by Mat Churchill

How many times have we heard the government has been given a 'mandate' just because they've been voted in?

I'm not talking about the kind of mandate you'd have in Sydney during Mardi Gras, I'm talking about a sweeping tick of approval politicians seem to think we give every policy they create when elections have been run and won.

I might be a bit simple when it comes to our democratic system, but what happens when I like different policies from different parties?

For example, I like the idea for a National Broadband Network from the Labor party, I like the idea of putting a price on carbon which the Greens are advocating, and I agree with the Coalition's policy about…..um……well, you get my point.

Like many Australians I don't really have a deep understanding of politics or our political system, but I do have access to Wikipedia. The Westminster system is a democratic parliamentary system of….never mind, I'm boring myself let alone you.

What I do know is that a vote for our local candidate means that some (what's another word for wanker?) in Canberra ends up putting in place a policy I don't agree with while he runs a portfolio he knows nothing about.

While i'm on that topic, I spoke to a Dutch friend the other night who said that in Holland the government is made up of representatives of different parties, helping to ensure the best people end up in their field of expertise.

So you might have a Labor Minister for education, a Green Minister for environment, and a Liberal Minister for….um…..well, you get my point.

My friend said that there was a Minister in Holland who'd been voted in for the past 25 years because he was good at what he did. That makes sense to me. In Australia someone might be the Minister for health one day, and the Minister for defence the next.

At present we're not sure who will be running the show in Australia, but regardless, our votes don't seem to give us much say after all.