No. That’s incorrect. It’s because we have compulsory voting. It stops extremists on either side getting too much power.
It keeps our politics centre.
And our voting is preferential
Also how we randomly end up with car and gun enthusiasts in parliament some times
Still better than the alternative - at least if we had the Republicans and Democrats here, a vote for an alternative candidate doesn’t automatically hurt the “lesser of two evils” candidate that you would support if you had to pick one or the other. That being said the fact that the Head of State (Governor-General) doesn’t have any real power (apart from dissolving parliament) and that the leader of our government is elected by the parliament from the parliament makes it so bad leaders (and good ones unfortunately) can be removed very easily.
We elect “Donald Trumps” all the time.
Clive Palmer.
Craig Kelly.
Barnaby Joyce.
Bob Katter.
Pauline Hanson.
Jacqui Lambie.They only differ from Trump in degree, not in tactics.
This “article” is a thought bubble, not even a fully fleshed out one.It isn’t the crimes that Trump is accused of committing that are evil, it’s the lieing, manipulating, etc that got him in position to do it.
The shit that Palmer did to get elected were basically strong arming an entire electorate to support him.
The shit that Hanson has done through funneling electoral funds through friendly advertising companies SHOULD be considered fraud.Bob Katter and Jacqui Lambie don’t belong anywhere near this list. Neither of them are remotely Trumpian. You and I might disagree with their philosophies, but there’s no denying that they are completely genuine and they fight for what they believe their constituents really want.
I’d argue Pauline Hanson kinda fits that description too, although it’s certainly far less clear with her. But what’s definitely true of Hanson and those other two is that they are focused on the issues, not on themselves. When you think of Pauline Hanson, the first thing you think is “racist”, it’s not “self-obsessed” or some other word like that, which would be the first thing about Trump.
Craig Kelly and Barnaby Joyce I don’t know quite as much about, but the general sense I get of them is more along the same lines. Bad political positions, bad people in their personal lives, but not focused on bigging themselves up like Trump is.
Which leaves Palmer. Who definitely does fit that. But who, it’s very notable, did not have a lot of electoral success. He got himself elected once, in one seat. His party has a single seat in the Senate, which no longer really even derives itself from Palmer who hasn’t been strongly publicly involved in the party since long before that Senator won his election latest election. Palmer doesn’t have the capacity to become a Trump because he doesn’t have the capacity to win the widespread national success that would be necessary for that.
Thank you for the common sense response. Even Barry from insiders has said that Bob katter is probably the most representative politician in the country. He truly is there representing his electorate. Love it or loath it, it’s true.
I agree, which speaks volumes as to why we’re in this fuckig mess. He’s representative of the deplorables.
Oh, I thought we were talking about “bad people who shouldn’t be anywhere near political levers”, not “egotisitical idiots”.
Did you read the article? I thought it was pretty clear that it was focused on Trump’s egotism, and Australia’s dislike for that style of interaction.
