14 Answers To The Politics Questions You Were Too Afraid To Ask
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I'm one of those people who thinks politics is one big snooze-fest, and no matter how hard I try, I just can't understand much at all.
But I also know that it's kinda important to at least know a little bit about the way our country is run, especially coming up to an election. No matter how many articles or explainers I read though, it all still goes over my head. And I'm always too embarrassed to admit how little I know. So I spoke to a huge politics nerd (sorry, Rob) to help me try to understand the basics.
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What’s the actual difference between Labor and Liberal?
Well, that’s complicated. In some areas, they’re very similar (asylum seeker boats), in other areas, they’re quite different (marriage equality). Both parties say they’ll do similar things - grow the economy while also lowering the deficit - but how they say they’ll go about it is very different. If you're interested, here's an explainer on where the main parties stand with marriage equality.
Tristanbm / Getty Images / ALP / Liberal Party
What’s a coalition?
A coalition is where two parties agree to work together. That’s what the Liberals and the Nationals do at the moment, which is why Malcolm Turnbull is prime minister. Sometimes things can get a bit testy and they’ll pretend to fight, but mostly they believe in the same things so they get along just fine.
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And what are all those other random parties? Do people actually vote for the Sex Party aside from immature 18 year olds?
Pretty much anyone can form a party as long as they find 500 like-minded people to sign up. People usually form micro-parties so they can talk about their favourite issues (it could be anything from legalising pot to banning abortion). If there’s any issue you really, really care about, there may just be a minor party for you. And if enough other people care about your issue, you may elect a senator representing the party who can push that issue in parliament.
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