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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: The NZ/Australia thread 2013 [mk 28]
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Zappa
Ship's Wake
# 8433
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Huia:
Damn, wish I could fly to Darwin, but I've never been good at throwing myself at the ground and missing. (HHG to the Galaxy, for those who have yet to enjoy its insanity)
Doesn't matter if you miss the ground here, there's plenty of nice waterways. Just ignore the reptiles. ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
Funnily enough Leunig was saying he had the worst landing of his life coming in yesterday. Darwin has Australia's longest runway, and it was a dead calm 32C day with no thermals, so why the pilot took three goes to get a medium sized passenger plane down I have no idea. ![[Confused]](confused.gif)
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shameless self promotion - because I think it's worth it
and mayhap this too: http://broken-moments.blogspot.co.nz/
Posts: 18917 | From: "Central" is all they call it | Registered: Sep 2004
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
Leunig had the best take on the election choices this week in his Age cartoon. I don't seem to be able to link it without getting the whole darn paper. But it's on my fb page.
My sentiments exactly. Pass the brandy.
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
Wish this was all over. Boring rubbish with little relation to real life. So the Libs would buy up leaky boats to avoid their use for asylum seekers. Just who dreamt that one up? Would you buy a used boat from this man?
Am about to work on Senate vote so I can post back my postal vote.
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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
Maybe I'll take up a career building leaky boats
Went about 3 hrs drive up the main highway yesterday to see the seal pups playing under a waterfall in the bush. It's one of those sights that lifts the heart. I never realised they could leap so far out of the water.
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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Galloping Granny
Shipmate
# 13814
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Posted
Just to reveal what a nut case the GG is: The three books I grabbed to take with me when we rushed off to Waikato Hospital were Rediscovering the Apostle Paul; Samuel Pepys' diaries, Everyman Edition Vol 2, 1927 reprint; The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
I did read some favourite verses of Omar Khayyam. Otherwise I did endless crosswords puzzles, which are very calming.
The Grandad is now in Wellington Public Hospital and quite chirpy considering.
GG
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The Kingdom of Heaven is spread upon the earth, and men do not see it. Gospel of Thomas, 113
Posts: 2629 | From: Matarangi | Registered: Jun 2008
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AdamPater
Sacristan of the LavaLamp
# 4431
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Posted
<ahem ... shuffle>
Are there any ship-mates within coo-ee of Penrith? I'm hoping to negotiate moving some items west-ward. If you're feeling helpful or gullible (either will do), would you PM me?
<cough ... obsequious exit>
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Put not your trust in princes.
Posts: 4894 | From: On the left of the big pink bit. | Registered: Apr 2003
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Left at the Altar
Ship's Siren
# 5077
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Posted
You sound like Schappelle Corby. What are you planning? Exactly.
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Still pretty Amazing, but no longer Mavis.
Posts: 9111 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Mr Curly
Off to Curly Flat
# 5518
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by AdamPater:
<ahem ... shuffle>
Are there any ship-mates within coo-ee of Penrith? I'm hoping to negotiate moving some items west-ward. If you're feeling helpful or gullible (either will do), would you PM me?
<cough ... obsequious exit>
That's 50km from Chez Curly, unfortunately. But LAtA is right, I only ever back my own baggage when I travel that far. Not that you need a boogie board for anything other than self-defence out at Penrough.
mr curly
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My Blog - Writing, Film, Other Stuff
Posts: 2645 | From: Curly Flat | Registered: Feb 2004
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AdamPater
Sacristan of the LavaLamp
# 4431
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Left at the Altar:
You sound like Schappelle Corby. What are you planning? Exactly.
What might have been an amazing bargain if it weren't for the three million odd metres twixt.
No matter.
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Put not your trust in princes.
Posts: 4894 | From: On the left of the big pink bit. | Registered: Apr 2003
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Tukai
Shipmate
# 12960
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Posted
I think the Leunig cartoon you were thinking of is #18 in this set of election cartoons ?
I also like Moir's at #24 (choose which way you want to go : to "Sameoldsameold" or to "Who knows where".
Faced with this non-choice, I'm with Moir's man in the bar in #20, who asks not "who are you voting for?" but "who are you voting against?".
