Two Thoughts on the ETS
1. To all these people stating "I'm a liberal voter; but I won't vote for them next election because of them wanting to pass the ETS." Who are you going to vote for? I believe the current electoral spectrum (sans right-wing nut-jobs in the Liberal/National alliance) are pro-ETS.
2.Your protest is meaningless. Remember 1996? Howard wanted to pass stringent gun-control measures in the wake of Port Arthur. There were marches in the streets, huge protest rallies, PM wearing flak-jacket and so on. End result?
Nothing happened politically.
Nothing.
Personally I believe this is due to our most sensible system of compulsory voting. Single Interest emotive groups have power in places where only a small proportion of the population actually turns up to vote. In the US, for instance, around 50-60% of the population bothers to vote. Organizations that can mobilize people to vote therefore wield power beyond the number of people actually concerned with the issue.
In Australia, however, as the Post-Port Arthur situation demonstrates, single-issue hot-button topics are irrelevant in a country with compulsory voting as everyone turns up to vote. Sure: it means we tend to adopt centrist positions, but is that such a bad thing?
The polls tend to reflect that the ETS is now a centralist position: so it will be adopted.
2.Your protest is meaningless. Remember 1996? Howard wanted to pass stringent gun-control measures in the wake of Port Arthur. There were marches in the streets, huge protest rallies, PM wearing flak-jacket and so on. End result?
Nothing happened politically.
Nothing.
Personally I believe this is due to our most sensible system of compulsory voting. Single Interest emotive groups have power in places where only a small proportion of the population actually turns up to vote. In the US, for instance, around 50-60% of the population bothers to vote. Organizations that can mobilize people to vote therefore wield power beyond the number of people actually concerned with the issue.
In Australia, however, as the Post-Port Arthur situation demonstrates, single-issue hot-button topics are irrelevant in a country with compulsory voting as everyone turns up to vote. Sure: it means we tend to adopt centrist positions, but is that such a bad thing?
The polls tend to reflect that the ETS is now a centralist position: so it will be adopted.