The Western Australian Electoral Commission has unveiled the candidates for the February 3 Peel by-election, who are listed below in ballot paper order. More information will be added here as it becomes available.
Brian McCarthy (Citizens Electoral Council). Amanda Haines of the Mandurah Mail reports that McCarthy is "a powerhouse operator with Alcoa for 30 years until his recent retirement, he also served as a convenor for the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union for almost 10 years". He is the chairman of the party’s state executive committee and was its candidate against Kim Beazley in Brand at the 2001 federal election, and in the new seat of Murray at the 2005 state election.
Robert Woodward (Independent). The Mandurah Mail reports that Woodward "owns and operates a customised taxi service catering to community members with disabilities and has also been employed in public transport and banking".
Brent Tremain (Christian Democratic Party). A Port Kennedy resident and owner-manager of a brick paving business, Tremain was also the CDP’s candidate for Peel at the 2005 state election. He has a campaign website called VoteSmartPeel.com.
Gerard Kettle (Independent). A Rockingham city councillor and manager of the Warnbro Fair Shopping Centre, Kettle came to notice during the 2004 election when he ran as an independent against Kim Beazley in Brand, after originally nominating for Liberal preselection. Styling himself an "independent Labour" candidate, the ALP argued that Kettle was in fact running at the behest of the Liberals. Roger Martin of The Australian reported that Kettle was sub-leasing half of his campaign office at Rockingham City Shopping Centre to the Liberal candidate, Phil Edman.
Paul Papalia (Labor). Papalia is a counter-terrorism expert and decorated former navy diver who served in Iraq during the 2003 war and with the United Nations Special Commission in 1992 and 1993. His preselection has attracted numerous comparisons with that of Peter Tinley, the former SAS major endorsed as Labor’s candidate for the federal seat of Stirling. Graham Mason of The West Australian reports that Papalia won an administrative committe vote eight votes to six ahead of Pamela Kay, a Left-backed candidate of apparently low profile. The committee is normally dominated by an alliance of the Left factions and the two members of the "New Right", but Alan Carpenter succeeded in securing backing for Papalia from the New Right members and Senator Ruth Webber. Webber had become alienated from her AMWU Left faction after losing a winnable spot on the Senate ticket, when the faction shifted its support to East Metropolitan MLC Louise Pratt. Kwinana mayor and Police Union solicitor Carol Adams had earlier been mentioned as the front-runner.
Craig Bradshaw (One Nation). Bradshaw is the proprietor of an engineering business and one of the party’s three state vice-presidents.
Dawn Jecks (Greens). The Mandurah Mail reports that Jecks has "a background as a geotechnician and laboratory business manager in WA’s resource development industry", has "worked on the Preserve Point Peron for the People campaign", was "a founder of the Rockingham Anti-Nuclear Group (RANG)", and "helped to oppose the proposed Waikiki electricity sub-station". Jecks has been busy recently writing letters opposing uranium mining to publications including the Sunday Times and The Bulletin.
Graeme Coleman (Liberal). A local businessman and former head of the South Coast Business Development Organisation, Coleman was preselected after what was described as a "four-way battle". Others mentioned as potential Liberal candidates were Rob Brown, the candidate from 2005, and the aforementioned Phil Edman, the federal candidate for Brand in 2004.
Is the CEC Brian McCarthy the same Brian McCarthy who was a leader of the Great Pilots Strike Debacle (for the pilots) of 1988?
Not the most exciting lineup is it. I think it is a shame that one potential candidate who could have given the majors a real shock has not nominated.
Where’s Family First ?
Warwick, I’d be interested to know who you’re referring to. Nora, I’m not sure why, but they’re not fielding a candidate. They don’t seem be as well organised in WA as in some other states.
Gidday William, Did you see the Rockie local newspaper “Weekend Courier”, front page headline 22 Dec, “7400 plead in vain”. Referring to the number of people who signed a petition supporting the very popular Spud Shed shop in their dispute with Rockie council. The Spud Shed has also been in dispute with Govt over some “Potato Marketing Board” in earlier times. In view of this very solid showing of community support for Mr Tony Galati who runs the Spud Shed and bearing in mind the vagaries of preferential voting, I just surmised that if he had stood for Peel and actually ran a campaign, the community might have stood a chance of having a voice in West Perth for a change.
