Union membership is

in decline. According to Bureau of Statistics figures it has gone from 14.6% to 14.3% in the last two years. That might not seem too much of a decline but in 1992 union membership was still around 40%.

There are other ways of negotiating a pay packet and the terms and conditions of our employment now. There has also been a dramatic change in the way we are informed about everything. The number of political parties has multiplied. 

Almost seventy years ago when the Senior Cat marked a ballot paper for the first time there were many electoral districts with just two candidates. Now those same seats will have multiple candidates. At this election my electoral district had six. Many others had at least four.  

We also have an iniquitous system of "compulsory preferential voting" i.e. You must mark the ballot paper with a number in every square in order of preference for your first choice to count. I say "iniquitous" because there are at least two things so seriously wrong with it that the system is no longer democratic. 

In order to have your first choice count you must make second, third, fourth and so on choices. I have always used the following example. An election is being held and the subject of the death penalty comes up. There is fierce debate in the community. I strongly oppose the death penalty. I would look to see who among the candidates also opposes it. I see J. Bloggs. I don't agree with everything else Bloggs has on his/her platform but I can live with the overall policies. I make the decision to vote (1) for Bloggs. Then, like it or not, I have to preference the other candidates and they all support the death penalty.  Bloggs does not get in but their preferences flow to the othe candidates. I have, like it or not, helped to vote in someone who supports something I am strongly opposed to. 

"That's democracy," you tell me. No, it is not democracy. I should be able to stop marking the ballot paper at the point where I can no longer support any of the candidates.

There are also ways in which it is possible to manipulate the vote. Some years ago a man of my acquaintance was approached to stand as an "independent" in his electorate. He was (still is) well known in the area and he might well have collected a sizeable number of votes. He refused to stand because those asking him were actually members of a major party. What they were hoping to do was get him to agree to standing knowing he would not win but hoping the preference flow would go in favour of their candidate. They would have "helped" with printing electoral material and all the work that goes into getting a candidate to succeed. If by some unlucky chance the stooge they have chosen won then they would be expected to vote with the party and perhaps even join it.  Yes, it happens.

Unions play a role in all this. They advertise heavily in ways not always recognisable to the rest of the population. Think about those advertisements that tell you how good "industry super funds" are. They are subtle political advertising, trying to soften us up. There are now reports that $15m has been taken from those funds for the purposes of political advertising at this election. That is $15m from funds intended for the benefit of people when they retire. 

Union funds have not decreased in size. Unions have access to more funds than ever before - access without consent. Combine that access with a compulsion to attend the ballot box and a compulsion to mark every box in order to have our vote count and the results may not be the "democratic" choice we think it is.