If you were voting in the Federal Election tomorrow.....-

[Punk Rooster]

I usually vote for what I believe to be good economic policy- whomever that may be.

[Sojourner]

Sojourner, I don't understand this one. Good for you re Dignity for the Disabled, but without them - and I speak as a disabled person - Family First is bad for the disabled. So I wouldn't be considering them. They're no better than Fred Nile's bunch of religious cranks. And yet you'll vote for them??

Hi Phil,

I dont deny and I think most people would realise that Family First was started by the AOG churches. Yet this is really only a new version of the old Christian type parties, the first was called "Call to Australia Party" the second the "Christian Democratic Party", Family First is really a continuation of this theme.

In South Australia there used to be a law that stated that if a Peodophile molested children prior to 1982, or if a rape had occured prior to 1982, the perpetrators of those crimes could not be charged for that crime. Both the Labor and Liberal governments had plenty of opportunity to change that law and chose not to. When Andrew Evans was elected to the Legislative Council in S.A, the first thing that he did was hold an enquiry into this law and as a result of a massive public outcry had that law overturned. As a result reports of child abuse and other crimes were made to police, charges were laid and as a result there are currently several peodophiles in S.A that are now in jail for what they had gotten away with for so long. As a result of this law being changed an inquiry has been held into sexual abuse of wards in state care and charges are being laid on several individuals over that. It is also currently rumored that information on Von Eimen's group "the Family" has come to light which could indicate that they may have some information on those that commited those crimes in the 1970's-1980's and have never been charged.

So you weigh up the pros and cons of any group and I think that the scales weigh well on the pro side for Family First for what they have achieved in parliment in their short history.

I wish Nick Xenephon and the No-Pokies Association would have a go at the Federal Government. They are another minor group that have achieved a massive amount of things in the parliment. If he could get several others in with him, the two major parties would be in massive damage control to stem their losses. They won 2 seats in the Legislative council last time and missed out on a third by a whisker, yet their preferences got the Green's candidate over the line, even though none of the major parties would preference No Pokies.

Interesting too that either of the parties would preference Family First in Victoria, so the result was that the Democratic Labor Party got in. Hopefully the more smaller parties that get a supporter base the better as they cannot not preference them all and it is well and truly time that the two party monopoly was broken up in Australia!

[Sploosh]

I can't wait until that Fwit Howard is booted out, I hope it's sooner rather than later. And the ridiculous 'Christian' party(ies?) can bugger off with him too.

[Snaggletooth Tiger]

Snaggletooth i would of expected a better response from you since being a union delegate!!!

A Giant Douche versus a Turd Sandwich?
Rudd's just Li'l Johnny Howard with more hair...
Bring back the Fat Bloke Fremantle Supporter!

Still, little Johnny's a populist Prime Minister!
He took my guns away back in 1996 coz of that demented f'wit @ Port Arthur...
& now he's backflipping on that whole David Hicks palaver!
Fair Dinkum, I want the wanker out!
But I don't wanna clone step in his place!

[Squawk]

[quote="Sojourner"]
In South Australia there used to be a law that stated that if a Peodophile molested children prior to 1982, or if a rape had occured prior to 1982, the perpetrators of those crimes could not be charged for that crime. Both the Labor and Liberal governments had plenty of opportunity to change that law and chose not to. When Andrew Evans was elected to the Legislative Council in S.A, the first thing that he did was hold an enquiry into this law and as a result of a massive public outcry had that law overturned. As a result reports of child abuse and other crimes were made to police, charges were laid and as a result there are currently several peodophiles in S.A that are now in jail for what they had gotten away with for so long. As a result of this law being changed an inquiry has been held into sexual abuse of wards in state care and charges are being laid on several individuals over that. It is also currently rumored that information on Von Eimen's group "the Family" has come to light which could indicate that they may have some information on those that commited those crimes in the 1970's-1980's and have never been charged.

