Australian Federal Election

[Rogue]

Oh joy, an early federal election for Australia! It's going to be a long campaign and could deliver us our seventh leader in nine years. At least this one will be voted into office by the public.

Turnbull Confirms July 2 Election
HuffPost Australia | By Eoin Blackwell, Josh Butler
19/04/2016

The election date is locked for July 2, with PM Malcolm Turnbull announcing that he would make good on his promise to dissolve both houses of parliament.

Turnbull would not confirm exactly when he would ask the Governor-General to dissolve the parliament and officially call an election, but said it would come after the federal budget on May 3. Turnbull has until May 11 to call the double dissolution, giving him an eight-day window to put the wheels properly in motion.

"My intention is after the Budget, an appropriate time after the Budget has been delivered, I will be asking the Governor-General to dissolve both houses of the parliament for an election which I expect to be held on 2 July," Turnbull said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/04/19/turnbull-election-double-_n_9724298.html?utm_hp_ref=australia

[Rockhopper]

Good ole Malc! The man who says that John Key is the greatest thing since sliced bread!

Get ready for another soap opera Roggles.

Tim.

[Kaere]

That is a long time for a campaign. Does Aus have regulations on campaigning, can they start before the election is called if they know it's going to happen anyway? That's always irked me, the potential for a leading party to use public money to fund their propaganda.

[Rogue]

This campaign really started some weeks ago. All the argy bargy has been heating up with the threat on our upper house cross benchers to support the govt in passing some important bills, well, supposedly important bills. The cross benchers all needed to support the govt and they didn't.

Due to this being a double dissolution election where all members of lower and upper houses have to go to the polls, it now means some of the cross benchers will very likely lose their seats.

Theres been no obvious misuse of public money.

[Kaere]

Oh! I've learned something new today... we don't use the term 'crossbencher' for the most part so I had to look it up. Now I've got to wrap my head around the rest (upper and lower houses, etc).

[Rogue]

Ok, while you're interested, I'll add that just a few weeks ago the govt changed the way we will vote for Senate members. This change will now make it harder for crossbenchers, or people outside of a major party, to be elected. In fact it will be very difficult. I just hope we keep some independant voices.

[Kaere]

Oooooh y'all vote for the Senate, that's something we don't do yet. Still appointed and separate from Gov't and Opposition and Independents, etc. I really will need to sort it all out if I want to make any sense of things.

[Rockhopper]

Ausies have a complicated way of voting Ka. Including compulsory voting. Don't vote - get dragged off in chains and sent to the colonies!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_system_of_Australia

Tim.

[Kaere]

Thanks for the info Rockhopper.

[Rogue]

Lol I suppose it might seem a bit complicated

[Rogue]

It's official, the election has started today. It's going to be an excruciating two months. The major parties of Liberal and Labour are 50/50 in the polls, and the Greens, NXT and the combined Independant ticket are all strong for balance of Senate  power. Here goes... lol

[Rockhopper]

My sympathies Roggie!

Tim.

[Kaere]

My sympathies as well... when it's a tight race like that, it can feel like going in circles. Bleh!

[Rogue]

Especially when you've already made up your mind!

Thankfully we don't make it span out like the yanks do...

[Kaere]

Oh man, that can be such a pain. It just sits there like an itch sometimes, waiting to get it out of your head lol...

So voting there is mandatory, do you have advance polls? Can you opt out due to extraordinary circumstances? Has anyone been actually prosecuted for not voting? Just curious

[Rogue]

Yes it's mandatory, and yes you do get fined. I think it's about $50. No opting out... well ..maybe if you're totally incapacitated.
I'm pretty sure there's advance polling stations, there is for our State elections. I was away in NZ for the last Federal election, so a little unsure on that one. Unfortunately advance polling doesn't stop the #%!!@*...

[Lenzabi]

Can't disabled Aussies opt to mail in a ballot?

[Rogue]

...otherwise get to a Polling place!

[Kaere]

Another question... because voting is mandatory, do you have an option to vote to abstain from choosing? People here will often spoil their ballot as a means of speaking out, I wonder how your system works when you really aren't happy with any of the choices.

[Rogue]

Yep, no way they can stop you doing that

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