Why I am not an Australian
Many Australians ask me why I do not want to become a citizen of this dry hot land. The past few weeks, i.e. the federal election, illustrates one of my standard answers to this question.
First of all, I do not want to be subjected to compulsory voting. Although I do believe that voting is a great good and if I could I would, compulsory voting actually reduces the quality of democracy. People have no reason to really care about politics, it is just something you do. I have read somewhere that only 75% of the votes are valid, so what is the point?
Besides compulsory voting, the quality of political debate in Australian politics is very low. Now political debate is not very enlightening in most cases, but in my experience, Australian politicians are champions at producing meaningless drivel. The rhetoric is so thick it can be cut with a knife.
I am not sure whether the political parties think Australian are actually that stupid, or whether interest in politics is so low that nobody really cares what politicians say.
The campaign is aimed at explaining people why not to vote for the other dude. Also, for a country that voted against becoming a republic this election is very presidential. The choice is between Rudd and Howard, not between liberal and socialistic ideals.
Furthermore, the Australian system prevents small parties from being able to have a say in parliament. It is very unlikely that the Greens will ever have a fair number of seats, so Australian governments will always be a ping pong between Labour and Liberals. This is not good because the two party system severely limits the richness of the political debate.
The current election circus shows that there is no clear policy from either party. Policy making s a reactive contest, trying to outsmart each other with on the run populist options.
Why should I choose to become actively involved in a system I do not support?
Now I am not saying that the Netherlands is a perfect country, but it is the place of my birth and therefore my default citizenship.
Besides my disagreement with the Australian political system there are other reasons, such as jury duty and my emotional binding with the country I grew up in, not to become an Australian. This could be a topic for the future.
First of all, I do not want to be subjected to compulsory voting. Although I do believe that voting is a great good and if I could I would, compulsory voting actually reduces the quality of democracy. People have no reason to really care about politics, it is just something you do. I have read somewhere that only 75% of the votes are valid, so what is the point?
Besides compulsory voting, the quality of political debate in Australian politics is very low. Now political debate is not very enlightening in most cases, but in my experience, Australian politicians are champions at producing meaningless drivel. The rhetoric is so thick it can be cut with a knife.
I am not sure whether the political parties think Australian are actually that stupid, or whether interest in politics is so low that nobody really cares what politicians say.
The campaign is aimed at explaining people why not to vote for the other dude. Also, for a country that voted against becoming a republic this election is very presidential. The choice is between Rudd and Howard, not between liberal and socialistic ideals.
Furthermore, the Australian system prevents small parties from being able to have a say in parliament. It is very unlikely that the Greens will ever have a fair number of seats, so Australian governments will always be a ping pong between Labour and Liberals. This is not good because the two party system severely limits the richness of the political debate.
The current election circus shows that there is no clear policy from either party. Policy making s a reactive contest, trying to outsmart each other with on the run populist options.
Why should I choose to become actively involved in a system I do not support?
Now I am not saying that the Netherlands is a perfect country, but it is the place of my birth and therefore my default citizenship.
Besides my disagreement with the Australian political system there are other reasons, such as jury duty and my emotional binding with the country I grew up in, not to become an Australian. This could be a topic for the future.
posted by Peter Prevos | 21:00
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