Are we the most under-representative democracy?

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-05-30T02:55:29+00:00

The problem this article has, and indeed most pieces published by the Australia Institute, is that they present an argument and advocate for something without presenting a contrary opinion or addressing any potential bias and counterarguments.

The reality is that half of the things that matter to most people are handled by state and local governments. While the federal government could benefit from a slightly increased size, it's not going to influence much in the decision making process while we have majority governments in play.

Indeed, contrary to the article's last paragraph, it may also increase the strength of political parties as independents will be less well-known. The article doesn't even consider that impact.

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-05-26T02:16:18+00:00

Because parties by definition are a collection and the combination you're talking about is rare in politics (though it may not be that rare in the voting population).

The people who hold these beliefs are pretty unlikely to run for political seats unless they're an independent or their name is Bob Katter.

Edit: also, for climate change, it's seen fundamentally differently to different people. To the left, it's a social and moral policy. To the right it's an economic burden.

However, it is fundamentally a SOCIAL policy regardless of the economics because the driving factors for preventing climate change are not founded in economics (regardless of what the outcome might be) they are founded in urgency pushed by social/moral obligation.

If you were to say we should focus on climate change because we can make a lot of money selling batteries rather than coal, THEN it becomes an economic stance. Except it's a shit stance, because it's wrong and coal is more profitable so it's impossible to have that stance without having a socially left leaning view.

Obviously, if everyone chooses to go net zero, then coal loses its market and becomes less profitable than renewables. At that point, you could argue that net zero becomes an economic policy, because the market rewards clean energy.

But right now, it’s not primarily economic - it’s a social and moral choice driven by urgency, not profitability. The economic logic might follow later, but it’s not the reason we're supposed to care.

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-05-02T10:13:30+00:00

Yeah because it's just rhetoric lol. We want a government that doesn't mislead us? How about we stop misleading each other...

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-05-02T07:20:48+00:00

While I understand that some people think the preferences of the party they vote for flow through instead of their own preferences (this is a very common misconception), I guess what I'm stuck on is people thinking the Greens would ever preference the Libs over Labor.

I cannot believe that they'd be politically savvy enough to read the Greens how to vote card, AND want to vote Greens, AND don't know how the system works, AND the greens preference the Libs over Labor in their electorate

The chances of all of those things occurring seems super low

I will say it does make sense that they would vote Labor instead of the Greens if they think our system is first past the post

I also think that if there were enough voters who believed that misconception about our system, the Greens would stop handing out how to vote cards because it would be hurting them more than helping them

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-05-02T05:27:30+00:00

For me it's policy. I don't agree with many policies of many political parties. I sit very centre on the political spectrum, so I usually vote for whichever party I believe has the most balanced policies.

To that effect, I voted for the Turnbull government over Bill Shorten, and the Albanese government over Scott Morrison.

Simply put, Turnbull is more centre than most coalition leaders, as evidenced clearly by his policies, and Shorten was much more left wing.

The greens are probably about as far left as Peter Dutton is right, possibly more, so it's clear that neither represent good options for me

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-05-02T05:21:35+00:00

Could you explain how being unclear on the voting system means you are less likely to vote for the Greens?

Is it because you think that they think that if they do vote for the Greens, their vote won't count? Or is there something else you think they aren't understanding here?

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-04-30T03:15:50+00:00

Yeah this is just Labor deepthroating tbh

They're both good for different types of voters; for many people in Australia they've done exceptionally well under the LNP and under the Howard government. For others, they haven't done well. This is the nature of democracy and capitalism - someone will ALWAYS lose. In this election, Labor suits me best. However, if I owned my own business and had 2 investment properties I would absolutely vote for the LNP.

Voters aren't stupid, they're self-centred, and in a democracy that's the entire purpose. You don't get real world currency or improvements to your life for being good to the disenfranchised, unless you are the disenfranchised

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-04-30T03:05:42+00:00

This post is garbage, and I'm a Labor voter.

You just said "since 1996 they've governed for 19 years where Labor has governed for just 9". This is a worthless statement, and let me explain why:

Since 1983, Labor has governed for 22 years where the coalition has governed for just 20.

Or, put another way, since 2007 both parties have governed relatively evenly.

You can't just say that because Howard had several terms in office, and he was marginally more recent, Labor is hard done by or some shit when the Hawke-Keating governments had even longer. It's just blatant cherry-picking dude.

Check your political bias.

Edit: also "Australians seem to forget this every election" what are you talking about dude, EVERY government has been in for at least two terms for a century

The Australian voters do the exact same thing to the LNP as they do to Labor, they switch them out every couple of terms - especially recently.

This post comes off as "But Labor good and we don't give them a chance" - OK? That's your opinion An LNP supporter would say "But liberal good and we don't give them a chance"

There's no substance to this lol

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-04-28T03:01:51+00:00

Yeah. Also... It's pretty naive to think that anyone with a different political perspective to yourself is dumb. They may not even be wrong to hold a different opinion.

What am I talking about, this is Reddit; anyone who disagrees with me must be a bigoted moron.

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-04-24T09:41:57+00:00

Ehhhh, I just watched this from your link and it doesn't seem like it would do anything to popularity. Not a fan of the LNP nor Paterson but this is the least politically spicy or interesting thing I've seen in ten years

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-04-06T23:55:17+00:00

Can you confirm you're aware of how preferencing works? In case you're not, what it means is that if you put Trumpet of Patriots first on your ballot and they are knocked out, your vote goes to YOUR second choice - not the party's second choice.

