Vermin_ac

Rereading your original post, you say "skews election outcomes" - this statement can only be true if the system itself were meant to reflect proportionality, which it's not. Totally agree our system doesn't do proportionality well in the lower house, but why is that a bad thing?

I guess my point is that our system explicitly handles this. It does not pretend to provide a system that reflects people's first preference. So, no one should expect a lower house that reflects those proportions. And as you say, with a different system, people may vote differently anyway.

Is it flawed to compare seats won with proportion of first preference, given the full preferential system doesn't claimed to be proportional? It's as you say, 1 elected MP per division. So the point is I vote to get my "next best" candidate.

Our political ruts have shaken loose. Will parliament adapt to the new normal? But the last election campaign exposed the true decline in the quality and capacity of the parliamentary Coalition — as well as its underlying party machines — to do politics and to do policy in a way...

This week's column
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05...

“He was telling me he thought Jacinta was the future of the party and he said she’s an amazing politician and parliamentarian and that he did think that she was probably more suited to the Liberal Party, and he suggested that I chat with her.”
www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politic...

AEC site seems to say 332 votes left to count (id I read it correctly).

Exactly. No qualms when you're winning, the system's rigged when you're losing.

The Coalition and the real hate media As editor of the British tabloid rag The Sun in the 1980s, Kelvin MacKenzie had a favourite description of how to make the lives of public figures unpleasant – his journalists were instructed to “stic...

who is the real hate media in Australia? "reverse ferret!"
www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topi...

It’s time for a new party I’m often asked, why did I ever join the Liberal Party? It was 10 years ago, one year before my election in a seat that the Victorian branch had called unwinnable and didn’t much care about. The irony...

some tough love from former Liberal MP Julia Banks, a woman I have always held in high esteem...and with whom I spoke regularly on the site formerly known as Prince.
www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/comment/topi...

Are the Liberals in danger of becoming the Kodak of Australian politics? • Frank Bongiorno The party is taking a long time to understand its plight

Good piece insidestory.org.au/are-the-libe...

Yup. #GoldsteinVotes #AusVotes25

Just a reminder that we need truth in media laws, and truth in political advertising laws, Australia.
#Australia #auspol #media #politics

The Liberal party is preferencing One Nation ahead of every other party in almost every seat in the country. A vote for Peter Dutton is a preference for Pauline Hanson. #Goldsteinvotes #auspol

Everyone, even The Australian, is over Peter Dutton - The Shot When you lose the fan club at The Australian, a Coalition leader is in serious trouble. After Andrew Hastie was...

In the dying days of his campaign - and potentially his political career - is there anyone who ISN'T over Dutton? My latest for @theshot.net.au.

theshot.net.au/uncategorize...

‘Devastating’: Inside the Liberals’ One Nation deal After decades of principled condemnation, the Liberal Party has done sweeping preference deals with One Nation and Family First.

"All these years later, the Liberal Party has embraced the person who it once excommunicated. It’s devastating. And I think that says more about the Liberal Party than it does about One Nation." #auspol #ausvotes
www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politic...

Major/minor With a minority government more than likely, why are the major parties abandoning the issues that voters care about?

"If the major parties were really concerned with their declining primary votes they could always try spelling out a big plan to make the country better and try to win a debate with those who disagree with them." @richarddenniss.bsky.social
www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2025/a...

A reminder that Andrew Hastie - despite his natty haircut - is anti-gay marriage & comes from a family of deeply religious creationists, with a father who has quite the track record of patronising women

Young Andrew also isn't helped by the fact he has the intellect of a bag of two week old turnips

When the government changes, the country...well, not so much anymore The two-party shuffle is a dance of stasis

Brilliant article by @timdunlop.bsky.social

substack.com/app-link/pos...

Crossbench pressure will lift and improve Albo’s game Now that the danger of a Dutton Government has receded, a good many left-of-centre people would rather that Labor had less than an outright victory.

Traditional supporters fear that a re-elected Labor government will be as disappointing as in its first term. Anxious about criticism. Terrified of criticism from Murdoch. Courage is needed. @waterfordjack #auspol

YouTube video by Punter's Politics Sky News is spreading LIES about how your vote works, and I'm sick of it.

youtu.be/Nr3mipPL6Jw?...

If you don't want Dutton to win, vote strategically. It's easy.

#auspol #election2025

Clearly there was negotiation on how this could help the majors. You're nitpicking "colluding". It has specifics that puts independents in less favourable positions. They could have worked with Indies but didn't because that would have meant curtailing benefits to the major parties. Hard to deny.

The two campaign launches were telling: the Liberal launch was lazy, the leader’s speech was poorly written and delivered.
The Labor launch was professionally produced. The leader’s speech well written and tellingly Albanese had rehearsed his presentation and it showed.

Forget nuclear, Australia is on fast lane to 100pc renewables - Michael West A massive increase in solar power generation capacity is already putting Australia on the fast track to a 100% renewable energy future.

Forget the 'sun don't shine, wind don't blow' fossil urgers, Australia is heading to 100% renewables and solar is leading the charge #auspol
michaelwest.com.au/forget-nucle...

Yep, agree that there are improvements that it brings. But to allow significant bias to party donations and spending, it will be an even higher barrier to entry than currently exists. I love the real time reporting, but that's little comfort when the amounts can be skewed.

Have to disagree there. This tips the scales far more in the favour of the two parties. There's definitely good parts to it, but it seems to have deliberate loopholes that heavily favours the parties. Electoral funding reform is needed, but I think this messes the mark.

I admit it's a generalist statement just on probability. It's just Indies get disproportionate coverage to a backbencher - which can be both a good and a bad thing. Labor ministry is head and shoulders better than shadow counterparts. Was more thinking that duds are far easier hidden in the parties.

Surely the "dud ratio" is higher in the parties. There's so many, they just get to blend in on the backbench, and vote as they're told. Never a story - but sn "out there" indie is suddenly a reason why they're all bad.

Yep. If you want that Committee spot, or move up the line as a parlsec you need to tow the line

I hear ya. I might think it's trash, but those independents who negotiated and supported it would be (hopefully) doing it in good faith as representatives of their electorates. I could stomach that far more than what often comes from two party negotiations (if you can call them that).