Sojourner - my understanding is that there wasn't a 1982 "law" - it relates to a 20 year statute of limitations. A "massive public outcry" is a bit of an overstatement too IMHO - it was introduced solely as a populist policy by Rann leading Atkinson along. You may note that virtually all law and order reforms have arisen AFTER an issue in the Courts rather than proactively. The current Govt has had 5 years to review criminal law legislation and has chosen not to, only to make amendments by and large. These amendments have also been made without any additional financial resources for the police to investigate and deal with matters via prosecution in the Magistrates Court; without any extra resources for the Courts and with no where near enough being given to allow for the incredible increase in workload for staff in the DPP. A classic example is that possession of a firearm is now a major indictable offence. Another example is that for every successful prosecution of a pre-1982 offence against children, there would be 99 other investigations done that didn't offer a reasonable prospect of conviction.

Re the current new leads on Von Einem - that is a myth. "New Leads" have been rumoured for years. There is a pretty good knowledge by the Police of who is responsible but they simply lack the definitive evidence required to enable arrests to be made and charges laid.

[Magpiespower]

Irish.
Catholic.
Working class.

Of course I'm going to vote for the Libs.

[Magpiespower]

Re the current new leads on Von Einem - that is a myth. "New Leads" have been rumoured for years. There is a pretty good knowledge by the Police of who is responsible but they simply lack the definitive evidence required to enable arrests to be made and charges laid.

Exactly.

Even the allegations against the 'prominent legal identity' are 20 years old.

Just on that, the suppression orders are a joke in SA.

Especially considering the accused's name was published in The Australian late last year.

[Rik E Boy]

Who would you vote for, the Nazi Party or Labor?

regards,

REB

[our_longreach]

Elections are lost not won and so far the Liberal Government has done nothing to lose.

Kevin Rudd's approach is like watching Mark Latham all over again. Forget what the current polls are saying, the Liberal government will win on the basis that undecided voters will favour the more experienced and proven government over unproven opposition.

Rudd will get his chance at the following election if he is still around and the divided factions of the Labor don't get rid of him like they have done to all of their leaders in the last 10 years.

[dont think do]

Its the first time in 10 years that the labour party have had a leader.

The others have just been warming the seat untill someone who can lead, and put together a sentence came along.

Yes he may look like a Howard clone, but regardless of whcih side of the block you come from Howard has done a good good as leader when viewed in a non potitical way.

lets look at the past options and remeber that while thier is some difference in the views of the parties although they are starting to look more like one another all the time the election is won on who is the leader of the party, not what party is behind the leader.

Kym Bleazey, nice bloke would be great to have a bear with but lacked the hardness needed.

Lathaham , had the hardness and would beat up a taxi driver to prove it, but whos going to vote for someone with man boobs?

Crean, A sour looking anry ant, reminds me of those little back pocket players or a tagger either way no one likes them.

Kym , again still did not improve, and then the Karl Rove comment showed how in touch he was.

Rudd, well he can still appeal to the average person (if anyone has seen him on sunrise) can put his view across and is coming up with positive ideas. As long as the party stay behind him he might be a chance.

[scoob]

Rudd, well he can still appeal to the average person (if anyone has seen him on sunrise) can put his view across and is coming up with positive ideas. As long as the party stay behind him he might be a chance.

Appearing on sunrise will certainly lift his credability , cutting edge political production... maybe he can get nelson aspen on the front bench...

[whatcha got there?]

Anyone who donkey votes is voting for the Coalition.

In other words - DON'T DO IT!

i only voted for the first time last year (yeah im a youngin') and i was "who the f**k do i vote for?"


coz people my age really dont give a rats.
all i know is i hate john howard and his scary eyebrows *shudders*

so donkey voting seems easier than standing there scratching my head like a twatt.

[heater31]

Anyone who donkey votes is voting for the Coalition.