Dear Poll Bludger,
Thanks very much for your Blog.
Can I crave your indulgence to publish this list of some local Peel issues ?
Some of which I think could be exploited by Peel candidates.
Not in order of merit and I look forward to hearing ideas from other readers.
The Waikiki Electricity Substation issue.
Endemic speeding in the longer 50 kmh streets.
Hoons.
Firmer regulating of noise from loud motor bikes plus issue of unregistered, unlicenced young riders.
Second seawater desalination plant seems headed for Rockingham, why not Swanbourne ?
Stunningly ignorant Govt water policies which are hell bent on giving us the most expensive, high enviro impact water while actually degrading traditional sources.
The Point Peron Canal Housing development on “Bush Forever” land, which is of course being disguised as a marina.
The inability of the “authorities” in more than 100 years of settlement to construct a small boat harbour, in Cockburn Sound where boats belong.
I see reports of lawless behaviour by yahoos around the Rockie beach coffee bar strip and also press reports of violence at nearby nightclubs, problems which I am sure many people would like to see reduced.
In my opinion Rockingham Council is not an organisation covered in glory and a plausible case could be made that we would be better of with a Govt administrator; some examples.
Fighting tooth and nail to oppose residents who want laneways closed so as to have less crime encroaching on their property.
An inexplicable inability to repair public toilets in a timely and normal manner.
The council seems to be approving coastal high rise developments higher than the 5 storey Govt guidelines, see front page 5 Jan “Weekend Courier”.
Council planning dispute with the Spud Shed seems to be spiralling towards some very expensive legal fees with the council looking very split on the issue; surely a common sense accomodation can be found that recognises Spud Shed has thousands of happy customers and that a supermarket in Baldivis is not some evil that council has to fight.
Knock yourself out Warwick, that’s exactly the sort of thing I’m hoping for from this thread. I don’t have ready access to the Weekend Courier, despite being a former employee of the esteemed Community Newspaper Group, so it would be most helpful if you could alert this thread to any of its by-election related reportings.
Adam, I’ve emailed the CEC about McCarthy, but they’re too coy to ‘fess.
Thanks for your list of local issues, from the far north it’s hard to guage what bites in the southern suburbs.
Can’t only one candidate actually “do” something about them. Remember Government won’t change, only by having a local member will the Government pay any attention. Or will the community for go the chance to “do” and just punish. What’s the local view??
My totally uninformed and little thought-out prediction (William, I believe we agreed on this): a swing of around 9% to the Liberals thanks to the greatest stupidity exhibited by a sitting Minister in the month of October 2006.
jasmina, i don’t think the swing to the libs will be anything near that big. labor has played the game and got a bloke they are painting as a cleanskin because he’s just joined the party. he is ex-navy as well so he’s likely to get the votes of all the ex-navy people living in the area too. unfortunately people seem to have short memories and norm marlborough’s dodgy dealings will probably be a distant memory for a lot of voters.
tim, i think the only way there’ll be any real work done in peel is for the seat to become marginal. with such a big margin nothing gets done. same as places like vic park.
regarding labor man’s navy background and the portrayal of being a cleanskin – i wonder what deals were done to get him the position. i would not be surprised if mark mcgowan, also ex-navy and member for rockingham, played a big role in doing the numbers for him.
It’s interesting that Family First are particularly unorganised in WA, where (as far as I can tell) there’s a pre-existing Christian Democratic Party which almost won a seat in the last election. Likewise, Family First isn’t running in the NSW election, where the CDP has state MPs. Maybe there just isn’t room for development of Family First where a Christian party already exists. Not that it’s a huge bombshell that FF and CDP are competing for the same turf.
Thankyou Poll Bludger for your support in advertising my web page. It was completely unexpected. It is fantastic to see so much interest from the community on issues that concern our district of Peel. The main reason I am running for election is because I have a heart to serve the people. If I didn’t, I would not be running because the price and responsibility to be a politician is far too high. Unlike the two major parties, I believe that there is no such thing as a safe seat. When a politician is elected they are there to fight for the rights and issues of their electorate, not the agendas of their own party. A good example of what I am referring to is the way that little has been done in this district by the Labor Party for the past 20 years because it has always been considered a safe seat. Another example is the way the treasurer Eric Ripper wanted to run roughshod over the public’s wishes concerning the results of the referendum for extended trading hours. He has done another complete back flip however, but only because he realised that it could be detrimental to the Labor campaign at the upcoming election. Yet another double cross is the introduction of a trial on daylight saving when it has already been trialled in the past and rejected by several referendums. The Liberal Party’s track record is no better for other districts and when they have held balance of power at other times. When will both the Labor and Liberal parties realise that they need to respect the results of their own referendums and the public’s wishes. It is insulting and shows a complete lack of respect to the people of Australia to disregard the public’s opinion when it has been asked for.
