Is our 2 party system just a con?

[Jerry_Atrick]

I don't know that all states are happy with it: https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/the-gst-is-broken-and-hurting-nsw-and-victoria-badly-20260324-p5tuev.html

[willedoo]

Just now, Jerry_Atrick said:

I don't know that all states are happy with it: https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/the-gst-is-broken-and-hurting-nsw-and-victoria-badly-20260324-p5tuev.html

Jerry, happier than what they were before GST I meant. There'll always be one state or another screaming it's not fair.

[nomadpete]

8 hours ago, Siso said:

more recently "Household electricty bills will be $275 cheaper"

Well that one works for me.

My last quarterly bill happens to be $275.

So far this quarter, I'm on track for a small credit.

 

But no thanks go to any politician. I took the initiative myself.

Thanks, sun!

[red750]

GST is proportionately more expensive for those who earn less. While it is a flat rate, it requires a higher proportion of a low income persons money than a high income person.

[red750]

https://amazing247.feji.io/pauline-hanson-and-barnaby-joyce-have-donated-million-aud-to-build-support-centers-for-the-homele-a-quyenntb?utm_source=facebook

[onetrack]

Red, your link is a Faecesbook scam site, designed to suck in anyone who believes everything they read. There is no $5M contribution to a homeless centre by Barnaby Joyce and Pauline Hanson, it's all TOTALLY FAKE NEWS. Just like the FB stories and photos of Pauline Hanson collapsing in Parliament, 100% lying, total BS.

 

Edited March 25 by onetrack

[Marty_d]

Basically, if you see something that said Pauline did something that benefited someone other than Pauline, it's false.

[red750]

Did you know that if you fail to vote and don't pay the fine, your driver's licence and registration can be cancelled?

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

1 hour ago, red750 said:

Did you know that if you fail to vote and don't pay the fine, your driver's licence and registration can be cancelled?

 

I've been saying for years that we have a tyrannical ruling political elite (the two major parties).

 

 

 

Edited March 25 by Grumpy Old Nasho

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

What you failed to mention is that they can also put your house up for sale to recoup money owed.

 

When One Nation gets in, they'll put a stop to that rotten tyrannical legislation.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 25 by Grumpy Old Nasho

[facthunter]

Just like Trump Does?.  The fact Pauline's a super admirer and Imitator of Trump, should ring alarm bells in ANY thinking Person. Nev

[old man emu]

If she's  an imitator, she mustn't have many original ideas of her own. Not much hope of progressing society if that's the case.

[facthunter]

She's always played the Racist card. Now she's a Trump worshipper and Backed by Gina and Murdoch. Today she comes out saying the ABC should be defunded. Murdoch will Keep his Pro PHON lies coming. Gina and Murdoch now OWN her. Gina will eventually pay less tax. Those who pay the Piper call the tune. Ordinary Australians don't count, and are just Being  deceived.   Nev

[willedoo]

Regarding the recent rise in One Nation opinion poll figures, Newspoll has released their quarterly analysis which includes a breakdown of polling from January 12 to March 16. The initial figures quoted here are for Queensland voting intention if a federal election was held.

 

One nation has hit the lead in the primary vote at 30%, followed by Labor at 27% and the LNP on 23%. As far as I know, the LNP still leads over One Nation in polls regarding a state election due to the relatively popular incumbent LNP state government.

 

Federally, One Nation is running in second place everywhere except Victoria where the coalition has a 1% margin over them. One Nation's popularity with voters aged 18 to 34 had also risen to 19 per cent from 8 per cent during the last quarterly analysis in December, while also becoming the third most popular party (19 per cent) for younger Australians behind Labor (30 per cent) and the Greens (26 per cent). The polling found One Nation had also had a rise in support from female voters (26 per cent) as compared to male (25 per cent). The support of Australians from diverse backgrounds, who spoke a language other than English at home, for One Nation was also up from 9 per cent to 19 per cent. While the new figures brought it level with the Coalition, both parties trailed Labor’s 35 per cent majority in this group. 

[Marty_d]

That's distressing news. I thought as a population we had enough sense to avoid right wing populists.

[facthunter]

The Courier Mail has a Monopoly in Queensland. Such a situation should not be Permitted, anywhere. Nev

[old man emu]

Hee's an example of the average Australian's political ignorance. A woman neighbour who is involved in operating several farms told me today that she voted One Nation. Her reason? To get a government that would fix to poor condition of rural roads. While I agree that rural roads, especially main roads not being highways, need a lot spent on them to remove potholes and subsidences, I don't agree that such a matter has a major position on One Nation's political platform. I think that instead of improving rural roads, One Nation would route to country.

[facthunter]

We'll all be routed said Henny Penny.. .or was it Gullible's Travels?. Nev

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

I'll be happy to vote for One Nation to get the roads fixed around here. No one else is doing it.

