MAGA

[Wapiti]

So in light of the WA fiasco, the pathetic Mark Dreyfus (Fed AG) virtually ransoming the other Australian states to slowly adopt the WA laws to get more funding (or rather, not see GST funding go to other gun-hating states instead), I think that with the election tomorrow, this is in order.

Along with my T-shirt also of the same vein, and one of these hats, I will be heading out tomorrow to get my democracy sausage and see who I can inform how I stand politically without having to waste energy on speaking to the enemies of the primary producers.
Media is saying that there are still 2/3rds of Aussies nyet to vote, so it's gonna be a long day.

[Oldbloke]

Personally I think any hunter/shooter who votes for the John Howard party, ALP, or Greens is nuts. Been putting them last for donkey years.
But that does assume firearms are your first priority.

Problem is as in my electorate the ALP has a huge margin and it doesnt matter who i vote for in the lower house. And this is often the case.

But in the upper house im very carefull how i vote.

[alexjones]

If a party/person runs for election in the house of representatives and they receive more than 4% of the vote in that electorate they receive political funding from the government.

So whilst it may seem futile voting for small parties every vote helps them get funding which leads to a greater ability to help their campaign next time.

[Oldbloke]

If a party/person runs for election in the house of representatives and they receive more than 4% of the vote in that electorate they receive political funding from the government.

So whilst it may seem futile voting for small parties every vote helps them get funding which leads to a greater ability to help their campaign next time.

Mmm, didn't know that. Good news then

[alexjones]

If a party/person runs for election in the house of representatives and they receive more than 4% of the vote in that electorate they receive political funding from the government.

So whilst it may seem futile voting for small parties every vote helps them get funding which leads to a greater ability to help their campaign next time.

Mmm, didn't know that. Good news then

A registered political party is entitled to election funding when candidates it has endorsed receive at least four per cent of the formal first preference votes in an election.

Here is the link to the AEC website that says this. So yes every vote does help. Think of it as playing the long game in keeping small parties alive.


https://www.aec.gov.au/parties_and_repr ... 20election.

[bigrich]

I’ve already voted and one nation and Katter were the first two in my preferences

[Wapiti]

Never ever give up, even if you think you are only a drop in a big bucket.
At the very least, you can live with yourself.
Who knows, you might one day get what you wish for, but without trying, there is no success.

[on_one_wheel]

It's like voting for Coles or Woolworths.
They're both s**t
It's sad that what we see in Australian politics is apparently the best the country has to offer... it's much the same right across the western / European world.
Where's all the smart business brains that can run a country like a successful business?
Surely there's someone who's worthy willing to give up the multi million dollar salary to get a country sorted out with a real business plan that works?
Perhaps it's all to complex to get right ?
Perhaps there's too many back room deals and parties blocking good legislation?
Perhaps this system of government just doesn't work in the modern world?

[Fester]

Great hats.
I voted One Nation and the last 3 were Lib, Lab, and Greens last.

Numbered about 20 for the senate so non of the wankers got my preference.

[Wapiti]

It's like voting for Coles or Woolworths.
They're both s**t
It's sad that what we see in Australian politics is apparently the best the country has to offer... it's much the same right across the western / European world.
Where's all the smart business brains that can run a country like a successful business?
Surely there's someone who's worthy willing to give up the multi million dollar salary to get a country sorted out with a real business plan that works?
Perhaps it's all to complex to get right ?
Perhaps there's too many back room deals and parties blocking good legislation?
Perhaps this system of government just doesn't work in the modern world?

I think you're dead right, this system of government just doesn't serve the country or the people here at all.

It's infested with career politicians who came through the ranks of political parties, straight from activist university, and supported by powerbrokers who did the same, and will only truly promote the same sort of people.
They will NEVER allow the life-experienced political candidates from the mainstream society to get to the top, because they are a threat to this system...
Sure, there are patrioitic ex-soldiers, economists, successful businesspeople trying to make a difference in politics and in portfolios they'd excel in, but they are kept down the ladder in favour of the "yes men" activists.

The benefit of AUSTRALIA and the people making it great doesn't come into it whatsoever. Paving their own immortality here, and with their overseas masters (example, all the wealth of the people being raped and shifted to the "renewables industry" investors - from completely imported rubbish) is their complete focus.
Why promoting such useless activist trash? Because they are the most stupid, most likely gibbering idiots that will do what they're told and follow this plan.

But it truly is the voters, that need to realise this and throw these evil deceptive planners out by not supporting their political parties. Until they wake up, stop just bitching about this and just do it, they are ultimately to blame.

[Oldbloke]

Great hats.
I voted One Nation and the last 3 were Lib, Lab, and Greens last.

Numbered about 20 for the senate so non of the wankers got my preference.

[No1_49er]

I voted One Nation and the last 3 were Lib, Lab, and Greens last.

