[Mefustae]

The Aussie election results are still coming in, but it seems that after 11 years, John Howard will no longer be the Prime Minister of Australia.

With a new Prime Minister comes some new directions for the first time in a long while, so only time will tell how this pans out. It'll be interesting to see how a leader more in tune with the Global Warming issue and a whole lot less chummy with Bush will fare.

[Flipside]

Yup, he's conceded, changes in the air indeed!

[Shade]

Nice About time some of Bush's supplicants start to go. We failed to get rid of ours not two weeks ago... by a single mandate, and one from the Faroe islands at that On the bright side, at least now he can't do jack **** without making compromises.

What sort of participation did you see in the election? I'd imagine that it might be pretty high if people were sufficiently pissed of at Howard to leave their couch and actually go vote against him.

[Mefustae]

What sort of participation did you see in the election? I'd imagine that it might be pretty high if people were sufficiently pissed of at Howard to leave their couch and actually go vote against him.

We've got compulsory voting, mate.

Getting up at 8am to beat the queues is kind of annoying, but it's a small price to pay to have the entire nation vote rather than just the vocal minority like in a lot of nations where the vote is non-compulsory.

[Shade]

Well that's cheating Which isn't to say it's not a good idea, because I think it is We certainly could use that for some of the more EU-centric elections around here where fully a third of the population just doesn't give enough of a damn to spend the 15-45 minutes it takes to get to the voting station, vote, and get back home.

[Edit] Wow, looking at some news sites, it looks like you might have managed to boot Howard not just out of the PM's office, but right out of parliament itself. I'm impressed.

[Kosh]

Being totally ignorant of Australian politics, anyone got any ideas why Howard lost?

[IceFire]

Be curious to see what happens to the RAAF's procurement of Super Hornets and F-35s to try and regain fighter superiority in the region.

[Nuclear1]

Well that's cheating Which isn't to say it's not a good idea, because I think it is We certainly could use that for some of the more EU-centric elections around here where fully a third of the population just doesn't give enough of a damn to spend the 15-45 minutes it takes to get to the voting station, vote, and get back home.

Yeah, because forcing someone to do what they don't want to do in the first place not only is good for peoples' rights (and yes, people have a right to sit around and do nothing with their life if they want to), but it obviously creates a true representation of the people's political opinion.

Slate.com: What if voting were mandatory?

Australia also has a much higher rate of spoiled ballots than nearly any other democracy. There were 500,000 such ballots (out of 10 million cast) in this month's (October 2004) election. These include protest votes and those cast by recent immigrants who were confused by the notoriously complicated ballots. It does not include "donkey votes," so named because apathetic voters play pin the tail on the donkey at the polling station, randomly making their selections.

Now, programs to get people interested in voting and politically informed (you have to have both, otherwise you'll have people really excited to push a button, but have no clue why they're pushing that button other than for ****s and giggles) are perfectly alright.  I went through one of those programs my senior year in high school, so I know that they work.

[karajorma]

For once Nuclear1 I agree with you 100%. Anyone so lazy that they can't be bothered to vote doesn't deserve to have their voice heard in the first place.


As for John Howard, *points and laughs*

You know you fought a bad campaign when not only have you lost the election but are in serious danger of losing your seat too.

[Rictor]

Now quickly, while everyone is still confused, annex New Zealand. But beware their powerful Elven archers.

On a more serious note, has this anything to do with Howard's love affair with the Bush administration is it a more general dissatisfaction and/or fatigue?

[karajorma]

From the news it seems to be due to him passing a bunch of new labour laws that lost him his blue collar support together with his stance on Iraq and the environment.

[Mefustae]

From the news it seems to be due to him passing a bunch of new labour laws that lost him his blue collar support together with his stance on Iraq and the environment.

Yeah, the fabled WorkChoices legislation. It seemed to be heavily unpopular back when they were first introducing it, but it seemed to me that most opposition to it had died down considerably. Guess I was wrong!

Oh, and it's more than likely that Iraq didn't actually affect much. Surprisingly enough, it really didn't seem to be that big an issue during the campaigning, with most of the focus being on domestic issues like WorkChoices and Global Warming.

