I dropped off the list when I moved interstate about 15 years ago.

In that time I have not felt the urge or been inspired to re-enrol to vote for any of the candidates based on (some of) their policies or personalities.
I have also learned that even if I was to vote for a certain party or leader who I want to represent this great country , there is every chance they will be overturned and some other clown will take over.

In a recent discussion I was told that I don't really have the right to complain if I don't vote , and I tend to agree to some extent.
I fully understand that every vote counts.

I love this country , but I am not impressed at all with what I have seen in politics since the election has been announced.
I still feel some of the things that will really make a difference to this country are being overlooked , and these fools who are asking me to vote for them are so far out of touch with society and reality its not funny.

Do I re-enrol and vote for a party and leader who I think "will do"? Enrol and vote for one of the minor parties who don't have a hoping hell of getting enough votes or do I continue on through life - caring but not voting,, winging,, handing over my taxes and watching these clowns make idiots out of each other?

I would really like to make a difference but cant help feeling I would be wasting my time.

Once you hit 36.

Its our right to vote as we are dictated to and must vote.

But I get what you are saying as why would you vote for a person or party that will win by default.

Would be a much better system if we could just red thumb the pollys, Woops, that right has been taken away already

Do you think your vote really counts? How many voters are in each electorate? It has to be over a hundred thousand so an individual vote isn't worth much. Most electorates are fairly safe one way or another. The one I live in could have the equivalent of Joseph Stalin as the Liberal candidate and he would win and win easily. Representative democracy is barely democratic. If you pay taxes and don't vote its a bit silly for someone to say you should not have a say after all politicians are using your money to tell you how awesome they are.

It would be funny for a politician to be elected on just say 15% of the vote, especially if they became the big boss. They could hardly say they had a "mandate" to do this or that.

You're right of course in saying one vote won't matter. But there is a bigger picture here, a hell of a lot of one votes do matter. I think trends are taken notice of.
I support a minor party. It was explained to me once that a minor party doesn't have to win a seat to influence a major party's position. If a major party sees a minor party gaining support, they will tend to modify their policies in that direction. What the majors hate more than each other is the minor parties because they want to keep the power between themselves and don't want to run the risk of having to share it with others. So by having a bigger say in a small party could be argued to have more power than a small say in a big party, even if they will never be elected. If you feel something matters, support the party that cares about that subject. It may have more influence than you think.

of course you should , there are thousands of people around the world who would kill to have your voting rights.

if you re enroll theyll just use it against you again and slap you with another 250$ fine and take your licence again like last time man. **** em getting taken off the enrollment was best $250 i ever spent

After the first live export ban of cattle, we ( as employees/ vested interested parties of an affected pastoral company ) were sent a nice letter advising we had been removed from the enrollment role by the then government. i still kept my letter it was an easy out for me!

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SandS said...

of course you should , there are thousands of people around the world who would kill to have your voting rights.

A good point.

I would imagine though that those people live in a country where the right to vote is the difference between somewhat normal governance and soldiers running around the streets killing people.

Living in australia it's more a difference of do I pick clown A, or clown B. And as proven by the last 5 or so years, you might get clown C at a later date anyway.

I guess you're meant to vote for policies though, not clowns.

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raggy said..
After the first live export ban of cattle, we ( as employees/ vested interested parties of an affected pastoral company ) were sent a nice letter advising we had been removed from the enrollment role by the then government. i still kept my letter it was an easy out for me!

Wait, What?

You get taken off the roll as you have a vested interest in how the country is run??



Isnt having a vested interest in how the country is run kinda the point of an election???

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Craig66 said..
Its our right to vote as we are dictated to and must vote.

We dont have the right to vote - we are required to attend at a polling station and have our names ticked to show we have shown up.
Under our present system, if we fail to do this we are liable to be punished.

IF we had the "right" to vote, we would automatically have the freedom to not show up, without the threat of punishment.


stephen

well you would think so eh!!! put it this way many of the affected propitiates are also substantially resource rich and of extreme interest to large mining companies / government pockets! so i guess when you do something that gets people upset and those people have the ability to make life hard. you simply remove there voices?

whats really funny is how sneaky it all was. that one didn't hit media?

but yeah what you said was exactly correct!

worst thing is i ****ing voted. they just ticked off my brothers name instead?!?!? still cost me 250$ and they removed me from the roll

since then i started thinking maybe 1 in 10000 "innocent" prisoners probably are

Thanks for the feedback all.

One concern I do have is that if I was to re-enrol to vote would I be slapped with a fine for all the times I didn't vote?

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge with this?

I haven't voted the last couple of times. Not going to vote till there is someone worth voting for,..
Was sent a fine each time for $50. Funny as.
The fine comes with a returned stamped envelope, you either pay the fine or give a reason why you didn't vote and send it back.
I wrote "But I DID vote" both times.........have never heard anything back. Guess its hard for them to prove that the little old lady crossing off your name as you vote didn't make a mistake.

