I'm waiting in line to vote on Polling Day. And I'm so thankful for it as I'm sure so are many others doing the same thing are.
We are very fortunate. Just had an impromptu neighbourhood post election meeting on my porch in Marrickville 😂 with all political colours. Started with 3 of us and others joined in as they walked by. All respectful of each other’s views. Marrickville pretty buoyant today!
As a US citizen I support this message. Our system is DEI for republicans. They are the only ones who benefit from the electoral college. Our union exists as a grift on blue states to support non-functioning red states.
It’s not only that we don’t do compulsory voting. Republicans actively engage in voter suppression. They purge voter roles and fight to not count the votes of certain demographics. They make it so people can’t vote.
They're the only ones who benefit from the way Congress is seated. They benefit tremendously from the Senate and then benefit again from the fact that each congressman should represent around 700,000 people, but several red states do not even have 700,000 people, leading to more underrepresentation.
As a California resident I feel this. We should have more representation because we have WAY more people. Granted that would also give Texas and Florida more representation as well, but things would be a little more even. We need a parliament, not a Congress.
Honestly, I'm not sure things would have gone where they are with FL if we had been able to make more difference. Florida used to be a solidly purple state. DeSantis's first term he won by less than 0.5%. He only won the second one by pretending to be a centrist. A lot of Floridians are centrists.
Comments
and I love the AEC!
and compulsory voting.
The US would benefit from having an AEC to administer their car crash of a system & do away with gerrymandered electoral boundaries.
They claim to be the home Democracy, but they wouldn't know Democracy if they fell over it!
2 decades ago, even if the party I'd preferred wasn't elected, my new MP DID represent me, talked/responded w facts.
For at least 15 yrs now, the Reformatives respond to me w lies & pandering.
I have no rep.
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Yes.
Main problem is the huge amount of money involved !
It invites corruption.
(Includes outside and dark money groups.)
In the Ohio US Senate race alone, a record-breaking $483.4 million was spent. The job pays $174,000/year
The worst democracy $$ can buy
If you're not nauseous 🤢, you should be
The museums exists for old relics in a variety of states
We had a farmer who donated two big steel buildings to create Klein Museum
Local history w/ brief descriptions
.
If you want that you’ll need to convince the politicians to create laws to make it so.
AND the thousands of people who work long hours at our polls!
Question is.. why bother?
In OR we're lucky that the partisans in charge of ours (SecState) value fairness and openness, which obviously isn't the case in many other states.
“Lest we forget” Have we forgotten?
Sure, we’re not perfect….but I was very proud of us last night ✊
some conservatives i know are ok with trump and some think he's a man baby
Australia for the win xoxo
Because Donnie keep professing his sins on national TV
Don’t worry you don’t need to vote
We have it taken care of it
(Honest question)
How would you have felt about Joe Biden expanding the court?
How do you like that trump, you complete lowlife, the world hates you.
Aussie's don't stab their friends in the back.
Sure, you’ll have to wear a bullet proof vest, but we rule.
Shitty education system
Shitty dental
Shitty healthcare
Shitty retirement system
Shitty mat & pat leave
Shitty women’s rights
Shitty child protection
Shitty prison & legal system
..but “great” because it’s been pounded into the brain since birth.
Russia does that too.
Since many Americans talk this way, most toss an (s) for satire at the end so as not to be mistaken.
Your humour is well received though 🙃
The reply is kinda fitting either way since your satirical tesponse is entirely accurate.
1 in 100 Americans in jail
50k dead annually by appendicitis
Wait staff paid 3.00/h <<<<<<
In Canada we know Australians pay less/no tip because wait staff have living wages & assume other educated Countries do too.
I need more characters.
There is no partisanship involved. Each Province also has a similar agency.
#ProportionalRepresentationNOW
I really like the Australian system, but initial indications are that Cdn PM Mark Carney is less than interested.
Start by publicly funding candidates, and making private fundraising illegal. And then real time reporting of all lobbyist meetings and representative financial holdings
The AEC is the world’s best of the best!
The next democratically-elected UK Head of State will be the first.
The last democratically-elected UK Government was back in 1931.
- an independent electoral commission AEC
- preferential voting
- compulsory voting
- limited vote buying
- weekend voting
- democracy
Meanwhile Germany, Aus, & Canada saw everything and that happened/is happening here and Rejected it outright.
How do you keep defending a system that allows that? But it wasn't the system, it was the ppl.
1. Our AEC (privileged to scrutineer & witness their good work)
2. Compulsory voting
3. Preferential voting
6. Multiple polling locations in every electorate
7. Easy access to early, postal, and absentee voting
8. Strict rules about political conduct in and around polling locations
9. Public funding for candidates proportional to #1 preferences
The list goes on.
The United States does not allow a third party to sustain itself.
And in the US 2-party duopoly, when one of those parties turns autocratic, where do they go next?
➡️ The #republican party is nothing but a #terrorist network.
➡️ Hope, Canada and International #watchdog groups designate them as a #terrorist network.
➡️ Also, #EU needs to regulate X, FB, GOOG, etc., bc the US govt is too corrupt to regulate them.
Australia: Hold my beer.
Even Labour Party members want it scrapped.
...and this thought is from my very un- technological mind.
AEC did a brilliant job.
No doubt he’ll have a relevant guest on to ease his pain. Such a cock !
The Trump disaster has increased Australians' pride in our electoral system which usually functions very smoothly and feels like a national holiday.
And to make that happen you need a LOT of political will.
Don't fall for it.
The AEC is respected, the system is trusted - we’re a beacon.
After she "won", she needed to get her high school diploma!