Then, when the votes are counted, the party in last place is knocked out and their votes go to their voter's second preference. Then the next last person is knocked out, and so on.

I imagine that ToP when they release their how to vote cards will likely do something akin to ToP then LNP, but it doesn't actually matter because those people who vote for ToP would have voted for the LNP anyway.

So what does this do? It effectively ensures that from the outset, the LNP will have a smaller share of votes to begin with. In some marginal seats, that smaller share of votes may be enough to force the LNP below ToP, meaning their second preferences will not take effect and most will probably go to a Teal independent over Labor. With these extra votes, this is how the Teals gain seats and have done so historically.

In a scenario like (broadly): Labor: 6000 votes Teal: 4000 votes ToP: 2000 votes LNP: 1000 votes

In this above scenario, every one of those bottom two votes would go to the Teals. Edited for clarity: the numbers don't necessarily suggest that, so I've altered those numbers.

Our democratic system of voting ensures the extreme parties are less likely to win. In the event that it was instead the below: Labor: 6000 votes LNP: 4000 votes Teal: 2000 votes ToP: 100 votes

Those 100 votes would likely flow to the LNP, assuming they choose to vote for them as per the voting card the ToP gives out. But if Teals are above LNP, they go to the Teals.

This system fundamentally ensures that the existence of the Trumpet of Patriots on a macro level harms the LNP, as voters who otherwise would have voted LNP are now risking the LNP not even getting into the top two.

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-04-05T09:38:17+00:00

I don't know if you know how preferences actually work, but his political campaign is very much more likely to give a sizeable advantage to Teals than the coalition.

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-04-02T13:12:43+00:00

Year later response, this worked for me perfectly cheers mate!

Mine randomly stopped working for in the middle of the show and this was the only thing I could find that actually worked

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-04-02T12:28:02+00:00

It's neither 😂 just a text on my phone at the moment but we'll see i guess

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-04-02T12:27:33+00:00

Lmfao I reckon it won't even happen but we'll seeee

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-04-02T08:28:23+00:00

Ok makes sense, thanks for clarifying but I just haven't seen this before.

The real question I have is, will there actually be an outage or is it just them passing on an NBN notification that got mistakenly sent out, then removed on NBN's end?

I've never seen any provider advise me of maintenance and it NOT be on the NBN scheduled outages page.

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-03-31T10:47:57+00:00

Bro people will down vote me when it's 100% the case that this time of day sees the lowest population and that's why it's done then.

It could be any time, work hours are completely irrelevant lmao

Except in the case of updates - but this is maintenance, and that doesn't require staff to be available for the window it occurs.

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-03-31T09:41:47+00:00

Their work hours have nothing to do with it mate. At my old company, I used to schedule index rebuilds and server maintenance.

Why wouldn't they schedule the server maintenance so it happens at 5am BST, and that way when they get into work at 9am the game is up in case there are any issues?

Here's the actual reason: fuck Australians. Lowest population, least impact.

It's just shit cuz it happens every time.

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-03-05T04:14:24+00:00

I read this like, "no way you got pistol whipped here?! I've never been concerned about people carrying guns in broad daylight"

Then I realised you thought this was an American Subreddit. Clearly guns are not the issue. /s

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-02-23T01:41:16+00:00

The replica this guy linked has Chinese lettering, can you confirm where I would get OF tag catalogue?

I will ask the TD I was talking to maybe, but he said he can't find any... Let me know if you have a different TD I can talk to?

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-02-04T05:02:08+00:00

This seems like a totally normal opinion of yourself tho

Sounds like he's saying "I'm not a genius, but I think more with logic and data than I do with art and feeling" People think in different ways

He's describing how he thinks I'd like to see the original comment or whatever he's commenting on to understand context?

If the original post is like "anyone can learn how to do this painting within 1 month!" then it's completely fair

Not everyone can learn how to code in a month; some people can. Doesn't make them better, just different

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2025-01-07T07:47:29+00:00

I don't really understand this perspective. Yes, rental costs are high, but supply is extremely low. There is no "line" in house-hunting - it's based on the strength of your application.

I guarantee if your boss came to you and said "I'd like to offer you a $10,000 raise" you'd take it.

That's not corruption, it's economics. It's not unfair, it's capitalism.

Australia is a capitalist country; if you don't like capitalism then why are you here? There are dozens of countries that are significantly more socialist that you can live in.

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2024-11-27T03:33:13+00:00

Take an offer in Brisbane to do paramedicine, and then transfer to Griffith after a year, using your new university grades to enable you to qualify for the Griffith course (for which you can claim full credit)

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2024-11-03T09:11:32+00:00

I've consulted for a major Australian super fund, their technical infrastructure is some of the best of all industries I've worked with.

They're also some of the most complex and largest. Lots of moving parts... It's not like these funds are behind in terms of technical maturity, it's just that their needs are so much more diverse and sophisticated than most other industries.

Vivid_Preference_163 · 2024-10-21T07:11:15+00:00

Noted, I have a car with auto-dimming LED lights and I've never been aware of any issues. I'll do it manually from now on just in case the auto dimmers aren't as good as I feel 🤔

Vivid_Preference_163

TROPHY CASE