2016 Australian election thread

[FallingStar]

So, fellow members. The upcoming election on July 2 following a double dissolution. I would like this thread to be a general discussion upon the key issues within the election as the pollies start campaigning. Also, if anyone want to participate in the election poll, you can do so here: Political parties

This is a general thread upon the upcoming July election. You can discuss many things such as key issues, the above poll, the party's ideology, who'd win and any other topic relevant to this election specifically.

And may the vote be with you.

[Aaron]

I look forward to Labor reclaiming government on July 2. I'm hoping they'll follow the Victorian Government's lead in the 'education state' by keeping their promise and implementing Gonski funding in full.

Since my areas are IT and education, I like to see the whole 'innovation' and 'coding in schools' schemes proposed by parties, as well as education reforms. I cannot ignore how badly the Liberals have handled the NBN over these past 3 years. I live in metro melb and the fastest internet speed I can get is ADSL2+ with ~5mbps download (which equates to aroundabout 700kb/s maximum).

HOWEVER, One thing that's really playing on my mind is border protection and how Labor will handle that. They don't exactly have the BEST record. That's probably the one issue i'd support the Coalition on.

[HopefulLawStudent]

I'm actually just so sick of how binary politics seems to be.

This is probably stupid but I hate how there never seems to be bipartisan support on anything (or at least if there is, there's no real media coverage of it). It's like if Liberal wants to do x, Labor will do y even if they had previously voiced their support for x.

Like yeah, we get it. You're the opposition. But it'd be nice if you guys could agree on some things sometimes...

[Aaron]

I wish the voting process was less complicated. Can someone tell me how preferencing deals etc. is democratic?

I don't like this talk about Liberal + Greens deals to boot a Labor member out of Batman (Vic Seat).

[FallingStar]

I agree with Aaron that the preference deals are not that democratic. For one, I actually do not see the Greens siding with the issues with many issues. They are too different and far apart in terms of ideology. Honestly, the best we can do is to pick the best of the worst, essentially. So far, this is my first time voting, and I have no idea who I am going to vote for.

That being said, I am annoyed that so many people do not take their vote seriously. I mean, you are in part, choosing the destiny of our country. I guess this may be solved by making voting optional, but then again, we will get a situation where the prime minister is voted by a very small minority of the Australian population.

[HopefulLawStudent]

I guess this may be solved by making voting optional

If you think about it, voting is sort of optional in Australia. Turning up and getting your name marked off is compulsory but what you do with your vote is entirely up to you. It's a secret ballot.

[FallingStar]

If you think about it, voting is sort of optional in Australia. Turning up and getting your name marked off is compulsory but what you do with your vote is entirely up to you. It's a secret ballot.

Or draw a donkey then drop your ballot. Draw a man in a female ballerina dress. Just something bizarre. That'll troll the AEC.

But really, no one actually encourages that kind of behaviour.

[Aaron]

If you think about it, voting is sort of optional in Australia. Turning up and getting your name marked off is compulsory but what you do with your vote is entirely up to you. It's a secret ballot.

I was watching an Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) video today that was showing a day in the life of a polling place worker and they played a scene where you'd go up and get your name crossed off on that massive folder of names/addresses. Being digital-minded, I'm quite puzzled at how this is still allowed, given the vast array of technologies available to do this... surely a laptop or something is much better to electronically search a database via division for the name to cross off or something?

If we go back to the core idea here of technology, why do we still vote using paper? Surely a system could be implemented so that it prevents 'cheating' of sorts. I don't think anyone likes waiting in line to get into the voting centre

[MJRomeo81]

why do we still vote using paper?

Whenever e-voting is discussed, integrity of the voting process should be at the forefront of the discussion. There's only two things that truly matter when holding an election - privacy and an election result that reflected how people actually voted. Public confidence in democratic elections takes decades to develop and far less time to destroy.

Dealing with risk is not a matter of eliminating all uncertainties but of setting clear limits upon the scope for accidents, attacks and errors. How much risk is acceptable?. Let's say for argument sake that there's a method of voting that is far more efficient but at greater risk to the accuracy and security of the electoral process at a higher cost. Should it be accepted or rejected?

Being in enterprise IT, I find it hilarious how the public hold a higher standard for information security in the digital world than in the physical world. Take a credit card for example – I know people who are too afraid to use their credit card online. However those same people will very happily give their credit card to a waiter in a restaurant who they have never met and who walks away with it to a back room for two minutes. They feel comfortable about that physical world transaction but not about the cyberspace one. But this is online banking...if online banking suffers problems, refunds are possible after checking your bank statement. You can’t ‘refund’ a vote and ‘vote statements’ can’t be provided to check your vote was correctly recorded as that would enable vote selling and coercion.

