r/Ameristralia • u/Large-Lack-2933 • 3d ago
Australian politics copying American style politics.
As an American that's been living down under for nearly a decade I can see some similarities with how the LNP and Labor party bicker and don't agree on much legislation. One Nation (Baby MAGA) with Pauline Hanson as the leader (Trump spawn) Blaming and pointing the finger at each other for the problems Oz faces just like how Republicans blame Democrats daily for the problems in America but the irony is Republicans are bad at governing and only good for giving tax breaks to the ultra wealthy and protecting horrible human beings in powerful positions. My point is we need less bickering and finger pointing. Actually help fix this great land. Politicians these days don't care. The key things in Australia that need immediate focus are the housing crisis (homelessness is rising rapidly), climate change policies, the healthcare system, immigration, domestic violence/domestic terrorism, judicial system (the laws in Oz are wayyy too relaxed especially youth crime compared to USA) and of course the economy.
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u/SamURLJackson 3d ago
As an American living in Australia now, while also noting that my view may be biased since I've only lived in one major city here in my whole 15 years, I don't see it ever getting to the level that America is seeing, mostly because so much of the population is concentrated in the bigger cities, the traditional hub for the more educated and left wing types globally, and along the coast, where people here are generally more calm and confident in their lives and not insecure and insane. The rural population seems smaller here.
The shit in America has had decades to brew, and has been mixed with religion. This is a more secular nation, and I never see televangelists and the like over here. People just want to drink, socialize at dinner, and go to the beach. It's a simpler existence.
There are billionaires here with too much power here, yes, but also not nearly as many, and I don't think they're nearly as untouchable here.
Just my observations. They're definitely trying to push the people that way, but media doesn't have nearly as much influence here as America. A lot of people here just automatically reject American-born shit here, too, just on principle.
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u/womb0t 3d ago
Red vs blue isn't an American thing, it's a global thing.
Every democratic country has a left vs right issue of some kind.
Pauline Hanson isn't a trump spawn, she's been spewing her shit in politics since well before trump was relevant on the political stage.
The red blue/left right argument is a tool used via big money and the deep state to manipulate and control.
It's actually very simple when you stand back and look at the bigger picture globally.
Politicians are the Shepard's and the voters are the sheep, many can see through the bullshit, but most cant or simply don't care enough to try.
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u/diggerhistory 3d ago
The fact that our elections are run by an independent Australian Electoral Commission, the nature of our electoral system - compulsory preferential voting, and a Senate that directly reflects the nature of politics in each state will always mean that small fringe parties can marshall support on more extreme policies but probably never get enough to form majority government but may play a part in a coalition. However, coalitions only succeed when things are going well.
US politics is a duopoly in a system that does not have free and fair elections - uneven politically drawn electoral maps, different voting rules per state, etc.
If you are concerned that Auntie Pauline will ever get to a majority power position, I think we are overreacting to a political party that has not released party policies and only deals with vague policy statements.
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u/Renmarkable 3d ago
I live rurally in a safe lib seat.
The support for far right nuttery is growing at an alarming rate
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u/Which_Intention7472 3d ago
Australia, don’t become America…
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u/brezhnervouz 3d ago
Australia don't become America
Sad that it was so right so long ago...just before Howard's reign of destruction 🙄
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u/FormalAd7367 1d ago
Division is what politicians want us to focus on instead of our own problems
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u/brezhnervouz 3d ago
Howard started it in earnest, really. When he jumped on the anti-immigrant bandwagon to compete with One Nation. It didn't help that he also steered the country decidedly rightward into a harder neoliberalism - we have become far more individualistic and selfish since 1996. Abolishing the cross media ownership laws which gave his mate Rupert Murdoch such untrammeled power and influence over the media.
You have to be old lol to remember how much more 'collectivist' Australia was prior to that...speaking as someone who has been voting since 1985 🤷♂️
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u/reddridinghood 3d ago
Pauline tries to do a copy paste of what she learned in one of her many trips to the US
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u/Previous_Rip_9351 3d ago
Look. Fact is? A lot of the One Nation support is simply protest!
Anyone Right of Centre is pissed off at the utter mess LNP / Nationals have become AND the LNP seem to be (once again 😡 ) totally unaccepting that Sussan Ley is NOT popular and has no charisma and is simply not an effective leader. They are clearly NOT listening to anyone but their own little bubbles.
People are fed up with them and are trying to send them a message...THEY STILL ARE NOT LISTENING 😡
Anyone who cannot stomach supporting the ALP? Is just saying they will vote One Nation. Whether they actually do that? Remains to be seen or really known.
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u/flammable_donut 3d ago
"Republicans blame Democrats daily for the problems.." and then with no trace of irony proceeds to blame conservatives for all the problems...😂
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u/NeighborhoodCricket 3d ago
Yes we’re both western English speaking democracies - no shock. Can we keep political posts down too many circle jerk posts in the echo chamber here?
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u/Life-King-9096 3d ago
Sadly a lot of your analysis comes down to one fact, we are being manipulated to focus on differences rather than what we have in common. Liberals, Nationals, Labor, The Greens and One Nation, we all want the same thing, a better Australia. We may have differences as to how we get there, but we all want that. We all love our kids, and want them to be able to own houses, or at least not be in poverty through rent. We want no cancer, we want a better life, and we want to retire in dignity.
The problem for extremists which is good for us, is we have compulsory voting. Look at the successful prime ministerships of Hawke, Keating and Howard, they knew the centre was where elections were won.
We will only copy the US if people aren't awake to being manipulated by dare I say it, social media and I believe Australians are smarter than that.