Australian Federal Election 2010

[KukriKhan]

Will the election outcome result in any change in your military commitments, you think?

[pevergreen]

I doubt it will have any affect on the ANZUS treaty, as for Iraq et al, I doubt it.

I don't like Gillard, but then, the other choice is Abbott. Eurgh.

I identify with Labor more than the coalition, but...

Leader of the greens annoys me as well. Gunna stay with the local member, forget who it is, but I believe its labor now. Unless Farmer runs again, she held her seat here for many years, she did a fine job.

[naut]

I don't like Gillard, but then, the other choice is Abbott. Eurgh.

Likewise. Gillard is a smuck and Abbot is a fool, with backwards views on marriage, abortion and refugees. I'm voting Greens. It won't have any effect on my Rep seat, as I'm in Warringah, Tony Abbot's electorate. The . However, every vote to the Greens edges them to extra Senate seats, which is key regardless of whomever becomes the ruling party, as it means they have to compromise and don't get their own way. Plus I agree with every ideal the Greens espouse.

[aimlesswanderer]

Gillard is not likely to be the best PM ever, but far better than a gaffe prone conservative religious quack like Abbot. In a way it's a choice between faceless Labor factional power brokers and the coalitions' dinosaurs (Ruddock, Bishop, Andrews - the Living Dead) and religious quacks...

Given that I don't like conservatives and their general religiosity and slavish subservience to big business, I am voting for either Labor or the Greens. I'm in Big Joe's very safe electorate, but like Psychonaut I hope my senate vote helps gets a Green senator elected.

[pevergreen]

I am woefully ignorant of the green's policies, but I dislike them.

To err is to be human, to be wrong/uninformed and refuse to back down is to be australian.

[CountArach]

I am woefully ignorant of the green's policies, but I dislike them.

Why do you dislike them?

@ aimlesswanderer - I've met Lee Rhiannon a few times and she is one of the nicest and most genuinely thoughtful people I have ever encountered. Add in her dedication to issues (getting money out of politics in particular) and I think she will make a brilliant Senator.

[aimlesswanderer]

@ aimlesswanderer - I've met Lee Rhiannon a few times and she is one of the nicest and most genuinely thoughtful people I have ever encountered. Add in her dedication to issues (getting money out of politics in particular) and I think she will make a brilliant Senator.

I definitely think that political donations should be capped at a maximum of, say, $20. When politicians say that the massive donations from certain organisations don't affect policy at all, everyone thinks that is complete . That is just as nauseating as the massive corporations saying that they are "helping democracy" with huge donations.

Sometimes the Greens are a bit extreme, but often they have good ideas. I would not be happy with either of the main parties or Family First (quack religious nuts) having the balance of power in the senate. Definitely voting Green in the senate.

[Beskar]

Why do you dislike them?

Reminds him of Org Moderators, and he is scared of them spanking him for being a naughty boy when he leaves his computer on stand-by.

[naut]

I am woefully ignorant of the green's policies, but I dislike them.

So you dislike social justice and sustainablilty then?

• social justice
• sustainability
• grassroots democracy
• peace and non-violence
• renewable energy
• opposition to uranium mining and nuclear power
• promotion of a sustainable approach to water management
• preparation for peak oil
• energy efficiency
• public transport expansion
• support for refugees
• support for independence movements around the world, including East Timor, Tibet and West Papua
• support for human rights in countries such as China and Burma
• qualified support for voluntary euthanasia
• increased corporate taxation
• support for same-sex marriage
• regulated use of Cannabis for medical purposes

[Tellos Athenaios]

But what of Australia's Great Firewall?

[CountArach]

So you dislike social justice and sustainablilty then?

• social justice
• sustainability
• grassroots democracy
• peace and non-violence
• renewable energy
• opposition to uranium mining and nuclear power
• promotion of a sustainable approach to water management
• preparation for peak oil
• energy efficiency
• public transport expansion
• support for refugees
• support for independence movements around the world, including East Timor, Tibet and West Papua
• support for human rights in countries such as China and Burma
• qualified support for voluntary euthanasia
• increased corporate taxation
• support for same-sex marriage
• regulated use of Cannabis for medical purposes

THank you sir. May I add being the only one of the main 3 parties who don't support any form of Internet censorship?

[CountArach]

Will the election outcome result in any change in your military commitments, you think?

I doubt it. Labor is committed to Afghanistan, and the Liberals are the people who got us in there in the first place and are never willing to admit a mistake.

Abbott has already caused confusion about his own WorkChoices policy:

CONCERNS about Tony Abbott's ability to withstand the rigours of an election campaign are rippling through Coalition ranks after the Opposition Leader struggled to get his lines straight on his promise that Work Choices was ''dead, buried and cremated''.
[...]
In a series of interviews, he continued to leave open the possibility the Coalition would change aspects of the industrial relations system, especially the removal by regulation of unfair dismissal protections for small business employees.
[...]
On the day the election was called, Mr Abbott said that if elected, for the first three-year term he would not touch Labor's Fair Work Act, the legislation that replaced Work Choices and restored workers' entitlements.

On morning TV yesterday, Mr Abbott said, ''I have an election to win'', when asked what would happen after three years.

Then, on ABC radio, he said he had no plans to change the legislation ''not now, not ever''.

Later, on Fairfax radio in Melbourne, Mr Abbott said: ''I can't give an absolute guarantee about every single aspect of workplace relations,'' before signing a pledge in the studio saying Work Choices was ''dead, buried, cremated''.

''We've had a lot of change over the last few years, I think what business needs is a period of certainty and stability. And that's what they'll get," he said.

At a subsequent news conference, Mr Abbott did not rule out changing the regulations which would remove the unfair dismissal protections Labor had reintroduced.

Asked about a pledge in his budget reply speech to remove the unfair dismissal burden from the back of small business, Mr Abbott said: "I think there are provisions within the existing legislation to make our workplaces fairer and more flexible." He then called an abrupt end to his news conference.

Inconsistencies and mistakes have a serious impact in election campaigns. As well as concerns about Mr Abbott's ability to ''stay on message'', some Liberals wondered why their party's campaign headquarters would not be operational until tomorrow, believing the party had been taken by surprise.