Can your politicians match this display?

[JohnB]

There is some kerfuffle in Oz at the moment with the Prime Minister wanting to bring in a carbon tax, something she categorically ruled out just 24 hours before the last election. Many people are not happy and there is much name calling and gnashing of teeth.

 

Since the end of the Keating era I have worried that our pollies had become a rather boring bunch with little fair for the dramatic and not really worthy of exposure on the world scene. I now have new hope in Senator Mary Jo Fisher from South Australia.

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/video/2011/03/02/3153400.htm

 

Watch the video and see how political debate is done in the Land Down Under.

[imatfaal]

Damn - we could do with some of that in the musty old 'mother of parliaments'

[Marat]

Don't let Charlie Sheen see that.

 

In Canada, the Kingdom of Political Correctness, where Environmentalism is King, there was an election run recently on the Liberal Party's proposal to introduce a carbon tax. Suddenly the gushing romanticism of the population about the marvels of protecting the environment was confronted by the ugly fact that this might actually cost everyone some money, so they overwhelmingly voted it down.

[Horza2002]

Anyone else think watching Nick Clegg or David Cameron doing the time warp would be one of the most distrubing sites imaginable...

[iNow]

And yet I see the carbon tax passed your Senate just today by a vote of 36 to 32...

 

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/senate-passes-carbon-tax-20111108-1n4p1.html

 

http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2011/07/australias_carbon_tax.php

[michel123456]

And yet I see the carbon tax passed your Senate just today by a vote of 36 to 32...

 

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/senate-passes-carbon-tax-20111108-1n4p1.html

 

http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2011/07/australias_carbon_tax.php

 

You have only 68 senators in Australia?

[iNow]

I don't live in Australia.

 

But there are 76 (looks like a few abstained).

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Senate

[JohnB]

Yep. We have 76 Senators, 12 for each State and 2 for each of the Territories.

 

There is occasional talk of expanding it by granting the Northern Territory full State status but nothing seems to come of it.

 

The Carbon Tax did pass, but neither it nor the government that introduced it in such an underhanded manner will survive the next election.

[michel123456]

Interesting. We have 300.

[JohnB]

300? Have you considered a short "Hunting Season" to cull the numbers?

 

Interesting. Our numbers have increased since Federation but the reason has stayed the same. Since some States have many more people than others if there was direct proportional representation then New South Wales and Victoria would pretty much rule the country. By giving each State an equal number of Senators we try to avoid dominance by any particular region. Where a Rep in the Lower House tries to make sure that his personal constituents aren't disadvantaged by new laws a Senator fights for his region.

 

To put it into a Greek perspective, just say that there was a chunk of the budget going towards upgrading highways. The Senators from South Aegean would be arguing that it should include port facilities as their area is mostly islands and therefore doesn't have highways.

 

But how did you get 300 of the sods? I would think that 4 from each Periphery would be plenty.

 

(You haven't been allowing them to breed, have you? )