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I have never been married 😉

Also I was a casual polling clerk at a polling booth.. All votes are then sent to the electoral office where they are recounted. so with ballots with other markings than the actual voting, they may take a different view on their eligibility. I hasten to add, I wasn't a member of a political party at the time.

If you can clearrly discern the voter intention (i.e. the numbers are clear and legible) and it would othrwise be valid (minimum numbers next to names, etc), it is a valid vote. Nothing wriong with writing on the top, or bottom or back of the ballot anything.. At least that's how it was when I was a polling clerk. Sometimes a scrutineer would argue with us about whether it was spoiled or not, in which cae the returning officer would review and sometimes separate them out for the central vote counting team to deal with. That was in Vic but was the same for the federal elections as well.

Jerry, I'm a bit confused here. I though if you write on a ballot paper it's marked down as informal. ie: you fill out the ballot correctly then write a message on it = informal vote.

I can only go by Australia and according to Chat GPT, teh average long term percentage of spoiled or informal votes is 4% in the lower house and 6% in the senate. I would argue that is too statistically small given a 100% poll. Of course, you can write messages on valid ballots as well. I can only go on my experience as a polling clerk in Kensington, Mlebourne in the 90s - so still a lower income area by and large - with I recall a larger Vietnamese population, but still a strong non-immigrant population. I recall most of the ballots that had more than the numbers marked or were informal were in descending order, drawings (some almost adacemic quality) of human genatalia of both genders, and any written messages were expletive laden expressions of general dissatisfaction with politics, and not constructive or specific issues. So, I am not sure of what statistical value the parties would make of it. I am sure at other polling booths and in the central count, they would have better quality of comments.

Given I have lived in mandatory and optional voting jurisdictions, chances are yes 😉 In the UK, I vote regularly.. But not always. I have voted predominantly for the side of the divide that aligns with my values, but have swung.. less chance these days because of the way the parties have moved. I don't need to divulge much more than that unless you really want to know (if you haven't worked it out). Remember, as a youngster I was a member of one of the major parties in Australia; Was the president of my branch, a national conference delegate, and on the public office selection committee for the electorate of my branch. I consider myself pretty well politically engaged. The assumption you are making is deciding not to vote is inaction, and not a purposeful action. I agree, a lot of people who don't vote are likely to be disengaged, but a lot also are engaged - have looked at the options and decided none are for them. It does not make it inaction. It is an action to say what on offer is not what they want. I can't see what is wrong with that. I don't accept that it is better to vote for the one that won't serve your interests, but somehow is deserving your endorsement to be elected. If you feel neither of them would be good public servants. Uf you saw a bunch of plumbers to do some long term work and none of them were competent, would you retain them? I agree.. Deciding not to vote, however, isn't necessarily accompanied by whinging. Nor does it mean that someone doesn't try other ways to achieve outcomes. Or maybe they are just apathetic and don't care and don't whinge. Excpt for the whinge that neither is good.. Then yes, let your parties know they are putting up to you who are unelectable. I don't know the answer to your question. But the question I feel wrong. If only 10% of people voted, has the public given them a mandate to carry out their manifesto/policies? I would argue no (or at least, with such a low turnout, not without a huge risk to their next election chances). If I were just elected with such a low turnout (assuming an average of around 65% turnout in the UK), I would be very careful what I did in government, lest my time would be vry short. Also, parliamentary governments means that their leadership would be very weak and susceptible to takeover, so they would have to tread very carefullly. I am not sure where this comes from. There seems to be an assumption that where someone fails to vote because no one is going to doeverything that the viter wants. I can't speak for other people, bujt that has not factored into my decision not to vote. And while you can assume a certain percentage may have that approach, I would suggest that most who don't vote and aren't apathetic would not expect perfection and if there was a candidate that was likely to change things for the better for them, they wouild vote. We have seen this in the UK before with Tony Blair in 1997 that had the largest voter turnout in years, and with the previous election where people felt neither were really appropriate, where the voter turnout was the lowest since the early 1900s in the low 50%. I think this is evidence it is a ppositive action. Fair enough. I consider that every vote counts, so I take my vote and my decision not to vote equally seriously. The times I have decided not to vote have been considered choices bases on the candidates and parties' offerings at the time. If there are people se disengaged that they don't want to vote, then I don't want them to as they donot consider what they are voting for (some will decide to take interest) and will jujst follow whatever it is or do the donkey vote - as useless as not voting in that situation. And in fact can send the wrong message to someone who gets elected that they have a mandate when they don't. I consier this much more dangerous to democracy than a population of people deciding not to vote no matter their motivations. To use your 10% turnout scenario, there is clearly no mandate with such a turnout in free and fair elections. But if voting is complusory, and 90% didn't want to vote, there are two options: 1 - they spol the vote. Clearly again, no mandate so why bother turning up. Second option is a donkeyed vote. Well, the message could be interpreted as there being a mandate, as they took the time to endorse the first person on the list. That is much more dangerous to democracy to me than not turning up to vote.

It's important to the comrades and that's why they have a quota system. They love their social engineering.

