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Comment on Huge swings to ONP, against Libin today's SA election, small swing against ALP, towards Greens

voting is the main way to show support to a political party and it’s platform, if you’re not getting votes it’s pretty clear people don’t agree with what you’re offering

politicians listen to votes

I don’t disagree with either of these statements. Nor do they disagree with my statement that votes are a vague message - if I tell you (and it’s the truth) that the Greens weren’t in my top two preferences in 2025 (nor Labor, nor Liberal) - what information does that give them? What would the Greens do if they wanted my vote? All my vote really says is, “I prefer this other party”, but not which policies I like, or even if it’s the policies I have a problem with. I know people who vote Liberal but are anti-privatisation! I know people who vote Liberal but are environmentally progressive! I know someone who voted for the opposition one year to “give someone else a go”! Even just the differing policies of each party are complicated, let alone other factors like personalities.

I don’t agree that voting is our biggest weapon, but it’s one everyone can use without any risk, so it’s certainly potent and important! Our biggest weapon is our labour. If you, me and millions of other people all voice a unified demand and stop going to work, that’s both a more accurate weapon (they know precisely what we want changed) and a weapon that can bring a government to its knees - look at revolutions overseas started by strikes. And it also works against companies which don’t even let us vote!

You can see the impact PHON has, even though they only got a tiny % of the pie in SA the big parties are keenly aware of them and why people are voting for them

The following quote from Labor is extremely vague. Why did people vote for One Nation? Was it frustration with housing costs? General cost of living pressures? Reaction to the firearm laws after the Bondi massacre? Opposition to Islam? A hatred of Arabic people (Muslim or not) or Asians? Opposition to all immigration, including English? Simply sending a message of dissatisfaction to the Liberals? A disdain towards conventional, formal politicians? Media exposure and familiarity? (some people can’t even name our Prime Minister, so don’t underestimate this!)

tbh the greens should really be shining right now, absolute shambles from them

Absolutely. While I do think they’re right to support activism around Gaza (even if it comes from the argument of “stop wasting our resources on foreign wars”), it shouldn’t be at their forefront.

the demands they seem to levy are egregious that have me siding with businesses going damn that’s crazy

It’s worth pointing out that sometimes (and maybe this doesn’t apply to the ones you’re thinking of) they come to the table with high demands with the intention to settle on a lower demand.

Not all unions are the same, nor are all organisers the same (had a string of bad ones until recently) so I’m fully aware that some are bad at representing employees. And it’s a damn shame. It makes a feedback loop where a bad union experience makes people dismissive of the actions necessary to improve the union. I’m lucky enough to be in one where we’ve recently managed to reorganise and volunteer enough to build campaigns where fellow employees were able to instruct us with their demands (and you bet thousands of us were asking for a 10% pay rise that we had to temper to something more realistic). But until I volunteered to help build this reorganisation, I did feel disempowered and unrepresented, and hesitated to even join the union, despite being a unionist.

The tough answer is, if institutions aren’t giving you power, you have to build it.

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Eyekaytee@aussie.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Sadly there’s too much for me to reply to

what information does that give them? What would the Greens do if they wanted my vote? All my vote really says is, “I prefer this other party”, but not which policies I like, or even if it’s the policies I have a problem with.

They can get quite a lot out of it, if you live an exciting life like me and tried to read

Review of Labor’s 2019 Federal Election Campaign

alp.org.au/media/…/alp-campaign-review-2019.pdf

They go into detail on where and who was unhappy with them, for example:

Labor’s position on Adani sent a message to workers and their families in central and north Queensland that Labor did not value them or the work they do, a problem magnified by the Stop Adani Convoy. A perception Labor was not supportive of the mining industry may have also damaged the Party across the rest of Queensland

The swing against Labor was driven by a mix of national and local dynamics. The Labor-Greens agreement that underpinned the minority state Labor government in Tasmania from 2010 to 2014 remains a sore point for many voters in northern Tasmania, who view the Greens as implacably hostile to their interests, values and livelihoods. For a Labor candidate in northern Tasmania, any perception a vote for Labor could lead to more power and influence for the Greens is very damaging.

So while in isolation a single vote doesn’t accurately tell the pollies what you’re after, in aggregate they’re the loudest voice in teh room

Our biggest weapon is our labour. If you, me and millions of other people all voice a unified demand and stop going to work, that’s both a more accurate weapon (they know precisely what we want changed) and a weapon that can bring a government to its knees - look at revolutions overseas started by strikes. And it also works against companies which don’t even let us vote!

I’d agree in principal because there are plenty of examples in history to show when workers said this fucking sucks I’m not doing this anymore and they all collectively agreed to stop work it does work, but I guess I can’t see this happening as much anymore, the demands are also strange

ABC journalists to strike for first time in 20 years with widespread news disruption expected

“Management have played very dirty in negotiations and don’t think we deserve pay that’s in line with inflation (despite giving themselves massive bonuses). They won’t even make an assurance that AI won’t take over our jobs.

I was like when has it ever been a thing that you get a pay raise in line with inflation? isn’t it always what the market offers?

“No one has provided any evidence to me to suggest ABC staff are paid less than industry standards,” Marks said. “In addition, the leave provisions ABC staff receive are generally more generous than many other major workplaces.”

theguardian.com/…/abc-staff-strike-first-time-20-…

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theguardian.com/…/cfmeu-victorian-branch-15bn-cos…

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I myself have no reason to do this as my life is too comfortable, given by all the RAM trucks and SUV’s I saw on the way into the city today it seems like we’re in a real K shaped economy

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- eureka@aussie.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  
  I was like when has it ever been a thing that you get a pay raise in line with inflation? isn’t it always what the market offers?
  
  First things first: it doesn’t really mater if “it’s a thing” - most of our historical wins, that we take for granted, weren’t a thing until they were.
  
  But since we’re in a liberalist market economy, ‘the market’ here is really just business administration offering as high or low as they want, so long as there are some workers who accept it (and so long as they don’t violate minimum wage laws). So if the typical worker doesn’t want our real wages to spiral down, we have to play our part in shaping what is acceptable in the market. If we work together, we have a stronger voice, and can make the reasonable demand that our pay doesn’t just decrease every year without reason.
  
  I myself have no reason to do this as my life is too comfortable
  
  Surely your life improves as the living situation of people around you improves.
  
  For example, if you interact with people daily, and some of them aren’t comfortable enough to take time off work when contagious, or to afford better food or medicine to defend against illness, or are simply more stressed in general, then that increases the odds of you getting sick. And if you’re in an emergency situation and have to go to hospital (even private), less workload on the hospitals means faster and less rushed service to you. There are hundreds of other similar examples, no point in me carrying on as I’m sure you can think of a few others.
  
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