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Passionate Political Discussion

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:29 pm
by mick
Many people have very passionate political views on this board. Just out of curiosity, how many here are or have been members of political parties. To start the ball rolling I was a member of the Liberal party in the late 1970s... suprise eh :lol:

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 12:35 pm
by am Bays
Yep member of young libs, Kingston branch, but some of the people in it where scary at times......

Some of the women in the young Libs, though, hubba hubba, Amy Trott......

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:15 pm
by BenchedEagle
Member of Labor party 1999-2003
Member of Greens 2003-2006
Currently a free agent. Cant find a party to completely match my political views!!

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:22 pm
by our_longreach
Never been a member of any party

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:37 pm
by BenchedEagle
1980 Tassie Medalist wrote:Yep member of young libs, Kingston branch, but some of the people in it where scary at times......

Some of the women in the young Libs, though, hubba hubba, Amy Trott......
The young Libs are all geeky wanker silver spoons from the Eastern suburbs the lot of them. They cop a lot of shi# at Uni.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:53 pm
by am Bays
lizbeff eaglez wrote:
1980 Tassie Medalist wrote:Yep member of young libs, Kingston branch, but some of the people in it where scary at times......

Some of the women in the young Libs, though, hubba hubba, Amy Trott......
The young Libs are all geeky wanker silver spoons from the Eastern suburbs the lot of them. They cop a lot of shi# at Uni.


Hooray Aldinga Beach is the Eastern Suburbs and my old Mazda 808 is Daddy's SAAB.......

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:59 pm
by rod_rooster
lizbeff eaglez wrote:
1980 Tassie Medalist wrote:Yep member of young libs, Kingston branch, but some of the people in it where scary at times......

Some of the women in the young Libs, though, hubba hubba, Amy Trott......
The young Libs are all geeky wanker silver spoons from the Eastern suburbs the lot of them. They cop a lot of shi# at Uni.


Well the title of the thread asks for passionate discussion i guess :lol:

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 2:27 pm
by MW
What benefits do you get for being a member of a political party? I could not think of anything worse....

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 2:57 pm
by BenchedEagle
1980 Tassie Medalist wrote:
lizbeff eaglez wrote:
1980 Tassie Medalist wrote:Yep member of young libs, Kingston branch, but some of the people in it where scary at times......

Some of the women in the young Libs, though, hubba hubba, Amy Trott......
The young Libs are all geeky wanker silver spoons from the Eastern suburbs the lot of them. They cop a lot of shi# at Uni.


Hooray Aldinga Beach is the Eastern Suburbs and my old Mazda 808 is Daddy's SAAB.......
Haha. Im stereotyping here!

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 2:59 pm
by BenchedEagle
MW wrote:What benefits do you get for being a member of a political party? I could not think of anything worse....
A nice little non laminated card and a newsletter! And a supper at ur local sub branch meetings. As soon as Michael O'brien walked into Napier from Springfield i left in disgust!

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:30 pm
by Pseudo
lizbeff eaglez wrote:The young Libs are all geeky wanker silver spoons from the Eastern suburbs the lot of them. They cop a lot of shi# at Uni.


When I was an undergrad, the young Libs was one of the most-populated clubs on campus, and they comprised allsorts (though not myself).

It is worth noting that they gave a free beer to anyone who would sign up...

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:12 pm
by Leaping Lindner
Courtesy of my father I was a "Junior LMer" (Liberal Movement) or whatever they were called. Back in those crazy times we like to call the seventies. Big family picnics once a year at Bonython Park. Wild times were had!!! And Tonkin still talked to Millhouse.
I was dumped outside various polling booths on election days handing out how to vote LM cards. Copped shit from both Labor and Liberal supporters, and I wasn't even old enough to vote. Dad was invited to stand for the state seat of Torrens but couldn't invest the time. Got to meet Steele Hall still one of my favorite pollies of all time. We even had a sign outside our house in the lead up to the 74 election that proclaimed "VOTE STEELE HALL - UNLOCK THE SENATE". It did however get regularly vandalised.
When the Liberal Movement imploded dad went back to voting for the Libs but never joined the party. Whenever we catch up we always end up having a great discussion about politics. I am actually quite grateful he sparked my interest in it at such a young age.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 4:13 pm
by mick
Pseudo wrote:
lizbeff eaglez wrote:The young Libs are all geeky wanker silver spoons from the Eastern suburbs the lot of them. They cop a lot of shi# at Uni.