At the upcoming by-election for Peel, if I am elected, I pledge that I will make a difference in Peel. I will lobby for and introduce private members bills to:
1. Consider all legislation in the light of the impact it will have on families.
2. Abolish stamp duty (as the Labor Government promised with the introduction of the GST) on the purchase of owner occupied homes because with prices being so high now, it is nearly impossible for a young person to enter the market.
3. To strengthen existing legislation so that those who destroy or deface property are subjected to community work and to the restoration of the damaged property. This would include graffiti offenders.
4. For increased funding towards training allowances for small and medium sized businesses. As a small business owner, the major barrier of employing labourers and teaching young people skills is the cost of training. I have found particularly in the building trades area, that on every occasion the worker has left after being trained, because they can see the opportunities that exist if they go out on their own and they can earn far more money. This wouldn’t be such a problem if the cost of training was covered by the Government. To train just one person costs literally thousands of dollars because they are unproductive whilst they are being trained and furthermore, the person who is training them is considerably less productive. This is one of the main reasons we are suffering a skills shortage.
John, I hope you are right, not because I harbour any liking for Marlborough but because I do not wish to see the conservatives gain. Having said that, I do think that the voters will have in their minds the stuff ups by the Carpenter government in mind, such as the child protection and education portfolio, when they cast the vote.
Your response makes me wonder about the extent to which people vote for the party rather than the local member, if you know what I mean. There are some examples supporting both theories and I will cite the two best known ones.
In the 1998 federal election (I think or was it 2001?), the only ALP sitting member to gain increased votes and improve her already safe status was (of all people) Carmen Lawrence, despite her tarnished reputation and the fall out from the royal commission, As simple as that sounds, she was popular in the Fremantle seat, and that was it.
In the 1996 Federal election, the Paul Keating factor was big enough to turn people off the ALP. Even Don Watson admits so in the biography (which I totally and heartily recommend). despite having far more credible policies, despite being able to cite successes such as the Working Nation, the ALP lost infamously as we now know, partly because Keating ‘lost’ the cultural rapport with so-called ‘battlers of the middle Australia’. In the mind of an ‘average’ Australian voter, he was gone and personifying the ALP, the party lost that critical election.
I dunno. I think people will make all sorts of connections between Marlborough and the f****-ups of the current administration, and the return of Brian Burke is more than a blast from the past.
We shall see.
Hum… I think the length of time elapsed between resignation and election, the extremely low profile of Norm Malborough in the interim and the general shortness of most people’s memories will contribute to a reasonably moderate swing away from the ALP.
Of course, I’m a long way from Peel.
jasmina,
jasmina, i think more people vote for they party rather than the person and that will be the case here. the only time that this trend bucks is when there is a ‘celebrity’ candidate as we have seen with federal labor and wa labor looking to get high-profile football players as candidates.
what peel comes down to though is the fact it is a very safe labor seat.
i just read an article in the mandurah mail where paul papalia is trying to play down how safe it is and had to have a laugh at the tactic to paint yourself as n underdog despite the fact you will romp in the win by virtue of the electorate rather than anything you have done personally. it should be pretty interesting by election, but i think that if there is a swing to the liberals it will only be about three per cent.
another interesting thing i read somewhere was that all of the candidates, except they labor guy actually live in the electorate. I think it should be a pre-requisite for a candidate to live in the area they represent and i wonder if this is an oversight by labor.
another funny thing i noticed was an an ad where gerard kettle says if he is elected he will also stay on as a local councillor and that ‘has never been done before’. it has never been done before because it’s illegal. you cannot hold both positions concurrently.
jasmina,
can you clarify the bit when you said, “I hope you are right, not because I harbour any liking for Marlborough but because I do not wish to see the conservatives gain”? i mean this genuinely and not in an aggressive way or anything (sometimes its hard to get ‘meaning’ across on the computer).
i’m curious about the statement because i’m personally ambivilent towards which party represents me – i try to go more on track record so i guess i’m what they categorise as a swinging voter. for me, if the incumbent government hasn’t really done much for the area in the past 20 years, as is the case here, i vote for someone else so they can have a crack and hopefully make things better for my family. i’m not fussed whether they’re labor, liberal or independent as long as they’re going to do something.
