Let voting be voluntary

Equally, would Australia be better off it had voluntary voting, like Italy? That also includes now, when we've had eight Prime Ministers in the last 20 years. We could similarly ask, if all those governing us died in a plane crash, would the whole country come to a grinding halt as they seem to believe?

The only arguments that make rational sense are based on principles.

From a libertarian perspective, voting should of course be voluntary. Libertarians oppose coercion, so invoking the power of the law for merely staying home is unacceptable. Compulsion is also the opposite of free choice, a key libertarian principle. The freedom to choose not to vote at all is equally as relevant as who to vote for.

Compulsory voting actually makes the democratic process less responsive to the views of the electorate, as political parties can ignore their primary constituency and instead concentrate solely on swinging or whimsical voters. Under voluntary voting a candidate needs to appeal both to their supporters (who otherwise might decline to vote) and swinging voters (who might vote for other parties).

Under compulsory voting, representatives of safe seats face no democratic pressure. Voluntary voting would mean that no seat was truly safe as supporters may refuse to vote. Representatives need to be constantly aware of the views in their electorate and take no victory for granted.

Genuine democracy is based on universal suffrage, yet the right to do something implies that you have a choice not to do that thing. It would be absurd to say that Australians have the "right" to pay tax; paying tax is a legal obligation, not a right. Making voting compulsory changes it into a legal obligation rather than a right.

The right to vote should be a civil freedom, like free speech or free association. Free speech does not imply a requirement to speak and free association does not imply a requirement to join clubs. Likewise, the freedom to vote should not mean a requirement to vote.