Numbered about 20 for the senate so non of the wankers got my preference.

And therein lies the major problem with the AU (Preferential) voting "system".
If there are 10, 20, or even 50 wankers throwing their hats into the ring, why should it be necessary to rank EVERY one of them in order of preference? Of course, you can vote for the one "above the line" and be done with it. Problem is, that one might be the biggest wanker under the sun. Now you're left with "Preferential".
And what if my preference is for one, and one alone, of those below the line. That's where I want it to go - NOWHERE else! But the "system" has got you f^ked - without your additional preferences, the system doesn't allow your "vote" to remain valid and is disallowed.
Yep, it's a great "system".

[Oldbloke]

I voted One Nation and the last 3 were Lib, Lab, and Greens last.

Numbered about 20 for the senate so non of the wankers got my preference.

And therein lies the major problem with the AU (Preferential) voting "system".
If there are 10, 20, or even 50 wankers throwing their hats into the ring, why should it be necessary to rank EVERY one of them in order of preference? Of course, you can vote for the one "above the line" and be done with it. Problem is, that one might be the biggest wanker under the sun. Now you're left with "Preferential".
And what if my preference is for one, and one alone, of those below the line. That's where I want it to go - NOWHERE else! But the "system" has got you f^ked - without your additional preferences, the system doesn't allow your "vote" to remain valid and is disallowed.
Yep, it's a great "system".

It has its down side.

How do other democracies do it?
England?

[Wapiti]

Yeah the system's flawed, and it's a pain.
What's the point of how other countries do it, how awful it is to put numbers in more squares than people have the attention span for,
The point is, USE IT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE, because if you want to, you can.

You already have to take the trouble to get out to a polling place or sit down with your pre-poll mailed ballot papers. Take the trouble to make your preferences count, because it's piss easy.

Some might remember these two blokes, and their support for shooters and the pointlessness of gun laws.
It might enlighten some.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxhEs-IGGbk&t=304s

[alexjones]

I voted One Nation and the last 3 were Lib, Lab, and Greens last.

Numbered about 20 for the senate so non of the wankers got my preference.

And therein lies the major problem with the AU (Preferential) voting "system".
If there are 10, 20, or even 50 wankers throwing their hats into the ring, why should it be necessary to rank EVERY one of them in order of preference? Of course, you can vote for the one "above the line" and be done with it. Problem is, that one might be the biggest wanker under the sun. Now you're left with "Preferential".
And what if my preference is for one, and one alone, of those below the line. That's where I want it to go - NOWHERE else! But the "system" has got you f^ked - without your additional preferences, the system doesn't allow your "vote" to remain valid and is disallowed.
Yep, it's a great "system".

It has its down side.

How do other democracies do it?
England?

First past the post they call it. The person with most votes wins.

[Billo]

Make Albo Great Again !!

So the One Nation preference deal with the LNP caused the Liberal vote to tank

Probably the biggest own goal I have ever witnessed in an Election.

Good riddance to Dutton & Sukkar

[Bugman]

Make Albo Great Again !!

So the One Nation preference deal with the LNP caused the Liberal vote to tank

Probably the biggest own goal I have ever witnessed in an Election.

Good riddance to Dutton & Sukkar

Duttons mistake may have been announcing that he was an ex copper. Lot of voters, may have had an axe to grind with that bit of info. Who knows? Too late now anyway.

[Sarco]

Results in the lower house typically show that one man/one vote system, if used in Australia would generally make little difference.

However in the upper house (senate) it would eliminate the (to quote Paul Keating) the unrepresentative swill, elected with only approximately 14% of the vote.

Additionally anyone who votes above the line on the senate ballot, probably shouldn't bother to vote. Even the great green turd, Bob Brown (admittedly with a smirk on his face), in an interview, said everyone should only vote below the line, to do otherwise is wasting your vote.

[Wapiti]

Well the main pleasure I got was to walk around our town with my MAGA hat on, and get the reactions I did. It was so worth $30.

Genuine country folk struck me up in friendly conversation, wanted to shake my hand, said they wish they had one, or even the balls to wear one. It didn't take balls to wear one on election day, it just takes a bit of fun.
They are the people and the ideals I represent, the workers, the farmers, the real people.

But the other side of the coin was the reactions I got from the scum that buy into our area from the cites - the very city/urban people who destroy their own cities' livability with their socialist/green ideals then come into country towns like ours and bring their slimy views with them and poison our rural areas.
You guys see it in the scum that buy into a country area, then complain when someone fires a rifle.
I got to laugh in the faces of some of them who commented, to belittle the man not the ideal. Big mouths but no balls. I'm having a ball that's for sure.
To smile in the face of someone with daggers in their eyes, what a f**ken laugh.

