I received this email from my old mate Johnny Howard this morning. Time for all Aussie expats to get online and get this guy out of office...



The 2007 federal election has been announced for Saturday 24 November 2007.


If you’re not on the electoral roll and you’re entitled to enrol, you must fill in an enrolment form immediately and return it to an AEC office by 8pm, Wednesday 17 October.



If you’re already on the roll but still need to update your address details, to ensure your vote you must complete an enrolment form and return it to an AEC office by 8pm Tuesday 23 October.



Enrolment forms can be downloaded from the AEC website at www.aec.gov.au and are available at any Australia Post outlet or AEC office and now also at any Medicare, Centrelink and ATO office and selected Rural Transaction Centres.



You can check your enrolment online at www.aec.gov.au or by phoning 13 23 26.



The key dates of the 2007 federal election are:




















§Announcement of election: Sunday 14 October 2007

§Issue of writ: Wednesday 17 October 2007

§Deadline for new enrolment*: 8pm, Wednesday 17 October 2007

§Close of rolls for updating address*: 8pm, Tuesday 23 October 2007

§Close of bulk nominations: 12noon, Tuesday 30 October 2007

§Close of nominations: 12noon, Thursday 1 November 2007

§Declaration of nominations: 12noon, Friday 2November 2007

§Election day: 8am to 6pm, Saturday 24 November 2007



For more information on the 2007 federal election, visit www.aec.gov.au.

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Rhinoceroses don't play games. They charge your ass

See ya Johnny

/me cracks open the champagne

Here's hoping

Get this moron outta office and send him to Iraq

It's funny as it's an Australian who caused a general election in the UK to be scrapped...

Never heard that. What happened?

Good opportunity to sneak this one in.

A certain Mr R. Murdoch, who has an unusual amount of control on the political scene. I'm a very lazy man, so I won't type out the Private Eye article, but it's pretty clear that he does not want an election now, which is also what he told Brown whe he came in. He wants at least 18 months before an election, in order to really build it up in terms of news.

Ah, here we are - it made it onto the online pages:
http://www.private-eye.co.uk/section...link=hp_sauce&

For 'The Dirty Digger', read Rupert Murdoch.

Generally speaking, the Eye pretty much gets it right and when they don't, they're very good about their apologies. The whole magazine sells on getting this stuff right, so I am inclined to go with the article.

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New book out now: European Bird Names: A Translation Guide.
www.tonykeenebirds,co,uk - photos, paintings and drawings of Swiss, Australian, NZ and British birds

Would someone be so kind as to explain to me how Australian presidential elections work or refer me to a good link?

Thanks.

Let me know if this helps.

http://www.aec.gov.au/

Elections in Australia

Unfortunately we do not have a president, but that's another story


Ah. That idiot. Perhaps it's a little different in Australia because all year there has been this constant "when will the election be?" question, giving the media and the government the opportunity to pitch the party line almost all year, without officially being part of an election campaign.

Australian President? I didn't think it was worth a groan, so here's a "Tsk" instead.

Howard has completely ridden the mining boom. He'd have gotten us into all sorts of troubles without that lucky piece of timing...

Yeah, a "tsk" is enough here. Although, it has to be said that Howard has gradually been supplanting the governor general, becoming something of an unofficial president. But still, it's not the same.

That's not the only bit of timing that's saved his arse. He was doing very poorly around 10 September, 2001 - what happened afterwards was a big help.

Oh, forgive me of not being aware of the exact name of the head of Australia. A girl tries to learn something and can't get any slack.

Sorry, prime minister.

As comparison does anybody know what they call the head of Uruguay off the top of their head?

Yes. They call the head of Uruguay "President" because it's a republic.

The point that we were making was to highlight the contentious issue that Australia is not a republic and that its head of state is in fact the British monarch. The Australian head of government is the Prime Minister (monarchies don't have presidents). This is different to the USA where the head of state and head of government are the one person (i.e. the President)

We knew what you were getting at and that you made a perfectly innocent mistake. No problem.

I rang the AEC a few months ago and it appears that I've been completely removed from the roll and can only get back on when I move back to Aust.

Don't worry about them, they are just displaying their limited knowledge of aussie politics, ie; there is a primeminister NOT a president. ( to the guys!) I'll add my 20cents worth with the fact that it's compulsory! I'd go with the links, infinitely more helpful.
I'll go for the "president" of Uraguy, with a primeminister under him.

How long have you been away from Oz for? If it is less than 3 years then you can get forms off their website. If it is more than 3 years then it is too late.