Monday, September 9, 2013

A disinterested party but a curious observer

I vote.  Just thought I would throw that little nugget out there as a preface to my current blog.  Regardless of what is going on or who is running, I would much rather cast my vote than to waste the privilege for which so many of my ancestors fought.  It is fairly simple in the US.  Every 4 years you pick the lesser of the evils and cast your vote for the one you think will screw up the least.  However, in Australia, the system is absolutely fascinating to an outsider like me.  I'm not saying it is better or worse, its just different.  While I don't really care all that much about politics (I hate it in fact) I have watched this Australian Federal election with some curiosity.  First of all, the Prime Minister is actually the leader of the party that is in power.  In some cases, such as recently with Julia Gillard, the Prime Minister (PM) can be removed from power if the party in charge decides they don't need to be in charge any longer.  They don't get fired, they just get rotated out sort of like volleyball.  They are still members of parliament, they just aren't in charge anymore.

So, since I arrived in Australia, I have lived under 3 Prime Ministers.  That's right, three.  I arrived in January and at the time, the PM was Julia Gillard (Australia's first female PM).  In about late June, the party she served, the Labor party, decided she was not adequate to run against the Liberal leader Tony Abbott in the Federal election (originally scheduled for September 14).  So they took a vote and decided to restore Kevin Rudd to the Labor leadership, and subsequently as the PM (that's # 2 if you are counting at home).  Then, because it was an election year, they decided to have the election on September 7.  If you look at your calendar, you will notice that September 7 is a Saturday.  The Australian election is an EVENT.  At the polling stations they have people outside like boy scouts or footy teams sponsoring a "sausage sizzle" for the voters.  Voting in Australia is compulsory.   If you don't vote, or provide sufficient reason why you can't vote, you can get a $20 ticket.  Don't pay that ticket? You can get prosecuted or pay a $170 fine.  Id be interested to see just how the voter turnout compares to that in the US.

Another interesting difference is that in the US, we have Democrats and Republicans.  There are occasional other parties or independent candidates who may run, but in general we have the big two.  Below is the list of officially registered Australian political parties:
I personally dig the parties where some dude decided to start their own party and name it after themselves (Palmer United Party and the Nick Xenophon Group).  Its ballsy and hilarious and I love it.  Of course, the Pirate Party is equally awesome.  I wonder if they provide you with an eye patch or if you must bring your own?  

One thing the Aussies have SO right is that they had exactly 32 days of campaigning.  That's it.  Thirty. Two. Days.  It was so nice not to be hit with it for years on end like we do in the US.  In addition to that, they have a cut off of for advertisement.  That's right, 24 hours before the voting starts, the media blackout starts.  Now that doesn't prevent them from doing talk shows and getting their digs in, but the ads stop.  Its really the way to conduct a campaign.

Of course they also have the "big two" of the Labor party and the Liberal party.  And as in the US, one of the big two won this election.  This brings me to my 3rd PM- Liberal leader Tony Abbott.  So in 9 months in country, I have served under 3 PMs.  Some I like better than others but in the end, I don't pay taxes here so I couldn't really care who won.  I will say it was fascinating to watch it unfold!  I hope I am not here for the next one.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)