CrumpArt

I’m getting nervous about the election tomorrow. I’ve been registered to vote since I turned 17, in preparation for when I turned 18. The coalition government was voted in the year before I could have my say. That’s a decade of horrifically depressing voting for me. Every election I get excited that this time the people of Australia will have come to their senses, and every time my heart breaks a little more… and I wonder how my fellow citizens can be so selfish and shortsighted with their reasoning and votes.

For those that don’t know, voting is compulsory in Australia. We are legally required to enrol, go to the polls and put our ballot in the box. We don’t technically have to fill out the ballot, but I really don’t recommend that. Our electoral system is not perfect — a party may receive the most votes but still lose the election because they didn’t win the majority of seats in parliament — but the fact that we have mandatory, preferential voting system is a start. The problem is that when the Liberals (that’s large ‘L’ Liberal, not small ‘l’ liberal — the Australian Liberal party is on the conservative, right wing side) win, I can’t just blame it on a lack of voter turnout…

Giles looks scared, too.

(I made those fridge magnets and the puppets from the other recent post for an art project back in semester 1 last year, based on the blatant racism of the Howard government and all those APEC costumes we see Howard and Bush dressed up in — if anyone wants to turn the photos into LOLpols, be my guest.)