In other words - DON'T DO IT!

i only voted for the first time last year (yeah im a youngin') and i was "who the f**k do i vote for?"


coz people my age really dont give a rats.
all i know is i hate john howard and his scary eyebrows *shudders*

so donkey voting seems easier than standing there scratching my head like a twatt.

same here. Ive done one fed and one state and Now seriously considering a donkey coz I live in labor held electorates so what's the point of voting I ask???????????

[McAlmanac]

Its the first time in 10 years that the labour party have had a leader.

The others have just been warming the seat untill someone who can lead, and put together a sentence came along.

Yes he may look like a Howard clone, but regardless of whcih side of the block you come from Howard has done a good good as leader when viewed in a non potitical way.

lets look at the past options and remeber that while thier is some difference in the views of the parties although they are starting to look more like one another all the time the election is won on who is the leader of the party, not what party is behind the leader.

Kym Bleazey, nice bloke would be great to have a bear with but lacked the hardness needed.

Lathaham , had the hardness and would beat up a taxi driver to prove it, but whos going to vote for someone with man boobs?

Crean, A sour looking anry ant, reminds me of those little back pocket players or a tagger either way no one likes them.

Kym , again still did not improve, and then the Karl Rove comment showed how in touch he was.

Rudd, well he can still appeal to the average person (if anyone has seen him on sunrise) can put his view across and is coming up with positive ideas. As long as the party stay behind him he might be a chance.

Mate, you have a very good grasp of the situation.

[noone]

Elections are lost not won and so far the Liberal Government has done nothing to lose.

Kevin Rudd's approach is like watching Mark Latham all over again. Forget what the current polls are saying, the Liberal government will win on the basis that undecided voters will favour the more experienced and proven government over unproven opposition.

Rudd will get his chance at the following election if he is still around and the divided factions of the Labor don't get rid of him like they have done to all of their leaders in the last 10 years.

any chance of providing any evidence of the movement of undecided voters? sure the 'devil you know' inlfuence is there, but i dont think there has been sufficient research showing that the 'give the other bloke ago' or 'all politicians get corrupt (or corrupter) and need to change every now and then" will not counter the experiance factor. people also like to back a winner, so disregarding the polls is ignoring another aspect. Another factor is the betting market has now evened itself out, although betting markets acuracy >6 months out is suspect (see research by andrew leigh - anu).

and if the liberal government has done nothing to lose, why is suffering in the polls? (even before the leadership change labor were leading the polls)

[McAlmanac]

Elections are lost not won and so far the Liberal Government has done nothing to lose.

In Adelaide, you probably don't get to read Michelle Grattan. A middle aged woman with Coke bottle glasses and impeccable political journalism credentials - Australia's finest.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/t ... ntentSwap1

[PhilG]

..

[Wedgie]

My first votes in a federal election ended up being very important as the Liberal candidate only won by 3 or 5 votes.
Both candidates were good too as Chris Gallus (Liberal) even came around to the front bar of the pub I drank at and Elizabeth Harvey (Labor) used to supply my economics class at High School with lots of info we asked for.
But having said that I could understand the people above's views.
If you lived in Port Adelaide or in Upper Class Sydney your vote is not going to mean a brass razoo.

[PhilG]

..

[am Bays]

If you lived in Port Adelaide or in Upper Class Sydney your vote is not going to mean a brass razoo.

That's where Bennelong is, Wedgie! The tide was changing! Same thing happened in other seats up that way!

Bennelong demographic has changed and it is no longer blue ribbon Liberal, Wentworth, North Sydney and Abootts seat are but the last two elections Bennelong has gone to preferences....

Even though it is North of the river, in the same way the traditional Labor seats South of the river in Sydney Gwyder and Blaxland went to preferences last election. If you going to use the same logic about Bennelong Phil and the other inner west seats of Sydney North of the river you have to say the inner west seats South of the river are in danger of crossing over too.

As I said last time we had this debate, this election will be decided like the last two by the outer mortgage belt seats in the captial cities.