Removal of Compulsory Voting?

John Howard and Nick Minchin (Finance Minister) have both said that they are in favour of non-compulsory voting. Whilst there are no moves to bring this as an election issue next election, Minchin is quite strident in his criticism of the compulsory system. Why? Not sure - he rambled on a bit about "punishing people for not voting is an outrage against the great democratic right to vote". Dunno how that works.

Personally, I think we MUST keep compulsory voting. It is what stops our political system from being an absolute farce, like the U.S. where the agenda is hijacked by extremist (usualy right-wing christian) groups. Lets not go down the U.S path where rights are prescribed. In Australia, and in any good democracy, with rights come responsibility (a concept that is being diminished in our increasingly litigious society). On this odd occasion, I agree with Senator Ron Boswell (Leader of the Nationals in the Senate) - that compulsory voting forces people to take ownership and engage with politics - which is critical in an increasingly apathetic society.