# Australians - anyone voted yet? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 23, 2007, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473 "2007-11-23T01:15:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Layla01](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/layla01/32/15552_2.png) [@Layla01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Layla01)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/61 "2007-11-24T12:54:42Z")
Well, the changes will certainly be interesting in the next few months, at least. I voted for Rudd in the lower house, mainly because the Work Choices legislation was a dog’s breakfast (I’ve been studying Human Resources at college, so I’ve had to wade through it) and because I don’t like the way Australia is becoming less tolerant of foreigners during the Howard government. The Senate is shaping up as a doozy, with the Greens, Family First and Nick Xenophon (an independent from my state) holding the balance of power. It will be very interesting to see how that all pans out in future months, when they take up their positions. Congratulations to Julia Gillard, the first female deputy Prime Minister. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/62 "2007-11-24T13:02:36Z")
[QUOTE=mamboman] You and me, Dog! You and me! I am the last Keatingista in Queensland, I think. The thing about Rudd is that he ain’t in it for nobody but Kevin Rudd. I like my Labor leaders to be more of the “true believer” variety, less of the media scrubbed cypher who will say and do whatever to takes to get elected. [/QUOTE] I miss those days. I miss the bloke on the microphone at Sydney’s Central Station who could do impersonations: “Listen up scumbags on Platform 17…” I also believe “true believer” encompasses both sides of politics, including: Paul Keating John Howard Jeff Kennett Kim Beazley NOT: Hawke, Rudd, Peacock, Hewson (who?), etc… ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/63 "2007-11-24T13:03:45Z")
[QUOTE=Layla01] Congratulations to Julia Gillard, the first female deputy Prime Minister. [/QUOTE] Can’t warm to her though. Can you? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/64 "2007-11-24T13:05:13Z")
Does anyone know how Dr Karl did? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/65 "2007-11-24T13:08:22Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] Does anyone know how Dr Karl did? [/QUOTE] Dunno. Why don’t they just call the ALP the ABC, like Kerry O’Brien let slip tonight? Hehehee. ---
**Author:** ![Layla01](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/layla01/32/15552_2.png) [@Layla01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Layla01)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/66 "2007-11-24T13:24:01Z")
She seems ok to me - I’ve been watching her on the ABC and she certainly knows what she’s talking about. I would have preferred voting for her rather than Rudd as PM, actually. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/67 "2007-11-24T13:26:31Z")
[QUOTE=blackhobyah] I get great pleasure in marking Fred Nile at 68, but it’s an interesting exercise in moral judgment. [/QUOTE] I made sure I voted below the line this time. No Steve Fielding for me this time, thanks. But the CIC came below Fred Nile’s lot for me - although Nile’s group came well after that part of the paper where you start to order the group up the ticket instead of down. I have posted before, I’m sure, on how much I love the pencils in the ballot boxes. It never fails to move me that we have pencils. I do tear up and have to wait a mo before I get a snag. Mainly I’m relieved. There’s some happiness but a hell of a lot of relief. I don’t think the Liberals will again have a leader who is both electable and prepared to do the things that Howard did. The business of Jackie Kelly and co was in my view just a slightly less subtle version of what they’ve been doing since mid 2001. I understand that there were reasons for 2001 and 2004, but I must confess I’m a little bitter about Workchoices mattering and SIEV X (etc) not. And - although I thought the result would be even more clear cut than it was tonight - I would claim to have called the general picture on G’Dope as long ago as **13 July 2006** : > [@](#): > > There is an old saying in politics that you’re a rooster one day and a feather duster the next. > […] > Leaders come to think of themselves as indispensable - and as de Gaulle said, the graveyards are full of indispensable men. > > I don’t think Howard is finished - he can never be counted out - but I think this last week he’s lost his chance to walk away a rooster. If he announces he’s going to retire before the next election, it will look as though it’s because his hand was forced somewhat. If he doesn’t, even if he thwarts Costello and wins the next election, it’s hard to see how he could organise a smooth transition. **A likely scenario is that the dispute (and the IR changes) will cripple the government.**[emphasis added] > > And - following the great line on Doctor Who last week - from now, people are going to be saying “Don’t you think he looks tired?” And the more he enthuses and the more he power-walks in his trackies, the more desperate it’s going to look. > > Anyone see a graceful way out for JWH? ---