[facthunter]

And you think she would give a tuppeny stuff about your Bloody  ROAD? She will be kept Busy doing the bidding of Gina And Murdoch. She OWES them .Therefore They OWN her.  and SHE will be looking after herself Like trump does (She Hopes)  After Trump Bites the Dust where does she  go for Inspiration? Nev

[willedoo]

A lot of people can't see the woods for the trees. Some who are unhappy with the rise in popularity of One Nation delude themselves that the problem is all One Nation and it's supporters who their critics perceive as a bunch of ignorant, redneck idiots. Fact one: One Nation wouldn't be having this rise in popularity if the major parties were doing a half decent job. Fact two: The major parties have been complacent for too long, and as long as they have their comfortable two party system of your turn/my turn without any major threat to their voter base, they will never get any better.

 

For sure, a lot of the rise in One Nation is a protest vote against that laziness, complacency, and disregard for ordinary Australians that a lot of people see in the major parties. The voter erosion to One Nation is the kick in the pants that the status quo needed and still needs. They won't voluntarily get any better, so they need a boot up the rear end like this to to make them get off their backsides and start performing better to provide Australians with what they want and need from a government. If the threat of losing voters in possible election losing numbers keeps the major parties on their toes, in my opinion that has to be a good thing and an incentive to provide good government.

 

I'm not defending One Nation or any other party, but just trying to point out the small minded nature of just blaming One Nation and their supporters and dismissing them as fools. Throwing rocks at them is not going to make them go away. You need to ask yourself why. Why are so many people abandoning parties they have supported for years. The problem the major parties have is not One Nation. The problem is within themselves. They need to ask themselves why do so many people not want to vote for them any more.

 

To be honest, nothing much in politics surprises me, but I have been surprised lately by the sheer numbers of people I run into who say they are changing their vote to One Nation at the next federal election. A lot of these people are the last people in the world where I would have expected to see that. There's a problem for the One nation critics who are stuck in that rut of name-calling, ridicule and stone throwing in their stereotyping of supporters. While they're so distracted doing that, they're not seeing what's really happening. There's a big groundswell of a protest vote building, and I think it will keep rolling. I don't personally think what's happening now is just a flash in the pan.

 

The way I see it, the Greens are immune from it. The Coalition has already taken significant hits and a lot of it by their own hand. And Labor, well I wouldn't be too complacent about if I was one of their supporters. At the moment, they are almost guaranteed to win the next election, and that's about as far ahead as most pollies can think, but they are already starting to bleed blue collar votes and that loss will continue to grow. For anyone who doesn't want to see One Nation grow in size, the challenge is how to create an environment where those lost voters will return. That's where they need to spend their energy. Ridiculing and blaming those lost voters for leaving in the first place is unproductive, and as I said earlier, small minded.

[Marty_d]

That's all well and good, Willie, but it misses the point.

Making a protest vote may be a way of expressing frustration or disenchantment with the major parties. But that vote has an impact, and the impact is to potentially replace a major party with a party that has no costed, valid policies, is chock full of despicable people, led by a racist opportunist, and financially supported by people who have very illiberal beliefs who will expect a return on their investment.

If people truly wanted to improve how parliament works, they would research the policy positions and backgrounds of independents, and support the campaign of a good one. 

Simply lashing out won't work. The object lesson from the US showed that. Are the people in the Rust Belt better off now? They voted to "drain the swamp" but elected the biggest alligator around.

You can call me "small minded" for considering anyone who votes for ON an idiot, or at best ignorant. That's fine. But I will maintain that voting against your own interests is not the most intelligent thing to do.

[willedoo]

Marty, you're dreaming if you think One Nation will ever get close to replacing a major party in government I think. The protest vote will have an impact, and that impact will be to force the major parties to lift their game. Or the option is to just keep voting for the same old status quo in the naive belief that they will magically one day lift their game by their own choice, ie; bend over and keep copping it up the rear end.

[willedoo]

The only reason we are talking about One Nation is because they are experiencing a fairly significant rise in support which could rock the politcal boat a bit. In previous times they have had around 6-10% support, similar to the other main fringe party, the Greens. One in ten voters think the Greens are worth voting for and nine out of ten think they are not. One Nation was in a very similar position on the opposite end of the spectrum, but things have changed in their favour lately. The Greens will never attract more than that one in ten voters and what you see is what you'll get with them, but One Nation's numbers are on the move and nobody really knows for sure how far they will go. It won't be all the way to the top, I know that much.

[willedoo]

29 minutes ago, Marty_d said:

That's all well and good, Willie, but it misses the point.

I beg to differ Marty, I would say I'm bang on the point. That's just my opinion, you're entitled to yours. I'd consider myself centre right politically and you support a far left party so we're never going get an echo chamber thing happening here.