Is it just me, or does it seem like Australia is run by paranoid old (and very conservative) men.

A question to all Ausies on Bluesnews that vote. Why do these fuckers get elected to office?

Is it just me, or does it seem like Australia is run by paranoid old (and very conservative) men.

Nah... convicts.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Founder of the "I Hate Smiley Fitz" society

Remember: Riley has autism. He has trouble communicating, and in an overstimulating
environment, he can get frightened and run away, leaving his parents frantic. - Auburn

The biggest problem here in Australia, at least in my opinion, is that voting is compulsory. Plenty of dickheads vote here because they have to without having a clue what's going on to begin with.

Our last government which was ousted earlier this year, set new levels in being complete and utter assholes to the average worker by making it way to damn easy to fire people. Lots of people lost their jobs under that system. Our new government who is every single bit as clueless and in many ways, quite a lot worse, basically rode into power by promising to overturn that one piece of legislation. So, in my mmost humble of opinions, they got in via revenge voting instead of logical thought because as all australians are going to find our pretty quick, these guys plan to screw you even harder, but with a less personal touch.

Plenty of other reasons, of course, why we end up with asswipes in power. In this case, I'm just concentrating on federal and it's pretty much the same thing either way. Last elections I was tempted to decide via a coin toss because we were fucked either way.

Its COMPULSORY to Vote??? Roflmao! What happens if you refuse? They put you in jail? You pay a fine?

You pay a fine?

Exactly.

Shit, what a fucked up system! And in a modern by todays standards country. You guys need a revolution!


And if you refuse to pay the fine? For political reasons. You could simply state that none of the political parties represent your best interests. What then? Jail Time? Must have a lot of political prisoners in your country...:P

This comment was edited on Aug 28, 09:46.

Yep, fine it is. Just the way of it I'm afraid.

On the issue of the Classification system in this country though, not having an R18+ is truly embarassing. Oddly, this only applies to games, as every other form of media is covered by such a rating.

Now, as a bona fide direct descendent of the convicts wot settled these 'ere shores, please excuse me while I go club a baby seal whilst downloading full version R18+ games from uncle torrence.

Oh the humanity!

This comment was edited on Aug 28, 09:55.

Aye voting is compulsory, its a choice between a kick in the balls or a shovel to the face. Either way you vote you lose.

As for the R18+ classification, I expect it will happen in the next year or so. There appears to only be the AG in SA holding it off at the moment.

Still, R18 or not, the price of games here really needs to be looked at. The price point at the moment is still only encouraging piracy for those that don't know how to import or buy online.

That's true, it is the South Australian AG holding out on the R18+ for games.

Good point about the prices too. I cant remember the last time I bought a full price game locally, I usually import out of both spite, and principal. Case in point- CoD4. Refusing to pay the $90AUD asking price (especially after the 'yes you Aussies can have it for the US price, no wait sorry you cant' fiasco on Steam), I decided to import for the horrendous price of $40AUD from play-asia. As it turned out, the game i received was the AUSTRALIAN BOXED VERSION!! Oh yes, I ROFL'd.

I really should go to Hong Kong one day, if only to see where so many of my gaming dollars have been sent

This comment was edited on Aug 28, 10:13.

I haven't bought many games locally of late but last time I walked into an EB store here, the prices have gone up, not down. Spore Galactic or whatver they're calling it was $130 or 130.00. Many of the latest games over $110.00.

Unless I count Scorched Earth, which someone gave to me on floppy disk sometime in the early 90's, I've never not purchased any game I've even tried. I don't usually bother with demos and just grab what I hope will be good. Still, with prices going as mad as they are here, I'm just playing a lot less games because I can't afford them like I used to do.
I've got a shitload of games on Steam but if they do as they mentioned not so long ago and localize prices per country, that will be the end of them for me, too. Everytime I startup Steam and see Call of Duty 4 for $88.50 I positively want to vomit. And that was a great game worth it's price, which I paid $75.00 last xmas.

Rseman, as much as I hate to pimp a particular store, you really should check out places like play-asia.com if you're able to buy online.

Such online gaming 'emporums' if you will, serve to shed some very harsh light on the ridiculous local prices us Australians are expected to pay.

Given the choice between paying a fair price for a legitimate game albeit imported, and being financically raped at the register by EB and everyone else, I'm sorry to say that I'll continue sending my dollars overseas.

The only area where this wont work though, is online distribution that follows a localised, or 'regionalised' pricing system like that of Steam, or as I like to call it, the 'fuck you Aussies, eat shit and go pay $90 for Call of Duty 4' system.

Import. Import and be happy.
This comment was edited on Aug 28, 10:24.

Back on topic though, here's a bit on Micheal Atkinson, the South Australian Attorney General whom single handedly stands in the way of an R18+ rating for games in Australia:

http://www.kotaku.com.au/games/2008/03/why_michael_atkinsons_opposal_of_r18_does_bugger_all_to_protect_kids_promotes_crime.html

Yeah, I do some shopping for stuff for myself from Play-Asia SavageD. You put me onto them ages ago when I was trying to find somewhere to get SOF Payback from. Sadly, I managed to get a copy;P

Oh noes, sorry about that

How much do you pay for shipping at Play-Asia?

This comment was edited on Aug 28, 16:16.

Shit, what a fucked up system! And in a modern by todays standards country. You guys need a revolution!

I happen to think it's a good system. At least we're not ruled by apathy where people couldn't even bother to vote.

And people who don't want to vote simply cross the ballot form. As someone whose been involved in vote counting many years ago, that's just what people do.

What is 10 minutes of your precious time every four years? As far as I'm concerned every citizen has a responsibility to state who they want in power, rather than whine and whinge when you don't get the government you want.

And if you refuse to pay the fine? For political reasons. You could simply state that none of the political parties represent your best interests. What then? Jail Time? Must have a lot of political prisoners in your country...

For a start, it's just a $40 fine for not voting.

Political prisoners? We don't have a Guantanamo Bay mate. We don't torture people or rendition them to other countries so someone else can do it. We don't people waterboarded in our prisons. We have really only have had one terrorist attack planned, which is currently in court ... our civil court and not some made up military tribunal.

I think that as far as political systems go, Australia is far better off. There is plenty of opportunity for people to put in postal and absentee votes ... or just turn up on polling day. If people are too lazy to contribute to that, then so be it. Cop a fine.

As for the censorship debate, changing the law or ratings requires a unanimous decision by the State and Territory attorney generals as the law is administered by the States and Territories. There are still ONE hold-out attorney general while everyone else is ready to change. It will require the South Australian Attorney General Michael Atkinson to either change is mind or being removed from office before we can get an R18+ rating. It's not going to happen overnight ... but it will happen. And we're a patient lot.