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March 29, 2024, 06:22:11 am

Author Topic: Federal Election 2019  (Read 12717 times)  Share 

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vox nihili

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Re: Federal Election 2019
« Reply #30 on: May 13, 2019, 03:25:52 pm »
+2
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-13/election-2019-vote-compass-left-right-polarisation/11095554?

Australia electorates from most left to most right according to vote compass data.

Interestingly both Batman Cooper and Wills (labor held) are more left than Melbourne (greens held).

Found this graphic interesting
(Image removed from quote.)

This is a really cool graphic. Still lowkey sus on VoteCompass, but it's an interesting divide.
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Joseph41

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Re: Federal Election 2019
« Reply #31 on: May 13, 2019, 03:27:52 pm »
0
Still lowkey sus on VoteCompass

In what sense?

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Natasha.97

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Re: Federal Election 2019
« Reply #32 on: May 14, 2019, 09:24:41 pm »
+3
I voted for the Greens after reading their policies, voted for Labor before but did not realise that MNCs were donating large amounts of money to them, therefore resulting in the lack of action against climate change.
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vox nihili

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Re: Federal Election 2019
« Reply #33 on: May 14, 2019, 10:56:55 pm »
+6
I voted for the Greens after reading their policies, voted for Labor before but did not realise that MNCs were donating large amounts of money to them, therefore resulting in the lack of action against climate change.

Certainly someone primarily interested in climate change would be likely to vote Greens at this election, because their policies on reducing emissions are much more aggressive than Labor's, but I'm not sure it's entirely fair to say that Labor has contributed a relatively poor climate policy because of their donations. This doubtless makes a contribution, but it's a lot more complex than that.

Climate politics has been a poison chalice in Australian politics for a long time. It brought down Rudd, likely brought down Gillard, didn't touch Abbott and then brought down Turnbull. All the while the Greens haven't handled this particularly well either. They, somewhat opportunistically, tried to differentiate themselves from Labor by voting down the ETS. This led to Rudd's removal and Gillard then minority government. In minority government they insisted on a flat tax (which is probably equal to or inferior to an ETS) that actually covered a much narrower base than the original ETS, but legislated stronger targets (largely irrelevant). The end result was that we were left with a politically dangerous climate policy that was scrapped as soon as Abbott came in. Moreover, the policy played better in the hands of Greens supporters because tax sounds better than ETS and targets look useful and actionable, even when they're not really.

Obviously I do say a lot of that as a criticism of the Greens, which those who read my shit here will know I am no big fan of. However, it also illustrates that climate politics in Australia has been horribly fraught. It's likely that this has contributed to the horrible dearth of policy we see from the major parties. The absence of a price on carbon being one of the most significant policy failures.
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Natasha.97

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Re: Federal Election 2019
« Reply #34 on: May 15, 2019, 02:28:20 am »
0
Certainly someone primarily interested in climate change would be likely to vote Greens at this election, because their policies on reducing emissions are much more aggressive than Labor's, but I'm not sure it's entirely fair to say that Labor has contributed a relatively poor climate policy because of their donations. This doubtless makes a contribution, but it's a lot more complex than that.

Climate politics has been a poison chalice in Australian politics for a long time. It brought down Rudd, likely brought down Gillard, didn't touch Abbott and then brought down Turnbull. All the while the Greens haven't handled this particularly well either. They, somewhat opportunistically, tried to differentiate themselves from Labor by voting down the ETS. This led to Rudd's removal and Gillard then minority government. In minority government they insisted on a flat tax (which is probably equal to or inferior to an ETS) that actually covered a much narrower base than the original ETS, but legislated stronger targets (largely irrelevant). The end result was that we were left with a politically dangerous climate policy that was scrapped as soon as Abbott came in. Moreover, the policy played better in the hands of Greens supporters because tax sounds better than ETS and targets look useful and actionable, even when they're not really.

Obviously I do say a lot of that as a criticism of the Greens, which those who read my shit here will know I am no big fan of. However, it also illustrates that climate politics in Australia has been horribly fraught. It's likely that this has contributed to the horrible dearth of policy we see from the major parties. The absence of a price on carbon being one of the most significant policy failures.

Apologies for not clarifying further. As an LGBTQ, multi-lingual, self-diagnosed Chinese aspie, Australian citizen by birth but raised in Hong Kong as that was where my father worked, they are the only party who truly represent me.
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PhoenixxFire

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Re: Federal Election 2019
« Reply #35 on: May 16, 2019, 05:15:03 pm »
0
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-16/canberra-prepoll-station-police-called-candidate-fight/11120166
lol

Quote
Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) staff have called police to a pre-polling booth in Canberra after an altercation between Liberal candidate Mina Zaki and a Labor volunteer.

Officials for the AEC reported the incident to police after Ms Zaki, who is running in the seat of Canberra, told Labor Senate candidate Katy Gallagher to "put a leash on your dog", referring to a volunteer who was campaigning outside a polling booth in Canberra's inner-north.
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Joseph41

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vox nihili

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Re: Federal Election 2019
« Reply #37 on: May 16, 2019, 08:12:28 pm »
0
Former Prime Minister, and Bill Shorten mentor, Bob Hawke has died.
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Joseph41

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Re: Federal Election 2019
« Reply #38 on: May 16, 2019, 08:26:56 pm »
0
Former Prime Minister, and Bill Shorten mentor, Bob Hawke has died.

Sad news.

