Head-in-the-sand voters scared, ignorant or just narrow-minded?
It used be that your your pay and your political leanings were private. The first is still largely true but not the second.
Given the way-too-long election campaign, there has been plenty of time for parties’ policies to be aired and debated on mainstream and social media. That’s when you might learn where friends stand. And their refusal to even consider other points of view can shock.
I’m all for staunch support, but shouldn’t we all at least consider what other political candidates stand for? Isn’t it possible that they might present a fresh approach to a problem that should be embraced. It seems sad that some are locked in a voting pattern that is never reviewed. What do you think?
Actually we are not our the other side. We have the highest infection rate, per capita, in the World with death rates in excess of those in 2021 and 2020 and it is only May.
I admire anyone who takes advantage of all the opportunities offered and moves forward. Anthony Albanese did just that. Yes…I admit I have not been impressed by him but I am pleasantly surprised by his passion for changes in : Education, Health, Childcare, Climate Change, Aged Care, Housing and Anti Corruption. These are things that are close to my heart.
Change is necessary and to progress we, as a country need to embrace change. It’s going to be a bumpy ride in my opinion (I hope I am wrong) but, it is better than remaining stagnant. It was glaringly obvious that the Liberals needed a complete make over.
I voted Labor only once in my voting life in Australia, being a staunch Liberal…however…I did not vote for either of the main parties this time round…I voted for the independents. It pleases me to see the success of so many female independents!
I feel it is now up to all Australians to support this government, because if they succeed, we..as a nation… succeed.
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Climate change is inevitable ( this cycle has been happening for millions of years) However we can do so much about the incredible waste/garbage and wastefulness of resources. I am unimpressed with the teal and greens who don't appear to have anything on their agenda except climate change - no fiscal policy ( how do we make the transition effectively and efficiently) no foreign policy, no community policies - just one track. I am delighted that we have not ended up with a hung parliament where a very small minority get to push their small minded agendas - ( as happened to Gillard)
id like to see none of the parties get enough votes to get in , I don't believe in "independents" Id also like to see a way to bring a govt down if they screw up like the Queensland Government has. They do as they please to whom ever they please and have no fear till maybe the next election
I'm no expert on the political/voting system but I do believe that currently, as has happened in other parts of the world, neither of the main parties are worth voting for. That's not to say more of us should vote for the Independents or the Greens etc. This will only lead to a hung parliament and trying to get anything passed will be problematic.
Beemee ... you said to look at the polls as many more chose Albo than Scomo. I just had a look at the voting tallies and, as of 3 hours ago, The Coalition had 35.8% of the vote and Labor had 32.8%. This shows who got the most votes.
It was preferences that got labor over the line. If there were no preferences at all then the coalition would have gotten in with just over a third of the voters voting for them. As it is, Labor has gotten in with roughly a third of the voters voting for them.
I'm guessing a lot of people, like myself, don't really know where their vote is going to end up under the preferential voting system. If you vote for the greens then it's a given that they give their preferences to labor and your vote will eventually end up with Labor. I'm guessing that a lot of the Teal Independents have their preferences set to the Greens which will also end up going to labor.
The system's not perfect but until something better comes along this is what we have.
Alan - each of we voters choose where our preferences go. The parties don't decide. They may recommend, but the decision is always with us.
So you DO know where your vote is going to end up.
Your arguments about voting for "the greens" (sic) meaning your votes ends with Labor or the Teal independents having "their preferences set" to anyone are completely false.
Clive Palmer spent close to $100m on advertising over the last few months and still failed to deliver his Party results.
When elections rolled around it was usually accepted that about 40% of seats were Labor, 40% of seats were Coalition and the remaining 20% were the seats that decided which major party. It therefore came as no surprise that all of the money was poured into those 20% of seats, something that both parties have always done since Federation and continued up to and including May 21. This election was a disgrace because of the lies and false advertising employed by all parties supported by the millions of dollars from backers. We need the truth in advertising laws to be extended to include political statements which would immediately stop the lies and half truths that were a mark of shame in the recent election.
Add to this the false promises that will never eventuate and the lack of respect to the voters by not releasing costings so we could see which policies would be valid and which policies would fail. There was also a blurring of the lines of responsibility in projected policies; one of the Teals wants a new high school in her electorate which is a state issue, Labor wants to raise your pay and suggested that Labor could make that happen when the minimum wage is the responsibility of Fair Work Australia; ambulances ramping outside hospitals is a state matter and health expenditure is given to states without a condition as to where it is spent. If Labor was really serious about a wage increase they could immediately increase the salaries if public servants by 5.1% but that isn't going to happen.
