2010 State Election Poll

[the.watchman]

Just taking "2010 State Election" to a more interactive level

[Nic K]

I'm looking forward to seeing the results of this!!

[pi]

hope we get the airport-city rail link (finally) -providing it doesn't take my house     (state governments have a habit of doing that to people)

[AVeryAverageUsername]

Being in a very safe Labor seat and under 18 when the election is held it matters not however...

I'd like to say I'd vote for the Liberals being a conservative and all, but damn are they making it hard. Either the media in Melbourne doesn't like the opposition or they're sleepwalking expecting to just be handed power one day. How long has Ballieu been in charge of the Libs for? There's so many areas to savage the government on but they seem to be doing nothing of substance. The only ad I've seen so far is the 'John Brumby wastes taxpayer's money advertising'. Yeah like you guys won't when you get in... State politics just makes me want to bash my head in some days, all the talent seems to go into federal and then you get left with the dregs.

[Cianyx]

Guess who is not voting again?

This guy

[Chavi]

The national anti-Labor sentiment may harm Vic Labor's prospects for re-election. Although I disagree with many Labor policies, I do like John Brumby - he's a solid premier who understands the job and does it well.

That said, I personally won't be voting Labor - what Victoria needs right now is conservative fiscal policies rather than a 'spend-spend-spend!' attitude. Especially given that the worst of the GFC hasn't hit yet (expect a 1929 style crash in a couple of years - with no chance of bailout from China), the last thing our state needs right now is further debt.
If we could somehow convince John Brumby to take over as head of the Victorian Liberal party - then he'd be a solid winner.

Otherwise, expecting to see Labor go the way of the Democrats in the US mid-term election.

[slothpomba]

That all sounds a bit conspiracy theoried for me and far fetched.

I am in a very very safe labor seat, being in the west.

Doesn't matter where my votes go to.

I think the myki thing is a big stuff up among numerous other stuff ups and the people should reprimand them for that but honestly... i don't like Baillieu at all and im not voting greens... (who cares if i do in this ultra safe seat the preferences go to labor anyway)

[TrueLight]

what are the options for the state election?

labor
liberal
greens

thats all?

[slothpomba]

Depending on your electorate there may be several minor parties.

The chances of these guys getting elected are near 0 though... so your preferences would probably end up with liberal or labour

Don't know why we even have states.... with seperate governments. (seems like another layer of inefficiency a whole other layer of government... i guess it can add as a semi safeguard if some totalitarian regieme suddenly takes over but the states are more a relic of australian history with the seperate colonies more than anything else i think...)

Some countries have abolished it as far as im aware.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation ones that arent coloured in also called unitary states... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_state ... france germany ect)

[TrueLight]

ah no i would rather have states than one big central government. the more local the better. the bigger the more inefficient ...

i read this quite a while back. but its a good article
http://blog.libertarian.org.au/2010/07/10/federalism-in-australian-constitutional-law-a-brief-history/

[TrueLight]

and actually you don't know who the candidates are

"Nominations have now opened for the 2010 Victorian State election and close for political parties at 12 noon on Thursday, 11 November and at 12 noon on Friday, 12 November for independent candidates."

so we'll find out after 12th nov...

[simpak]

Voting Libs because an over-saturation of Labor is a recipe for disaster.

@kingpomba - The concept of having the nation divided into states is a Federalist ideal, connected to the liberal theory, which is enacted to ensure that not all power is held in the hands of the one government or leader.  It also has other benefits, including the ability to move between states should you dislike policy in one or the other (more choice for the citizen) and competition between states to provide the best facilities to their citizens.  Because States often divide up very geographically different land, it is more efficient to have States than just one main government.  Imagine trying to govern the NT and Victoria under the same State rules - it just likely wouldn't work very well because Victoria has highly populated metropolitan and suburban areas while the NT has some metropolitan but many rural areas as well as a higher concentration of the indigenous population.  People wouldn't be happy to live under the same conditions of government.

You can note that most countries with states or provinces are very large, like our own.  America has preserved its federalist traditions because yes, it is conservative by nature and favours the liberal ideology.  But you can also see that different areas would have different needs there, much as they do here.  Most countries that choose to abolish Federalism are smaller than what we/the US are.  Each State has different needs and a side effect of Federalism is the ability to address those different needs.  In theory...

Also, just to add, abolishing the states would be extremely difficult because the idea of state divisions is deeply ingrained in the Constitution, whose main role in Australia is to maintain federalism and keep power where it should be (ie, granting some powers to the states and some to the Fed government).  Considering Australia rejects pretty much every referendum it sees (see, republic, etc.) there would be public uproar if you tried to amend that much of the Constitution, and it would never work.

Most of your facilities are delivered by the States anyway - I don't know why you would want to direct all systems of health care, public transport, education to one currently very unstable Federal government.

[slothpomba]

Speaking from previous years though there are usually several minor parties.

Good point, you have proven me wrong and shown me the way (both of you) (if only everyone else was so open to changing their ideas)

[TrueLight]

heh well written mavisgibbons

[slothpomba]

Well im still not a fan of this two party system we have going (maybe its just because i dont like either of the parties)