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Opinion: What people think of #libspill

La Trobe staff and students have their say.

At noon today the political contest between Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, Treasurer Scott Morrison, and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will come to a close and Parliament will announce who will be Australia’s next Prime Minister.

Current (at the time of print) Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull promised to hold the meeting if his opponents could produce a document showing names of 43 people who wanted a change in leadership.

The bid for Prime Minster is determined by a ballot within the party. The person with the fewest votes in the first round is eliminated from the running, with the two remaining candidates then voted on in a second round and the candidate with the highest number of votes will win.

The spill vote will then proceed and candidates; Mr Dutton, Mr Morrison and Ms. Bishop will be up for the role.

We asked LaTrobe staff and students for their views on the current State of Australian politics and whether this overthrow of power discourages young people to be involved in politics.

How do you feel about the current state of politics in Australia at the moment?

“I think it’s pretty embarrassing, I don’t really like that people that are going to be the Prime Minister are people that turned on the government.” – Kayla, La Trobe student.

“[It is] a continuing mess. Seems to be short-term popularism rather than long-term strategies.” – Jeff, staff member.

Do you think it encourages or discourages young people to become involved in politics? Why?

“A little bit of both because it kind of encourages people to want to make a difference, you know, make it better. But at the same time because it such a negative environment it might also discourage some people.” – Jack, student.

“Discourages… I think we have some major issues to deal with such as climate change and the environment and… the major parties are just kidding around and nothing is going on so it’s very annoying.” – James, staff member.

Who would you like as Prime minister and why?

“Rather than saying one person, it would just be nice having someone who had integrity, who had some vision and could deliver on that vision.” – James, staff member.

“No idea, someone who’s going to do a good job? That’d be ideal.” – Jack, student.

If Turnbull loses he has previously stated in he would step down from a parliamentary role.

The overhaul of Government will cause a re-shuffle in the Cabinet as the leadership contest is resolved within the coming hours.


Photo: ‘Walking around Parliment House’ By MSD_20140303_0230 available here using Creative Commons Attribution.

 

 

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