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[RedKing]

Sort of. The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, was basically ousted by his own party and replaced with Australia's first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.

It's a definite move to the left for the Aussies and one that I think a lot of Labor supporters will approve of.

[Jackrabbit]

And you know what? We're making way to big of a deal of it.

I am aware that this is an amazing thing that just happened but the first 20 pages of my paper should not be devoted to it and subjects even slightly connected to it.

My favorite in terms of "red-necks exist out here too, sure enough" would be a whole article devoted to how some people (and yeah, of course it's the minority) don't like Julia because she's not married, doesn't have kids, is smart and dates a hairdresser. Yay to you guys for having an opinion, crawl back out of the daylight and go be misogynistic on 4chan or something.

Politics in this country is equal parts hilarious and facepalm worthy. I have to admit, I want to get more involved.

[Kogan Loloklam]

Does this mean Rockstar games will no longer be banned?

It's hard to tell if it's Australia's Left or Right that is so stupid about video games.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Australia began black-listing sites a few years back. That sounds pretty Right to me.

[RedKing]

And you know what? We're making way to big of a deal of it.

I am aware that this is an amazing thing that just happened but the first 20 pages of my paper should not be devoted to it and subjects even slightly connected to it.

My favorite in terms of "red-necks exist out here too, sure enough" would be a whole article devoted to how some people (and yeah, of course it's the minority) don't like Julia because she's not married, doesn't have kids, is smart and dates a hairdresser. Yay to you guys for having an opinion, crawl back out of the daylight and go be misogynistic on 4chan or something.

Politics in this country is equal parts hilarious and facepalm worthy. I have to admit, I want to get more involved.

She'd have the same problem here. Plus, she's self-described as a "non-practicing Baptist" and "not religious". That's an election-killer in the US. Especially down here in the South, where candidates list their church as part of their bio.

I like Australian politics myself. It makes me think of what the US would be like if we didn't take ourselves quite so seriously. I've found Aussie politicos to be actually quite frank when they're not speaking on the record (had the opportunity to play host for a day to an MP several years back, plus met a few when I was over there). 

[Kogan Loloklam]

Australia began black-listing sites a few years back. That sounds pretty Right to me.

The right in the US is associated with deregulation, with the left doing such things as "regulation", however, the "Right" for the US also contains the Fundamentalist Christians, which means it is the "Right" or "De-regulation" side that is the advocate of video game bans. This may or may not carry over into Australia, so...

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Nevermind then. Upon further reflection, censorship is an aspect of Authoritarianisim. Only the extreme left and right do not participate in it. It isn't on the same axis. So I suppose the correct question is: Is Australia more Authoritarian or Libertarian?

[forsaken1111]

I am aware that this is an amazing thing that just happened but the first 20 pages of my paper should not be devoted to it and subjects even slightly connected to it.

You still read the paper?

huh...

[RedKing]

I think Australia's a bit of both. They're more libertarian than Europe (wide open spaces, frontier/pioneer mentality and all that) but they're still a bit more tied to their Euro roots than the US is (the notion of "social welfare" isn't some weird commie plot like it is here).

Both sides have their morals police and both probably had a hand in banning Rockstar (and really...other than the GTA series, most of Rockstar's games are crap anyway).

[Kogan Loloklam]

I think Australia's a bit of both. They're more libertarian than Europe (wide open spaces, frontier/pioneer mentality and all that) but they're still a bit more tied to their Euro roots than the US is (the notion of "social welfare" isn't some weird commie plot like it is here).

Both sides have their morals police and both probably had a hand in banning Rockstar (and really...other than the GTA series, most of Rockstar's games are crap anyway).

Okay... This still doesn't tell me if Australia has gone more or less sane. They moved in a direction, what direction is it?
It's like my country. The USA has moved more towards use of the CIA and being disgraceful under Obama than away from it. That is my big concern for the US, my big concern for Australia is their tendency to ban video games. What direction has it moved in?

[Cheeetar]

We've only had a new government for a few days. Give us time to find things to complain about.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I think Australia has moved both left and down, in the terms of the Hans Slomp political spectrum. Now we need only to find where they were before this point. The Hans Slomp Spectrum:

[RedKing]

I think Australia's a bit of both. They're more libertarian than Europe (wide open spaces, frontier/pioneer mentality and all that) but they're still a bit more tied to their Euro roots than the US is (the notion of "social welfare" isn't some weird commie plot like it is here).

Both sides have their morals police and both probably had a hand in banning Rockstar (and really...other than the GTA series, most of Rockstar's games are crap anyway).

Okay... This still doesn't tell me if Australia has gone more or less sane. They moved in a direction, what direction is it?
It's like my country. The USA has moved more towards use of the CIA and being disgraceful under Obama than away from it. That is my big concern for the US, my big concern for Australia is their tendency to ban video games. What direction has it moved in?

I think "sane" is going to depend on your point of view. Based on the above comment, I think we would have differing definitions of "sane" policy.

[Muz]

I am aware that this is an amazing thing that just happened but the first 20 pages of my paper should not be devoted to it and subjects even slightly connected to it.

You still read the paper?

Heh, this. NSW has some boring papers. I stopped reading after all of it was just boring or biased stuff. I think the only reason there's 20 pages on it is because there's nothing else to write about.

Anyway, I couldn't really care less about who gets voted out, as long as they don't try to do anything stupid like filter the Internet. Govt's been doing a good job recently, IMO. It's easy to criticize mistakes, but they don't seem to make as many as other countries, so it's not too bad.

[vagel7]

I think Australia's a bit of both. They're more libertarian than Europe (wide open spaces, frontier/pioneer mentality and all that) but they're still a bit more tied to their Euro roots than the US is (the notion of "social welfare" isn't some weird commie plot like it is here).

Both sides have their morals police and both probably had a hand in banning Rockstar (and really...other than the GTA series, most of Rockstar's games are crap anyway).

They aren't more libertarian then Europe, come live in Europe and let's see, also Europe is a conditent not a country, there are 30+ countries here.