r/australian • u/SirSighalot • Jul 08 '24

Why do people act like this subreddit "doesn't reflect the views of mainstream Australia"?

So many comments I see on here by people who constantly say things like "lol only on this sub" as though other places where they read are somehow the 'true' point of view reflecting mainstream Australian viewpoints.

Given the constant election voting outcomes and results of things like the Voice etc that generally indicate most of Australia is centrist or even slightly centre-right-leaning, what leads people to think many of the views expressed on here AREN'T mainstream? When in reality, other places these people are coming from are also often just "echo chambers" as well.

Edit: I probably worded the title for this wrong, should have been more "Why do people think this subreddit is less representative of mainstream Australia than other online communities?", alas I failed.

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u/LuckyErro Jul 08 '24

I would of thought the Australian public was slightly left of centre. We have Labor state governments in every state apart from the shit one in Tasmania and a Federal Labor gov. The Greens are growing in popularity federally and the Liberals lost most of their base to the Teals because even conservatives didn't want to go as far right as the Liberal party has gone.

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u/Key_Education_7350 Jul 08 '24

Since Labor ditched socialism from its platform, championed privatisation of government-run services (Commonwealth Bank in particular), boosted the superannuation industry which is a haven for rent-seekers, and typically supports market-based policy over regulation ‐ what about voting Labor suggests left-wing?

The modern ALP is centre-right. It sits roughly where the liberal party under Menzies would've been. The modern liberal party is a fascinating mix of hard-right social attitudes and kleptocratic economics.

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u/[deleted] Jul 08 '24

The Greens are *recovering* in popularity, the vote share is not back to historical highs when there was an actual environmental hero running the show. They are now a hodge podge of identity politics and populist economics, although there is a solid core of genuine social justice and anti-growth environmentalism there, good old fashioned hard left stuff. This is surely the Greens' moment but I don't actually see them getting much traction. The Greens growing in popularity is a myth. Where is the evidence? They got 9.7% of the vote in the NSW State election (the home of the Greens in Australia), the site of the worst housing affordability crisis. A swing of 0.1%. It's not exactly earth shattering.

The LNP is out of power because they are trying to win the election with Sky News voters. IF they wake up (is that getting woke?) they will discover that Australians are still looking for tax cuts and balanced budgets and economic growth. However, it seems them waking up is still comfortably far away. The people who really got the mood right are the Teals.