Extra information has now been added to this post thanks to a very helpful article from Amanda Haines of the Mandurah Mail – which, among other things, makes clear that Brian McCarthy is not the fellow who was at the centre of the late ’80s pilots dispute.
the pork barelling begins: link
i like this line where he admits the government has neglected the area, “The Carpenter Government is strongly committed to improving education infrastructure and services for children throughout the State – particularly in areas that have previously been neglected.â€
John,
voting for the party rather than the candidate may be the case in WA (so far) but the example of Mary delahunty in Victora shows otherwise. I am not sure if you know her fortunes, but her ‘celebrity status’ did not help much in the seat of Northcote, because she underperformed primarily as the Minister for planning in that state.
I think it is too random, this ‘party or candidate’ thing. That is perhaps the nature of representative liberal democratic politics.
BTW. the words in any government’s statement that go along ‘we are strongly committed’ give me goosebumps….. Don watson’s death sentence is so spot on in this regard. What does committed mean? ‘We will do something about it’ or ‘we are really just thinking about it”?…. hmmmmm….
I agree that a candidate should live in the electorate. I also agree that it is a safe labour seat…. for now. But we all remember the tide in the 1996 federal election….
VPL, i welcome all comments even if you are a long way from Peel (so am I as a matter of fact.)
Cheers and beers
I noticed that John stated that the labor man was the only man who did not live in the area, perhaps he should read the West Aust Saturday last – stating the addresses of all candidates, and I can assure you that Paul was not the only one not living in the area at present. He has lived here as a Navy personal, but he is now living in the Fremantle at present, but he knows that if elected he will reside in the area, which is expected of him, and have his office in the area of course. Mr McCarthy does not live in the area, nor does Craig Bradshaw – so put your glasses on.
I have been informed that Paul is also a member of the local Labor Party, so that should count for something at least.
I feel that all candidates that have been pre-selected have great ideals and proposals, but like all when you get in, you buckle down to the parties decisions, and policies and that is life.
I have been told that with Gerard Kettle who is at present a Shire Councillor, he can stay in, but cannot be re-elected as a Shire Councillor if he gets into Parliament – you really do not have the time to serve 2 masters, and I can tell you you don’t have time for private business, not only fun times, otherthan your work for the people.
Felicity, re your last paragraph about having no time to serve 2 masters: Clover Moore is a Lord Mayor of Sydney as well as a member of NSW Parliament..
I think this says somethin’ about the nature of ‘our democracy’… no that I wanna quote Margot Kingston….
Thanks
felicity,
i apologise for my error, but i didn’t see listings in the west australian. still, i take no offence from your aggression (but maybe i should see an optometrist just in case).
it still does not, however, change my belief that the candidate should live in the area, not slide in if they win the seat as an opportunistic johnny-come-lately as looks to be the case with a few of these candidates (thanks for pointing that out). papalia apparently has only been a member of the labor party for a few months which places his membership around the time the norm marlborough scandal was swinging along. i would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at whatever meetings he had with labor members.
with kettle, if he does not win the seat at least he’ll be working for the area on council. he seems to be pretty genuine about his concerns etc for the area.
Liquor trading on Sundays
Last month, Parliament passed the Liquor and Gaming Legislation Amendment Bill 2006 which allows metropolitan liquor stores to trade now from 10 am to 10 pm on Sundays. As a result of this legislation, it also possible now to consume liquor without a meal at a restaurant.
On the surface this seems like a harmless enough proposal however on closer examination this legislation contravenes the will of the people of Western Australia expressed at the 2005 referendum on trading hours.
This is sufficient reason, on its own to fight for its repeal. However, my major concern is the fact that drunkeness is on the increase in our society, particularly among our younger people.