Lastly we come to the greatest con job of the century; climate change. Yes, there is climate change, of that there is no doubt, but changing the way Australians like to live will not make a scrap of difference to reducing the world temperature but will destroy our economy. Those zealots who are poisoning the minds of our schoolchildren declare that the world will end by 2030 unless we stop mining coal and exploring for gas, both of which are essential for our power stations and export dollars. The truth is that no such thing will happen as we will all adjust to whatever climate change will bring. If you note what the experts are saying, they don't say that the temperature will increase by X% by Y year but are giving scenarios of what they think will happen if there is an increase in temperature. Since time immemorial, politicians have been creating a disaster which only they can fix if you elect them and this scare about climate change is no exception. Here's an interesting exercise if you have the time, Google "climate change" and see how many pages you have to scroll through to get any opposition to climate change. Then look to see who is getting the billions that countries are paying to stop climate change and a pattern emerges.
There is an old curse, purported to be Chinese, "may you live in interesting times" and I suggest that you heed the words of economist Terry McCrann who says "buckle up and make that a full racing harness" because we are about to live in interesting times.
I agree with you, Horace.
My own little input is to ask the question, Apart from the natural cycle
"Has the earth surrounded by space debris affected the climate change"
Horace, you'll have to keep up. If you cast your eyes over anything coming from The Age and The Guardian, you will notice that they are no longer concerned about "climate change". It is now a "CLIMATE EMERGENCY". The predicted changes remain the same and the same lack of rate of change continues, but with news services including the ABC and SBS trying to include another example of disasterous climate change in their evening news almost every day.
Notice that this the cry from Extinction Rebellion and GetUp as they wave their placards in street protests.
In spite of the continuing claims, neither in Australia or globally, there has been no increase in bush fires, extreme weather events or sea level rise when objective evaluations are made.
A point worth considering is that what happens in the atmosphere more than 30 degrees of latitude away from the Equator stays in that hemisphere for decades and doesn't effect the weather away from that zone.
For those concerned about the CO2 emissions from Australia, all of the anthropogenic generated GHGs are completely absorbed in our National Parks, Nature and Forestry Reserves contained within the 200km inland swathe from Iron Range on Cape York down to Cape Otway in Victoria. But as these areas are excluded from official assessments, it doesn't officially happen.
Very good comments HC and I agree with you 100% about the climate change con.
Funny how it changed from "global warming" to climate change. Possibly because the evidence against them was piling up.
Climate change is no con…and there is a difference between global warming and climate change.
The sooner humans appreciate that fact…the better for the planet.
https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/12/whats-the-difference-between-climate-change-and-global-warming/
I agree that climate change is no con, Sophie, what I don't agree with is the need for billions of dollars being wasted in a fruitless attempt to stop what has been happening for millennia. Geologists have shown that temperatures go up and down on a regular cycle and we are in a warming cycle at present.
Sophie, the con is the thought that people can do anything about what is a natural cycle of things. The bigger con from the climate evangelists is that Australia can stop climate change single-handedly by ruining the economy, ruining people's lives and confining more people to poverty in their one-eyed pursuit of zero emissions in 7.5 years!
If climate change is all because of human behaviour, can you please explain how the last ice-age thaw happened when there were no humans digging up fossil fuels, no heavy manufacturing, no petrol/diesel vehicles, no farmed animals farting into the atmosphere, no overpopulation and a hundred other so-called causes of the change?
Sophie. be very wary about calling in NASA as a reference on "climate change". The National Air and Space Administration was formed in 1958 with the core objective of getting an American into space. President John F Kennedy (a Democrat) gave it the challenge of getting an American to the moon and back before the end of the decade. Twenty Apollo missions were planned.
In the face of mounting opposition, including street demonstrations calling for an end to this extravagant spending on what was seen as a folly by many, it continued and six Apollo missions were launched with five putting men on the moon. Apollos 18, 19 and 20 were canceled in 1970 and the intention to close down NASA was revealed. It has been contended that if the original objective had been promoted by a Republican President, the program would've been ended after Apollo 11 had completed the mission.
Desperate to preserve his and the jobs of many others in the top end of NASA, James Hansen lobbied into US Congress to continue. Exactly who came up with the idea is lost in the mists of time, but they developed the climate change mantra. Curiously this was being pushed as the expert opinion was that the planet was heading into another "ice age" before the end of the '70's.
