The first of the federal government’s two green papers on electoral reform was released on Wednesday, this one dealing with disclosure, funding and expenditure issues. The paper was originally promised in June, but has been delayed pending consultation with state and territory governments. It might be hoped that this results in the unhelpful anomalies from one jurisdiction to the next being ironed out, potentially allowing for the establishment of a single authority to administer the system. You have until February 23 to make submissions in response to this paper or in anticipation of the next, which will deal with “a broader range of issues, aimed at strengthening our national electoral laws”. This paper’s concerns in turn:
Disclosure. State and territory party branches, associated entities (which include fundraising entities, affiliated trade unions and businesses with corporate party membership) and third parties (individuals or organisations that incur “political expenditure”, such as Your Rights at Work and GetUp!) are currently required to lodge annual returns disclosing details of campaign-related receipts, expenditure and debts. The Political Donations Bill currently before the Senate proposes to change reporting from annual to six monthly, but even this seems a bit lax. Voters would presumably want some idea of funding arrangements before they vote rather than after, and the practice in other countries shows how this could be done. In Britain, reporting is required weekly during election campaigns and quarterly at other times; in the United States, expenditures are disclosed daily during campaigns and donations monthly. This is made possible by mandatory electronic record keeping which is not required at this stage in Australia. Queensland’s and New Zealand’s practice of requiring disclosure of large donations within 10 or 14 days also sounds promising. Another issue is that itemised disclosure only applies to donations, which amounts to only a quarter of private funding – the rest coming from fundraising, investments and debt. Australia also uniquely requires “double disclosure” by both donors and recipients, which might be thought more trouble than it’s worth.
Funding. Australia is unusual in that it has neither caps on donations or bans on donations from particular sources. Canada allows donations only from private individuals; the United States does not allow donations from corporations, banks, unions and federal government contractors. Public funding arrangements such as our own are common internationally, but New Zealand interestingly uses measures of public support other than votes, including party membership, number of MPs and poll results in the lead-up to elections. This allows broadcasting time to be allocated ostensibly on the basis of current support, so that the system is “less vulnerable to criticisms of favouring major parties in comparison with minor parties and independent candidates”.
Expenditure. Expenditure caps apply in Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, with compensations of free air time provided in the latter two cases. They also existed here until 1980, when they were abolished on the basis that they “constrained campaigns” and were too hard to enforce. The US allows parties and candidates to agree to limit expenditure in exchange for public funding, which it settled for when set caps were ruled unconstitutional. Given that election campaigning is increasingly unconstrained by the formal campaign period, expenditure caps work best where there are fixed terms.
In other news, we’re probably entering a Yuletide opinion poll drought, but there’s plenty else going down:
• Antony Green’s dissection of the Queensland state redistribution has been published by the Queensland Parliamentary Library.
• The campaign for South Australia’s Frome by-election (the state’s first since 1994) is slowly coming to the boil – read all about it here.
• More action than you can poke a stick at from the good people at Democratic Audit of Australia.
• I missed an opinion poll last Saturday: Westpoll in The West Australian has the state’s new Liberal government leading 55-45, from a sample of 400. This sounds maybe a bit generous to Labor from primary votes of Liberal 45 per cent, Labor 34 per cent, Nationals 5 per cent and Greens 9 per cent. Labor’s Eric Ripper, viewed by all as a post-defeat stop-gap leader, has plunged seven points as preferred premier to 12 per cent, and even trails Colin Barnett 30 per cent to 26 per cent among Labor voters.
• The unstoppable Ben Raue at the Tally Room plays the dangerous game of anticipating prospects for the looming federal New South Wales redistribution that will reduce the state from 49 seats to 48. So for that matter does Malcolm Mackerras in Crikey:
Early this year I was quoted in The Australian as saying that the name Throsby would disappear. The Illawarra media quickly picked up on this and I heard Jennie George say on ABC radio that I was engaging in “pure speculation”. She is quite right, of course. Although the loss of a NSW seat has always been assured, it is pure speculation to say which one it will be.
