AU Elections

[Furore]

We've had US and UK election threads, but now it is time for a truly epic battle between the Heavy Hitting KRudd Usurper Julia Gillard and the Super Hero (and his Boat Phone) known as Boatman (aka Tony Abbott).

Who will win? Who will you support? Are you in another country laughing your ass off about these people? This is the thread!

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Personally I'll be supporting the Sex Party as both main parties seem to like censorship and don't really seem to want to bring anything I'm interested in to the table. Perhaps I'm throwing my vote away, but I'd prefer that over voting one of the two prime candidates. The sex party is new but mean serious business...

[Alice]

In all seriousness, though, neither of the two have my interest. I'm with Silver on the Sex Party. Anyone who knows me well understands my views on censorship here. It kind of gives an automatic 'no-no' to the two main parties.

[Alpha]

This is such a fascinating election.

Abbott is such a conservative. A conservative to the nth degree. The kind of conservative that scares me and keeps me awake at night.

He's also an idiot. If he wins the election, New Zealand will have faster Internet. Both of NZ's major political parties support the roll-out of high-speed fibre-optic broadband. The benefits to it are immense, and there is no other word but 'idotic' to describe Abbott for his party's views.

Abbott doesn't support same-sex marriage; he doesn't support voluntary euthanasia; Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he criminalised abortion... it's that bad.

No conservatives in Australasia, please.

In terms of boat people, neither party is adequate, in my view, but I haven't heard anything about minor party policy (particularly the Greens) in this regard.

In terms of something that is more likely to impact me, neither major party supports the lowering of the Australian ban on NZ apple imports. Come on! Our apples are so much better than yours!

I'd like to see a female prime minister. I mean, I've gone through two.

Internet censorship. How Gillard is not capitalising on this is such a mystery. She'd instantaneously win the election is she refused to support it. The fact that it is even considered is so weird.

From what I've seen of the Sex Party, I'd vote for them. But I'd like to know more about the Greens, and other minor parties. How anyone could vote for either Gillard or Abbott is beyond me.

[Alpha]

I don't want to double-post, but the lack of interest in this thread is concerning. Come on, Australia's an important country, right? Probably better than Canada.

Anyhoo, I want to make a post just to say that Abbott's climate change denying is seriously concerning. Australian emissions are lacklustre. 60% cut by 2050 is a weak commitment. It's out of line compared to Europe (the UK is on target to achieve a 34% cut by 2020!), and would've been weaker than US commitments had the Kerry-Lieberman bill not been shot down by people in denial Republicans. Ashamedly, under NZ's current conservative government, it's stronger than our 50% commitment. (On balance, NZ has less room to cut; given our electricity is already 76% renewable.)

But my real cause for concern is that Australia needs to be a leader on climate change; my current government is making excuses on that basis alone. To completely deny it is to deny a very compelling scientific argument. It is also going to mean that Australian firms are going to lose an incentive to innovate to the future green global economy. Mark my words, we will all face carbon price; the sooner the better. If you insulate your country, costs will increase long-term, and Australia's enviable run of economic growth will stutter.

Also, tax mining. They're just stealing what's in your dirt, without paying for impacts on Australia, and the world.

EDIT: One more thing. Who else thinks it's funny that immigration is such a central issue, when the two major candidates are both immigrants?

EDIT 2: Disaffected by both parties? http://greens.org.au/content/top-ten...ote-green-2010

[che]

Honestly, as bad as this is, it makes me happy to see that not only the United States has idiots running for important positions of government.

Internet censorship? Do they plan on criminalizing it? What is the logic behind this? If you don't want your kids on the internet, don't let them get online. That's a better form of censorship than a government-controlled one.

[Rocky]

I don't want to double-post, but the lack of interest in this thread is concerning. Come on, Australia's an important country, right? Probably better than Canada.

Let's not fly off the handle here, Alpha.

I think that the emissions cut by 60% with a 2050 date is reasonable. Besides, global warming doesn't exist anyway, so I would hope that the main issue at hand is not fighting over an imaginary evil. [/trollface]

But seriously, I would support the AU having internet censorship. I'm tired playing against foreign kids that pull host over me then brag about it, so I hope Xbox Live is included on this ban.

[Furore]

But seriously, I would support the AU having internet censorship. I'm tired playing against foreign kids that pull host over me then brag about it, so I hope Xbox Live is included on this ban.

It isn't. They're planning on banning things they can't regulate/would have an R18+ rating here. As long as they regulate game ratings they're fine with things.

Many experts have said the proposed mandatory filter is stupid - it slows down internet access, blocks a disturbing number of legit sites by mistake and fails to take into account things like torrenting which is where most illicit materials are traded.