Re: Had enough of the UK

Becoming a democracy would be a start by getting rid of the unelected upper house and replacing it with an elected one.

I have said for a long time there are a few things Australia does well and the electoral system is one:

• Three year terms
• Polls are always held on a Saturday
• Voting is compulsory (no-one whinges about the result)
• It is a preferential system where all candidates must be numbered in order of preference.
• It is a bicameral system with two elected houses - one representing the people with electorates of equal populations and the upper house representing the states (12 from each state, 2 from each territory) elected on a quota system. Normally half at each election.

Despite the PM revolving door it works well.

http://australianpolitics.com/voting/preferential

One advantage of the preferential system is that it ensures that only a candidate with the support of an absolute majority of the electorate can win, eliminating the possibility of minority winners. Put another way, the winning candidate is the most preferred or least disliked candidate. It also insures that no vote is wasted.

Re: Had enough of the UK

Where is here Man of the jungle ?

Re: Had enough of the UK

can you explain this sentence Mudflaps - doesn't seem to make grammatical sense as usual??

Re: Had enough of the UK

Sorry you will just have to use your little grey cells -all two of them .

Re: Had enough of the UK

I agree completely with your first sentence, and have said so many times.

As for the rest, yes, but how do you ensure that compulsory voting takes place?

I'm not sure, either, about preferential systems. In my constituency there is Conservative, Loonies and Limp Dems. I would certainly put Conservative first (unless UKIP is standing), but the other two I would just ignore and not even enter a 2 or a 3.

What would happen if I took that stance on these two points above?

Re: Had enough of the UK

Nothing would happen, you are not that important.

Re: Had enough of the UK

Re: Had enough of the UK

Bruce should I tell him or should you??

Re: Had enough of the UK

Your vote would be informal ie not counted. You must number each candidate (Unless it is a NSW state election where it is an optional preferential system where you can number as many candidates as you like). In the senate I think you only have to number up to 17 candidates below the line for a formal vote or you can place a single one above the line and rely on the party's preferences.

However with a preferential system in reality you would have a lot more choice because other candidates would stand because people would know that voting for a minor party is not a wasted vote. In my seat - the safest Labor seat in the country - there are never less than 10 candidates even though the count rarely even goes to preferences.

You asked about the compulsory nature of the vote. all you have to do is turn up at any polling station and get your name marked off, if you don't the electoral commission will write a letter asking why you didn't vote and there is a fine if your reason is not satisfactory (though if you actually get fined you must be mad). I think the actual turn out is in the order of 98% and there are plenty of opportunities for a pre poll or postal vote. Australians like voting.

The advantage of a compulsory vote is that you don't get the party members snatching old ladies off the street to take them to a polling booth. All the party faithful do is stand outside the polling booths handing out "how to vote cards" (to get the best preference flow for their candidate)

Here are a couple of how to vote cards from the 2013 election (2 elections ago):

Re: Had enough of the UK

Oh...yes. They have a referendum approximately every month...All very exclusive, and hush hush, you understand. The fewer the DM`s the better...!!