NASA was never set up as a collection of climate experts, but set about creating that illusion.
Their work in space was finished, but they created a monster that they now preserve. Their spending of $billions did at least bring us affordable integrated circuits and computers, non-stick fry pans and super glue. (And also a much greater understanding of the bacteria that live on and in our bodies.)
I was going to reply to you Sophie but Sue has said everything, practically word for word, that I was going to say.
Thanks Sue.
Interestingly enough so many people voted for the greens and independents whose main policy was about women and climate change.????
The only way to slow down global warming is to slow down the vermin humans from excessive breeding,
yet the governments encourage it ... women are nothing but incubators.
Wait till they all start breast feeding, changing nappies and falling asleep in Parliament LOL
Sue and Alan…I agree with you to a certain extent. However..
The Earth's temperature changes naturally over time and variations in the planet's orbit, solar cycles, and volcanic eruptions can all cause periods of warming or cooling.
But many climate scientists agree none of these natural causes can explain the Earth's current warming trend.
Personally, I would rather be safe than sorry and support steps to address both global warming and climate change.
Yes, many scientists agree that none of these causes can explain the Earth's current warming trend just as many scientists agree that we are experiencing a normal cycle. What intrigues me is that none of the scientists can actually tell us what any of the so-called remedies will do to stop or even slow down what is a natural phenomenon, If we read the theories very carefully, we can see that there are very few, if any, definite results of any action taken by humans. Further, most of the hypotheses are vague with suggestions only in the event that temperatures may reach a certain level. The zealots have claimed that these vague ideas are facts. You may recall that all of the politicians, without exception, have claimed that we should do "something" (some even appear to have a plan) but not one of them can tell us what the result will be if "something" is done. They can all be very definite that to do nothing would be worse which is the most vague of all statements.
Janelle, I've looked through the policies of most Parties and a few independents over the years. Most have points that seem good and may be of benefit to Australia. I've also seen where the same Parties have the "fine print" that could be a disaster if implemented. Everything comes at a price and sometimes the devil you know is the safer path to tread.
Sometimes the loudest voices are the most wrong and most dangerous if followed.
Over the centuries there have been quite a few examples of where Governments have been the ones feeding both mis and dis information into the public arena where it has been carried by the media and endorsed by a myriad of "experts". Hard science is no longer accepted as it can often hurt the feelings of those who won't get their way if the truth is spoken and enforced.
We are lucky that we can vote for the candidate of our choice even if sometimes it seems like a futile gesture.
May I make a suggestion? Find Labor's policies and take a copy to see if they do all of the things they promised. When Rudd came in all of the policies disappeared from all of the websites including those who stood and were unsuccessful. I'm sure we will be hearing the excuses as to why things have not been done starting with the 24/7 nurses in aged care homes.
Well we now have our very own Biden. Too many WANT without doing the hard yards.
Yes I do agree, many parties have better options for our planet, wildlife, oceans etc. In an ideal world the mix of many parties to do the right thing by people, planet, wildlife, or Australia in General. Imagine that? Whosoever did that would never leave the position of PM.
I had a gut feeling Scomo wasn't going to make it and be re-elected, too many people were quite frankly pissed off.... women who were not listened to with sexual innuendos going on in that White elephant building, the poor flood victims and fire victims, and Scomo chose to ignore or forcefully shake hands with some. Sorry did not cut the mustard and it showed in the polls.
Although many have said I am going to vote for xyz, in the end it changed. I saw and heard so many saying Scomo or Albanese and very few for the rank outsiders, yet look at the polls, many more chose Albanese but also so many Independents. Hopefully the Independents will have some sway because there are some real issues that need attention right now.
1. Kill off the stupid WHO treaty. There is NOTHING wrong with our medical people who have called it correctly over the last 2 years. The numbers reveal that when other countries didn't do what our own Medical have said, and there numbers are over the top.
2. Climate Change, so obvious with so many animals suffering in the Arctic right now, starving because of the early ice melt.
3. Logging, especially Tasmania in the Tarkine ancient Forest. Too many trees have been cleared and now it will increase the heat on the planet.
4. Stop all the BS now about Covid rules. Isolation, quarantine, jabs, lockdowns. Considering there are 73 countries who have thrown away the rule book and allowed freedom, it seems Australia is so backward. We have done the hard yards, followed directions/orders and we are out the other side, so why not reward us but giving us back our freedom so we can all visit family or friends.
This is only a few points and I reckon there are those here who could add more too.