The future of our democracy

[sataris]

is there any test more useless than the pen license

Mine should be revoked.

 

[Gralin]

Mine should be revoked.

yeah no idea how I got mine
the most common comment on my hand writing as a kid was you're going to be a doctor then

 

[Ned_Flanders]

is there any test more useless than the pen license

My school enforced that s**t!

 

[Gralin]

My school enforced that sh*t!

same
and we had to learn cursive

 

[sataris]

same
and we had to learn cursive

I know hell, and damn...

 

[Brunswick Trap King]

and we had to learn cursive

It's kinda weird that it just stopped being a thing once you hit year 7

 

[Pie eyed]

Citizens' juries/assemblies are interesting to me. I don't think the SA government got enough credit for involving one over the nuclear waste issue and backing down from their preferred position as a result (I was lukewarm in supporting the proposal, so wasn't too fussed which conclusion they reached.)

I do wonder if that could be more formally integrated. Make one chamber of parliament proportionally elected and one assembly randomly drawn to review (with the threshold to overturn the elected House's votes very high.) It would need a lot of work to get right, but might inspire a bit more public confidence. And it would guarantee a more representative sample of Australians being directly involved in the legislative process, aside from upper-class factional hacks getting preselected.

As posted above though, I don't think things get better until there's more real engagement of ordinary people between elections. Whether that's through direct party membership, or union participation. More responsiveness from MPs to their local community groups and issues would do a lot to empower people too, but our parties sadly have enforced the tradition of toeing the line in all but very rare occasions.

I would like to be on the Citizen Jury which
puts Murdoch in the clink.

 

[Baltimore Jack]

giggle........

You are too dense to understand

Both valid and both way above you

 

[Gough]

Mine should be revoked.

By the time I hit time for the issuing of pen licenses I was on my fourth school across three states so I suspect I was somewhere in transit and missed out, shocking handwriting is genetic thing for men in my family anyway I'm third generation illegible. On the upside I learned the need for a coordinated national curriculum a lot younger than most and living in hotels for a lot of 1980 and 1981 my brother I were never "those kids" at restaurants.

 

[Power Raid]

i mean you are talking about taking away the one democratic part of the process in Baltimore Jack mind so not sure this is the own you think it is

it's pretty clear Baltimore Jack believes the system we have is not democratic and is bullshit. Sure he suggests we should have some democratic process on every decision, every day or some other interval but he clearly believes voting once every three years is "bullshit" and not democratic.

From this it is reasonable to assume he thinks it is a waste of time. Alternatively the undemocratic system/ notion we live with is bullshit; but a positive kind of bullshit and everyone participating in the bullshit should be as happy as a pig in s**t.

 

[Power Raid]

Sure you are a hypocrite who doesn't vote but wants to set the criterion for those who do

You don't get a say in any issue regarding voting.......or any issue on politics for that matter

and you don't get a say in any issue regarding voting or any issue on politics for that matter other than 0.0913242% of the time

 

[Baltimore Jack]

it's pretty clear Baltimore Jack believes the system we have is not democratic and is bullshit. Sure he suggests we should have some democratic process on every decision, every day or some other interval but he clearly believes voting once every three years is "bullshit" and not democratic.

From this it is reasonable to assume he thinks it is a waste of time. Alternatively the undemocratic system/ notion we live with is bullshit; but a positive kind of bullshit and everyone participating in the bullshit should be as happy as a pig in sh*t.

DaDS

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

Changing our media ownership laws would be a great start.

 

[Gralin]

it's pretty clear Baltimore Jack believes the system we have is not democratic and is bullshit. Sure he suggests we should have some democratic process on every decision, every day or some other interval but he clearly believes voting once every three years is "bullshit" and not democratic.

From this it is reasonable to assume he thinks it is a waste of time. Alternatively the undemocratic system/ notion we live with is bullshit; but a positive kind of bullshit and everyone participating in the bullshit should be as happy as a pig in sh*t.

Your premise is wrong

 

[Pessimistic]

Too many voters act like it’s reality TV

 

[Power Raid]

You are too dense to understand

Both valid and both way above you

Please feel free to educate me.

Clearly by your response, resorting to abuse and emotional outburst; your struggling with your own position.

I look forward to your measured response.

 

[RobbieGray17]

When you see how easily influenced people are on social media with respect to blatant misinformation you realize how many people are deciding the outcome of elections based on this misinformation and ignorance. Democracy might be one of the strongest ideologies but its massively flawed. We will never reach our full potential under democracy.

 

[Northalives]

Too many voters act like it’s reality TV

Like Stan_Darsh72 said in his earlier post, "Changing our media ownership laws would be a great start."

