In Singapore you can be fined for chewing gum, in Australia you can be fined for littering, in Queensland you can be fined for swearing in public, but …

If I were elected to office …

… in Australia there would be a fine for using the phrase “un-Australian”. It’s a horrid, lame and lazy expression used by people who want to denounce something by appealing to a vague and non-existent higher principle without the irksome bother of having to articulate, justify or defend their denunciation.

We’ve had “Clean up Australia Day” for years – enough of that! Why not a “Clean up un-Australian Day” where all the uses, users, and abusers of this toxic phrase can be rooted out and flushed away. What a beautiful country we’d have then.

So here we are with election day tomorrow. In 35 days of campaigning I’ve given you 35 policy ideas/pledges and I’d like to finish by saying “vote 1 for me”, but sadly I’m not running for office, so…

Vote 1 for someone like me – you know it would be un-Australian not to.

Dene Hughes – Thanks for your thought-provoking posts this last month.

[This content was originally posted to Google Buzz, #73]

If I were elected to office …

I’d increase Australia’s contribution to foreign aid projects from its current 0.33% of gross national income to 0.7% by 2015 – a target set by the UN’s Millennium project for reducing poverty.

Don’t be afraid of foreign aid, vote 1, Me.

UN Millennium Project | Welcome to Our Historic Site

[This content was originally posted to Google Buzz, #72]

If I were elected to office …

… hypothetically speaking, elected as head of a country with a dog’s breakfast of a tax system, and hypothetically I appointed an expert team of economic boffins to to a comprehensive review of the tax system over two years, and this expert team made 138 recommendations for changes to the tax system, if I were elected to office I wouldn’t implement just one or two of the 138 recommendations. Hypothetically that would be bone-headed and spineless.

For more recommendation implementation, I recommend you implement your number 1 vote for me.

ABC The Drum – Government’s tax reform a Robin Hood Shuffle

[This content was originally posted to Google Buzz, #71]

If I were elected to office …

I’d allow preferential voting above the line for the Senate. Currently, to vote above the line you simply place a single 1 against the party of your choice, and then the party distributes your preferences for you according to their submitted group voting ticket. The sordid realities of backroom preference deals means that is almost certain that the preferences will not be distributed the way you would like.

The alternative to above the line voting is to number all 84 candidates below the line – tedious and error prone. Why can’t we just number all the parties/groups above the line instead of having to do it for every candidate on the ballot paper?

To improve voting by having less voting, be voting 1 for me.

Group Voting Tickets (Senate preference flows) for New South Wales (NSW) Tickets A to P (of Tickets A to AF), 2010 federal election

[This content was originally posted to Google Buzz, #70]

Australia currently has laws mandating a 3 day blackout on electronic election advertising prior to polling day. I was thinking of extending that to a week in my policy pledges, but after seeing the ads airing last night I’ve decided that …

If I were elected to office …

I’d have a total blackout on electronic election advertising for all time. Seriously. What I’ve been seeing is 1% information, 10% misinformation, and 100% manipulation. I know those figures don’t add up to 100%, but that’s exactly how I feel about election ads – they don’t add up.

Let’s conduct a little thought experiment here … imagine that there were no more dodgy, deceptive and emotionally manipulative election ads on TV, and instead the parties had to explain their position and views in person, in their own words. Can anyone credibly argue that our democracy would suffer as a result???

No more TV election ads. Ever. Vote 1. Me.

[This content was originally posted to Google Buzz, #69]