But having being overseas for several years, I am no longer on the electoral roll, and so don't have to make this non-choice.
[Note: the link updates daily, so each ofthe above numbers will increase by 1 or 2 every day after today].
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A government that panders to the worst instincts of its people degrades the whole country for years to come.
Posts: 594 | From: Oz | Registered: Sep 2007
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
Tukai, I noticed this morning in an article somewhere the comment that many votes would be be protest votes.
My vote has already been posted. I spent a lot of time deciding just which worthy candidate I would place last. So many to choose from!
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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
Dear Tukai, thank you. Yes, Leunig no 41 (today) is the one I liked - but I love all his other ones in that parade too. If only there WERE a Vote for the Bees party, or a Vote for the Indigenous Amphibians Party. Go the Crocs! or What a Buzz!
...sigh...
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Tukai
Shipmate
# 12960
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Posted
I long for the return of the Party Party Party, who once stood for the ACT Legislative Assembly, back in the days when the deposit for being a candidate was only $50.
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A government that panders to the worst instincts of its people degrades the whole country for years to come.
Posts: 594 | From: Oz | Registered: Sep 2007
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lothlorien:
Anyone here with $25 million+ just hanging around? You could pretend you are the archbishop of Sydney
Probably haunted by Archbishop Gough.....
[ 02. September 2013, 10:50: Message edited by: Gee D ]
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
And a good view as well from many rooms. Not sure where you could keep your pet croc though. Is that going to NZ with you? And when's the installation please? I've forgotten.
Madame and I are off to vote in a few minutes. Dog is coming too, but he gets no vote, alas. Ours make little difference here, except for the Senate.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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Dennis the Menace
Shipmate
# 11833
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Posted
Voting done, egg & bacon roll consumed at the local school fete. I think the school will cop some flack from some of the older folk as voting is usually done the assembly hall which is ground level and for some unknown reason this time is on the first floor with the hall virtually empty. Several folk on walkers were unable to get up the stairs and were quite bewildered as what to do and the electoral staff oblivious to the situation.
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"Till we cast our crowns before Him; Lost in wonder, love, and praise."
Posts: 853 | From: Newcastle NSW Australia | Registered: Sep 2006
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DangerousDeacon
Shipmate
# 10582
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Posted
Now back again in the land of the living and on the Ship. Federal election is a shambles. Current seat is safe ALP, and the senate in NSW - almost every candidate seemed to be lunatic right wingers.
However, after almost three years in the beautiful Hunter Valley, time to move back to the tropics, though not to the Solomon Islands, but this time to Darwin. God has a strange sense of humour.
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'All the same, it may be that I am wrong; what I take for gold and diamonds may be only a little copper and glass.'
Posts: 506 | From: Top End | Registered: Oct 2005
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis the Menace:
Voting done, egg & bacon roll consumed at the local school fete. I think the school will cop some flack from some of the older folk as voting is usually done the assembly hall which is ground level and for some unknown reason this time is on the first floor with the hall virtually empty. Several folk on walkers were unable to get up the stairs and were quite bewildered as what to do and the electoral staff oblivious to the situation.
Under the probable new regime, they will be told to stop being silly, get some backbone, take the steps 2 at a time, and make sure no refugees cause a traffic jam on the way.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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Zappa
Ship's Wake
# 8433
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gee D:
And a good view as well from many rooms. Not sure where you could keep your pet croc though. Is that going to NZ with you? And when's the installation please? I've forgotten.
Madame and I are off to vote in a few minutes. Dog is coming too, but he gets no vote, alas. Ours make little difference here, except for the Senate.
No crocs officially allowed, but I'll see if I can get a couple through. Customs won't notice.
Installation 5.00 pm (NZ time) 13th October.
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shameless self promotion - because I think it's worth it
and mayhap this too: http://broken-moments.blogspot.co.nz/
Posts: 18917 | From: "Central" is all they call it | Registered: Sep 2004
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Zappa
Ship's Wake
# 8433
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by DangerousDeacon:
Now back again in the land of the living and on the Ship. Federal election is a shambles. Current seat is safe ALP, and the senate in NSW - almost every candidate seemed to be lunatic right wingers.
However, after almost three years in the beautiful Hunter Valley, time to move back to the tropics, though not to the Solomon Islands, but this time to Darwin. God has a strange sense of humour.