Sure, the country has spoken, whether they really believed in their votes or not.
The divide between city and country is almost set, it's certainly unmissable, and so obvious. We just have to remember who our friends are when someone wants something from us next time.

[str8shutr]

Make Albo Great Again !!

So the One Nation preference deal with the LNP caused the Liberal vote to tank

Probably the biggest own goal I have ever witnessed in an Election.

Good riddance to Dutton & Sukkar

Duttons mistake may have been announcing that he was an ex copper. Lot of voters, may have had an axe to grind with that bit of info. Who knows? Too late now anyway.

l wouldn't put too much weight on his earlier career. From what I've picked up over the course of this campaign, he was involved with some pretty nasty stuff as a copper:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Dutton#Police_career
https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/peter-duttons-police-career-rocked-by-case-that-shocked-queensland/news-story/0a02d3f68fc20cd0baecdd39737e1463
He actually might have won more of the electorate's heart if he'd channelled those values in a respectful way and brought them forward into a coherent policy integrated with other policy initiatives to present an integrated platform.

If Dutton had applied advice from out of his own party from the moderate / centre right (refer comment from Simon Birmingham, Lib Senator from SA who left parliament at the start of this year):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmDPDgOwCKM&t=2470s
and also offered positivity to the youth vote by steering clear of grievance politics, we probably would have seen a tighter race.

Instead he, Taylor and Littleproud offered up a mess of flip-flops and were late in showing their policies (i.e. after pre-polls, when millions had voted) that, based on the results, clearly didn't cut through.

Now, the LNP have effectively no lower house federal seats in the capital cities. [EDIT: make that almost none .. revised info that I picked up indicates that Melbourne may post 1 or 2 once the count is finalised, at this stage.]

This could very well be a "Bob Menzies moment" where the best thing might involve a 44 of dieso + a match and start again.

We'll find out over the next 2 election cycles because the end result of Election 2025 will take time to sort out. So I suspect that MAGA, whether in blue or red hat form, is probably not going to take a strong hold in this part of the world for the foreseeable future.

[wanneroo]

Well, there are really 2 problems at play.

One is this is the end goal of the plan to flood western countries with migration. Those people will vote or get paid to vote via welfare or NGOs for the people that let them in. As long as you keep flooding the country with a few million people every year or so, you stay ahead of it and the right side of the spectrum will never get a voice again. Therefore expect Labor to continue to flood the country with foreigners who care nothing of western society or Australia's culture.

Second thing is the problem with LNP is the leadership sucks and they have to stop pandering and being wimps. People will respect you more if you have a stance and then stick with it, rather than getting some criticism and then totally back pedaling like a wimp.

[Billo]

Well, there are really 2 problems at play.

One is this is the end goal of the plan to flood western countries with migration. Those people will vote or get paid to vote via welfare or NGOs for the people that let them in. As long as you keep flooding the country with a few million people every year or so, you stay ahead of it and the right side of the spectrum will never get a voice again. Therefore expect Labor to continue to flood the country with foreigners who care nothing of western society or Australia's culture.

Second thing is the problem with LNP is the leadership sucks and they have to stop pandering and being wimps. People will respect you more if you have a stance and then stick with it, rather than getting some criticism and then totally back pedaling like a wimp.

All Western countries have been using migration to prop up their GDP as more and more manufacturing move to Asia. the LNP was also using this business model, its not unique to Labor. When Scomo was booted from office they had accepted 900, 000 Visa application with a special deal inserted in the FTA with India to allow 1 in 3 Indians to stay long term.

Stances are great but ignoring reality like Nuclear is dead in the water in Oz and Women vote will get you your ass handed to you, Oh and Dutton screamed unlectable with his negativity. He was leftovers from a different era.

As I see it all the back slapping from the Murdoch media, SMH, Daily telegraph gave the LNP a false confidence and they failed to sell a future for all australians. And those One nation preference ?? well they helped the Greens to a record senate win which gives them control in the upper hoiuse

[str8shutr]

"... plan to flood western countries with migration"? Where is that plan laid out?

Just remember that most western countries, of which Australia is included, have a challenge in sustaining their population from within. In one sense, there's a need for youth to sustain the economy. If that doesn't happen, old people will not be able to retire if nothing else changes. The issue of population growth is tricky.

The LNP have been failing to learn from history over an extended period of time, have failed to account for the needs and concerns of the majority (just look at this election's results) and have failed to acknowledge that Australia responds well to centrist politics. Long standing Liberals like Holly Hughes (NSW Senator) and Arthur Sinodinos (former Lib Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) are calling out the long term failings:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-06/federal-politics-live-election-albanese-labor-liberal-party/105256500?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web#live-blog-post-177304
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-06/federal-politics-live-election-albanese-labor-liberal-party/105256500?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web#live-blog-post-177301
My view is that Dutton tried to play the strong man card but it didn't appeal to Australians across the board - refer the result. So, presenting strength with empathy, offers a greater chance of success. We shall see whether Labor can bring that to bear.