I wonder how many idiots actually pay the fine.

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Kozzie said...
if you re enroll theyll just use it against you again and slap you with another 250$ fine and take your licence again like last time man. **** em getting taken off the enrollment was best $250 i ever spent

So can I pay $250 to be taken off the enrolment list? Where do I sign!

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lotofwind said...
I haven't voted the last couple of times. Not going to vote till there is someone worth voting for,..
Was sent a fine each time for $50. Funny as.
The fine comes with a returned stamped envelope, you either pay the fine or give a reason why you didn't vote and send it back.
I wrote "But I DID vote" both times.........have never heard anything back. Guess its hard for them to prove that the little old lady crossing off your name as you vote didn't make a mistake.

I wonder how many idiots actually pay the fine.

I'm so doing that!!!!

I'm surprised that as an educated person in a western country that anyone wouldn't value the opportunity enough to want to vote.

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Unhook3d said..
I'm surprised that as an educated person in a western country that anyone wouldn't value the opportunity enough to want to vote.

It is an educated decision not to vote? considering the outcome has basically no effect on what you think anyway. and previously stated just wait 6 months and it will change. It seems like this country has been incapable of holding onto a settled government for years now regardless of the party elected. People are getting sick of it.

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lotofwind said...
I haven't voted the last couple of times. Not going to vote till there is someone worth voting for,..
Was sent a fine each time for $50. Funny as.
The fine comes with a returned stamped envelope, you either pay the fine or give a reason why you didn't vote and send it back.
I wrote "But I DID vote" both times.........have never heard anything back. Guess its hard for them to prove that the little old lady crossing off your name as you vote didn't make a mistake.

I wonder how many idiots actually pay the fine.

I move like every few months so never get any mail. I paid the fine after I learnt about it. This was in the form of the coppers saying I had no licence becauae I hadnt paid the fine I got for missing the roll. Had to pay the fine to get my licence back there and then. What sort of crooked ****ing country does that. You go in you say your name they look at the list in some backend country town see a wheelbarrow full of k's and z's for a name assume thats me and tick it off not knowing its my brother. I then vote and think nothing of it till 6 months later when im having a yarn with the swinka. Then next time I go into vote they say I cant anymore cause of last time. Fffffuuuuccckkkk iiiitttttt

I don't understand how any one would not want to vote and not see that their individual
vote is important.

Don't do it, wish I could get off it, waste of your time, as if 1 vote makes any difference what so ever

When I was in a marginal electorate I used to vote 3 times, no one ever said anything about it.

I learnt about this from a work colleague who was aligned with a certain party

"Vote Early, Vote often" I love democracy

If your against the major parties, understandable, why not focus on a local level. Look at the representative in your area for each party and ask them what they run for or believe in. Then base your vote on what is best for you back yard

How would it be if the government paid out 50% of the surplus back to the people every year. Maybe everyone wouldn't be so keen to hear about extra spending. The party that put forward a budget that meant not spending more than they make, might get into power instead of the f#ckwits who dig the debt hole deeper.

If we'd ran the house hold budget like these pricks run the country, we'd have a massive debt to hand onto our children. And I'm not referring to any particular party.

Yeah, and if you don't vote ,then don't whinge about anything the pricks do. Maybe you could move move to America and have the"Don" running the show. Or maybe pick one of the Countries run by Dictators, as this may help show you the reason behind voting.

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Crusoe said..
If we'd ran the house hold budget like these pricks run the country, we'd have a massive debt to hand onto our children. And I'm not referring to any particular party.

Trouble is most households run with a massive debt in relation to their income....Housing loans, car loan etc... government debt compared to income is small in comparison.
Debt is ok. IF the debt has a pay off in the end.....debt to run your day to day expenses for a household or a government does not work.

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Adoy said..
Don't do it, wish I could get off it, waste of your time, as if 1 vote makes any difference what so ever

are you for real ? !!!!

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oz surf said..
I don't understand how any one would not want to vote and not see that their individual
vote is important.

exactly !!! those same people would be the first ones to jump up and down if their voting rights were taken from them !!

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Unhook3d said..
I'm surprised that as an educated person in a western country that anyone wouldn't value the opportunity enough to want to vote.

spot on , they need to look at it from the perspective of a person who has no voting rights !!!!!!!!!

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Greenroom said..

lotofwind said...
I haven't voted the last couple of times. Not going to vote till there is someone worth voting for,..
Was sent a fine each time for $50. Funny as.
The fine comes with a returned stamped envelope, you either pay the fine or give a reason why you didn't vote and send it back.
I wrote "But I DID vote" both times.........have never heard anything back. Guess its hard for them to prove that the little old lady crossing off your name as you vote didn't make a mistake.

I wonder how many idiots actually pay the fine.

I'm so doing that!!!!

If you choose that action you will get what you deserve .