cortheas

He is a foreigner. He doesn't speak the language very well, he is drunk and verbally abusing police officers by his own admission and has a bad time. What country in the world would you expect differently?

Adam, as a young Australian adult I feel that the party system is in some ways fundamentally broken. People vote for the party they 'identify' with and rarely take the time to research the stances of each party on the issues that are facing us in the next term. This is exacerbated by marketing campaigns that pander to voters, that use fear or prejudice to attack opponents on personal and not political terms.

Ideally what I would like is for Australians to have more power to vote on issues and not on representatives. I feel representative democracy has become a farce, if you run on one campaign promise there is nothing to compel you to perform once you get into power.

Before the last federal election there was a tool online where you select your stance on a selection of major issues including immigration, environmental, energy and social policy in some detail and it would show you how well your views aligned with the stances of every major party or candidate. I wish this sort of political process was pushed more in Australia over vague self-identification and likeability of politicians.

What do you think can be done to encourage voters to self-educate and to bring the political process back from personal attacks and childish banter to the core of policies that will shape the future of our nation?

(I must confess i'm not a Greens supporter currently, largely due to what i feel is an over-reliance on one issue (environmentally focused) politics that can be reactionary in the case of thorium policy and the GMO moratorium or utopian in the sense that they may well be appropriate as an end-goal but are not suitable for australia in the present.)