To cast one’s vote as a discrete citizen—in private but within a dedicated civic space—meets the dual requirements of participating in a collective democratic act while retaining one’s absolute personal freedom and responsibility to vote as one wishes. In the privacy of a screened booth one can avoid the prying eyes of neighbours, ignore the instructions of one’s clan, spouse or associates, and have no fear or repercussions from those who would have you vote differently. This may not be so easy if one were voting online at home or in some other unprotected social setting.

Also, the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (the Act) is very explicit about how to cast a vote at an election. The legislation would need to be changed to allow e-voting.

In this digital age there is something reassuringly traditional about using a physical pencil on the end of a piece of string in order to cast your vote. Given the security situation and the new complex risks it creates, I don't see how the benefits outweigh the costs. I think one of the best things about mandatory voting is the turnout. It's a great first step to political engagement. It's an important civic duty. A ritual that embodies the defining principle of democratic governance—the rule of the people by the people.

[mahler004]

I wish the voting process was less complicated. Can someone tell me how preferencing deals etc. is democratic?

I don't like this talk about Liberal + Greens deals to boot a Labor member out of Batman (Vic Seat).

I think there's a couple of issues at play here. Should say that I'm in a seat that's a Green/Labor contest (Wills) and is tipped to possibly go Green this election.

Preference deals in the House are about the order at which parties will preference each other on their how to vote cards. The deal is that the Liberals will preference the Greens in inner city Labor/Green seats and the Greens will run 'open tickets' in marginal Labor/Liberal seats in outer suburbs (i.e. 'vote 1 Green, order 2-whatever in whatever way you choose). The Greens will pick up the majority of Liberal preferences in those inner city seats (making Batman a Green seat on paper, Wills a very marginal Labor/Green seat, and making Melbourne a very safe Green seat). The majority of Green voters in those outer suburban marginals will still preference Labor, but the Liberals will still gain ~1000 votes from Green preferences - not a lot, but enough to swing a tight contest.

The Greens are always quick to point out that Labor has benefited from Liberal preferences in the past in these seats - but in my opinion there's a difference between the Liberals preferencing Labor in a safe 'left' seat, and the Greens not preferencing Labor in a marginal Labor/Liberal seat - which could very well lead to a re-elected Turnbull government. It's pretty clear that the Greens are putting their party interests ahead of a progressive Australia.

The other issue is that this means Labor has to spend money and manpower defending formerly-safe inner city seats, meaning that they have less money and manpower to spend attacking the Liberals in those outer suburban marginals. The Greens, meanwhile, will be a lot more comfortable in Melbourne, freeing up resources to spend in Batman, Wills, Higgins and Melbourne Ports.

For the record - I'll be voting Labor in my seat, and the Greens in the Senate - although both parties have seven weeks to convince me.

[vox nihili]

Just on the digital voting. They did trial it in certain booths in the most recent state election, using iPads.

I was fortunate enough to be at one of those booths (London of all places) and found the experience a bit crummy. It was fine for the lower house, but trying to vote for the upper house below the line was practically impossible, as you couldn't fit everything on the one screen. I'm sure there are ways to fix it, but I think it'd make one less inclined to vote under the line and could potentially have been a little confusing.

As a bonus though, they let you take a receipt with a QR code that let you see how you voted, which was kind of cool.

[Clara_tanone]

Was just wondering, does anyone here know which party is trying to privatize public housing?

[Swagadaktal]

I'm actually just so sick of how binary politics seems to be.

This is probably stupid but I hate how there never seems to be bipartisan support on anything (or at least if there is, there's no real media coverage of it). It's like if Liberal wants to do x, Labor will do y even if they had previously voiced their support for x.

Like yeah, we get it. You're the opposition. But it'd be nice if you guys could agree on some things sometimes...

Aha except for the cruel treatment of Asylum seekers - they seem to be aligned there lol

[Clara_tanone]

Aha except for the cruel treatment of Asylum seekers - they seem to be aligned there lol

Lol, you're probably right about that.

Anybody here know which party wants to lower the HECs repayment threshold to $42000?
I don't want to make the wrong decision on election day and unfortunately don't follow politics too heavily!

Anyone?

[BigAl]

Lol, you're probably right about that.

Anybody here know which party wants to lower the HECs repayment threshold to $42000?
I don't want to make the wrong decision on election day and unfortunately don't follow politics too heavily!

Anyone?

I have no idea but it looks like the Greens are opposing the HECS increase. http://www.whatwillmydegreecost.com.au

I am going for the Greens