Australian Federal Election Today

So it is finally upon us, after a year of unofficial campaigning and two months of it being official australia goes to the polling booths. Now for those unfamilar with the Australian system we vote on the representative for our electorate and then on the various seats allocated to our state in the senate. Which ever party has the majority of seats in the house of representatives after all votes are counted becomes the government. So if The coalition of the Liberals and the nationals gains more seats John Howard remains prime minster. If the Labor party has the majority of seats Kevin Rudd will become prime minster. We don't use any form of electornic voting and we use prefrencing voting on ballot papers, that is you write 1 in the box next to your most prefered canidate and then 2 next to your second choice and so forth. That way your vote is never wasted because if your first choice didn't recieve very meny votes your vote is then given to your second choice. This also helps break ties in vote counts on occassion. Its rather simple you just have to remember to number all the boxes. Also voting is compulsry, you get fined if you don't.

The key issues of this election are the industrial relations laws, fiscal policy (these two tie in loosely if you would belive so of the politcal ads), global warming, relations with China, and many issues around the coal fields. While the war in iraq is still present in debates and such its not really in the foreground. Also the government was trying to stir up something in regards to Sudanese Refugees but the entire issue was just on that occurs in young males in most communitties.

While many Australian's on ZU aren't of voting age quite yet I am and have been for a while. This is the second time I'll have voted in a Federal election. And bizarrely the biggest influence on my vote has been The Chasers War on Everthing. So any other Aussie ZU'ers old enough to vote in the election? How do you feel the outcome will affect you even if you aren't old enough to vote?

Originally Posted by fireball

While many Australian's on ZU aren't of voting age quite yet I am and have been for a while. This is the second time I'll have voted in a Federal election. And bizarrely the biggest influence on my vote has been The Chasers War on Everthing. So any other Aussie ZU'ers old enough to vote in the election? How do you feel the outcome will affect you even if you aren't old enough to vote?

I'm of voting age.
My vote is in- go go K-Rudd!
My main gripe with Howard is that he (basically) portrays the economy as the only thing we should care about at this election. Howard's tactics reek of vote buying, plus his industrial relation policies strip workers of basic rights.

"Kevin 07" - It's official. New leadership, fresh ideas.

It was my first time voting today. I voted Liberal, Family First, Labor. The Australian Fishing Party looks like fun so I put them near-ish the top.

Yep, Rudd's in.
From what I've seen, it looks like Howard is going to lose his own seat too. How embarrasing for him.

For those overseas reading this thread; this is Kevin Rudd, who will be leading Australia for the next term:



F*** yeah! I won!

And all month the analysists where predecting it would be a week before we had a clear cut winner. Next time China is kicking up a fuss Kevin can say "you used to be cool." in mandarin and then they'll all be China is still cool. Man I hated wrestling with the senate form there where more people on it than last time but I still numbered all the boxes from 1 to 65.

So did I, fireball. And now I've landed a job for the next few weeks with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) entering all the 1-65 votes into the computer system! >_<; The pay isn't too bad though.

Anyway yeah, coolest thing about Rudd so far is that he can speak Chinese. I kinda miss John Howard though. I loved his 'walks' every morning. So classic.