Nevertheless my proposition actually is that the south coast seats of Gilmore (Joanna Gash, Liberal) and Throsby (Jenny George, Labor) will be merged into a seat bearing the name of Gilmore. Such a seat would, in practice, be reasonably safe for Labor so really it would be Gash to lose her seat. As to why the name Gilmore would be preferred to the name Throsby the explanation is simple. Dame Mary Gilmore (1865-1962) was a woman whereas Charles Throsby (1777-1828) was a man.
We have the precedent of 2006 to know that the MP who is the actual victim of a redistribution is not necessarily the one whose seat disappears. In 2006 and 2007 Peter Andren was the true victim but the name of his seat, Calare, was retained. That he died shortly before the 2007 general election is not the point. His seat of Calare became so hopeless for him he announced that he would stand for the Senate. Consequently there is no reason why Joanna Gash may not be the real victim in 2009 even though the name of her seat is retained.
If this is the way the commissioners decide to do it then the flow-on effect would be interesting to watch. My belief is that Batemans Bay (presently in Gilmore) would be restored to Eden-Monaro, in which division it voted in 2001 and 2004. Then the Tumut and Tumbarumba shires (presently in Eden-Monaro) would be restored to Farrer, in which division they voted in 2001 and 2004. Consequently it would be possible to retain all the rural seats by moving them into more urban areas. Bearing in mind that in 2006 the NSW commissioners abolished a rural seat but made the remaining seats more rural it would seem to me logical that in 2009 they would retain all the rural seats but make some of them less rural.
hope they did not end up getting beheaded
Ron
Joyce died of a stomach ulcer (must have bled or perforated). Llosa is alive and well.
I more see you as being burnt at the stake, like Giordano Bruno. 👿
Channel 9 hav hoghlited a good news story ….th new holden 4 cylinder to be built in SA….its geared to run on Alternative fuels both LPG and desal , and Govt subsidy is 150 million Thats where Auto industrey needs to go in oz
Diog “I more see you as being burnt at the stake, like Giordano Bruno”
glad you hav something pleasant in store for me ….you softy
Amigo Ron
Ignore the knockers, i love you just the way you are
Have a read of this old e-mail I had sent to me a while back.
Only great minds can read this
[fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too
Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it ]
I have to say, I think Dovif has a point. It’s not the whole point, or the only point, but he does have a pretty good point.
The Earth has survived much worse than what’s predicted with the onset of Global Warming. What may have trouble adjusting is human civilization.
We seem to have fallen into the trap of believing that the only temperature that we can live in is the one that has been recorded as the average since recording weather averages has been possible i.e. the last few centuries (if that). It’s quite a vain and arrogant attitude, if youse don’t mind my saying so.
On the other hand, if climate change does bite hard, we will have wars and famines. For those going through these vicissitudes it will be hard times all ’round. But looking at it from the “Gaia” point of view, getting rid of a few billion polluting, environmental rapists might not be such a bad thing. It might give a few other species a go at sharing in Earth’s bounty. At the moment there are too many people on the Earth for all of us to be able to share it fairly with other species. That means other species lose out, bigtime.
We often think of our children, and their children’s children, and how they might cope. Perhaps they won’t. Perhaps they will. I know this sounds flippant, but one thing’s for sure: if we keep on having children, and those children keep on doing the same thing, at the same rate, in a couple of centuries there won’t be room for all of those descendants to live peacefully and sustainably with each other. The greatest polllutant is not the gas we produce from burning fossil fuels. It is human kind itself. In short, there are too many of us, and soon there will be far too many of us.
