This picture, courtesy of our national broadcaster, somehow captures the essence of being Australian. Voting is mandatory for all adults, is always on a Saturday, and can be done on the way to the beach.
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@freemo It's only $AUD20. Mandatory voting does have an upside: it means that everyone votes, not just the politically motivated at either end of the spectrum, and the consequence is that our governments are inevitably centrist, as they have to appeal to the middle (i.e. normal people) to get elected.
It's not all bad. :)
> It's only $AUD20.
Well at least the penalty isnt too crazy.
> Mandatory voting does have an upside: it means that everyone votes
That sounds very much like a down side, not an up side. I want a system that **discourages** people from voting unless they are well educated in politics, and feels they have a candidate that is preferable.
The **last** thing I want is votes that are nearly random because someone cant pick a side being weighted as much as people who are engaged and have researched enough to form an opinion.
> and the consequence is that our governments are inevitably centrist, as they have to appeal to the middle (i.e. normal people) to get elected.
I think this may work more in Australia because you dont have a two party system... Even if we had more centrists voting it wouldnt help in the USA because the two choices you have are always extremists.
Thing is, I can only see this working in a coalition govt if people actually vote at every level, its too late once its a top-tier election.
@freemo @jasonetheridge If you can come up with an electoral system where that actually happens, let me know.
Compulsory voting makes Australia's electoral system one of the most robust of any country, it is very hard to argue that the results are at all unrepresentative, and trying to apply some nebulous bar to who should be able to vote is fundamentally undemocratic.
Since you are claiming that Australia doesn't have a two party system, I'll have to assume you're very uneducated on this issue - we essentially do have a two party system, but not to the grotesque extent the US does.
What's more, we also use significantly more fair electoral systems than the shockingly awful first past the post, which is one of the simplest of all systems to game and make undemocratic (see the US's who history for evidence of this). Our senate system in particular is particularly robust, with its optional preferential vote, where every person's vote will eventually end up going to their most preferred candidate (with the possibility that if they pick a particularly popular candidate, the excess votes will contribute to another less preferential candidate).
It's extremely hard to come up with a reasonable argument for Australia not having one of the strongest electoral systems around, without appealing to nonsense like 'muh freedoms' or 'but the people are too dumb'.
I have certainly not been impressed by australia.. that said it isnt as bad as places like the USA, so I guess there is that...
Sorry too busy to give you the lengthy answer this deserves right now. But thanks for the response. I will try to come back to this if I remember.
@jasonetheridge @freemo No worries, you hit a nerve of mine, as someone with a strong interest in election integrity. Iโm very unhappy with the results of this latest referendum, but I do at least know it represents the view of the people of the country (even if that view was stoked by astoundingly stupid misinformation, but thatโs a whole other problem to tackle).
I guess thats just it.. I dont **want** a vote to represent everyones view... I want the results of a vote to represent the view of the people passionate about politics, since these are the people talking and thinking about it.
