Comment on Albanese is crying poor, but we’re losing billions a year from untaxed gas

• MisterFrog@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  While not many options, there are some you could have preferenced above Labor. Though, I will grant none are perfect options. Voting further left does put pressure on all parties to adopt more left-leaning policies.

  Christ, when the Tasmanian Liberal party went to the state election proposing a government owned and operated insurance company I was shocked, but very pleased to see.

  What makes me super hopeful about the federal Libs demise is pushing politics further to the left.

  You could preference (opinions based on my vibes)

  1. The Greens Despite being kinda bad at politics, and filled with champaign socialists to some degree, they do broadly support taxing corporations more, to fund more public investment and programs
  2. Victorian Socialists (apparently they are expanding federally for the next election) Probably filled with many idealists who would end up being uncompromising, which would not be great. But the more left wing parliamentarians we have, the further left we drive Australian politics in general
  3. Independent candidates who run on a left leaning platform

  There are a couple of other minor parties with vaguely left wing platforms.

  All one need do though, in my opinion, is preference all the right wing parties below the others.

  I don’t like the Greens, because there’s no perfect political party, and it’s run undemocratically, top-down, but I still recommend voting for them above Labor because it lights a fire under Labor’s arse, and maybe, eventually, they’ll get rid of thr Labor Right faction which is a stupid oxymoron*.

  Victorian (Australian?) Socialists have a much more democratic party constitution, for what it’s worth.

  *(I am not super well-versed with the Labor factional system because I’m not a member of any political party)

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  • timmytbt@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    And that’s mostly how I did vote recognising that those preferences likely flow to labor. Lot of good it did.

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    • MisterFrog@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      The preferences flow to Labor because you (and others) preferenced them above the Liberals and other candidates at high enough rates for them to be declared the winner.

      The system is working exactly as intended, and while not perfect, is probably one of the best in the world. The parties you voted for didn’t gain enough votes to win, so your vote went to the next preference.

      It’s important to note, you preferencing parties that didn’t win doesn’t do nothing.

      1. Your first preference receives funding from the AEC, allowing them to campaign next time and otherwise be a force on issues you care about

      www.aec.gov.au/…/index.htm

      This is particularly important as you only receive funding if you receive at least 4% of the vote in the electorate (which I personally think is too high a threshold and should pay out at lower numbers than that). So make sure you preference your favourite first.

      2. It does signal to those who won what the electorate wants. There’s a reason our parties are somewhat moderate, even the Liberals, because our voting system leads to candidates with the broadest appeal winning. The major party vote is at an all time low, and I would be surprised if this doesn’t change Australian politics for the better (as long as though minor parties aren’t One Nation, lol)

      Now, in practice, it’s not working perfectly. But really, we keep electing Labor (and historically more so the LNP) because people keep preferencing them, not because the voting system doesn’t work well. It works great.

      The voting system isn’t at fault there, it’s that we have a corporate media landscape, mostly owned by a far right foreign national (Murdoch), and lobbying like crazy.

      What we can be hopeful for, though, is that we’re not handicapped in our voting system.

      I get you, it feels like you can make little difference, but it’s not the voting system that’s to blame for this.

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      • timmytbt@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

        Who said voting was to blame?

        Lack of choice … and lack of anyone with the balls to govern for the benefit of the majority, and our futures … that’s the problem!

        The process (voting) may be sound, but it’s still, shit in, shit out.

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