Australian Politics + Election thread

So, a lot of people consider Australia to be a fascinating place, both culturally and in terms of the continent itself. We have quite a few Australians on the forum now, so I figure it's justified making a thread regarding the upcoming Australian election, and Australian politics in general.

The first thing one should know about Australian politics, is that it is a malformed mix between a mental asylum, and a circus. Our political scene makes the American system look completely functional.

Australia is technically, a constitutional monarchy, Our head of state is Queen Elizabeth, who is represented by the governor general, who is hand-picked by her, so we only get a say in electing our head of government, who is the prime-minister.

In terms of political parties, there are four main parties, and a bunch of minor ones who we elect to the parliament, which is composed of the senate, and the house of representatives. The party currently in office is the Labor party, which, in the past, used to be primarily socialist. Now days, I'd estimate it to be around 70% conservative, 20% liberal, and 10% socialist/social dems. It's current leader is Julia gillard, who got in power after essentially what was a coup within the party. Julia is very unpopular, even within her own party, and I believe is behind in the election polls

The 'Major' opposition party is the liberal party, who are composed of conservatives, neo-liberals and a small base of libertarian/market fundamentalist type people. They are current in coalition with the national party, which is a far-right party, and which is only really popular in rural areas. The leader of the liberal-national coalition, Tony Abbot, is also fairly unpopular with the Australian public. That being said, he is currently leading in the opinion polls.

The final major party are the Australian greens, who are composed of majority liberals/social dems, and a minority of green/eco-socialists. Right now, they don't hold enough seats to pose a real threat to any of the other parties, and despite having what I consider some awesome social policies, their main focus is on the environment, and animal protection/conservation. That being said, with the unpopularity of the Liberal and labor parties, they have a real chance to grab a lot of votes in the election. While the other two parties are very much status-quo in terms of foreign policy, the greens are anti-US, and opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since the beginning.

We also have a lot of large minor parties, one of which has especially taken my interest lately - Katters Australian Party. The Australian party is really quite weird, even by Australian standards. It is composed, mostly of Conservatives, Right-wing libertarians and libertarian socialists. Their economic and foreign policies are really quite extreme, as they have taken a firm isolationist, protectionist stance, and are pledging to build an entirely self sufficient Australian economy, and defense force.

We also have some Religious fundamentalist type parties, two socialist parties, and two communist parties (M-L/S and Trotskyist) These parties only hold a handful of seats in the senate though, and are by no means any sort of political force.

With the possibility of more oncoming economic crashes, and the growing tensions between the US and China, this election is looked to be a heated one. So, I can't think of anything inspirational or cool to say here, so discuss!

Nice write up ComradeLer - though you forget to mention some of our most serious minor parties - the Shooters Party, The Fishers Party and everybody's favorite - the Australian Sex Party (who wouldn't vote for something like that?) - There you have it folks, if you want the vote of the Australian public, make sure you have lots of policies that encourage shooting, fishing and sex.

On a more serious note though, you made a point about woefully low level of support for both Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard - and I find it a worrying trend, that not only in Australia but across the developed Western World, there is a growing distaste for politicians and an extreme level of senseless partisanship in today's politics. It's the worst it's been in my lifetime.

Also, You're not a Papau New Guinean by any chance are you D3ad Trap?

In the cases of Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard though I think it's pretty fair. One is an immoral scare tactic using hollowman, the other is inconsistent, sly, inept and has the personality of a computer.

And lol no D3adtrap is Finnish

Wow. I'd like to see your guys political system in action if it makes ours look good.

I agree, I think most politicians deserve far more respect than they get.
Plus, more people should understand most politicians do what they do because they believe it will help the country, not because they are nasty people, or they want to harm anybody.

@ComradeLer
It's up to Australia to have the Queen or not, but you seemed to indicate you think you would be better off with a President. Do you actually believe that?

I'm a red, so I am pretty anti-monarch. I believe the monarchy massively restricts our sovereignty so yar, I support the republic-movement.

What do you expect to happen?

I don't believe you, you must tell me more of this.

I rarely hear about Australia ever, and I'd like to, in a way in which does not compare it to America. In no way would you lads over there could be as insufferable as the Southern half of the US.

I can understand you being anti-monarch as a matter of principle, but how do you think having a Queen restricts your sovreignity, other than symbolically?

The idea of having a head of state, whom we have no choice over, having the ability to dissolve parliament, oust any leader, change, modify or pass any laws to their pleasing, seems very restricting to me. It is true that she hasn't done much thus far, but the fact that she has those powers, and it is the fact that our government would be forced to obey her decisions, and in turn the decisions of Britain.

Perhaps, but I'm not sure anyone believes she would ever try to interfere with our Parliment or anyone elses. If she did, they could quickly change the law to take away those powers.
I still don't understand why you would want a President, anyway. They seem to be far less popular than any monarch, although I understand that is because constitutional monarchs don't make difficult decisions.

Out of interest, who would you want to become head of state of Australia in place of the Queen?

Well, I guess I have two answers to that question. As a commie, I'd obviously like a socialist/communist leader in place. Realistically speaking though (At least for the current political scene in Australia), my answer is the same as my answer as to who I would prefer to be PM. My two favorite non-socialist parties right now would be the Greens, and katters. I realize that Bob katter is a fundamentalist, and anti-gay rights, but I think that his economic policies and general isolationist leanings in foreign policy could do a lot of good for us.

The greens have some awesome social policies, but that's their entire platform - In terms of economic policy, they are pretty much status-quo. So I guess some leader from either of those parties.

Edit: I guess it is worth mentioning now for any Non-Aussies, but voting is compulsory here. If you don't vote, you are fined something like $5000. If that wasn't the case, I wouldn't pay as much attention to the election as I am now.

Some nostalgia from Australian politics. Tony Abbott - Leader of the opposition is the one who's acting like a twat (as per usual).



Some things I've noticed about Australian politicians is that they are some of the most misbehaved and disrespectful politicians I have ever seen. Just to give you a taste - start watching the below from 1.20 - It basically shows how the opposition leader barely addresses any meaningful social policy at all and uses question time to trash the credibility of Australia's prime minister. I don't know of any other country were such flagrant verbal abuse of a nations most important person is so readily accepted. Such public personal attacks has become the norm in Australian Politics and quite frankly turns Australian's whole political process into a circus - I do admire one thing about Tony Abbott however - at least he doesn't make any attempt to hide the fact that it's a circus.

Prison politics. ^

Heh, our House of Commons can get pretty rowdy sometimes. Although a lot of the time it's just fairly empty.





And all this certainly isn't new, they've been doing it for 500 years already. I can't really see it changing anytime soon.

i just love how this actually getting some well deserved attention on this i mean australian politics is so mental that im surprised the world doesnt see it and go who they fuck are they have they all gone insane but yeah ive always thought this whole thing was ridiculous with the next election i dont even wanna vote for either 2 of the major parties they just suck so bad and just about get bugger all done due to how divivded tony abbot and julia gillard but yeah i just guess the whole blatant bad mouthing of each other seems the norm in parliament

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Kevin_Rudd actually not too far removed from truth anyway

Uncyclopedia is an abomination.
Anyway, when I typed in Australian politics(or something else along those lines, I can't quite remember) into Youtube, I found this:
.
Yes.

actually that little cartoon essentially sums up what really happened in all reality its funny how true it just is

Doesn't @Bart like edit Uncylopedia?