**Author:** ![Layla01](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/layla01/32/15552_2.png) [@Layla01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Layla01)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/68 "2007-11-24T13:30:06Z")
> [@Struan](#): > > Does anyone know how Dr Karl did? He didn’t get in (he was going for the NSW senate) but he did get a respectable total, just behind the Dems and Pauline Hanson’s new party (and more than Family First and One Nation). I would have voted for him myself if I could. ---
**Author:** ![Eolbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@Eolbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eolbo)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/69 "2007-11-24T13:31:59Z")
[QUOTE=mamboman] I loathe Kevin Rudd, I loathe him with every fiber of my being. To think of him as the inheritor of Paul Keating, it makes me sick to my stomach. [/QUOTE] I dont loathe Rudd but I cant admire him either. He is why I couldnt vote for the ALP this time and voted Green instead. I think the ALP has lost its way, perhaps its soul. I long for the Whitlams and Keatings of the past. But Maxine McKew how I love you! ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/70 "2007-11-24T13:43:41Z")
> [@](#): > > _TLD_ > Why don’t they just call the ALP the ABC, like Kerry O’Brien let slip tonight? Hehehee. That were piss-funny. Howard’s speech was fine - shame his supporters wouldn’t let him make it. He did a very good job. Senator Faulkner is the man. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/71 "2007-11-24T13:47:43Z")
[QUOTE=hawthorne] Howard’s speech was fine - shame his supporters wouldn’t let him make it. He did a very good job. [/QUOTE] This is about the third straight election where that has been a problem. It’s a problem on both sides, though the Libs are worse. We don’t need pissed _Young Liberals_ ruining a national telecast. A little bit of hands held out, palm downwards to quell the applause, is a good look for a popular leader, but when it becomes half of the allotted time because of morons, you have to wonder. Both Rudd and Howard should have some greater control over who gets within earshot at a time like that. It’s not like it’s a public event; it’s a gathering of the party faithful. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/72 "2007-11-24T15:25:36Z")
I’m pretty amused that people think electing Rudd is a blow against Workchoices - Labor policy is not much different. Have people bothered to look at their policies which include: _Small business-friendly unfair dismissal system – no claims from employees for 12 months for businesses with fewer than 15 employees_ _New flexibility in employment arrangements – modernised and simplified awards with new flexibility clauses such as for rostering hours of work and all-up rates of pay_ _Protection from unlawful industrial action._ - Any strike outside the official enterprise bargaining period is illegal. _Individual common-law agreements – with additional flexibility because they are not constrained by complex awards and will give scope for individualised flexibility arrangements such as for work hours and holidays._ While in the US Rudd berated AMWU head Doug Cameron telling him it was time he “got used to the 21st century” for suggesting that Labor’s policy was flawed. He and Gillard have insisted their will be “no wage breakout”. All seems like Workchoices - employer friendly stuff to me. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/73 "2007-11-24T16:36:09Z")
An American here, to ask a question about those flyers a lot of you mention being handed out. How close are the distributors allowed to be to the voting place? In the USA “campaigning” like that is not allowed directly outside voting places. I imagine the distance folks would have to stay away varies, but I’ve never even seen anyone try over here. A voter isn’t even supposed to wear anything like shirts or buttons either, indicating their choice. Of course only presidential or senatorial elections get much of that. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/74 "2007-11-24T17:35:43Z")