Sadly just too late to cross paths :-(
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shameless self promotion - because I think it's worth it
and mayhap this too: http://broken-moments.blogspot.co.nz/
Posts: 18917 | From: "Central" is all they call it | Registered: Sep 2004
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Evensong
Shipmate
# 14696
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Posted
My seat is so liberal, the ALP didn't even show up. I had to Google the preference list!
#outrageous
In more positive news, I almost voted for the Smoker's Rights party. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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a theological scrapbook
Posts: 9481 | From: Australia | Registered: Apr 2009
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bib
Shipmate
# 13074
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Posted
I was desperate for someone to do a Churchill and offer nothing but 'blood, toil, tears and sweat'. I would have voted for them immediately. We seem to have become such a handout society that demands everything right now based on greed, selfish insistence on rights and an unwillingness to sometimes do without for the sake of others.
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"My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring"
Posts: 1307 | From: Australia | Registered: Oct 2007
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Dennis the Menace
Shipmate
# 11833
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Posted
RIP Australia
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"Till we cast our crowns before Him; Lost in wonder, love, and praise."
Posts: 853 | From: Newcastle NSW Australia | Registered: Sep 2006
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Dennis the Menace
Shipmate
# 11833
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gee D:
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis the Menace:
Voting done, egg & bacon roll consumed at the local school fete. I think the school will cop some flack from some of the older folk as voting is usually done the assembly hall which is ground level and for some unknown reason this time is on the first floor with the hall virtually empty. Several folk on walkers were unable to get up the stairs and were quite bewildered as what to do and the electoral staff oblivious to the situation.
Under the probable new regime, they will be told to stop being silly, get some backbone, take the steps 2 at a time, and make sure no refugees cause a traffic jam on the way.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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"Till we cast our crowns before Him; Lost in wonder, love, and praise."
Posts: 853 | From: Newcastle NSW Australia | Registered: Sep 2006
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DangerousDeacon
Shipmate
# 10582
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Posted
Also sorry to miss you Zappa - may God bless you in New Zealand (and may God bless the Wallabies next year as well)
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'All the same, it may be that I am wrong; what I take for gold and diamonds may be only a little copper and glass.'
Posts: 506 | From: Top End | Registered: Oct 2005
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Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
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Posted
Deepest regrets from Canadians, as well, I am sure. We've had Tories now for over 7 years. They said we wouldn't recognise Canada when they were done.
They're right. All their cronies are at the trough and every day I feel ashamed to admit I'm Canadian.
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Even more so than I was before
Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
Deepest sympathies from the Old Country too. We've had right wing, predominantly Tory goverments for nearly thirty-five years. Some spend more money than others but they all a) cut taxes, b) cut welfare and c) attack public services.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Laud-able
Ship's Ancient
# 9896
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Posted
I assure Pete C and Sioni Sais that condolences are not required: the minority Labor (sic) government, headed by a whirligig of backstabbing leaders, has been swept out of office, having received the lowest primary Labor vote for a century.
I suggest that it would be sensible to wait and to judge the newly elected Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, upon what he does. It is meaningless to resort to labels such as ‘Tory’, which have all sorts of connotations that do not apply in the Australian scene, which is deeply conservative, but not remotely Tory.
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'. . . "Non Angli, sed Angeli" "not Angels, but Anglicans"', Sellar, W C, and Yeatman, R J, 1066 and All That, London, 1930, p. 6.
Posts: 279 | From: Melbourne, Australia | Registered: Jul 2005
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Dark Knight
Super Zero
# 9415
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Posted
Thanks, Pete and Sioni.
Despite the previous poster's protest, the Libs are very much Tories. The most poorly named party ever. Perhaps they had wet, moderate leanings once, but such tendencies have been tamed by the party's dry Rights. Former leader Malcolm Fraser sounds more and more like a true 'liberal' compared to today's right wing nutters.
Indeed, let's judge him on what he does. If he meant half the crap he campaigned on - trashing the carbon tax (which he won't be able to do without a double dissolution election), interfering in the university sector, taking even more of asylum seekers' rights away, band-aiding national broadband so that it will need to be upgraded again by 2020 - then we're in for some good times.