This law sends out the wrong message to our youth by further promoting the consumption of alcohol and making it even more readily available. This consequently would not pass the test of a family impact statement to which I subscribe. Please do not misunderstand me, I am not against alcohol, but I am against the abuse of alcohol and any legislation that would make access any easier than it allready is.
Alcoholism is a serious disease with serious consequences. According to the Health Department, in 2002 already, 88% of WA school children aged 12 to 17 years had consumed alcohol in the last year. Only one third of students felt that getting very drunk once or twice was “very dangerous†and only half associated getting drunk very regularly with high levels of danger. The average number of alcohol drinks consumed by drinkers in the week prior to the survey was 7 for males and 5 for females. Among females, the largest increase in both consumption and experimentation occurred between the age of 12 and 15 .
I realise that these statistics are a bit old now but this worries all the more. As alcohol consumption continues to rise steadily each year, the current situation would obviously be much worse in reality.
.
Naturally, the primary responsibility is with parents. If parents allow under age children to drink at home, there is nothing much we can do about it. But at least, let us not encourage it by making liquor more easily accessible and allowing liquor stores to operate for 12 hours on Sundays.
And in view of all this, an increase in the legal drinking age may not be a bad idea at all.
http://www.drugarmwa.org.au/pdfs/nondrugarmwa/2002_
I agree that the candidate should live in the area.Its really odd that the Labor candidate just joined the party and lives in Freo. How can this candiate have any passion for the area or any real understanding on local issues?
What also odd is that the President of the Rockingham branch Liberal party ,Paul Ellis is helping Gerard Kettle. something has gone wrong here on both counts.
the libs are a strange beast, but regardless of that at least their candidate for peel is a long-time resident and actually does some work to improve the community. i’d take any of the candidates that live work in the area, either in business or as councillors, over those that are blow-ins.
A lot of people have been commenting on were the different candidates live, with the view that they should be locals who live in the area.
Personally, I don’t think it matters were they live when they’re running, but I acknowledge that they should live in the electorate if they are elected.
But the view that if they are local, they are somehow automatically a better candidate, is frankly quite silly.
This is the 21st century, the days of growing up and living in the same area until you die are long gone. The average family now moves every four years.
We need people with broad experience who have been out and seen the world. Not people who have lived in a dog box their entire lives.
People have raised the spectre of the ‘need to understand local issues’. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that the major local issues in Peel are graffiti and hoons, in addition to the mainstream issues of – health, education and community safety.
While these issues are local, they are not uniquely local. Many places across Australia have the same problems with graffiti and hoons.
More the point, the solution to these problems will not be uniquely local either. Solving problems involves looking out side the local sand box for fresh ideas.
I would encourage anyone with concerns about graffiti to google the ‘broken window program’ initiated by Rudolph Giuliani while he was the Mayor of New York.
What happen in New York dosent mean it could apply in Peel. Thats a mistake we keep making is getting into bed with America.
Local issues are like the Spud Shed that helps more than 14,000 low income people in the area. Land that was set aside for a school that now has been handed over by the Labor government for a Sub power station in a major residential area. Many people bought there houses in good faith in regards to that issue.The Desal Plant and the Marina to name a few .
These are local issues . You would need to live here to understand them!
I agree that Graffiti,Hoons, Education,Health and Community safety is wide spread across Australia but dont say that you dont need to be local when it is clear that we need to understand some big local issues in peel
The problem today in state politics ios polly’s have forgotten who elected them . The local people.
Years ago we called some politicans “statesmen”. Today??? enough said.
Couple quick comments while I’m here.
I want to quickly mention the ‘live local’ thing. It was a point I raised in the Vic Park by-election and I consider it to be important, but not determinative. I would like to know that my local member knows, lives and is invested in the local area BEYOND merely the necessity of their employment.
Re: keeping position on local council. This would likely be disqualifying if it were Commonwealth (ss s. 44 of the Constitution) but dunno if that qualification re: holding office of profit under Crown applies to State. Seems a bad idea in any event and prove to conflict. However, this is probably purely academic.