The arithmetic is inexorable, a simple exponential formula: if we keep reproducing at the rate we have been for the past couple of centuries, we will wipe ourselves out, no need to worry about the climate doing it. Every time the Earth’s population doubles, it is mathematically accurate to point out that at that time there will be more people alive at that point in time than have ever lived in the history of the species. The rest is politics. And Climate Change is politics, no matter what either side says about their motives: it’s a classic left-right dividing issue.
Yet, if we don’t reproduce at a sustainable rate then there won’t be younger, fit members of the human race to look after the older members and the infrastructure needed to sustain a viable community. So we have to keep going, and going and going, reproducing to provide the population base necessary for work and caring. This gives us the human credit crunch: there’s only so much wealth, human wealth available to be used and generated before we outstrip our resources. Yet that’s what the climate ecologists, economists and politicians are talking about: dealing with climate warming so we can go on as usual, living the same lives, having the same numbers of children, only cleaner using less fossil fuels. When you look at the figures, it can’t happen that way. We’re trying to fix one problem only to bring the next, bigger problem all the nearer. Soylent Green, anyone?
Dovif might have also pointed that that a few hundred thousand years ago the human race was reduced to perhaps a couple of hundred, may be even just a few dozen couples. Mitochondrial DNA analysis is clear on this point. The Earth has certainly sustained worse than what’s coming, but remember: so has the human race…. but not without change, big change, and not all of it advantageous to every individual. More the opposite, actually.
Oh dear, it’s amigo ronnnie bashing time, again. we have been thru that with the last mob that we eventually banished to the G island.
And now we have the new mob that is behaving even more badly than the last mob. At least the last mob had some class. Maybe we also banish this mob to the F island.
And how many times does he need to spell correctly,
before you can call him a man.
[Now I think I know
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they’re not listening still
Perhaps they never will]
Dio, I don’t read them at all (option #1). I was supporting Adam’s point of view.
Cheers 🙂
So JulieM,
You only come here to have your prejudices reiforced?
I’ve noticed that with your posts.
Come on people, we’re grown ups here. Let’s not turn on one another. Let’s get off personalities and get on with arguing.
See what happens when i dont post Gary you all turn on each other lol!
Since we’ve spent almost 40b in a year doesnt that mean the budget is in deficit??
I would think the way Rudd and Co are going a net debt of 96b is achievable.
Hail fellow bludgers
As one who today was “let go”, I can assure the more sanguine among us that the GFC is going to have a big impact.
rudd’s softly,softly approach to CC is more and more reasonable in the light of more job losses to come.
Although not to worried about getting re-employed,the effect on some is quite catastrophic.
We are entering previously uncharted waters, I m just glad rudd is at the helm,an empathetic PM is what Aus. is going to need in the next 12-18 mths.
GB,
Nice post.
I agree with Adam. If Ron is too lazy to put his illiterate efforts through a spell checker, at the very least, he should be banned from posting. He would have to be the most annoying contributor that Pollbludger has had (from a trying to read and understand point of view).
There’s always the ABC to pick on
Their top story is “Government has ‘lost control of Budget’ ” accompanied by a picture of Glen’s girlfriend
She’s confused apparently.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/
enjaybee,
“We will decide who comes to this blog and the circumstances under which which they blog”.
Who said that?
G.G.
At least he could string a few words together.
Enjaybee,
And that worked out well, didn’t it?
GG
Well it worked for him for nearly twelve years. Not that he got my vote.
Enjaybee,
You can recover from Howad, but Ron is forever.
GG
No way. Howard has been seared into the collective psyche of the nation. It’s going to take a decade of Rudd/Gillard to repair the damage. Ron has only messed with a few hundred bludgers minds.
GG @ 409, I take your posts as I do Glen’s (and other Libs) with a huge grain of salt as I am sure you take mine.
Merry Christmas to you and I hope Santa left you a copy of Costello’s autobiography under the tree 😀 …….
Juliem, i am sure you will do well at the salt mine of Siberia.
Isn’t it Christmas? Good will to all men/women and all that? You wouldn’t think so here.
I’ll check back later and see if the playground has settled down.
