Australia government expenditure as a proportion of GDP is in line with the USA.
And it’s less than Canada, New Zealand, the UK, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Poland, Belgium and France.(At least according to Wiki and the World Economic Forum).
So I’d suggest we can afford it.
And if there’s a perception the government spends too much then it must be otherwise borne out of collecting too little revenue.
On the revenue side , I am no expert on the tax system but I would assume someone isn’t paying enough and some others might be paying too much.
I mean considering our GDP to expenditure ratio is so good.
3 hours cooking democracy sausages. No one carrying on in the line. Nice community atmosphere. Anyone who thinks this process is a pain or inconvenience is not a serious person.
Civic duty done. Apologies to the indigenous party for an undeservedly low ranking, I was half way finished the senate paper before I remembered they existed and I was too lazy to redo the whole thing.
OK, Eaglemont kids used to look down on me from Heidelberg.I was middle Heidelberg, stayed out of the brawls between Upper and Lower, the deadbeats who said they were Heidelberg Heights. Rosanna kids were the most relatable. Class struggles in the Northern suburbs of the day.
For me the rabble on the bus occurred when it got to that PANCH building.
Just voted. Not a sausage, not even a dog. More people doing HTV and AEC than voters. Only two or three ALP, had to weave my way through the dozens of Libs in distinctive blue.
I registered a complaint with the AEC for putting us locals further away in the school hall than the absentees.
Neighbour told me her kids did the D and B, zero interest in politics . She put the Greens last because they ruined the country.
I put legalise cannabis high in my Rep and Senate votes, just above Animal Justice. Family First second last , ahead of PHON.
That’s it. I remember it as a black day, still seething in the evening, didn’t go to a party with my Carlton supporter friends in Canberra.
Then I got a phone call late at night from Melbourne to tell me how the votes were going
You must be a similar age to my mother as she has always told me that she also heard the news on the radio that morning due to the time difference and woke everybody up to announce that TV star Graham Kennedy had been killed.
The first time I was eligible to vote was 1975 - the dismissal election.
The sitting member in my electorate was the caretaker PM, Malcolm Fraser. His opponent (the sacrificial Labor candidate) was my high school woodwork teacher.
Hopefully independent Alex Dyson can wrest the seat from the Libs this time around.
