Australian elections on the 2nd of July

[pErvinalia]

LNP is "Liberal/National Party". It's the Queensland (one of the states) version of the federal Coalition (a coalition between the Liberal Party and the National Party). LNP is often used as it's easier to write and say.

[Scot Dutchy]

LNP is "Liberal/National Party". It's the Queensland (one of the states) version of the federal Coalition (a coalition between the Liberal Party and the National Party). LNP is often used as it's easier to write and say.

Especially for Queenslanders.

[Hermit]

JimC and Hermit, if either of you don't preference Labor higher than the LNP, I will hunt you down..

explanation for us non ozzies? I thought the LNP WAS Labour...

LNP is an acronym for the coalition formed by the Liberal and the National parties. The incongruously named Liberal Party consists of the conservatives and the National Party is the even more conservative rural interest, previously known as the Australian Country Party. The Labor Party used to be a socially and economically progressive alternative, but the difference between its policies and those of the conservatives has been increasingly difficult to ascertain in time. What little of it remains is still worth voting for.

[Scot Dutchy]

Why is the name labour Americanised in Ozland?

[JimC]

JimC and Hermit, if either of you don't preference Labor higher than the LNP, I will hunt you down..

explanation for us non ozzies? I thought the LNP WAS Labour...

Liberal/National Party coalition...

I won't tick either in the Senate, and a single tick for the Greens in the House of Reps will do...

[Svartalf]

Yeah, if labour is in the process of torying up; let'(s vote for truly left wing parties

[Hermit]

Why is the name labour Americanised in Ozland?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia ... me_changes

[Hermit]

Yeah, if labour is in the process of torying up; let'(s vote for truly left wing parties

There are none. The Greens are about as left as it gets here.

[Svartalf]

that's sad

[pErvinalia]

Yeah, if labour is in the process of torying up; let'(s vote for truly left wing parties

interestingly Labor has lurched back to the left a bit over the last few years, and has definitely gone back to some of it's social progressive strengths (public health and public education, and in a very gutsy move - tax increases). And in this present term this has seen them go from a two party preferred vote of something like 43-57 to be back to more or less 50-50. I really hope they learn something from this. They were lost in the neoliberal-lite wilderness for nearly two decades recently. Even though Bill Shorten (the Labor leader) annoys the absolute shit out of me, he has to be congratulated for what he's done. I wonder whether the party will reward him with retention of the leadership if they lose the election tomorrow (which the bookies think is likely).

The more interesting leadership battle to watch might be on the other side, even if they win. The Coalition leader, Malcolm Turnbull - an actual liberal, has been an extreme disappointment since he toppled sitting PM Tony Abbott a year or so ago. The reason Abbott was so disliked, aside from the fact that he was as thick as a brick, was his hard conservatism. That's why Turnbull, a moderate liberal who has enjoyed so much public support over the years, was such a good choice to regain the party back from the right-wing nutjobs. Problem was, he apparently must have made a deal with some on the right of the party such that he pretty much just adopted the exact same policies of Abbott and just put his popular face on it. So if he doesn't win by enough (i.e. he loses too much of the massive parliamentary margin the Coalition had under Tony Abbott), he's almost certainly going to get toppled. And of course, dickhead professional politicians still can't see how pissed off the public is with this behaviour by them over the last couple of governments (Turnbull is the 4th PM we've had in the last 6 years). Although, to be honest, it's still only a minority of the voting public. 75% or so are still utter sheep and have no idea what's going on.

The worry is, if Turnbull gets rolled, are the Libs stupid enough to put Abbott back in charge? Personally, I don't think even they are that stupid. I reckon it will be possibly an even worse candidate, the sociopathic treasurer Scott Morrison. He's truly frightening as he's intelligent, a good negotiator (Abbott was renowned for being totally unwilling to negotiate with the Senate), good at rhetoric (if not at times becoming a hyperbolic bullshitter of epic proportions; not to worry, most of the public couldn't identify bullshit or rhetoric if it was directly pointed out to them (perhaps that's why the media doesn't even bother any more )), massively arrogant, and probably as conservative as Abbott. So whereas Abbott couldn't get anything done, couldn't get the public on his side, couldn't think straight; ScoMo can do all of that and better. It could be a true nightmare for the next three years of government. But in a way, I think the fucking stupid public might just deserve it. Tony Abbott lied his arse off before the last election and then broke most of his promises, so what do people do? They are going to elect the same party again led by a guy (Turnbull) because he seems like a trustworthy fellow with a friendly face, all the while his treasurer, who is a sociopathic monster with ambition the size of a planet, is waiting in the wings to make the party his own.

The reason I think we might deserve this is as a further prod to abandon the mainstream. As we've seen around the rest of the western world, people are sick to death of the mainstream bullshitting their way through each term all the while voting themselves more and more salaries and privileges while telling the rest of us to "live within our means". This election the polls suggest 27% of people are going to vote for someone other than the two majors. This is a relatively MASSIVE amount. And another three years of sociopathy and lying and fear and hate will likely drive that number higher. The less of the professional politicians we have in government, the better representation we get as people. Crazy times in the world at the moment. I just think Australia is about 3 years behind the rest of you.

[JimC]

I voted, so now I won't be hunted down by government agents...

[Svartalf]

for somebody thoroughly unelectable I trust, or are the greens big enough in Oz?

[Tyrannical]

So, ummm, if I were Australian, who would I like these days?

[pErvinalia]

Pauline Hanson's party. And/or Fred Nile's "Christian" "Democrats". Both had candidates in my electorate. I voted Greens, of course, in the lower house, and Greens at 1 in the Senate with a host of other outsider parties making up the other 5 preferences.

[pErvinalia]

for somebody thoroughly unelectable I trust, or are the greens big enough in Oz?

The Greens will be the major block of "cross-benchers" in the Senate. At present they only hold one lower house seat, an inner Melbourne Victoria seat, but are tightly contesting another 2 or 3 more. I think due to preference deals they are only a real possibility in one of those extra seats. I really hope they get it.