The Australia I want:

* Has IR policy which is fair to both workers and employers and protects worker safety as a top priority

* Respects natural human rights, both inside and outside Australia, respects international law and participates in the UN in good faith

* Helps Aboriginals, disabled citizens, sole parents and migrants/asylum seekers who cannot help themselves, never attacking or demonising them for political gain

* Recognises abuse of alcohol and other drugs as a health problem, not a legal problem and thus supports drug and alcohol abuse policies based in medical and psychological evidence, not religious or moralist belief

* Is accountable to the voters through cooperation with our existing FoI laws, elimination of ‘conclusive certificates,’ and real commitments to ministerial responsibility

* Never suppresses political expression with paramilitary or other excessive and unreasonable force

* Never acts for self-perpetuation over the interests of the Australian people through any means, especially not through covert nor overt state-sponsored racism, nor by allowing corporate donors to purchase political favours

The Australia I have had since I got off the plane in Sydney in 1996 has an extraordinarily poor record on all of the above. This is not the character of the place I thought I was going to. I became an Australian citizen in 2003 to have some input on our national priorities.

I’m off to the polling station now. I’ll be voting for a balance of power in the Senate by preferencing Greens [1], Democrats [2], ALP [3].

Which Australia will you be voting for?

-weez