Diogenes,
Howard is an ephemeral retail politician, Ron is up there with Shakespeare and the other Carlton footballers.
Juliem,
With as much respect as one can muster, you have NFI. Must be something about living in the US for 43 years.
Ah, this is festive season story that i do like. The family is getting together at long last. It’s a bit like Amigo GG and Juliem, why fight? We are family, we should be kind to one another.
[A Taiwan-based Eva Air flight arrived in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, near midday Monday to pick up two pandas the mainland has offered to Taiwan as a gesture of goodwill. The plane reached the Shuangliu Airport in Chengdu at 11:45 a.m. It took off from Taipei at 8:30 a.m. If weather permits, the plane will depart with the panda pair, Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, whose names together mean “Reunion,” at 2 p.m. Tuesday. It is expected to reach Taipei about three hours later.]
Yes. Tuan Yuan does mean Reunion. The Mainland and Taiwan will be reunited again, the Pandas will make sure to that. No more wedging by the japs and the yanks.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-12/22/content_7327972.htm
Just wondering when the Dear Leader Mr. Lu Kewen will score a couple of Pandas for OZ. Why dont we call them “Ron Ron” and “Won Won” which means the spelling bee.
I love the idea of GG as a Liberal reading Cossies autobiography. 😀
What’s next? Finns taking a post in the Heritage Foundation with Cheney and Rummie. 👿
[What’s next? Finns taking a post in the Heritage Foundation with Cheney and Rummie}
Diog, that was rather unkind after i have just posted:
[We are family, we should be kind to one another.]
Diogenes,
That is totally unfair. I once tried to vote Liberal. But, my hand would not let me.
I thought it was settled months ago that the reason why Ron’s posts are muddled is because he has dyslexia.
The fact that he can post on this site at all is amazing enough – I think people on this blog should just grow up and either:
1. Read his posts (which I try to do); or
2. Don’t read his posts but don’t endlessly whinge about them either
This is not to endorse Ron’s views in any way – I disagree with him on several issues but I respect his right to comment on this blog…
Finns
There’s always a good spike in homicides, assaults and suicides at Christmas time. And given my thoughts about the Heritage Foundation, Rummie and Cheney, I paid you the ultimate compliment.
Diog, you just wait until my products become global, then i will buy the Heritage Foundation plus Rummie and Cheney.
gary,
You have it entirely right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DmYLrxR0Y8
Listen, we are in the wrong country. we should be in Spain. they are conducting the “FAT ONE”. It will be drawn on Monday and the first prize is $3Billion, yes a fat $3billion.
Yes Vera, OUR ABC has done it again. Cannot carry a pro-Rudd headline (car annoucement) for more than five minutes before giving the opposition front billing. I wish someone from the govt would come out with the obvious retort: “The opposition has lost control of Julie Bishop” (I would have said Julie Bishop’s eyes but thats a but unfair)
[There’s always a good spike in homicides, assaults and suicides at Christmas time.}
Ask any paramedic and they’ll tell you full moon or around solstice. BTW happy solstice everyone and a happy new year.
veraVera
#405
“Amigo Ron
Ignore the knockers, i love you just the way you are
Have a read of this old e-mail I had sent to me a while back.
Only great minds can read this…..
Thanks Vera, that email made peferct sence to me But th next bit will not :
US Fed Lending exceeded $2.9 trillion , yep trillion for first time in early Nov , and it rose by 1.8 trillion in th 12 weeks from Sept when less than AAA were acceptd for securities Thats forking out money to those that credit wise shouldn’t thoereticaly get it
However you will luv this , Congress ar having trouble finding out where its all going
I mean you and i put demand transparancy so we knew where monies went but not in th USA
Now up to a week ago , there was this pinnacle of Wall street and USA financial credibility Mr Maddoff , a former chairman of there stck Exchsnge , now they find he committed a $50 billion fraud , $50 billion ! , and none of fron th Fed Reserve …so there must be more of these Mr Madoff’s around right now getting some of these trillions ! Don’t tink we want to copy there supervising standards
I’I have a comment about Ronnie, and it’s not personal (but will probably be interpreted as such): he can’t spell, doesn’t care to learn how, and is completely unreadable, way beyond mere typos. Maybe he has some good opinions, but I’ll never know. After a few earnest attempts, I can’t be bothered trying to interpret his posts anymore.
