Voting and politics in Australia...

Australia's Coat of Arms

Australia is a Democracy, under a Monarchy, yep. Instead of having a President, they have a Prime Minister who is voted into office. This year is the time to vote for Prime Minister, Tony Abbott or Kevin Rudd.  The Liberal Party and the Labor Party are the two major ones, in another blog, I'll go into the differences of them and the other minor parties. Voting in Australia is VERY different than in the US. Voting is compulsory for every Australian citizen aged 18 years or older. If you do not vote and do not have a valid and sufficient reason for failing to vote, a penalty is imposed. Imagine getting fined if you don't have a valid reason for not voting? Initially the Australian Electoral Commission will write to all apparent non-voters requesting that they either provide a reason for their failure to vote or pay a $20 penalty.

If, within 21 days, the apparent non-voter fails to reply, cannot provide a valid and sufficient reason or declines to pay the penalty, then prosecution proceedings may be instigated. If the matter is dealt with in court and the person is found guilty, he or she may be fined up to $50 plus court costs. During the last election I received one and because I'm not an Australian citizen I checked off the box that stated "non-citizen."  I understand that voting is a right, but in one way I like the US version, what if you dislike either party, what do you do then......and here there is an answer to that,  other than not voting.  Show up, sign your ballot and put an X to state you were there, but you don't like either party so you check off nothing. Voting here is always done on a Saturday and it's not the same day every year. I've recently read that ballot places provide pencils since they are more stable in sub-tropical climates, but I think if I were to vote, I'd make sure I'd bring my own pen. 

 There's a funny clip on my Facebook page from the US Daily Show and it's only 3 minutes long but it basically sums up a good amount of it, and makes fun of some of the silly shit that's been going on.  

There is NO months or years of campaigning, there's only ONE month, that's right, one month. Seriously why drag an election campaign for longer? I know the US is more populated but there is no VALID reason for the campaigns to run as long as they do.