Aussie out of its mind (semi-political)

[Tavish]

Australia has a new political party. Senator-Online would be a dummy seat in the Senate that would vote completely based on online poll results. Great theory for democracy in action, completely idiotic way of handling it. When the first vote for new National Anthem comes up, I will be spamming the ballots with votes for "Down Under" by Men at Work.

[knapplc]

Australia. The land where women glow and men plunder.

[CheeseBeger]

I hope it is highly regulated on how you vote online...

[Pacman]

When the first vote for new National Anthem comes up, I will be spamming the ballots with votes for "Down Under" by Men at Work.

Funniest thing I've read today... didn't see it coming and it literally made me laugh out loud. Especially cool because I love 80s music with all my heart (old guy, remember..)


Nice!!!

[AussieDodger]

How many seats do you think they'll get?
I think the answer is 0.
There are a lot of old people in Australia , who probably don't understand/are scared of what the "internets" is.
Is it a series of tubes?

Each person on the Australian Electoral roll will be entitled to one vote and only be allowed to vote once on each bill or issue.

How are they going to limit each person to 1? And how slow is it going to be if everyone wants a say?

Dr Ian Cook (WA) - "an exciting development using the internet to enhance existing democratic processes"
Tony Halpin (WA) - "party everyone can have a say on every issue"
Ralph Thompson (TAS) - "imagine a party not driven by individuals political views, how good would that be"
Jacqueline Chartres (NSW) - "a voice of the future and realistic way to get youth involved in politics. The way forward"
Ruby Lohman (VIC) - "a great balance to the vocal minority"

Who are all these people?

Dr AussieDodger esq. (VIC) "this will be a lot of dicking around"

You can put that quote on their site as well.

[thedude]

How do you make sure only citizens vote? I am guessing they would make sure everyone registers.

[Tavish]

How do you make sure only citizens vote? I am guessing they would make sure everyone registers.

I'm sure they will have a registration process with only verified accounts being able to vote. Of course there will someone out there who will figure out how to beat the system if they really want to.

Like I was saying before, it is a great democratic idea, the only problem is democracy doesn't work in the truest form. That is the reason for representatives, their job is to study the issues and be able to understand the effect a bill would have on their constituents then vote in those best interests. I would be downright scared if the final verdict on an important bill came down to an online poll that is in essence the same as an ESPN.com poll on if Jeter is the greatest Yankee since Ruth.

I'm all for people trying to take back control of their governmental system, but this is just a really bad way of doing it. People can complain that politicians don't represent their values or ideals all they want, but spend almost no effort in studying the candidates during the elections. If the SOL party (I'm wondering if that acronym has the same meaning in Australia that it does in the US. I'm guessing not, or else they probably would have picked something different) were to win a seat, that is basically giving the voters power with no responsibility or effort. I'm a much bigger fan of something like The Free State Project.