I don’t have a problem with the candidates posting here so long as they identify themselves – as I mentioned in the Vic Park by-election. Of course, its not my website and not for me to say but I think its going a bit far for candidates to start posting massive chunks of material…
Last issue – surely there are more grass-roots issues going on in Peel…??? Graffitti and hoons? While those are serious enough issues – if that’s all that’s wrong with Peel then I’m looking at moving!
if you area sitting councillor and are elected to a state position you can keep your position until your term expires, but you cannot be relected. most councillors do quit once elected to a state position rather than see out their term of election to avoid the conflict of interest that may arise.
A couple of points:
Les D. I reckon that there were very few politicians referred to as statesmen when they were actively engaged in politics. After the event and especially in their obituaries (witness Jim Killen atm), they tend to become finer people in the eyes of both allies and opponents (from within and beyond their own parties).
On the issue of people simultaneously being MPs and municipal councillors, I think the most celebrated case was Ben Chifley, who was an Alderman Shire oif Abercrombie, iirc) throughout his time in politics – even when he was Prime Minister.
I’mn not sure that it’s a good idea, but there might be exceptional people who can do both roles justice, so I wonder if a blanket ban is appropriate.
Peel Bi-election:
Yes – I agree with SIKIMMUNI that it really does not matter, as you could have a candidate being in the right place at the right time, and really is unsuitable, but what else have you, so he/she is pre-selected, and like all positions in life now adays, you have interviews before a panel, and the best person wins, and you have to be selective, not just the first person that comes along. I personally think that candidates going up for pre-selection for Parliament need to have an education, so as they can communicate to the people they represent, speak for them intelligently in Parliament, and be able to write up reports etc. Gone are the days when “fish and chip” shop owners were considerable suitable – look at the trouble that happened from that pre-selection.
The idea of Paul being a clean skin as they called it, was that he had no affiliations with certain parties, and he is very genuine and sincere person, as I am sure that all the candidates have high ideals.
I heard that Paul Ellis is not a member of the Liberal party, and is free to support Gerard Kettle – but I cannot confirm that.
There are other issues that could be looked at – the suitable site for the marina, which most would agree should be in the centre of town – ie Wanliss Street, to which I have no objections, and it would be lovely to have the Yacht Club, hotels and coffee strip, and other projects in mind to be all in the same area, it would make Rockingham a more popular visitor spot.
Tourists could visit Pt Peron – and see the natural sites, such as the Aboriginal burial sites, artefacts and the wonderful fishing grounds, swimming spots and views, not to be carved up as a development. This issue is to come up this year in caucus.
Issues of making sure that we have a lot more feeder buses when the train comes through in July of this year, and that the buses will also run to later times at night, not like 7 or 8.pm the last bus to run, which is very awkward if you are a young person working at the shopping centre to get home, and also very dangerous.
yet more evidence that we people have to at least make peel marginal if anything is to be done in the area. http://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/media/media.nsf
the government only seems to throw money at the area when they need to curry favour. funnily enough they made a funding announcement for the area around the same time last week, probably to tie into deadlines for local newspaper.
As a non-partisan observer not living or voting in Peel, I’d like to offer a comment or two.
Having read these comments, it’s interesting that so few candidates seem to have intimate knowledge of Peel. Lib candidate Coleman appears to have lived in the area for decades and watched its growth from a rural backwater. He has owned and run businesses in transport and agriculture and worked with prominent community groups, so surely has on-the-spot understanding of the salient issues in Peel?
I don’t see how a reasonable voter group could vote in a blow-in ‘cleanskin’ whose credentials seem to be lack of experience, attraction to the Navy contingent, and formula sequel to a successful ex-forces candidate. Vote for the best local candidate, not for Federal or State party preferences.
I note that Observer states that Mr Coleman is the only one that has lived in this area for a long time. Perhaps you should note that Dawn Jecks has lived in this area for a long period of time, Gerard Kettle is very well known and has participated and lived here a long time, you obviously are a Liberal supporter. Is Mr Coleman really a businessman as stated. As far as I know he manages a Govt. business, which is on a grant system, and run by a board, so I do not consider him to be a businessman as such. Also he does not have the statue and looks like the Labor member does. I also note that the Labor candidate has the support of the Navy families, and they are a close knit family down here, and they think that if he has had the courage to do what he did in Iraq, he is worth supporting. So we will see Observer when the day of reckoning comes.
