Pauline should cosy up to some rich Chinese like the other parties do.

Brian Ross wrote on Feb 7^th, 2018 at 9:34pm:



All funding should be cut from all parties and independents. Nothing more than political grubs ripping off the taxpayer.

I do my bit to prevent this scam, what do you do>?

Brian Ross wrote on Feb 8^th, 2018 at 2:27pm:


Yeah we are so democratic that we are the ONLY first world democracy that forces people to vote with the threat of criminal punishment.

We are so democratic that we are one of the very few first world democracies that deny our citizens codified human rights.

You are a fkken idiot if you think being forced to vote is a valid democratic process.

BigOl64 wrote on Feb 8^th, 2018 at 2:32pm:


Well, include me in your denunciation, then, old bean.

It's called compulsory voting but it is only compulsory turning up.  I think it's a very, very good idea for the simple reason of legitimacy.

If you look at countries with voluntary voting, there is increasing discontent about legitimacy because the voter turnout is too low,  and diminishing every year, to truly say that the elected person is a real representative of the majority will in society.

The legitimacy of laws made in Australia are not disputed because Parliaments and their members are legitimate, having been elected by universal, compulsory suffrage. Constitutional amendments likewise.

Australian citizenship confers many rights and privileges. To have a few duties or obligation in exchange, like participating in the national decision making (and thereby taking at least some responsibility for the way things are) is a very small price.


Australian citizens have an obligation to:
• obey the law;
• defend Australia should the need arise; and
• vote in federal and state or territory elections, and in referenda
http://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/Citizenship/Documents/your-right-your-responsibili...


Notice the nexus between the first and third point.  But if it's too much, you can always renounce your citizenship.

Frank wrote on Feb 8^th, 2018 at 5:12pm:


"Under the Electoral Act, the actual duty of the elector is to attend a polling place, have their name marked off the certified list, receive a ballot paper and take it to an individual voting booth, mark it, fold the ballot paper and place it in the ballot box.

"It is not the case, as some people have claimed, that it is only compulsory to attend the polling place and have your name marked off, and this has been upheld by a number of legal decisions:

"High Court 1926 – Judd v McKeon (1926) 38 CLR 380

"Supreme Court of Victoria 1970 – Lubcke v Little [1970] VR 807

"High Court 1971 – Faderson v Bridger (1971) 126 CLR 271

"Supreme Court of Queensland 1974 – Krosch v Springbell; ex parte

"Krosch [1974] QdR 107

"ACT Supreme Court 1981 – O'Brien v Warden (1981) 37 ACTR 13"

Having been a Electoral official at what, four federal elections and half a dozen different state ones, I can tell you, you are not made to vote.  Indeed, the instructions to the polling staff are that you are required to mark the roll, next to the voter's name, make the ballot paper, before handing it to the voter.  If the voter refuses the ballot, you are then required to hand it to your superior.   Once the voter receives the ballot, they can go to the polling booth and mark it, however they wish, although there are instructions on the correct method to make it a valid vote.  They don't need to mark it if they don't desire, either. They are then required to insert it into the ballot box and leave the polling station.

At no point is an electoral official to stand over the elector and make them mark the ballot paper.   No one makes you vote.  All that is physically required of you is for you to have your name marked off the electoral roll.

The High Court may believe otherwise but there is a disconnect between what actually occurs and what they believe should occur.   Voting is, in Australia, actually voluntary, no matter what they and anybody else says until il Duce Dutton puts an electoral official in each polling booth and forces the voters to mark their ballot paper.   

greggerypeccary wrote on Feb 8^th, 2018 at 6:09pm:


And no one checks that you have...   

Frank wrote on Feb 8^th, 2018 at 6:07pm:


Turdy does that when he has nothing intelligent to offer but due to his relevance deprivation syndrome feels a compulsion to post a look at me appeal. 

greggerypeccary wrote on Feb 8^th, 2018 at 6:12pm:



You like that, Turd, don't you, a law that is idiotic in its pointless officiousness, quite a bit like you.  No wonder you jumped in like a performing flea, once again.


Front up at the polling booth and don't say later that you had no chance to make your views count - good.

The rest about 'must vote but we can never know if you did' is idiotic like you.


Float on.

Frank wrote on Feb 8^th, 2018 at 6:18pm:


I neither like it, nor dislike it.

I'm just stating a fact.

greggerypeccary wrote on Feb 8^th, 2018 at 6:21pm:

A law as idiotic as you.

I am just stating the fact, turd.

Brian Ross wrote on Feb 8^th, 2018 at 6:07pm:



What a gross waste of everyone's time and money.

Thank fkk I am off the electoral roll again and the AEC public servants are too lazy and stupid to bother finding me. 


Imagine if actual first world democracies treated their citizens with the same contempt Australia treats theirs, the word democracy would be meaningless.

BigOl64 wrote on Feb 9^th, 2018 at 1:45pm:


"First world democracies"?  Like the UK, where they don't have a Secret Ballot?  Like the US, where your individual vote is effectively worthless as the decision is determined by the Electoral College?   Not very Democratic in my view on either count.

So, you choose not to vote.  That is your choice.  I don't see what you're complaining about.  Either you turn up, have your name marked off and you either refuse the ballot or hand in a blank one OR you choose not to and pay the fine.   Either way, you don't vote.   

"Democracy is about the ability, in our case, to choose the person who represents us in the House of Representatives in Canberra.   It is about the ability to vote." - Brian



I paid the $160 last night for not voting in a by-election I knew nothing about - keep my license, I live in the bush


Definition of democracy
plural democracies
1 a : government by the people; especially : rule of the majority
b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections


Our elections are not free though, are they Brian? are they meant to be free or coercive? in your opinion

You have to go to a lot of trouble though if you're in the right and fighting for a refund of the fine money

They told me "Paying a fine is not a presumption of guilt"

But getting that money back requires filling out forms, paying non-refundable fees and the whole process can stretch out more than a year


Doesn't sound very fair and free to me

BigOl64 wrote on Feb 9^th, 2018 at 3:02pm:


Until they have Government Goons standing beside you in the polling booth, making sure you mark your ballot paper, what the law states and what actually happens will remain two very separate and different things, BigOl64.