G'day Bill,

Replying to a message of Bill Grimsley to Jeff Green:

 JG>> There's nothing wrong with the way the Coalition in Australia works. 

 BG> Until they get into power.  Then the in-fighting begins...

Not much different to Labor and their Causcus then. You vote Labor in and
they are overuled by the Caucus factions which are not representative of
the public.

 BG> Oh sure, ours is not a dishonest system per se, just unnecessary.  If
 BG> we have three distinct political parties, all with different
 BG> policies, then I reckon we should go to the polls with a 3 horse
 BG> race.

Things must be different in Qld. Down here, the two coalition parties
usually get together and come up with Coalition policies.

By that I mean, the Libs come up with their preferred options, The Nats
come up with their preferred options. They then get together and decide on
a compromise policy which they rarely change or argue over.

 JG>> What pisses me off is when politicians (spit) change sides during a 

 BG> I think you'll find that such things can no longer happen up here, but
 BG> I don't know about other states. 

It's still possible here.

 BG> AFAIK, if a sitting member either resigns or dies mid-term in Qld now,
 BG> he can only be replaced by somebody from his own party (unlike what
 BG> happened when Pat Field croaked that time).

I'm not talking about dying or resigning here. I'm talking about a sitting
member (still living) voted in as a Liberal Party candidate (eg Terry
Metheral) and then changing to a non aligned independent without the voters
having their say on his decision. If he felt that strong, he should be
forced to go to the polls to see if the people of his electorate agree with
him.

In the case of Qld, it was two people voted in as Liberals who changed to
Nationals only days after the election so that Joh and the Nationals could
rule in their own right. How much say did the voters get in that choice.
Fuck all!

If they die or resign in NSW, a by-election is held. At least the voters
get to have their say.

 JG>> While we're at it! Politicians (spit) shouldn't be allowed to resign
 JG>> mid  term either unless they are dying. If they do, they (and only
 JG>> they) should  foot the bill. Fuck 'em I say. If we can't shoot 'em,
 JG>> lets make 'em  accountable for some of their actions at least.

 BG> An admirable sentiment Jeff.  Have fun trying though.  :)

The only way I could change that would be to get elected myself. Once
elected I would have my nose as deep in the trough as anyone else :-)

Regards...Jeff (jeff{at}grntrs.dialix.oz.au)

--- FleetStreet 1.04 #638