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  1. Right. Referendum time tomorrow in the UK. I'm quite happy to stick my neck out and say I'm voting yes to AV, and this is why - http://alternativevote-1.blogspot.com/

    No idea about our local council elections yet, will decide when I head back home tomorrow and see who's standing, but it saddens me that this first chance in years to change our electoral system towards a more progressive and fair system is going to be blighted by politics. Yes, ideally I want proportional representation, today if possible, but it won't happen without taking steps away from First Past The Post. Only our second referendum ever (first in 1975) and it's going to get arse-whipped by political bias. I live in eternal hope though
  2. Originally posted by Risto:[..]

    And that is a good thing? Why would i pay for someone elses pickyness and luxery.... Let them pay it themselves and spend the really needed money on critical healthcare instead of molestation (offtopic )


    I agree, it's like state sponsored liposuction for fat people who simply find eating reasonably or doing exercise too difficult.

    Or like at my high school when my engineering teacher told us how the school had to spend thousands of dollars to introduce brand new, extra stiff chairs simply because they we have a student who weighed 250kg -that's more than a fully grown female polar bear!

    Seriously, we've become too much of a nanny state - people shouldn't be given sugarcoated bastardisations of the truth to allay real concerns about their mental/physical health nor should we be helping people who wouldn't aren't doing anything to help themselves.

    And on Osama - I was quite disappointed by how obvious his hideout was and how little of a fight he put up - very anticlimatic. Definitely not as devious and cunning as I originally thought - how did the Americans manage to take so long to find this guy
  3. If you're not willing to help yourself (except in absolute extreme cases where the issue can't be helped) how can you expect and why should you expect anyone else to try if you're not going to take part and allow them to give you the help you may need.

    It's harsh but that's the truth.
  4. i like Gillards new policy on teen mums. it will either make em think twice about having the kid in the first place, or make them finish their education so they dunt become a well-fare dependent family who contribute nothing to society
  5. i voted yes to AV, although public reaction to the "no" campaign's ridiculous arguments - and even lies, in some cases - don't give me much hope.
  6. Originally posted by wangmaster:i voted yes to AV, although public reaction to the "no" campaign's ridiculous arguments - and even lies, in some cases - don't give me much hope.

    Nah, be prepared for an outcome we don't want bud. I voted Yes aswell - m'mother did point out to me, must be said, that the last referendum outcome went against the predictions, i.e. when we voted to become part of the EU in '75. I'm told the general feeling and opinion polls suggested that we'd stay separate, but we ended up involved (and an involvement I myself am glad of), so there's always hope.

    Just a quick shout out to the Aussies on here - do you like the Alternative Vote or not? Asked Drew on Twitter earlier, but just thought I garner a bit more opinion here if possible.

    I mean, in an ideal world, we'd actually be having a referendum on changing to PR (Proportional Representation) which I think is the fairest voting system of all that we have available, but we won't have a chance of progressing to that without changing the current (outdated and impractical) FPTP system to AV first. Something that a lot of people don't seem to consider, i.e. those who are voted no to AV because they want PR, which won't ever happen under a Tory-led government. Of course, if it were to actually happen, I'd probably have a hernia.
  7. I can offer better input to the AV Yes Or No debate tomorrow when I've full access to a proper keyboard and more than 160 characters on Twitter.
  8. what really grips my shit is the fact that if the AV proposal is rejected, this tory government will, conveniently for them, be able to say that "people have shown they like FPTP", when in actual fact it's AV that's been discarded, not reform full stop. they'll have dodged the PR bullet by sidestepping it all together.

    and consequently the issue won't be raised again for another generation or so.
  9. Originally posted by wangmaster:what really grips my shit is the fact that if the AV proposal is rejected, this tory government will, conveniently for them, be able to say that "people have shown they like FPTP", when in actual fact it's AV that's been discarded, not reform full stop. they'll have dodged the PR bullet by sidestepping it all together.

    and consequently the issue won't be raised again for another generation or so.

    I completely agree mate - however, all we can do if it does get rejected is to keep campaigning and look at the facts. Public opinion will change in 10 years, whether further towards or against the notion of a new voting system, because the population will have changed. That said, we won't find out 'til tomorrow, and voting has another 2 hours to go, so don't give up hope just yet just prepare for the fact that the chances are, DaveCam and his cabaret band will probably get their way.
  10. Originally posted by Andrew_C:i like Gillards new policy on teen mums. it will either make em think twice about having the kid in the first place, or make them finish their education so they dunt become a well-fare dependent family who contribute nothing to society


    Yea, we definitely don't need more children raised by parents who are either inept or unable to cope. Not only will they be a welfare family but their children will be far more likely to be delinquent as well, which just perpetuates the cycle.

    For AV - it seems to work alright over here.

    Antony Green - our top electoral commentator has written quite a few articles on a variety of topics related to the UK vote referendum refuting some misconceptions and discussing AV which may be interesting for UK voters
    http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/uk-alternative-vote-referendum/
  11. Originally posted by vanquish:Yea, we definitely don't need more children raised by parents who are either inept or unable to cope. Not only will they be a welfare family but their children will be far more likely to be delinquent as well, which just perpetuates the cycle.

    For AV - it seems to work alright over here.

    Antony Green - our top electoral commentator has written quite a few articles on a variety of topics related to the UK vote referendum refuting some misconceptions and discussing AV which may be interesting for UK voters
    http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/uk-alternative-vote-referendum/

    Harsh, but true. And cheers for the link, will read it now


  12. No prob, there's 3 pages of blog posts on the subject on a variety of issues so you should have enough info to answer your questions.
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