Some electoral stats
Some interesting statistics in the latest issue of The Tally Board from the Australian Electoral Commission which show how important the internet has become for basic information about elections....
View ArticleHaving a Say on democracy – the right to vote should be for citizens only
The federal government should be commended for making such a comprehensive effort at casing so many perspectives in it consideration of electoral reform options, as well as for providing an apparently...
View ArticleA moderate pace is best indeed. The greater hurry, the worse speed.
All of the 150 House of Representatives seats now have a clear winner. Unlike some other recent elections, there has not been any real knife edge seats, which is probably just as well given the...
View ArticleSenate preference mayhem: 0.2% of the vote could be enough to win
This election sees a record number of parties contesting the Senate and a record number of candidates. Even people like me who enjoy filling in all the squares below the line on the Senate ballot paper...
View ArticleMore on Senate Preferences
The possibility of people getting elected to the Senate with virtually no public support has been greater coverage, with a piece in today’s SMH and Antony Green letting fly about it on the ABC this...
View ArticleTime to restore an Upper House in Qld’s Parliament
Calls to bring back the Upper House – or Legislative Council – in Queensland’s Parliament appear with fairly regular frequency. Like every other state Upper House at the time, when Queensland’s...
View ArticlePolitical donations: buying influence and outcomes.
The furore in New South Wales over developers and resource companies seeking to buy influence through political donations has died down a bit as focus has turned to the federal Budget. Whilst no one is...
View ArticleSenate Voting Reform: Correcting the Crap (part 1)
This upcoming federal election will be the tenth I’ve been involved in. As all these have been with a smaller party – either the Democrats or the Greens – and in all but the first I’ve been involved in...
View ArticleSenate Voting Reform: Part 2 (Cowardice, Conviction, Politics & Principle)
Crikey is normally pretty good at cutting through political bluster to identify what is happening underneath. So it was disappointing to see them having a shot at the Greens for refusing to acquiesce...
View ArticleSenate Voting Reform: Part 3 – Is this the Greens’“GST moment”? (hint: No. No...
I have read a range of comments by people asserting that the current controversy over the Greens support for repairing the Senate voting system will by the “Greens GST moment.” As I am well-qualified...
View ArticleSenate Voting Reform: Part 4 – How do you vote someone out if they don’t need...
There are many problems with how the current Senate voting system has evolved, but perhaps the worst is that it subverts the most basic aspect of a democracy – the ability to vote somebody out if...
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