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Election 2007! Are you excited yet!

tuttle88tuttle88
edited June 2007 in Everything Else
We all know the Australians are slowly taking over the forum and we are having an election this year. Of course it could be next year we don't have set election dates. Something which really freaked Jason over at the Simply Syndicated forums out. Anyway how's everyone feeling about the election so far? Are we gonna get more glorious years of John Howard's loving rule or are we going to have the enigmatic Kevin Rudd for as long as it takes Julia Gillard to topple him?

If you need a primer on the Australian electoral system here is the AEC's website. Its pretty good.

Personally I have no idea who I'm going to vote for, I now live in a marginal seat so I'm still getting used to my vote actually counting. I usually vote for a minor party in the vain hope that perhaps the major parties will realise they are shit and get better. I can be a bit naive at times.

Comments

  • JasonJason
    It still freaks me out. I can't wrap my head around the concept that the executive in power gets to decide when the election happens. That seems like it's one step away from autocracy.
  • ChurbaChurba
    I don't like either party choice, so I'm going to register, walk into the voting booth, and write the following on the ballot paper -

    "This Ballot paper is fleeting human contact, both of us lost, but for a moment, we're lost together. I wonder who you are"

    (Yes, I'm paraphrasing from XKCD - works for me though)
  • AndrewAndrew
    It still freaks me out. I can't wrap my head around the concept that the executive in power gets to decide when the election happens. That seems like it's one step away from autocracy.
    I believe it is like that in Britain as well. The Prime Minister is allowed to stay in power as long as he wants and gets to decide when the next election is. It's so bizarre.
  • tuttle88tuttle88
    It still freaks me out. I can't wrap my head around the concept that the executive in power gets to decide when the election happens. That seems like it's one step away from autocracy.
    I believe it is like that in Britain as well. The Prime Minister is allowed to stay in power as long as he wants and gets to decide when the next election is. It's so bizarre.
    I can tell you nothing that will ease your unease. It just works. Has for a hundred years.
  • EsonLinjiEsonLinji
    There are limits to when the Prime Minister can call the election. There has to be an election within 3 years of the first sitting of parliament. Also, the while the Governor General pretty much does whatever the Prime Minister says, in principle he has the power to force an election any time before then.
  • tuttle88tuttle88
    There are limits to when the Prime Minister can call the election. There has to be an election within 3 years of the first sitting of parliament. Also, the while the Governor General pretty much does whatever the Prime Minister says, in principle he has the power to force an election any time before then.
    Yes, in fact the Prime Minister isn't actually a constitutionally defined position. Australia's constitution is often called the "unwritten constitution" because of the amount that isn't written into our constitution but is read into it.
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