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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 373284" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>Donna, it's called "playing the man, not the ball" or in this case, woman. Our fairly new female Prime Minister (PM) got the gig after her very popular predecessor suddenly lost popularity. I think a big factor within the party was also his previous election campaign. His name is Kevin Rudd and in the 2007 election he ran with the slogan "Kevin 07". But Aussie rhyming slang meant that the Opposition had already developed their election campaign with a clever caricature of Kevin as a lemon and the obvious unstated rhyming slogan "Kevin's a lemon" was making it look like the election would be a near thing. So now they still show Kevin as a lemon, but now his whole political party are drawn as lemons, while his lemon is cut in half in a puddle of lemon juice and our PM lemon is the one wielding the knife! Talk about playing the (wo)man, not the ball...</p><p></p><p>They are all as bad as each other.</p><p></p><p>However, things have livened up. Our PM (who really is very capable - she would have to be, she's a woman who has risen to the top) has declared that she's no longer going to be playing it safe and following the conservative advice of her election experts. That means it could be a disaster, or it could pay off. But at least it will no longer be boring.</p><p></p><p>Here in Australia, the vote is compulsory. But there are some devious ways in which you can use your vote to protest. The most effective way is to assign your primary vote to a minor party. Then you assign your preferences to where you really expect your vote to go. But the bigger primary vote to the small minority (Greens, the Marijuana Party, the Shooters Party, Family First Party, Australian Sex Party who actually have some very good policies, the Climate Sceptics and others - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Australia" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Australia</a>) does show up in the counting and sends a message to the person who gets in to each electorate - "watch your step. We are not happy. We are your employers. Behave."</p><p></p><p>At the moment both parties are making expensive promises (the media are keeping a public tally of how many billions on each side) ad also promising to pay back the national deficit within three years. </p><p></p><p>And I'm getting REAL cranky with idiots (including politicians whipping up ignorance as support) saying that our government "squandered" billions of dollars and it was "wasted" when the first response to the GFC by the Aussie government was to loose the pursestrings and literally throw money at the people most likely to spend it. While other countries clamped down on spending (according to classic economic theory which rapidly [roved to be a wrong move)our mob flooded the market with financial lubrication, to get the creaking wheels of the economy moving smoothly again.</p><p></p><p>And although the Opposition are screaming loudest about waste - they would have got the same advice if THEY had been the ones in government, and I'm sure would have done the same things. And if they're saying they wouldn't have done it - then they deserve to lose. Again.</p><p></p><p>It just shows, that even when a country is doing well, a good government should never be complacent. You ALWAYS have to keep people informed and on side, or you risk finding yourself out in the cold.</p><p></p><p>Ten days to go to voting day. I'll be so glad when it's over, but the political ads are either depressing or infuriating. For any party.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 373284, member: 1991"] Donna, it's called "playing the man, not the ball" or in this case, woman. Our fairly new female Prime Minister (PM) got the gig after her very popular predecessor suddenly lost popularity. I think a big factor within the party was also his previous election campaign. His name is Kevin Rudd and in the 2007 election he ran with the slogan "Kevin 07". But Aussie rhyming slang meant that the Opposition had already developed their election campaign with a clever caricature of Kevin as a lemon and the obvious unstated rhyming slogan "Kevin's a lemon" was making it look like the election would be a near thing. So now they still show Kevin as a lemon, but now his whole political party are drawn as lemons, while his lemon is cut in half in a puddle of lemon juice and our PM lemon is the one wielding the knife! Talk about playing the (wo)man, not the ball... They are all as bad as each other. However, things have livened up. Our PM (who really is very capable - she would have to be, she's a woman who has risen to the top) has declared that she's no longer going to be playing it safe and following the conservative advice of her election experts. That means it could be a disaster, or it could pay off. But at least it will no longer be boring. Here in Australia, the vote is compulsory. But there are some devious ways in which you can use your vote to protest. The most effective way is to assign your primary vote to a minor party. Then you assign your preferences to where you really expect your vote to go. But the bigger primary vote to the small minority (Greens, the Marijuana Party, the Shooters Party, Family First Party, Australian Sex Party who actually have some very good policies, the Climate Sceptics and others - [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Australia[/url]) does show up in the counting and sends a message to the person who gets in to each electorate - "watch your step. We are not happy. We are your employers. Behave." At the moment both parties are making expensive promises (the media are keeping a public tally of how many billions on each side) ad also promising to pay back the national deficit within three years. And I'm getting REAL cranky with idiots (including politicians whipping up ignorance as support) saying that our government "squandered" billions of dollars and it was "wasted" when the first response to the GFC by the Aussie government was to loose the pursestrings and literally throw money at the people most likely to spend it. While other countries clamped down on spending (according to classic economic theory which rapidly [roved to be a wrong move)our mob flooded the market with financial lubrication, to get the creaking wheels of the economy moving smoothly again. And although the Opposition are screaming loudest about waste - they would have got the same advice if THEY had been the ones in government, and I'm sure would have done the same things. And if they're saying they wouldn't have done it - then they deserve to lose. Again. It just shows, that even when a country is doing well, a good government should never be complacent. You ALWAYS have to keep people informed and on side, or you risk finding yourself out in the cold. Ten days to go to voting day. I'll be so glad when it's over, but the political ads are either depressing or infuriating. For any party. Marg [/QUOTE]
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