The Australian politics thread

[Jono]

Much of what you say is true, but nothing there makes them worse than One Nation.

One is silly policies, the other is evil.

[Matt79]

I didn't say they were worse than One Nation tbf to myself.

Originally Posted by Matt79

Two sides of the same coin, with equally loony policies. It's just that one has the thinnest veneer of polish while the other doesn't.

EDIT: Also, you've missed part of my point if you equate One Nation with evil, and I appreciate you were probably abbreviating your view there. I think the people involved in the party leadership were a bunch of disreputable, ignorant fools, who pedalled some appalling ****. And because of the approach they took, they definitely attracted so genuine assholes who ARE evil. But I think they were a minority within the party, at least in its first flush. I don't think the majority of people who were initially attracted to One Nation were evil - I think most of them were probably well-meaning, but the fact that we had such a large chunk of our society who were scared/frustrated enough to latch onto what Hanson and her cronies were pedalling indites society as a whole as much as it does those voters themselves.

[Jono]

Sorry you are right, I basically meant they're still not in the same ballpark.

One is the token racist party in a western country, the other is the token green party.

To say one equates the other is a bit wrong IMO.

[Matt79]

They equate to each other, IMO, in that they would both be utterly disastrous and destroy our society as we know it, if they gained power. As I said, there is a difference in that one side has a kernel, and often more than a kernel, of decent ideals (in my view) whereas the other much less so, but that's pretty meaningless compared to where their policies would lead us.

[Matt79]

The other big rider with all of this is that generally, any party that gains power will often find that they can't implement all the things they'd like to, and are forced to compromise and become less extreme. Sometimes that doesn't happen, and I will say that I think the Greens would be more likely to become more reasonable in power than One Nation.

[GIMH]

Are these One Nation guys out and out racists (BNPesque maybe) or more like a UKIP type party?

[Matt79]

They were probably trying to develop themselves into something like the Front National in France, or I suppose the BNP in the UK, although they were never as smoothly organised as either and (with a bit of help) quickly collapsed amid infighting, allegations of electoral fraud, other assorted malfeasence, and claims of infiltration by hardliners. Their collapse was also no doubt hastened by John Howard moving to been seen to validate and address the concerns of many of the people who voted for them and stealing back the bulk of those voters.

They were a bit different as well as they went from nothing to a very big result in a state election very quickly, whereas I understand the BNP has been more of a slow build up?

One Nation's rhetoric was certainly isolationist and in several instances clearly racist. There were famous references to ethnic ghettos, immigrants refusing to assimilate etc. The leader also slammed government assistance to aboriginal people and took to appearing literally wrapped in the Aussie flag.

The wikipedia article is probably a good basic summary.

[GIMH]

Yeah, BNP have been building slowly since the early 90s, and don't have any seats in British parliament. Thanks for the response anyway, explains a lot.

[social]

Originally Posted by GeraintIsMyHero

Are these One Nation guys out and out racists (BNPesque maybe) or more like a UKIP type party?

Many Australians agreed with parts of their original ideology, i.e. no-one living in Oz is entitled to more benefits simply because of race/colour/creed

Problem is that it was communicated by naive/less intelligent/racist people advised by halfwits and reported on by ****s with an agenda

BTW, if anyone needs evidence as to why Abbott should never be entrusted with higher office, look no further than his treatment of Hanson (and I'm a Liberal voter!)

[howardj]

Buzzer Buswell - A Loveable Rogue

Politics needs characters.

[PhoenixFire]

Originally Posted by GeraintIsMyHero

Are these One Nation guys out and out racists (BNPesque maybe) or more like a UKIP type party?

Hmm, I'm not sure if I'd describe the BNP as out-and-out racist; they are disgusting and ignorant and almost certainly racist, but they can't afford to be openly racist. Neither are the NF IMO, got a flier through my door and there was no mention of race anywhere on it. In fact, Nick Griffin was clearly trying pedal the idea that immigration and race made up a very small part of his manfiesto when he launched it today.

[morgieb]

Originally Posted by GeraintIsMyHero

Are these One Nation guys out and out racists (BNPesque maybe) or more like a UKIP type party?

BNP I'd assume. They are out-and-out racists and only believe in Australians in Australia.

[slippyslip]

Originally Posted by social

Many Australians agreed with parts of their original ideology, i.e. no-one living in Oz is entitled to more benefits simply because of race/colour/creed

Problem is that it was communicated by naive/less intelligent/racist people advised by halfwits and reported on by ****s with an agenda

BTW, if anyone needs evidence as to why Abbott should never be entrusted with higher office, look no further than his treatment of Hanson (and I'm a Liberal voter!)

Abbott was under orders from Howard to trash her while Howard stole her policies.

[howardj]

8:30pm tonight on your ABC

Tune in

[stephen]

Originally Posted by morgieb

Two quizzes for all you political nerds. They aren't as good as the old OzPolitics thing, but they're still decent gagues for where you are at.....

▷Australian Political Party Selector SelectSmart.com free Politics & Government personality test, selector quiz, matching, choose, compare.
Australian Political Quiz

I got...

My #1 is: Australian Democrats Books, etc.
My #2 is: The Greens Books, etc.
My #3 is: Labor Party Books, etc.
My #4 is: National Party Books, etc.
My #5 is: Liberal Party Books, etc.
My #6 is: One Nation Books, etc.

and....

Australian Political Quiz - Results

Originally Posted by morgieb

What quiz did you do? Possible to provide a link.

Some very good points there, imo.

The first one

Originally Posted by Jono

Much of what you say is true, but nothing there makes them worse than One Nation.

One is silly policies, the other is evil.

I look at it from a damage mitgation point of view. Both parties would be disasterous for the country, both parties are full of extremists. I do think that the Greens form of self-righteous religious totalitarianism would be worse than the One Nation nationalistic xenophobic totalitarianism, from a utilitarian perspective.

Honestly though, I would leave this country if either of these two parties came to power.

Socially the Labor party is much more moderate in its policies than the Green party. Mainly because they are more pragmatic, unless you live in the Peoples Republic of Blighland.