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I still have no idea why people voted them in again, Everything they do can be found to benefit the developers (like selling waterfront property in Woy Woy for

by LIV2 7y ago

I still have no idea why people voted them in again, Everything they do can be found to benefit the developers (like selling waterfront property in Woy Woy for only $40k to a developer, selling the land the powerhouse museum is on to developers, rail corridors etc) It's pretty depressing

roenxi 7y ago
In a sense if that is the major complaint then it makes sense why they are getting relected - developers are taking land and building things people want. There has always been a background level of corruption in construction afaik. Everyone wants it to be a squeaky clean process, but everyone also wants infrastructure; we have high immigration and we need the groundwork laid in Sydney to support population growth. We can argue about whether they are making great long term decisions. They probably aren't. But there is a lot of activity in the right general space; they took political risks with their light rail build up for example. And the recent Federal Labor party has a questionable record at infrastructure projects and it seems unlikely that the NSW branch has a better handle on the situation.
jakecopp 7y ago
Negative gearing and franking credits seem to be more important than absolutely everything else.
bamboozled 7y ago
I see two major issues in politics right now. The first being that Democracy wasn’t ready for social media and the Internet and still isn’t. The second is a major one without an easy solution. It seems we’re always forced to vote for the least worst option. I feel many democracies need to consider alternatives. I think It would be nice to introduce a pre-election poll and first ask voters to decide on whether they’re actually satisfied with the candidates and policies put forth prior to the actual election. Else we just end up with 4 years of no one being happy with the lesser of two evils running the show. This is why people always say “I can’t believe X won”. It’s because there is often no alternative but democracy just plugs on as usual even though no one was really satisfied with their options. I believe it’s also why many major elections of late have been so close, people are just divided. I’d propose that if the voters aren’t ready to proceed with the election, say someone such as the Governor General (in Australia’s case), needs to work with major parties to start another pre-selection round. I’m also interested in the idea that politicians should be “pardoned” by those who elected them before leaving office, ie if major initiatives were not implemented, there should be some accountability for that and maybe some penalties, ie reduced pension. It’s insane to think one can be the leader of a country and not be held accountable for a single thing during a term in office, wow.
- marcusverus 7y ago
  I feel like this is less a problem with democracy than it is with our legacy nation-states. Democracy doesn't scale well and is not equipped to reconcile irreconcilable differences. How can lefties in San Francisco and right wingers in Oklahoma be expected to find middle ground when their stated goals are mutually exclusive? You could address these issues by tinkering with democracy on a massive scale, or you could sub-divide the legacy nation states into regional powers with common cultures and goals, and allow them to go their separate ways.

by LIV2 7y ago

roenxi 7y ago

In a sense if that is the major complaint then it makes sense why they are getting relected - developers are taking land and building things people want. There has always been a background level of corruption in construction afaik. Everyone wants it to be a squeaky clean process, but everyone also wants infrastructure; we have high immigration and we need the groundwork laid in Sydney to support population growth. We can argue about whether they are making great long term decisions. They probably aren't. But there is a lot of activity in the right general space; they took political risks with their light rail build up for example. And the recent Federal Labor party has a questionable record at infrastructure projects and it seems unlikely that the NSW branch has a better handle on the situation.

jakecopp 7y ago

Negative gearing and franking credits seem to be more important than absolutely everything else.

bamboozled 7y ago

I see two major issues in politics right now. The first being that Democracy wasn’t ready for social media and the Internet and still isn’t. The second is a major one without an easy solution. It seems we’re always forced to vote for the least worst option. I feel many democracies need to consider alternatives. I think It would be nice to introduce a pre-election poll and first ask voters to decide on whether they’re actually satisfied with the candidates and policies put forth prior to the actual election. Else we just end up with 4 years of no one being happy with the lesser of two evils running the show. This is why people always say “I can’t believe X won”. It’s because there is often no alternative but democracy just plugs on as usual even though no one was really satisfied with their options. I believe it’s also why many major elections of late have been so close, people are just divided. I’d propose that if the voters aren’t ready to proceed with the election, say someone such as the Governor General (in Australia’s case), needs to work with major parties to start another pre-selection round. I’m also interested in the idea that politicians should be “pardoned” by those who elected them before leaving office, ie if major initiatives were not implemented, there should be some accountability for that and maybe some penalties, ie reduced pension. It’s insane to think one can be the leader of a country and not be held accountable for a single thing during a term in office, wow.

marcusverus 7y ago
I feel like this is less a problem with democracy than it is with our legacy nation-states. Democracy doesn't scale well and is not equipped to reconcile irreconcilable differences. How can lefties in San Francisco and right wingers in Oklahoma be expected to find middle ground when their stated goals are mutually exclusive? You could address these issues by tinkering with democracy on a massive scale, or you could sub-divide the legacy nation states into regional powers with common cultures and goals, and allow them to go their separate ways.