I am generally apolitical and not particularly interested in
playing the Holden vs Ford game we have in our political system,
neither the ALP or Coalition truly represent the interests of the
Australian electorate. What I do care about is
democracy. The Coalition today has edged ahead of the
ALP in my view when it comes to being NON-democratic. The
Australian is reporting “Coalition labels voter law changes an
attempted rort”unfortunately this article is behind a
paywall, though the gist of it is, due to so many new voters not
being so quick to enrol themselves, they Government is making it
easier and will have ‘auto enrolment’. Sooooooo
Manager of opposition business, Christopher Pyne, is dirty that
young people (who may not be so conservative and not vote for
them) will have easier access to their democratic and ‘legal’
right to vote? Seriously?
As the mother of a young adult, when they turn 18 they have no
idea, and enrolling to vote is the last thing on their mind,
worrying about getting a job, getting into Uni etc., is a way
higher priority. Then that first year out of school is a
massive learning curve of having to pay for yourself,
(remembering most will still not have a full drivers licence
yet), get a mobile phone in your own name, sign a rental lease
for the first time, you name it... Again, enrolling to vote
is the least of their concerns, and even if they are interested,
like my daughter was, it is a pain in the butt! Now, they
are going to make it easier for them to actually vote, yet the
Coalition says this is wrong.
Mr Pyne has always been the feeler for Mr Abbot, and I seriously
doubt he came up with this attack on his own without his bosses
ok? So I have a message for your boss Mr Pyne:
Mr Abbott, you are annoyed me an awful lot with your negativity,
twisting of facts, wasting time in Parliament, negative attitude
towards females and basically your holier than thou attitude, all
of which has been counteracted by the rubbish the ALP has also
carried on with. This time though, you have pushed me over
the edge. Thinking it is OK to make out that allowing kids
to have easier access to voting is wrong? Seriously?
It is bad enough that it is a legal requirement to vote, yet
there is no legal requirement to actually teach people what they
are voting for, now you want to hold those kids off for as long
as possible. Did you people learn nothing from the US
election? White conservative men trying as hard as possible
to enforce their values on a diverse population, making it harder
for people who do not fit their little ‘conservative’ mindset,
seriously? What happened there?
I hope that other papers will pick this story up, not just an old
white conservative paper, so that kids can actually see what you
truly think of them. Obviously you don’t want to invest any
money or effort into winning their vote. Obviously you do
not want to consider any modern issues that our youth are
concerned about? Obviously youth who have not been moulded
into your old fashioned mindset may not be as easily conned by
the old chestnuts? Obviously the youth may actually
'question you', which is why you don’t want them having easier
access to enrol. Guess what Mr Abbott, they are our future,
not you! Get off your butt & think about the whole
country, not just your old white conservative mates, time to
engage with them and be careful, contrary to popular belief, most
of them have a good bullshit radar!
Cheers,
Noely
Twitter - @YaThinkN
(mother of 18 year old)
10 Dec 2012 - 10am - Sky News is now also reporting this, to see
the article "New voting law endangers coalition
seats", again, Coalition more concerned about potential for
their re-election, not concern whatsoever about kids getting the
opportunity to vote?
11 Dec 2012- Antony Green is amazing how he can explain a complex
situation when it comes to voting, this is a very very good
explanation "More on Direct Enrolment and Update"
