Posted: Dec 06, 2018 1:57 pm
Blackadder wrote:Seven Prime Ministers in ten years? Will everyone in Oz get to have a go at some point? How does it work? Is there a random draft for the job? Sounds like a bonzer idea.
It's a bit of a snakes and ladders game. First step is to join the right party. If you join any other than the so called Liberal Party or the Labor Party you've just terminally slid down the first snake. Next, you need to join the right faction. If you've chosen the left faction of either party you've joined you've just terminally slid down the second snake. Make sure you don't have dual citizenship. That, as eight or so politicians have discovered in recent months, threatens to disqualify you from being a member of parliament. Our previous deputy Prime Minister was among that lot. What got him undone in the end, however, was his dalliance with a staff member in his office, which is quite an unusual thing in Australian politics. Until that happened personal affairs of that sort were studiously and rightfully ignored by the press and the public.
The crux of the matter is that Prime Ministers are not elected by popular vote. They are chosen by the parliamentary members of the winning party in the case of the so called Liberal Party, and the parliamentary members plus ordinary members of the Labor Party if the Labor Party wins the general election. Something like that anyway.
So, it is up to the respective parties to appoint - or sack - the Prime Minister. Whatever the system, the respective snake and ladder rules apply.