[QUOTE=Baker] An American here, to ask a question about those flyers a lot of you mention being handed out. How close are the distributors allowed to be to the voting place? In the USA “campaigning” like that is not allowed directly outside voting places. I imagine the distance folks would have to stay away varies, but I’ve never even seen anyone try over here. A voter isn’t even supposed to wear anything like shirts or buttons either, indicating their choice. Of course only presidential or senatorial elections get much of that. [/QUOTE] Nominally there’s a limit, but interpretation varies from polling place to polling place. Very often polling places are in schools (since elections are on Saturdays), and in some cases there will be an invisible circle about 5 metres in radius around the entrance to the building, while in other cases the whole school grounds are barred to canvassing for votes. And Ive even seen one or two cases where the circle has been painted on the ground. There’s a general cultural expectation in Australia that the major parties, at least, will hand out how-to-vote cards at every polling place, and many people will accept all the how-to-votes that they are offered (partly to protect the secrecy of their vote), though others will only accept one. On occasion I’ve doubled up on campaigning outside the polling place and being a scrutineer for a candidate inside the booth. There’s no problem with that, though you have to be careful to take off any campaign badges, etc., before entering the polling place. Since parties are identified on the ballot paper in Australian elections, and since in complex multi-member elections (such as for the Australian Senate) you can vote for a party ticket rather than numbering all the candidates, most people really do not need how-to-votes any more, but it’s a very long tradition in Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Kayeby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@Kayeby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kayeby)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/75 "2007-11-24T21:37:51Z")
The main influences on my vote were children overboard, the Jackie Kelly scandal, the war in Iraq, Howard’s inappropriate comments about the US election (“If I were running al Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008, and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats.”), and interest rates - if you claim credit for them staying low you have to take the blame when they start going up. So it wasn’t so much a vote for Labor as a vote against Liberal. If they fuck it up I guess I’ll go back to voting Democrat, not that it matters since my seat is safe Labor. ---
**Author:** ![bathsheba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@bathsheba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bathsheba)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/76 "2007-11-24T23:12:57Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] I should point out that I voted Labor. (I disgusted myself and am still scrubbing down) I’m naturally conservative, but I felt that Workchoices was morally wrong. I posted on another board yesterday (or this one, I forget) that I “wanted Labor to win but couldn’t vote for the thugs”, so I was enjoying the fact that I was living in a strong Labor seat (Watson) and could vote Liberal in that spirit. I was literally in the booth when I decided that was unethical, and if I wanted Labor to win I should vote for them. So I did. [/QUOTE] Wot he said. It was an ethical choice. I made a decision about what I thought was best for the whole and not for me personally. (Do they still make carbolic soap? I feel so dirty.) ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/77 "2007-11-25T02:13:19Z")
Breaking news: [Costello won’t stand](http://www.smh.com.au/news/federal-election-2007-news/costello-wont-stand/2007/11/25/1195947541163.html) [QUOTE=The _Sydney Morning Herald_] Peter Costello today said he "would not seek nor accept’’ a nomination to be the new opposition leader. He said he would stay in his seat of Higgins, in Victoria, and "mentor’’ young talent within the party. [/QUOTE] So who’s running a book? My money is on Downer (watch his accent change even more!). ---
**Author:** ![Eolbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@Eolbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eolbo)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/78 "2007-11-25T02:45:30Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] Breaking news: [Costello won’t stand](http://www.smh.com.au/news/federal-election-2007-news/costello-wont-stand/2007/11/25/1195947541163.html) So who’s running a book? My money is on Downer (watch his accent change even more!). [/QUOTE] Turnbull I think. Downer is about as popular with the public as Costello was. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/79 "2007-11-25T02:58:59Z")
I always thought that physically at least, John Howard resembled a Koala Bear. Always thought that appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473/80 "2007-11-25T06:24:45Z")
[QUOTE=Siam Sam] I always thought that physically at least, John Howard resembled a Koala Bear. Always thought that appropriate. [/QUOTE] It’s certainly true that the people who will miss him more than anyone else will be the newspaper cartoonists. Rudd wouldn’t be nearly as much fun to draw. No legendary eyebrows. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australians-anyone-voted-yet/427473.md?page=5)