When I was an undergrad, the young Libs was one of the most-populated clubs on campus, and they comprised allsorts (though not myself).

It is worth noting that they gave a free beer to anyone who would sign up...


The women were friendly as well, it was always a joke that young Labor were very serious and had no idea how to have a good time.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:14 pm
by PhilG
..

PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:38 pm
by Sojourner
lizbeff eaglez wrote:Member of Labor party 1999-2003
Member of Greens 2003-2006
Currently a free agent. Cant find a party to completely match my political views!!


Have you tried the Socialist Alliance? They are as left wing as the Greens and alot heavier than Labor into getting rid of Work Choices,

http://www.socialist-alliance.org/

PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 8:45 pm
by zipzap
I once considered joining the Lemon Party

PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:06 pm
by noone
current member of the ALP, (left faction)

currently interstate in a internet cafe, where i have been working on the NSW state election. working on a inner city labor vs greens contest.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 7:25 pm
by Psyber
I am not sure what happened here - I used edit, then submit and finished up with the edited version as a quote..... so I have repleced the old one with this explanation. Can the moderators guess how it happened??? I then edited the one below to turn it back into a statement rather than a quote.

PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 7:44 pm
by Psyber
I am currently a member of the Liberal Party, but I am not sure how long I am staying. I joined about 1994, when I thought Australian politics generally was moving far too right wing [i.e.authoritarian] and all parties needed leavening. It has been largely a losing battle as the whole world marched to the right. Authoritarian socialism appears to have been the alternative, and I thought authoriarian conservatism was preferable to that. As I have said elsewhere in these fora, I am a liberal conservative - liberal meaning not authoritarian. Mal Fraser suited me.

Context: the Labour Party under Hawke/Keating had made Mal Fraser look clearly liberal socialist by comparison with its authoritarianism and more business orientated behaviour, the Country Party had abandoned its birthright to become the Nationals, and the Liberals were joining the others in the world-wide march to the right too. I figured the power structure of the Labor Party really did not give you much chance to lobby if you were not part of, and loyal to, a faction of the party machine, whereas the Libs were more democratic in structure and you could front up to meetings and say what you thought and get elected to committees by the members living in the electorate who were at the meeting - as I did - you did not need faction support and had only to convince those local members. So, I got to bend the ear of John Olson and Alexander Downer, when I lived in their electorates, and could debate issues with them face to face. AD nominated me for the SA party's Police and Law Reform Policy Sub-committee in 1998.

Since I moved to Melbourne shortly thereafter I have been less actively involved, simply goading them about social injustice via my local federal MP - 8 ministerial representations last year - all replied to by the ministers.

Background: I grew up in Adelaide's western suburbs, my father was a staunch Labor man, and read me the lecture on class treachery as a child when I read about Bob Menzies and said positive things about his achievements and debating skills. I voted Labor once, twice may be coming up, mostly for lack of a viable alternative, and because the leadership now looks more conservative and less authoritarian and less dangerously/economy wreckingly socialist.

I am considering setting up a website promoting the abolition of party politics by rotating local elections instead of holding them all at once and thus encouraging more independents who may exercise conscience rather than toe a party line. None of the parties like that idea!

PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 8:08 pm
by GWW
noone wrote:current member of the ALP, (left faction)

currently interstate in a internet cafe, where i have been working on the NSW state election. working on a inner city labor vs greens contest.


What are the polls there saying re this election? I presumed that Iemma would struggle to get through with a win given transport problems etc, but i believe that Debnam and the Libs are in an even bigger mess.

How long til this election?