Quote of the day:
“They say voting’s compulsory in Australia, but it’s not compulsory to fill out the ballot paper. You can put it straight into the ballot box, totally blank. That’s what I’ll be doing on Saturday and I urge you to do the same. It’s the ultimate protest vote.” — Former Labor leader/newest and most notorious member of the press pack Mark Latham, whose much talked about 60 Minutes story finally went to air last night
It was met, generally, to underwhelmed yawns.
Do either of the major parties care one whit about the size of the informal votes? It’s bound to be an even slap in the face to both so such a backlash would cancel itself out. The aim of a major party is to win, they would not give a damn if a third of the country voted informally… as long as, ultimately, they win. Any message the electorate sends seems to be of no consequence unless voters happen to be in a marginal refugee-averse seat.
Isn’t it illegal to incite people to do this? IANAL, but I seem to recall hearing it was.
I wish you could vote and not distribute preferences, though.
Zut – informal votes reduce the $2 or whatever each party gets for a formal vote in its favour.
Meski – that’s what I thought (illegal to advocate an informal vote), but today’s SMH says it isn’t. Yes, optional preferences (as in some state jurisdictions) would be nice.
Sigh. Do we have to believe the SMH?
Malcolm S
Ah yes, I completely overlooked the root of all evil ie: $$$