Good article. Let’s hope the US and Israel don’t start hitting Iran’s water supplies and hospitals. I don’t think the US would go that far because Trump couldn’t afford the political consequences, but I wouldn’t put it past Israel.

Hooray! Pity you don't represent the majority.

The KC-135 wreckage has apparently now been found, and the U.S. military are stating there were 6 on board (not 5 as previously advised), and 4 have been confirmed as deceased. There is no word of any survivors, and I expect the reason is simply because the military still haven't found or identified, the remaining 2 crew members. I fully expect they will eventually be reported as deceased, too. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0dz5ql17vo

I am actually in Vic, just used a quick example of a pollie that I would put last. Yes in the House of Reps. In the Senate, you can vote above the line (for grouped candidates) or number every candidate

It will end up another Afghanistan, but with the added kick of causing a major worldwide recession. The Americans have yet to defeat any Islamic nation with a sucessful transition to a "democratic government" with free elections. They usually pull out after inflicting enormous damage, with no successful and thorough regime change, just leaving chaos and instability, as the country turns into individual fiefdoms ruled by warlords. This article below is pretty much spot on with its analysis, as I see it. The only factors that might make the country collapse totally, is a lack of water, and a lack of medical facilities and supplies. Tehran was nearly out of water before this war activity by the Americans - nothing will improve that situation, and a lack of water stops most human activity. https://www.iranintl.com/en/202602268309

That's what we're supposed to do, isn't it? Or is it different in SA?

I think this will go on for weeks and months if not longer. Trump has lost control of the war and despite all the destruction in Iran, the regime is now in the driving seat. The US knows roughly how much enriched uranium Iran has but not where it is, so that’s a big problem. Khamenei had issued two fatwahs in the past stating that having a nuclear weapon was not compatible with their religious beliefs, so it’s a moot point as to whether Iran would ever have developed a bomb. Iran achieved its goal with the threat alone, which was enough to get the West’s attention. Now however, with a new leader all bets are off. They apparently have enough uranium for between 11 and 16 Hiroshima type weapons, although not the long range delivery systems. That doesn’t really matter because they just have to set off one or two underground to prove the point. Trump could likely have got a deal had he continued negotiating instead of going to war. Contrary to their ambitions the US and Israel have not wiped out all Iran’s drones and rockets, and they can make more. They don’t have to import them. They have a couple of thousand sea mines and a fleet of fishing boats and midget submarines that can lay them. They have already attacked the neighbouring countries aiming to get them to pressure the Americans to abandon their bases, which may happen as it’s now clear the bases are putting them at risk rather than being a deterrent. The US and Israel are also at risk of running short of expensive missiles themselves pretty soon too. In the meantime Russia has stepped in to help the Iranians giving Putin a bargaining chip to use on Trump - “We’ll stop helping Iran if you stop helping Ukraine”. Iran has successfully bottled up the Strait with severe consequences for world energy supplies and other products such as fertiliser. The US and Israeli attacks on infrastructure and historically important sites is turning the population against the US and Trump in particular. Trump and Hegseth have got most of the US population offside as well. Trump has no off-ramp here and it’s his nature to just make a bad situation worse by never wanting to be seen to be a loser, but he’s already lost this war. All that remains is to go through the process of losing.

This is looking like amateur hour. The US have lost 4 aircraft, not to their enemy, but to friendly fire and a midair collision.

Just another thing that makes me feel better is in the case of this guy The South Australian Liberal party is standing by an election candidate who said same-sex marriage is not real, homosexuality can open up “demonic realms” and gender transitioning is an “illusion”. I don't want to merely punish (if I lived in his electorate) with 0 vote, I want to vote strategically against him. I always vote strategically and number every square. For many years, I lived in Eden-Monaro, a so-called bellwether seat. This meant the winner of the seat was always (mostly) from the party that won the government. This seat was sometimes pivotal, so it did really matter.

So you don't vote? Have you ever voted? Who did you vote for? (Maybe that question is too personal) I am not trying to tell people how to live their lives. If not voting enhances your well-being, then go for it. For me, action, even if it is ineffective, just feels better than inaction. Complaining without action to me is just whinging. I recently found myself in a situation of spending a whole day with my mother 93 (who lives in an aged care home) in a hospital emergency waiting (9 hours plus). I can see why this happened, and I can see the problems of the system. For a couple of days, I was seething, angry and anxious. I then did what I always do (being a man of action). I wrote several letters to several different people/bodies. I am fully aware that none of my well-researched, intellectually rigorous arguments will make the slightest bit of difference. It did, however, help me get over and return to my happy state. I really hate whingers, and to me the definition of a whinger is someone who believes that constantly restating their beef but doing nothing is somehow noble. If 90% of the population stopped voting, would politicians change, or would they just campaign to the 10% and save money. Our present government, of course, is far from perfect. If you are waiting for perfection, you will never vote. If I waited for the perfect woman to marry, I would still be single. I don't give a toss whether an individual votes or not, but pretending it is some noble gesture that will be a kick in the nuts is BS. As per my previous post, votes not cast mean very little to a political party; they are too vague. Writing on your ballot "stop logging" or "out with migrants" or whatever does get back to parties via scrutineers (I know this for a fact) rather than "I am not voting and I am not telling you why

Dunno if your talking to me but l never boasted about anything, just sayin. As for village idiot , says who , you , who tfk are you. My older sister doesn't vote either same reasons and she's a professor, l've built and ran my own business 35yrs. Sad bc l don't vote, oh shyt yeah, lose heaps of sleep. ps, your actually way way out voted yourself have you seen the numbers from around the world of voting percentages ? Even in the great old US OF A yank land.

