Just before I went overseas (hence the lack of blogging), I exercised my rights as a new Australian citizen voted in my local elections. Australia differs from the UK in that voting in compulsory – punishable by a fine if you do not participate.
If you ask most Australians which system is better then they say the Australian one. However if you dig a little deeper and ask if they believe that Australia has a more engaged and informed electorate or a better standard of government than the UK then they tend to answer no.
The big problem here is that compliance is a poor way of generating engagement. The option of “going thru the motions” is a very tempting one for most people when presented with a compulsory activity. Do I need to point out any similarities with the world of organisational change and knowledge management?
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4 comments:
Matt,
You say: "If you ask most Australians ... if they believe that Australia has a more engaged and informed electorate or a better standard of government than the UK then they tend to answer no."
I don't mean to be a pedant, but I would guess that if you asked Australians "is our government *worse* than the UK government" then the answer would be no, too.
The answer to the second question merely reflects the deep Aussie cynicism in the motives and actions of politicians rather than any particular criticism of the system.
-- Stephen.
Stephen,
I think Australians see the UK & Australians as about equal.
Do you think that requiring legal compliance in voting leads to more or less engagement on the part of voters?
Matt
Hi Matt
Always a conundrum - compulsory voting or not. I come down on the side of compulsory voting for this main reason - political funds are not used to get people to the polling booth - this frees up funds for other purposes (and whether you think they are good or bad is another question :-)
Oh, and another thing: You said: "If you ask most Australians..." Which Australians? How many have you asked? Surely not 'most'. What's the definition of 'most' 51% of 20 something million? Just responding with my pedantic journalist hat on
Cheers
Viv
Viv,
This is obviously an anecdotal survey. If there is data that disproves it then please let me know.
BTW how much money does compulsory voting save vs the costs of administering it?
Matt
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