If it was all just a tough guy gimmick to get elected, that won't speak volumes for his integrity, either.
So much to look forward to. ![[Waterworks]](graemlins/bawling.gif)
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So don't ever call me lucky
You don't know what I done, what it was, who I lost, or what it cost me - A B Original: I C U
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Love is as strong as death (Song of Solomon 8:6).
Posts: 2958 | From: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road | Registered: Apr 2005
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Zappa
Ship's Wake
# 8433
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Dark Knight:
taking even more of asylum seekers' rights away
he'll be hard pushed to find any left to take - except the right to live. I presume he was going to resort to use the SAS to sort that. As Julian Burnside said, if wants to resort to piracy on the high seas ...
While continuing the Labor policy of spending $3 billion to make sure we look uglier than the Taliban.
This should be a nation in shame - at the antics of both its right wing governments. ![[Tear]](graemlins/tear.gif)
(oh and thanks, DD ... but no praying for the Wallabies: that's unfair advantage. Actually it's the Boks I fear most, by far.)
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shameless self promotion - because I think it's worth it
and mayhap this too: http://broken-moments.blogspot.co.nz/
Posts: 18917 | From: "Central" is all they call it | Registered: Sep 2004
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Galloping Granny
Shipmate
# 13814
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by PeteC:
Deepest regrets from Canadians, as well, I am sure. We've had Tories now for over 7 years. They said we wouldn't recognise Canada when they were done.
They're right. All their cronies are at the trough and every day I feel ashamed to admit I'm Canadian.
How about the Alberta oil-sands? Stewart Weir, who seem to be involved, have been bought by a New Zealand crowd involved in oil and gas exploration.
I wrote some comments for the paper but I'll be lucky to see it in print – I score about one in five.
GG
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The Kingdom of Heaven is spread upon the earth, and men do not see it. Gospel of Thomas, 113
Posts: 2629 | From: Matarangi | Registered: Jun 2008
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the giant cheeseburger
Shipmate
# 10942
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Posted
Tony won't get to have it all his own way, at this point the ABC computer is predicting the Senate to be hung with 33 to Liberal/Nationals/LNP/CLP, 35 Labor/Greens (lost their majority) and 8 others. If that's the final result, the government will need to get all their senators to hold the line (not guaranteed with the CLP and the sole National from Vic) and get a minimum of six other Senators on side. In contrast, the Labor/Greens coalition would only need to get three to make a vote fail.
There is, of course, a long way to go with the Senate counting. I'm told by somebody who worked at a booth near me that they had 29% of formal (or possibly formal at least, they don't count all the way down to 73 at the booth on the night) Senate ballots were done below the line. On that basis alone it's going to take a while to confirm whether the ABC's predicted results will match the final result.
Still, I'm looking forward to two things coming out of this...
1. Six months of Abbott as PM should be enough to get Labor over the line in our state election to be held on 15 March.
2. Clive Palmer with parliamentary privilege should be fun ![[Two face]](graemlins/scot_twoface.gif)
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If I give a homeopathy advocate a really huge punch in the face, can the injury be cured by giving them another really small punch in the face?
Posts: 4834 | From: Adelaide, South Australia. | Registered: Jan 2006
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shamwari
Shipmate
# 15556
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Posted
Will some kind Aussie please explain to me how 6 people (who all come across as idiots) garner less than a miniscule percentage of the vote yet still manage to hold the balance of power in the Senate?
Posts: 1914 | From: from the abyss of misunderstanding | Registered: Mar 2010
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the giant cheeseburger
Shipmate
# 10942
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by shamwari:
Will some kind Aussie please explain to me how 6 people (who all come across as idiots) garner less than a miniscule percentage of the vote yet still manage to hold the balance of power in the Senate?
The six senators elected from each state are elected using a quota system, they must achieve one seventh of the vote for that state. The first couple will get elected just on first preferences, once nobody has a full quota of their own left is when it gets interesting. In each recount, the lowest-ranked candidate gets excluded and their votes distributed to the next most preferred candidate still remaining in the race, and repeated until all six seats are filled.