[on_one_wheel]

What sort of business plan would include population growth on a planet with decreasing resources where the arable land is shrinking? It's stupidity.

Australia is bringing in over one thousand people every day. Little wonder there's a housing crisis.

I reckon governments need to focus on how to sustain an economy with a decreasing population until we are at a sustainable level
The fiat dollar needs to be scrapped, it's the sole reason they target population growth,
Until they begin to do that, there's no way they can be for real when they talk about caring about the state of our planet.

[wanneroo]

Well, there are really 2 problems at play.

One is this is the end goal of the plan to flood western countries with migration. Those people will vote or get paid to vote via welfare or NGOs for the people that let them in. As long as you keep flooding the country with a few million people every year or so, you stay ahead of it and the right side of the spectrum will never get a voice again. Therefore expect Labor to continue to flood the country with foreigners who care nothing of western society or Australia's culture.

Second thing is the problem with LNP is the leadership sucks and they have to stop pandering and being wimps. People will respect you more if you have a stance and then stick with it, rather than getting some criticism and then totally back pedaling like a wimp.

All Western countries have been using migration to prop up their GDP as more and more manufacturing move to Asia. the LNP was also using this business model, its not unique to Labor. When Scomo was booted from office they had accepted 900, 000 Visa application with a special deal inserted in the FTA with India to allow 1 in 3 Indians to stay long term.

Stances are great but ignoring reality like Nuclear is dead in the water in Oz and Women vote will get you your ass handed to you, Oh and Dutton screamed unlectable with his negativity. He was leftovers from a different era.

As I see it all the back slapping from the Murdoch media, SMH, Daily telegraph gave the LNP a false confidence and they failed to sell a future for all australians. And those One nation preference ?? well they helped the Greens to a record senate win which gives them control in the upper hoiuse

It's not propping up GDP from what I have seen so far. Canada, great example. 1 in 5 people in Canada have arrived in the last 10 years, GDP growth is about the worse of all western countries, incomes are flat, housing prices exploded to the moon. Saw some other figures on X about Denmark and the Netherlands, all this migration has been a net negative with the costs of all the extra crime, housing, welfare and so on compared to these people and their economic output.

[wanneroo]

What sort of business plan would include population growth on a planet with decreasing resources where the arable land is shrinking? It's stupidity.

Australia is bringing in over one thousand people every day. Little wonder there's a housing crisis.

I reckon governments need to focus on how to sustain an economy with a decreasing population until we are at a sustainable level
The fiat dollar needs to be scrapped, it's the sole reason they target population growth,
Until they begin to do that, there's no way they can be for real when they talk about caring about the state of our planet.

Then they wonder why the locals aren't having kids. Well, it's kinda hard to get married and have kids when home prices are 10x your annual income.

Personally I think the whole boomer mentality of globalization in one form or another where everyone is the same, every society is the same, every culture is the same and we can dump the whole world into our countries and live in one big diversity soup and be happy is false. And the locals get the bill for the all the welfare and higher home prices just isn't going to fly past a certain point.

[str8shutr]

Yep, immigration is tricky. It's been the subject of a lot of research:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_effects_of_immigration

A trend that will undoubtedly continue.

[alexjones]

Yep immigration was one of the factors that made Rome decline. By the end Most of the Western Roman army was not even Roman.

Societies need to be monoculture to survive. A society that is fractured and multicultural will never survive because not every culture is equal and has the same values, morals or traditions.

[Billo]

Yep immigration was one of the factors that made Rome decline. By the end Most of the Western Roman army was not even Roman.

Societies need to be monoculture to survive. A society that is fractured and multicultural will never survive because not every culture is equal and has the same values, morals or traditions.

I'm not surprised that you don't understand Economic and trade, isolation would lead to very little trade and an absence of technology.

Your idealogy of living in a cave is more inline with the current Green thinking

[wanneroo]

Yep immigration was one of the factors that made Rome decline. By the end Most of the Western Roman army was not even Roman.

Societies need to be monoculture to survive. A society that is fractured and multicultural will never survive because not every culture is equal and has the same values, morals or traditions.

I'm not surprised that you don't understand Economic and trade, isolation would lead to very little trade and an absence of technology.

Your idealogy of living in a cave is more inline with the current Green thinking

I don't think we are looking for isolation but that we have a certain culture and society and when you bring in so many 3rd world people who have an entirely different mindset and way of living, it's going to change our culture and society and not for the good. When you bring low trust societies like India into a high trust country like Australia or the USA, it alters what we live in.

I don't even need data to see that when I go to a town overrun with migrants and there are bums everywhere, trash everywhere, things are locked up because there is so much theft and hardly anyone is speaking English. We didn't ask for our neighborhoods to be overrun with this.