We have the best democracy (Federal) possible I believe for two principle reasons 1. We are all compelled to vote and therefore the state is compelled to make absolutely sure that we all have the opportunity to vote regardless of where we live and our means 2. We have an Electoral Commission which changes the electoral boundaries when necessary to meet the changing population densities and so making the each electoral district/seat, as equal as possible.

We do our democracy a massive disservice by allowing what amounts to a monopoly on who provides us with information via printed and electronic media. This is what hobbles our democracy.

Citizens of Australia from all walks of life, educational attainment, the mega rich to the poor; all have equal rights in a democracy and if, as some lament around here, there are people whose ignorance is apparently due to a lack of education, than that is a failure of all of us for not doing enough agitating and insisting that everyone is assisted in gaining an education.

To suggest that a person should be denied suffrage due to a lack of education or lack of writing skills is grotesque.

 

[Stan_Darsh72]

Like Stan_Darsh72 said in his earlier post, "Changing our media ownership laws would be a great start."

We have the best democracy (Federal) possible I believe for two principle reasons 1. We are all compelled to vote and therefore the state is compelled to make absolutely sure that we all have the opportunity to vote regardless of where we live and our means 2. We have an Electoral Commission which changes the electoral boundaries when necessary to meet the changing population densities and so making the each electoral district/seat, as equal as possible.

We do our democracy a massive disservice by allowing what amounts to a monopoly on who provides us with information via printed and electronic media. This is what hobbles our democracy.

Citizens of Australia from all walks of life, educational attainment, the mega rich to the poor; all have equal rights in a democracy and if, as some lament around here, there are people whose ignorance is apparently due to a lack of education, than that is a failure of all of us for not doing enough agitating and insisting that everyone is assisted in gaining an education.

To suggest that a person should be denied suffrage due to a lack of education or lack of writing skills is grotesque.

Having a strong education system will also help.

Teaching civics to all is a must.

 

[Northalives]

Having a strong education system will also help.

Teaching civics to all is a must.

Yes, absolutely, as is teaching the "old fashioned" subjects like literature and philosophy because what we lack today in spades is critical thinking and that void has been filled by social media.

 

[Power Raid]

i mean you are talking about taking away the one democratic part of the process in Baltimore Jack mind so not sure this is the own you think it is

given I have always lived in a division that never changes politics, be it safe labor or safe conservative, it does highlight his point being "What we have is a (partly) democratic day every 3 years".

Then he goes on to highlight the diminishing value of this opportunity with "For the rest of the time, we have absolutely no say in what a Government does or doesn't do"


it isn't a gotcha or "own" moment rather just agreeing with him

 

[JennyTaylor]

With all the advancements in other parts of human civilisation, such as medicine, travel, technology, it just beggars belief that politics has been left behind. There has to be a better way of electing responsible people to serve and operate a country with the interests of its citizens at the forefront of decision making. It would take a revolution to change what we have in place right now.

 

[Kwality]

Grattan on Friday: Election delivered bonanza of crossbenchers but what impact will they make?

David Pocock, the progressive independent who broke the Liberals’ stranglehold on one of the two ACT Senate seats, wouldn’t have expected to find himself allied with Pauline Hanson before even being sworn in

theconversation.com

Our latestversion of the democratic process is starting to shape up with the new & larger cross bench, on the payroll.

Ms Grattan has cast her eye over what we might see from the protagonists - how that is played out is in the hands of the press gallery.

'The crossbench is, of course, diverse. In the lower house, there are Greens, the new teals (obviously individuals in their own right) and other independents, as well as the idiosyncratic Bob Katter, from the deep north.

In the Senate, the crossbench ranges from Greens to the two Hansonites and Ralph Babet, elected from Victoria for the UAP.

The teals have a lot to live up to, after their high-profile campaigns ...
And what of policy substance can the lower house teals achieve? They need to demonstrate they’re relevant.

Lacking hard power, they can only operate through influence and advocacy. This is possible, though difficult. For example, in the last parliament independent Helen Haines’ release of a private member’s bill for an integrity commission added to the public pressure. She (and others) will be anxious to have a voice on the issue as the government presses ahead with its legislation.

One problem for the teals is that the Albanese government will address core issues they campaigned on, notably climate change and integrity. It was easy enough for them to rail against the Coalition before the election, but things are more challenging when they are (essentially) aligned with the government on these matters.

They can say Labor should go further (although there mightn’t be mileage in that), and there will be some scope for suggesting amendments to legislation.

The government has some interest in teals surviving, because they provide a firewall. They keep seats Labor can’t itself win out of Liberal hands. So it may look to give them a few modest policy wins.

The Greens-Labor relationship will be more potent and scratchy. The two parties are fierce competitors and there’s no love lost.'


How this Parliament plays out will have a big influence on how our democracy is shaped from here on.