Maybe a talent wasted. Maybe a genius in disguise. Perhaps a heart like Phar Laps, full of wisdom and truth. I, for one, will never know, because I find it actually offensive that he doesn’t seem to want to even try to make his posts intelligible by any reasonable standards of spelling, grammar or logic.
We all make mistakes in typing, but to make the same mistakes over and over again smacks of a deliberate technique.
Bushfire Bill and others. No one doubts that the earth has had more extreme climatic events than GW scenarios for next few decades just with long term warming and cooling(ice age) events let alone meteor hits etc. That isn’t a reason for sitting back and waiting for it to happen. Creating human misery on a grand scale might appeal to some people but generally to be avoided when the nastiness that is likely is factored in. Species extinction is a second reason. If climate change is slow in evolutionary terms then many species will adapt and survive. If it happens quickly, then especially in areas where people have only left small remnants of “original” environment, the results will be disastrous for many species. Especially given that the excessive consumerism which drives “advanced” economies can be done away with in truckloads before human society will be significantly affected.
BB,
Everyone loves you because of your passion, not necessarily the content.
Ron provides, passion and information. It depends how you want your knowledge delivered.
BB – To be honest that shows an absolute misunderstanding or lack of knowledge of dyslexia. If only it were that simple.
For your edification –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexia
And GG
putting me even in same breath as those “other Carlton footballers” is an acholade of gold Naturally you used “other” , because th Juddster is in another plane far above again
I’m wondering now if we can let Ron get on with his life and you yours and get back to the bloody issues.
What are the issues? In the case of Ron’s posts, I’ll never know. I’m quite happy to accept that he’s an intellectual giant, a pillar of wisdom, a fountain of passion, a monument to morality… but if you can’t actually decipher his posts how could anyone ever know for sure?
Ron,
Well you are “special”.
Cheers.
The post by Adam was a touch insensitive but typical of the labor right, it was of course their policies that saw the mental hospitals emptied and patients tossed onto the streets.
It was the point one of the organisations was making in regards to Rudds $6 billion homeless package. Until mental health care is fixed up there will always be homeless on the streets, it is more a case of trying to fix the results instead of the cause.
Fair enough BB but don’t expect Ron to do something he is not able to do. I’d love to be able to run the 4 minute mile. Believe me that was never going to happen and never will. You could put a gun at my head and it still won’t happen.
You have a choice BB – read Ron’s posts or don’t. Now how easy is that?
Hey, this blog is fairly democratic.
If you don’t want to read someone’s posts, don’t. If you don’t want to respond to someone’s posts don’t.
BTW, dyslexia can be v. complex. Bad cases routinely makes life a misery for sufferers.
OTH, choosing to be anarchic with spelling and grammar can be either a personal or a political statement; so can ignoring the results *grin*.
Gary up to 5 months ago had a PA , well many before as well Never underestimate a woman of whatever background as they hav skills & intuiton in areas better than guys , ….except th footy
Those trillions I mentioned earlier signify USA GFC problams may be deeper than first thought , and they’ll spread globaly and Kevin rudd is going to face tough econamic times ahead in growth , unemplyment and inflation
MayoFeral
You are not on your lonesome. As you rightly point out, the ETS is a bit of a technical croc. I wasn’t ignoring your efforts, just concentrating on some of the bits around the ETS, rather than the ETS itself. My pessimism has been more or less confirmed.
King Coal is alive and well in Poland and Australia.