All the early news reports kept saying "(the KC-135) went down in Western Iran". Now they're all saying, "went down in Western Iraq". I don't think half the news writers ever passed geography tests. The area where the KC-135 crashed is reportedly near-desert type of country. I fail to understand how the Americans couldn't spot a massive plume of burning fuel from their satellites. It's been over 12 hrs since it went down, and they still haven't found the wreckage. No parachutes, virtually must mean, no survivors. The other KC-135 landed at Ben Gurion airport after circling for an hour to burn up fuel, with a chunk missing from the top of its vertical stabiliser.

Also, in politics, when you vote for someone, you are saying I want that someone to be elected. You arenot saying you are the least worst option. You are endorsing someone. Therefore, if there is noone you wish to endorse, you shouldn't be forced to even come to the booth to have your name struck off. It should be the default position.

Agree , Barnaby's always been a wanker .

I am not sure about the reasons for compulsory voting,but it being the best assurnce to stop a despot is absolute poppycock, in my opinion, and I have lived under both compulsory and voluntary voting. Australia had the most on the nose government for 13 years and they had, at least up until 2022. The LNP have since dropped further as a party - not government. Albo won power by a single seat because the LNP supporters who could not fathom a Labor govrnment could not bring themselves to vote anyone else. Think about it.. Across Austalia, all it would take is two seats not to flip, and the will of the majority of the people would not have happened and what had become close to the most despotic government in Australia would have remained In the UK in 2024, remarkably similar circumstances ended up with a Labour landslide. Why? Because the Conservative supporters that couldn't support a Labor government didn't turn up to vote. At the same time, the loony protest party, Reform got their first seats in the House of Commons - 4 of them on the same primary vote as the Lib Dems got their 15 or so seats. Now, if the LNP voters who couldn't fathom a Labor government turned up to vote - and Pauline had th run she was having now, who do you think they would have voted for? Suddenly, your despotic governent is more likely with compulsory voting. Of course,the UK is fist past the post v. Aus's preferetnal system, but if you want to guarantee one nation a look in while the LNP is still unelectable, force those LNP voters to vote. What is saving you is preferental voting, not compulsory voting. And some of those choices is to do nothing. And when you have that choice and its valid, why not to do it? And even with your analogy. if they occasionally f up,m but you are likely to get the outcome you want, then you will take them. .that is the same with political partes and anything else for which there is limited choice. But, using your airline analogy, if you had a choice of 10 airlines, and they promise to take you to your destination, but everything tellsyou you are likely to not even get off the ground, and even if you do, you are most likely to end up in a burning wreck or a destination so far away from where you want to be, it is not worth it, will you still book your flight because that's all that is available? If so, that is your choice. My choice would be to not bother.

No, not according to my information. New off the shelf. It may have been forged in Turkey and finished off in Germany - or it just might have been fully manufactured in Turkey, and stamped "Made in Germany", or just sold as "German made". I recently did a deal with another major Czechia parts supplier, they supplied new Perkins aftermarket fuel injectors and claimed they were made in Italy. When they arrived, I realised they were made in China, as there were no markings on them that identified them as "Made in Italy" (as the Italians always do). The injectors only had a part number stamped on them, and that stamping was identical to the Chinese injectors for sale everywhere. So I got back to them and gave them a good serve for misrepresentation and fraud. They apologised profusely, and said it was due to a website error, and they refunded all my money (including the freight charge), so now I get to try out some Chinese injectors for free. I'm not overly concerned, because injector nozzles are easy enough to change, if they don't provide satisfactory service. But I prefer European, British or American-made products where possible, the Chinese lie through their teeth about the quality and performance of their products, and it is often highly variable. If the crankshaft ends up being Turkish-forged, I can live with that, I think the Turkish products are superior to Chinese-made stuff.

I don't understand what th number of women, men, black, white, Muslim, jew, or swahili have to do with anything in terms of quality of government or workforce for that matter. You want the best team.. Tanya Plibersek is in the team, but I get the feeling Albo doesn't like her, so she is probably there because of her factional wars and not being utilised to her full talents (or what seems to be). So, that is a waste of a mministerial appointment. Claire O'Neil, in what I have seen seems to be completely useless. I could be wrong, of course, but from what I have seen, I wiould prefer someone better. If the minstry is 100% men or women, as long as they are the best for the job, is the important measure.

I have NO idea how they could make it for that Price. Is it NOS. Nev