Coalition Aims for the Death of Compulsory Voting

Let's be clear: the Howard Government would never advance such a proposition if they believed it would not advantage them, and particularly if they believed it would advantage Labor or the Greens.

While New Zealand had an 80% turnout at their recent elections, that still means that one in five people didn't have their say on who governs them. In the US that figure is one in two. I really like the fact that in Australia, while I didn't vote for our current government, I can be completely assured that it's the government that most Australians wanted. Or thought they wanted. When you remove compulsory voting, you remove that assurance.

The Government might claim that compelling people to vote is undemocratic, and I guess it is. But so is selling Telstra when 70% of the Australian population is opposed to it. So is sending Australian troops to the war in Iraq when most Australians are opposed to it. So are the new Workplace Reforms that most of Australia is against. I don't see Senator Nick Minchin jumping up and down about the 'profound principle' of democracy being at stake over those issues. Shallow bastard.