[Ransom]

Hooray and such.

There goes our economy, I guess.

[Mefustae]

There goes our economy, I guess.

Ooooh yeah. I'm not going to say it's game over just yet, but 2 years of Iemma has made me one hell of a pessimist.

[Black Wolf]

Interest rates would have gone up under Liberal or Labor, and the economy is powering along too strongly for anyone to mess it up. It's not like China's just going to suddenly say "You know, I think we've got enough iron ore, thanks." Labor are, generally, going to do good things, I think, scapping VSU and Workchoices, pulling out of Iraq etc. etc. How they'll govern in general, who knows. The worst part about the election I can see is the extinction of the Democrats. They were a solid bunch, with good policies.

Be curious to see what happens to the RAAF's procurement of Super Hornets and F-35s to try and regain fighter superiority in the region.

We never lost air superiority in our region really - indonesia are hardly a threat, you have to go all the way to China to get a competent air-force other than ours. In all likelihood though, both of these will go ahead - they're too far advanced to be scrapped in favour of F-22s. That said, I hope the new government will hold onto the F-111s for longer than Howard would have - despite being old, they're in great shape and we need them to maintain long range capabilities.

[Mefustae]

Interest rates would have gone up under Liberal or Labor, and the economy is powering along too strongly for anyone to mess it up. It's not like China's just going to suddenly say "You know, I think we've got enough iron ore, thanks." Labor are, generally, going to do good things, I think, scapping VSU and Workchoices, pulling out of Iraq etc. etc. How they'll govern in general, who knows.

Good points. Has Rudd actually made clear his intentions with Iraq? I can't seem to recall ever hearing of any concrete plans to withdraw, and from what I have seen he seems more than happy to keep what few people we have over there right where they are. Or perhaps i'm thinking of Afghanistan...

That said, I hope the new government will hold onto the F-111s for longer than Howard would have - despite being old, they're in great shape and we need them to maintain long range capabilities.

Yeah. A fun fact is that the US had a change of heart a while back, and now wouldn't sell the F-111 to their own mother. Apparently, it's the perfect plane to use if you were to try to strike against US targets, and they bloody well know it. Good to know.

[Black Wolf]

Good points. Has Rudd actually made clear his intentions with Iraq? I can't seem to recall ever hearing of any concrete plans to withdraw, and from what I have seen he seems more than happy to keep what few people we have over there right where they are. Or perhaps i'm thinking of Afghanistan...

Out of Iraq next year, stay in Afghanistan.

[ssmit132]

Hooray and such.

There goes our economy, I guess.

It's unhealthy to go jumping to conclusions. Although I'll be suprised if he can get every high school student a laptop. (Not that that effects me - I'm writing this post from my laptop.)

[Edward Bradshaw]

We've got compulsory voting, mate.

I didnt know that! But you know what I think thats a great idea

[IceFire]

Interest rates would have gone up under Liberal or Labor, and the economy is powering along too strongly for anyone to mess it up. It's not like China's just going to suddenly say "You know, I think we've got enough iron ore, thanks." Labor are, generally, going to do good things, I think, scapping VSU and Workchoices, pulling out of Iraq etc. etc. How they'll govern in general, who knows. The worst part about the election I can see is the extinction of the Democrats. They were a solid bunch, with good policies.

Be curious to see what happens to the RAAF's procurement of Super Hornets and F-35s to try and regain fighter superiority in the region.

We never lost air superiority in our region really - indonesia are hardly a threat, you have to go all the way to China to get a competent air-force other than ours. In all likelihood though, both of these will go ahead - they're too far advanced to be scrapped in favour of F-22s. That said, I hope the new government will hold onto the F-111s for longer than Howard would have - despite being old, they're in great shape and we need them to maintain long range capabilities.

Seems like from the analysis that I was reading that everyone in the area is buying Su-30's of some kind or another and the F-18 isn't quite up to the task anymore.  It may be exaggerated and I know Aussie F-18's are in better shape and have more upgrades than our CF-18s but they definitely need to go at some point so like I said I'm curious to see whats going to happen there.  Allot of analysts/countries seem to be watching to see which way Australia goes on the F-35.