The reason that the minor parties are so well-represented is simply that the old parties (the Liberal/National coalition and the Labor/Greens coalition) didn't get a high enough proportion to fill all six between them in any state, and there wasn't a standout candidate who owned the protest vote like Nick Xenophon did in SA. Don't lose sight of the fact that both of the big coalitions lost Senate seats (reducing the Liberal/National coalition by one to 33 seats and the Labor/Greens coalition by six to 35) due to the strongest protest vote ever.
The reason the Australian Motoring Enthusiasts Party got in was that they did the best job of negotiating preference deals. If anything that actually shows that Ricky Muir has a fighting chance of being a very good senator when his term looks destined to be dominated by negotiations and compromises.
Bob Day from the SA branch of Family First will be a very good senator, the SA branch (the founding branch actually) is nowhere near as insane as the Victorian branch which went off piste as soon as it was launched. Policies the Bob Day has advocated for include better treatment and faster processing of asylum seekers (not a right wing view at all) and increasing foreign aid to 1.0% of GDP (not a right wing view at all).
Overall I think that this 'barnyard Senate' is a very good thing for democracy, compared to the alternative of either of the big coalitions having an absolute majority. History will eventually look back and condemn the 2005-08 Senate (the Liberal/National coalition had an absolute majority) and the 2011-14 Senate (absolute majority to the Labor/Greens coalition) for being weak and ineffective compared to one that can hold the government to account and force them to compromise.
* scrutiny is nowhere near finished for the ballots where voters allocated preferences manually below the line instead of marking one box above the line to use a group/party ticket. This looks like it could take a long time, in SA the proportion of people voting below the line was the highest ever.
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If I give a homeopathy advocate a really huge punch in the face, can the injury be cured by giving them another really small punch in the face?
Posts: 4834 | From: Adelaide, South Australia. | Registered: Jan 2006
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ozowen
Shipmate
# 8935
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Posted
Australia- bringing to you a Government headed by an asshole whose hard work talking shit for years has finally paid off.
And a Senate populated by minor parties that have agreed to amalgamate and rename themselves The League of Ordinary Dickheads.
I'm not bitter, really I'm not.
![[Help]](graemlins/help.gif)
Posts: 2933 | From: The Never Never, Australia | Registered: Jan 2005
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
quote:
* scrutiny is nowhere near finished for the ballots where voters allocated preferences manually below the line instead of marking one box above the line to use a group/party ticket. This looks like it could take a long time, in SA the proportion of people voting below the line was the highest ever.
I was glad I had a postal vote as I also voted below the line in NSW. For 110 candidates. At least twenty of those each deserved to be placed last.
I spoke to a DIL today. She spent time deciding if my ex, her FIL should go above or below the Sex Party. She eventually put him above. I informed her that his party gave preferences to Pauline Hanson and she was sorry she had not placed him last. He won't be one of those few new senators from minority parties.
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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
I think this thread is fine so far but if you get deeper into the intricacies of the Australian political landscape perhaps one of you would start a thread on the topic in Purgatory.
Thanks.
WW
AS Host
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Banner Lady
Ship's Ensign
# 10505
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Posted
My favourite political observation was the one where the Senate was being compared to the bar scene in the first Star Wars movie. Yes, the Ozsie Upper house is now populated by some very strange drinking partners.
I'm looking forward to the first brawls.
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Women in the church are not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be enjoyed.
Posts: 7080 | From: Canberra Australia | Registered: Oct 2005
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Latchkey Kid
Shipmate
# 12444
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Posted
I found that being an OIC at a polling booth was enough to keep me away from the media and my mind off the actual politics.
We could do with less than 110 senate candidates and 44 parties. Have a concern for the poor counters finding enough tables to sort the ballot papers.
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'You must never give way for an answer. An answer is always the stretch of road that's behind you. Only a question can point the way forward.'
Mika; in Hello? Is Anybody There?, Jostein Gaardner
Posts: 2592 | From: The wizardest little town in Oz | Registered: Mar 2007
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ozowen
Shipmate
# 8935
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Posted
How did Wednesday happen?
I'm sure it's only Tuesday.
I blame Abbott!
Posts: 2933 | From: The Never Never, Australia | Registered: Jan 2005
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pererin
Shipmate
# 16956
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Latchkey Kid:
We could do with less than 110 senate candidates and 44 parties. Have a concern for the poor counters finding enough tables to sort the ballot papers.
