Will the lessons of the 2024 US elections be applied to our 2025 elections?

[facthunter]

It's always for a specified term except for People like Putin and Perhaps TRUMP NOW for whom no rules at all apply You HAVE to BE  able to PEACEFULLY get rid of them. or You're stuffed..  The bit of Latitude permitted is the Least of the worlds worries.  IF the Voters don't approve it will affect how they vote. Nev

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

Albo called the election on my birthday, drat it! Who does he think he is, doing that? Memories came flooding back when my birthday marble was picked out of the barrel in '67. Politicians have no respect for anyone.

Edited yesterday at 08:39 AM by Grumpy Old Nasho

[nomadpete]

No need to take it personally.

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

I won't vote, I'll pay the fine instead. A fine does more good than any politician can do, it goes towards helping victims of crime.

[Jerry_Atrick]

I know it is a pain, but why don't you get a postal vote (https://www.aec.gov.au/faqs/postal-voting.htm) and send it in blank? That way they pay for you to avoid the fine.

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

No, I'll pay the fine, it does more good.

 

I'm not going to do a 74km round trip to the nearest PO mailing box. How many times do I have to say it?

[Jerry_Atrick]

If you're on a delivery route, the postman will collect your mail to post. Given the only way to receive a fine is by post, and I am assuming you have been previously fined, it stands to reason you are on a delivery rpute. But, hey, you want to be a financial martyr.. be my guest.

 

This page provides some guidance on acceptable reasons for non-voting (notice, the case judgments state that one must actually vote, but that is totally unenforceable: https://www.aec.gov.au/about_aec/publications/backgrounders/compulsory-voting.htm). Maybe you should email the nearest divisional returning officer and ask up front if it is reasonable to labour under such long distances to cast a vote..

 

Only trying to help you, not asking you to vote.

Edited yesterday at 10:03 AM by Jerry_Atrick

[nomadpete]

I've got my postal vote arranged. It was simple and I really want to put my vote into the mix. It ain't perfect but I'm not throwing my vote away.

[Marty_d]

Me too, we'll be overseas on the 3rd.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Heading near the UK, @Marty_d?

[facthunter]

YUK. ? Nev

[Marty_d]

10 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Heading near the UK, @Marty_d?

Nope - Vietnam.  Probably the last family holiday overseas with all the kids.

[facthunter]

Melbourne is Over seas. Japan is currently good value..  Nev

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

3 hours ago, Marty_d said:

Nope - Vietnam.  Probably the last family holiday overseas with all the kids.

Vietnam is communist, so put on your democracy hat while walking around, and tell em we're so sorry the US spayed agent orange on your heads, and our boys were there to kill you.

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

19 hours ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

If you're on a delivery route, the postman will collect your mail to post.

No they refuse to, it's not their job to collect mail, only to delivery it. Don't you know anything about rural Australia? Time you did a course of hard knocks on it.

[Marty_d]

24 minutes ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

Vietnam is communist, so put on your democracy hat while walking around, and tell em we're so sorry the US spayed agent orange on your heads, and our boys were there to kill you.

I'd never be so crass as to put on any political hat while visiting another country.

The war ended 50 years ago. I didn't discuss WW2 while in Germany, I don't see any reason to discuss the American war in Vietnam.

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

Yeah I get it, head in the sand approach, that's safest way.

[octave]

1 hour ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

No they refuse to, it's not their job to collect mail, only to delivery it. Don't you know anything about rural Australia? Time you did a course of hard knocks on it.

When we choose where to live we have to weigh up the pros and cons. We lived in the bush for 21 years and enjoyed the good things and accepted the things that were inconvenient and above all we did not whinge.  You can't have everything. If you enjoy your seclusion you just have to accept that it comes with disadvantages.

[Marty_d]

3 hours ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

Yeah I get it, head in the sand approach, that's safest way.

You're a class act, aren't you.

Do you go about pissing off the locals everywhere you go? You'd be popular.

[onetrack]

GON obviously makes it his lifes mission to constantly nurture extreme bitterness, and to keep grudges and hatreds alive for tens of decades, even centuries. He'd fit well into Ireland.

[Jerry_Atrick]

9 hours ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

No they refuse to, it's not their job to collect mail, only to delivery it. Don't you know anything about rural Australia? Time you did a course of hard knocks on it.

Hmmm.. I don't know if they are formally responsible, but my uncle lived on on a farm abour 30ks from the nearest post box in a small town, last time I was there, which was about 10 years ago, I saw him hand letters to the postie to be posted.. So, it can be done..

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

8 hours ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

Yeah I get it, head in the sand approach, that's safest way.

It is not a head in the sand approach.. .Just because one doesn't wear a provocative T Shirt does not mean their head is in the sand.. It means one isn't going to be a disrespectful dickhead, basically (well, in they way you were suggesting it). I am sure if people engaged Marty in discussion, he would not shy away...  and not just agree with everything they said to keep his head in the sand.

 

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

1 hour ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

Hmmm.. I don't know if they are formally responsible, but my uncle lived on on a farm abour 30ks from the nearest post box in a small town, last time I was there, which was about 10 years ago, I saw him hand letters to the postie to be posted.. So, it can be done..

 

 

It would work perhaps if a $50 bottle of wine and card are left in the letter box at Christmas time, suitably hidden so only the postie can find it. Otherwise the postie has the right to refuse to deliver mail back to the Center.

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

8 hours ago, octave said:

When we choose where to live we have to weigh up the pros and cons. We lived in the bush for 21 years and enjoyed the good things and accepted the things that were inconvenient and above all we did not whinge.  You can't have everything. If you enjoy your seclusion you just have to accept that it comes with disadvantages.

It's a different matter when the Govt (or AEC) creates a disadvantage. They make voting compulsory, but then make it unnecessarily difficult to carry out their order. It's not where I chose to live, it's the Govt's pigheadedness to lighten the load when we are under duress to obey their dictatorial demand. 

[Jerry_Atrick]

1 hour ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

It would work perhaps if a $50 bottle of wine and card are left in the letter box at Christmas time, suitably hidden so only the postie can find it. Otherwise the postie has the right to refuse to deliver mail back to the Center.

Cheaper than paying a fine to the electoral commission, I would think. I don't know your situation, but if you have a car, a 37 km each way trip will cost you say $40 (I would guess) in fuel and wear and tear.  Even at $60 or $80, it would be cheaper than the fine. And assuming the roads are OK, it would be about an hour of your time.

 

1 hour ago, Grumpy Old Nasho said:

It's a different matter when the Govt (or AEC) creates a disadvantage. They make voting compulsory, but then make it unnecessarily difficult to carry out their order. It's not where I chose to live, it's the Govt's pigheadedness to lighten the load when we are under duress to obey their dictatorial demand. 

 

As I said, I don't know your situation, but if even postal voting is genuinely hard, or disproportionate in cost or time, then speak to the DRO (not derro); They can give you advice. But if your simply making a principled decision, then you're not at a disadvantage despite it being more inconvenient than someone living right next door to the post office. In that case, you are intentionally breaking the law.. and a fine will be coming your way. This is despite you being forced to live where you are - again I do not know your circumstances or, unless it was a prison, why you were forced to live there.

 

By the way, there is something in the reasonableness test I don't like... It is a reasonable excuse if you don't vote on religious grounds. Surely, religious grounds are simply principles and one is making a principled decision not to vote - which is not a reasonable ground..