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K888

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Re: Federal Election 2019
« Reply #39 on: May 16, 2019, 11:18:25 pm »
0
Political afficionados, what are franking credits and why is there a big deal about them? Google only gives me big financial terms that I understand approximately 0% of lol.

Professor Polonsky

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Re: Federal Election 2019
« Reply #40 on: May 16, 2019, 11:36:30 pm »
+4
Political afficionados, what are franking credits and why is there a big deal about them? Google only gives me big financial terms that I understand approximately 0% of lol.
I'll try to be relatively thorough, sorry if this gets too detailed.

The (main) way companies can distribute their profits back to shareholders is by issuing dividends. The company might decide, for example, to issue a $1 dividend per share that you own.

Company profits are taxed - in Australia, 30%. That means that the dividend had already been taxed. Dividends are also taxed as personal income for the investor, at regular income tax rates (which would vary between investors, of course).

To avoid this 'double-taxation', in Australia we have what's known as dividend franking. Essentially, the investor receives a tax credit equal to the tax that the company had already paid on the dividend. Say your tax liability was $1000, but the franking credit is $120 (i.e. you received $400 in dividends, which taxed at a 30% rate means a $120 tax liability for the company), you only need to pay $880 in tax. The effect of this is that rather than the dividend getting taxed at the company tax rate, it's actually only taxed at the individual investor's income tax rate, which could be higher or lower than the 30% corporate tax rate. Australia is fairly unique in having this 'fully-franked' imputation system.

Now, what happens if you have no income tax liability (i.e. you're a retiree)? As a further innovation on our dividend imputation system, Howard introduced cash refunds. So now you get that $120 as straight up cash from the government. The dividend doesn't get taxed at all, not in corporate tax and not for the investor.

Labor wants to abolish those cash refunds, except for pensioners.

The way this mechanically works with receiving the credit is a little different than described, but the outcome is the same.
« Last Edit: May 17, 2019, 02:45:20 am by Professor Polonsky »

vox nihili

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Re: Federal Election 2019
« Reply #41 on: May 17, 2019, 01:25:19 am »
+3
I'll try to be relatively thorough, sorry if this gets too detailed.

The (main) way companies can distribute their profits back to shareholders is by issuing dividends. The company might decide, for example, to issue a $1 dividend per share that you own.

Company profits are taxed - in Australia, 30%. That means that the dividend had already been taxed. Dividends are also taxed as personal income for the investor, at regular income tax rates (which would vary between investors, of course).

To avoid this 'double-taxation', in Australia we have what's known as dividend franking. Essentially, the investor receives a tax credit equal to the tax that the company had already paid on the dividend. Say your tax liability was $1000, but the franking credit is $120 (i.e. you received $400 in dividends, which taxed at a 30% rate means a $120 tax liability for the company), you only need to pay $880 in tax. The effect of this is that rather than the dividend getting taxed at the company tax rate, it's actually only taxed at the individual investor's income tax rate, which could be higher or lower than the 30% corporate tax rate. Australia is fairly unique in having this 'fully-franked' imputation system.

Now, what happens if you have no income tax liability (i.e. you're a retiree)? As a further innovation on our dividend imputation system, Howard introduced cash refunds. So now you get that $100 as straight up cash from the government. The dividend doesn't get taxed at all, not in corporate tax and not for the investor.

Labor wants to abolish those cash refunds, except for pensioners.

The way this mechanically works with receiving the credit is a little different than described, but the outcome is the same.

In some respects the current system is kind of like walking into Myer and saying “I’d like my refund now” without having bought anything.
There are some retirees that have aggressively pursued shares so that they can use refunds to fund their retirement; however, most tend to have a high level of personal wealth. Indeed, the only modelling available on this policy indicates that it overwhelming affects the wealthiest quintile of Australians.

Some argue that it provides an incentive to invest in shares, and that is certainly true. Others have said that removing the cash refunds will harm self-funded retirees, but this is disingenuous. Technically they’re self-funded, but in essence they’re relying on a government handout to do it.
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appleandbee

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Re: Federal Election 2019
« Reply #42 on: May 17, 2019, 06:51:42 pm »
+1
So I voted Greens for the first time today. I'm still a bit iffy since the seat is one of the most marginal ones (Macnamara- 3 way contest) and I really don't want a Coalition government. I'm also concerned about anti-semitism regarding the candidate's staffer as well as Hodgins-May's decision to not attend to not attend a Q&A conducted by a Zionist organisation ahead of the last federal election. I don't neccessarily think she should be held account for extreme (or towards that end) anti-semitism of other members of the party unless Greens can form gov, but still concerned by the Q&A boycott (probably at the forfront of my mind because I in a relationship with someone who is affected by these things and we talked a lot about broader anti-semitism). Ultimately though the prioritisation on climate action and positive campaigning made me inclined to vote for her even though I'm still a bit iffy.
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PhoenixxFire

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Re: Federal Election 2019
« Reply #43 on: May 18, 2019, 01:10:18 pm »
+1
Took me an hour to vote at an interstate polling center. Should have postal voted. On the plus side, there wasn't anyone handing out how to vote cards. Also saw some people in Anning shirts later, sadly did not have any eggs on me.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2019, 01:16:19 pm by PhoenixxFire »
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vox nihili

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Re: Federal Election 2019
« Reply #44 on: May 18, 2019, 01:39:34 pm »
+2
Fucking pumped for Day 1 of the Bill Shorten prime ministership yeah boi
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