Make Your Vote Count!

The 24^th of March 2012. This was the date that I got to vote for the very first time. I guess it is kind of a milestone, a true welcome to the adult world. I had learned from my older brother that it is best to go late in the afternoon, that way you don’t have to wait around for ever.  As I walked up to the voting both room I was suddenly being hassled by spokesman for support for their party. Luckily I had been given warning about this to follow the ‘rule’; either talk to all or say no to all. Obviously I went with the latter.

After getting my name ticked off and receiving my ballot sheet I read down through the names.

Chris Davis LNP

Peter Jeremijenko GRN

Stirling Hinchliffe ALP

Karin Hunter KAP

To be completely honest the names didn’t mean that much to me. I only recognised one. So I decided it was best to vote off of parties.

The LNP – Liberal National Party – For my area, these are the new guys. So why would I vote for them, I guess as the new guys they are always the ones who plan on making the change, the question is, is it for the better or the worse? When it comes to my local area there ideas haven’t been talked about that much. So you need to look at the big guys. So what do I think of Mr Newman and Mr Abbott?

The Greens – I guess there are two perspectives of the greens, either they know what they are talking about and it is time to start making a difference of how we live our lives or I see them as ‘tree hugging hippies’. Obviously the greens are making a point, if we don’t save the environment we live in, we won’t be living. The question is, are there more important things to consider first?

The ALP – Australian Labour Party –I can’t remember a time when the ALP wasn’t in power in my local area.  So persuasion for these guys, it is worked so long, why fix what is broken. But then of course there comes the argument of is it not broken because we aren’t trying something different. The ALP has always been our safety net, is it worth throwing that away and trying something new, or is it best to stay safe?

And finally KAP - Katter's Australian Party – These guys are the ones I know very little about. I have of course heard about Katter, but what they represented, I wasn’t quite sure. I am definitely not your ‘hard-core’ feminist type but I must admit it was nice to see a female name of the ballot sheet. Girl Power?!

With these thoughts in mind, what came next? I guess there are a few things that go into your vote, what you like, what you don’t like, who is best going to represent me and finally, my parents. Even though we are told you should vote for who you want hearing you parents bag out a certain party for your entire life makes you dislike them. You vote with your parents because that is what you know, it is safe.

So with that, I took my pencil marked, marked down 1, 2, 3 and 4, placed my sheet in the box and left to go home and wait and see if my vote actually made a difference.

Till Next Time…