The Iraq argument and that of ex-naval officer is a dangerous one, yet may favourite part of your post is this one: “Also he does not have the statue [sic] and looks like the Labor member does.”
i’d have imagined anything was a step up (or size down as the case may be) from the ‘stature’ of norm marlborough.
as far as i’m aware the newspapers have reported coleman to be a local businessman who is now working at the business incubation centre. to get a job helping hundreds of other small businesses get a start he must know what he’s doing and do it well.
the local newpapers don’t seem to have been giving the candidates much coverage, apart from the labor candidate hanging off the shoulder of various ministers in a lot of photo’s. this is smart on the government’s behalf for sure. the local newspapers probably don’t want to give the candidates much of a free run with editorial space because it might minimise the money they would make from advertising that the candidates have to take out as a result of the lack of exposure. this is a big shortcoming of the weekend courier and the sound telegraph in particular which should be better informing us on what all of these candidates are working towards and what their views are on important issues. one striking example was a story from graeme coleman outlining the railway stations along the perth to mandurah line throughout the electorate that had been scrapped throughout peel that was run in the mandurah mail. it was not, however, run in the sound telegraph or the weekend courier – the two newspapers which cover the bigggest part of peel!
in terms of ‘the day of reckoning’ it’s real a no-brainer. labor will win. it’s not even going to be close and anything the government says to the contrary is an attempt at spinning the issue.
this has been a labor area for about 30 years and that isn’t going to change regardless of the fact that the area has been neglected and a not-so ethical bloke was the local representative for 20-years. neither the liberals or any of the other candidates have a real chance. come february 3 there’ll be no change and life will go on with labor holding the area by a sfae, if not safer margin.
papalia has been given a plum job and he’ll waltz in with ease. and i guess that’s the thing that bugs me – he hasn’t had to work for it, prove himself in any way or actually do anything of benefit for the local community. he doesn’t even live in the area. it’s a cushy job for him to step into and take advantage of. a lot of the other candidates actually work for the area and have a proven track record of helping local people and are therefore a lot more deserving of representing the community. whether they look as good or have received the same amount of media coaching the candidates of the bigger parties may have been is irrelevant.
there has been more government money thrown at peel in the last few weeks when they feel like they have to pork barrel to win votes than any time in recent history. according to the news tonight they were at it again with alan carpenter making some crazy promises about rail guards! this pork barrelling is a clear example why people shouldn’t vote for the government or anyone that give’s their preferences to them in this by-election – when the government feels like they need to win votes it actually pays attention to the area.
sorry about the long rant (i’m making up for not posting for the past week).
Just found out a Poll was done by the Labor party for Peel . 11% swing against them
Interesting, Les – can I check that you really mean 0.11% (i.e. almost zero) rather than 11% (i.e. almost enough to cost them the seat)? Could you email me? pollbludger AT bigpond DOT com.
who did the poll?
if it’s 11 per cent and the source of the poll is not clearly known i’d say it was a stunt to try and make the labor victory on the day look miraculous.
if it’s .11 per cent, i’m not surprised.
the more i think of it it’s a great tactic by labor. apart from what i already said, it will make labor voters who thought they may vote for someone else come back to the fold and vote for papalia.
very clever.
the ‘swing against labor’ thing ws run on abc tv last night but noone seems to have any actual information on it. i’m becoming more and more convinced it’s just another election tactic.
I am upset at the One Nation candidate who states in the local paper this week that he is a white Australian. What is a white Australian. In this country we say ” we are all one”, and there is no colour tacked on to the Australian. We are not in South Africa or other places in the world, where they state coloured, white or black. we are totally one Australian nation – equal in colour, race and creed. That Pauline Hanson has a lot to answer for. Seems to be they attract extremists and bigots to their group. Come on we don’t need prejudist candidates – and I also thought it was an offence to colour bash.
I can sincerely say that the One Nation man will not be getting my vote, and I hope he loses his deposit.
