Peter Ross <Petros.Listig@fdrive.com.au> wrote:

The current Australian leadership, at least, reminds me of an elected "absolute monarchy" (maybe that's the reason for the Dames and Knights;-) After election the leader is free to ignore all science and reason.

I prefer to think of it this way: the new government is attempting to implement the central elements of its election platform. As you may recall, these included abolition of the carbon and mining taxes, preventing asylum seekers from reaching Australia by boat, switching the NBN essentially to a "fibre to the node" model, the paid parental leave scheme, budgetary restraint (i.e., Commonwealth spending reductions), etc., just to mention some of the most widely publicised policies. If I remember rightly, even the proposed amendments to the Racial Discrimination Act were foreshadowed prior to the election. So surely we can't argue that Coalition voters aren't receiving essentially what they (knowingly or unknowingly) sought at the election. Of course, non-Coalition voters have to witness the enactment of policies to which they are more or less strongly opposed. Let's read peter's statement above as an entirely legitimate expression of such opposition.