The price of a functioning democracy...
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"They go to and fro in the evening, they grin like a dog, and run about through the city." (Psalm 59.6)
Posts: 446 | From: Llantrisant | Registered: Feb 2012
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by pererin:
quote:
Originally posted by Latchkey Kid:
We could do with less than 110 senate candidates and 44 parties. Have a concern for the poor counters finding enough tables to sort the ballot papers.
The price of a functioning democracy...
But that's just NSW. It's time to move to a German system where to be successful in obtaining a seat via proportional voting (which is what the Senate vote is), a party or person must secure 5% of the first preference votes in the State, and that preferences and surplus quotas are not distributed to someone who either individually or whose party does not reach that threshold.
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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pererin
Shipmate
# 16956
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gee D:
But that's just NSW. It's time to move to a German system where to be successful in obtaining a seat via proportional voting (which is what the Senate vote is), a party or person must secure 5% of the first preference votes in the State, and that preferences and surplus quotas are not distributed to someone who either individually or whose party does not reach that threshold.
That's just wishing for the big parties to get their way all the time. It's really a good thing to have Labor perpetually railing against upper houses and the Coalition taking their occasional embarrassments on the chin: it shows that it's working. You guys really really don't want European technocratic politics.
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"They go to and fro in the evening, they grin like a dog, and run about through the city." (Psalm 59.6)
Posts: 446 | From: Llantrisant | Registered: Feb 2012
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AdamPater
Sacristan of the LavaLamp
# 4431
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Posted
Personally I don't think there's anything wrong with the Senate being interesting. I certainly have absolutely no sympathy with the government effectively demanding a majority in both houses.
But then I thought a hung parliament wasn't a bad thing either. As I recall reading, the minority Labor government managed to pass as much or more legislation as the Howard (unrest be unto him) parliaments did.
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Put not your trust in princes.
Posts: 4894 | From: On the left of the big pink bit. | Registered: Apr 2003
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the giant cheeseburger
Shipmate
# 10942
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Posted
I think it would be better to do away with group voting tickets completely to make below the line the only option. Then you could make preferences after six optional so it's easier to cast a formal vote, but at the risk of assenting to whatever everybody else chooses if your vote gets exhausted before the count is over.
A point value system could work as well, where the form of the ballot paper would be the same but instead of preference flows and quotas it would be tallied by giving the first preference candidate six points, the second five and so on down to the sixth candidate getting one point. The six candidates with the highest scores win the six seats, and if the margin between the sixth and seventh ranked candidates is small (less than 2% maybe) then the number of first preference votes each would be used as a tie breaker.
The beauty of either of these systems would be that they could be easily modified for a full senate election or a state legislative council election by increasing the number of preferences needing to be marked on the ballot paper.
quote:
Originally posted by pererin:
quote:
Originally posted by Gee D:
But that's just NSW. It's time to move to a German system where to be successful in obtaining a seat via proportional voting (which is what the Senate vote is), a party or person must secure 5% of the first preference votes in the State, and that preferences and surplus quotas are not distributed to someone who either individually or whose party does not reach that threshold.
That's just wishing for the big parties to get their way all the time. It's really a good thing to have Labor perpetually railing against upper houses and the Coalition taking their occasional embarrassments on the chin: it shows that it's working. You guys really really don't want European technocratic politics.
I agree, minimum first preference quotas only work in favour of electing parties when we should be electing people.
If the bigger parties don't win enough votes to get all the seats, they shouldn't be rewarded with extra seats they didn't earn just because the votes for the minor parties were split.
quote:
Originally posted by AdamPater:
But then I thought a hung parliament wasn't a bad thing either. As I recall reading, the minority Labor government managed to pass as much or more legislation as the Howard (unrest be unto him) parliaments did.
Of course. The cast majority of legislation under all governments is passed without partisan battles.
It wasn't that impressive, once they got it through the House the Labor government had an easy run in the Senate, while Howard had it the other way around for all but a couple of years.
[ 11. September 2013, 12:12: Message edited by: the giant cheeseburger ]
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If I give a homeopathy advocate a really huge punch in the face, can the injury be cured by giving them another really small punch in the face?
Posts: 4834 | From: Adelaide, South Australia. | Registered: Jan 2006
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