Three dollars and some change

Yes and no. You still get people who are just going through the motions, you get people who vote blindly by political party however in recent years we've found a lot of people want to know about the issues.

A few years ago, a grassroots organisation called GetUp (http://www.getup.org.au/about/) started. It really focuses on the issue and not just at election time. I think it was a direct result from this and because the opposition candidate focussed on the electorate that, at the last election, the sitting Prime Minister lost his seat. It's only happened once before.