democratic nation: a country with a government that has been elected freely and equally by all its citizens
People feel duped. And there is plenty to suggest they were.
Big pre-election advertising spends are effective. That why the Liberals regularly outspend Labor and it's why Clive Palmer outspent everyone in the recent re-run of the WA senate election. You can argue that Clive can do what he pleases with his money, but there are questions circulating about whose money Clive actually spent. This should all be answered by the Supreme court in Brisbane. The voting behaviour of the PUP senators will perhaps be more indicative of whether they are serving the purpose of a democratic nation
Based on a recent profile on Leyonhjelm, it is hard to believe he is representative, even of the close to 9% of New South Welshmen who voted for him - David says John Howard 'deserved to be shot' for introducing stricter gun laws in 1996, he admitted “I had lots of semi-automatic rifles… every now and then I would take them out and pat them…bit weird. He has claimed the murders of Jill Meagher and the children at Sandy Hook school could've been avoided if we had more gun-toting citizens, and that the Greens should be tried for “crimes against humanity” for their advocacy against genetically modified food. He also believes current restrictions on smoking should be lifted (which supposedly has nothing to do with his party accepting donations from the tobacco industry).
In the next 6 years there may well be legislation that succeeds or fails based on the vote of Leyonjhelm - and in the interim we'll pay him $1.2M for his unrepresentative opinions. Another sign our democracy may not be all we would wish it to be.
Electoral fraud is not a significant problem in Australia, and the suggestion that it is will now be used by Liberal governments at state and federal level to drive the need for voters to provide ID at the time that they vote. The only reason for such a move is to prevent certain groups from casting a vote. Such a move would have a disproportionate effect on the young, Indigenous people, the poor, migrants, and people with disabilities.... demographics which less likely to vote conservative.
I wonder what is motivating such a move?
The best move we can make to protect our democracy is vote out Liberal governments at the next available opportunity, and don't even consider voting them back in until they drop this particular policy.