I note that you also state Graeme Coleman was having his photograph with the new train stations to be – if it was up to the Libs. we would not be having this a happening for many years to come. You can thank Labor for getting this up and going as a real event, and not through Kelmscott as early directed.
felicity,
i agree with you on the one nation candidate stuff. i’m actually surprised they’re still an operational party, but i guess that reflects the variety of people in our community. i’ll be interested to see how many votes they get. how much of a desposit do they have to put up and how many votes do they have to get to get their money back?
regarding the train stations – i didn’t say anything about a photo and (from memory) there wasn’t one with the article about it that i read in the mandurah mail. from the article and what i remember, the plans for the rail line under the former government had half a dozen or so train stations planned throughout the peel area (including one at stakehill from memory). Alannah MacTiernan scrapped them all meaning the rail line bypasses a big chunk of the area. this will mean that once completed in the way the current government has changed the plans, local people will have to catch a bus (or drive for a fair way) to a train station before being able to finally jump on and head into perth or mandurah. i think the article said there was a 20 kilometre stretch of the rail line through a big chunk of the area that had no station at all for people to get onto the train. in all it was a pretty silly decision to scrap them all.
whether this lack of train service will make a difference in the election i don’t know, but i’m glad it was at least raised. too many people seem to forget the things that have been taken away from the area.
John like most of us in Rockingham we will have to travel by feeder buses to the nearest station or by car. I was not supportive of the train going through Kelmscott and Vic Park, as it added 20 minutes on a journey, and if you have to work in the city or have a contract and have to catch other buses to get to your destination, then it was not worth having the journey planned through there – if you are a public transport traveller, the quicker, straight to your destination the better. We all have to do go by feeder buses and only the folk living near the stations will have the less distance hopefully to walk. There in time will be more stations I was heard to believe, in the Peel area, but I am just grateful that there is a train going up to Perth, and that I will be able to travel hopefully in comfort and get there on time. The buses do a great job, and in the old days we had a milk run through Kwinana before we even looked like we were heading up to Perth. All I hope is that the Transport put on more feeder buses and are more frequent and also later at night.
About the One Nation – Lord help us if they ever came to power. They seem to attract some odd bodes I feel. They eventually will die a slow death I would see. Always seemed to be having party dynamic problems.
Thank you for answering my blog
We are voting against Labor simply because of the utterly irresponsible and dangerous intention to build a power substation adjacent to residents in Waikiki simply to save money. In light of the evidence that electromagnetic fields have a serious impact on health from sleeping disorders to childhood leukemia, the logical option is to build it on the alternative site next to Warnbro train station. The current option is just a way of Labor and Western Power saying, “…it’s only Peel, who cares about their health…we need to save money…”. Our state government and Western Power should prepare for future legal action reminiscent of asbestos and smoking related illness.
Phillip Arena PhD
Warnbro
phillip,
interesting point you make. i always shake my head when things like this happen and the authorities say things like ‘there’s no damning evidence to show it does kill you, so we’ll take the chance.
i think it might even be the line one of the wannabe pollies is using, but where else but peel would you be promised a school but end up with a western power substation?
You’d have to be a lot more specific with the whole electromagnetic fields have a detrimental effect on health claim ….
“In light of the evidence that electromagnetic fields have a serious impact on health from sleeping disorders to childhood leukemia,…”
Where is the analysis supporting this claim?
For me the Govt is unwise to insist on the Waikiki sub-station going in a residential area purely on aesthetic/zoning grounds. If we wanted to live alongside industry, we can go and live in the Third World. There is no shortage of space near the new railway, which is more distant from housing. I was at a meeting held recently by the council where Govt excuses were read out. The Premiers letter said something like, “oh we could not site it near the rail because environmetal approvals would take too long”. Utterly pathetic, one arm of Govt blames some other Dept for its red tape, this issue has been brewing a long time. Govts will never address their mistakes.
People bought properties in Waikiki to be in residential areas, not to be alongside industrial facilities. Of course there is another issue and that is what the land might be worth if developed for say med density housing, might pay for a couple of sub-stations.
My wife and I bought into Waikiki with the understanding that the block of land on the corner of Read St and Safety Bay Road was for a future school.
It is also the entrance off the Kwinana Freeway to the City of Rockingham .
Many of us living in the area find it a disgrace that we are now getting some sort of sub/power station.
We have participated in all the community protests at the City of Rockingham . Mr McGowan also attended and said nothing to support not going ahead.
My family and I are all labor voters and have been for many years. However we wont be voting labor this Saturday.
I hope we get the school our community was promised
Good luck Joe.
All we can do to increase the chance of the Govt “getting a message it understands”, is to spread the word to friends, neighbours, discuss issues with whoever will listen.
Peel people have one of those very rare chances in a democracy to send an effective message to Govt.