The government introduced four electoral reform bills to parliament yesterday. Antony Green offers a good overview that notes what’s missing from the recommendations of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters’ inquiry into the 2019 election: the particularly contentions measures of voter identification and optional preferential voting, and arrangements for handling an election during the pandemic, which will presumably have to follow at a later time.
To summarise:
• The most striking is a bill to triple the number of members required of a registered political party to 1500 and to disallow the registration of parties whose names contain, with limited exceptions, words already used in the name of a pre-existing party. The former requirement does not affect the significant exception that exists for parties with seats in parliament, as applies to Katter’s Australian Party, the Centre Alliance and the Jacqui Lambie Network (Antony Green notes it also helped Fraser Anning’s Conservative National Party to both register and blag free ABC air time before the last election, not that this proved notably helpful to them). Parties will have three months after the passage of the bill to either pass muster or face deregistration, in which case they will not be identified on ballot papers or eligible for public funding. This would appear to be one in the eye for the Liberal Democrats, who this week confirmed Campbell Newman as their Senate candidate in Queensland.
• A bill encompassing “counting, scrutiny and operational efficiencies” gives effect to JSCEM’s recommendation that the pre-poll voting period should be cut from three weeks to two, which the Coalition, Labor and Greens members were all on board with. It also allows for pre-poll votes to be pre-processed in the two hours before polls close so the actual counting of the votes can begin without delay, which should address an issue of recent election nights in which election day booths are mostly in by 8pm but pre-poll voting centres often aren’t until 11pm to midnight. Similarly, the bill allows for postal votes to be pre-processed so more of them can be counted on Sunday.
• An “electoral offences and preventing multiple voting” bill includes a measure to prevent those suspected of multiple voting from persisting in doing so, and one to target behaviour the Liberal Party has complained of being subjected to by GetUp! activists, specifically “violence, obscene or discriminatory abuse, property damage and harassment or stalking”. Former electoral administrator Michael Maley wonders if the latter measure might capture heckling or asking difficult questions; electoral law expert Graham Orr notes it brings the activities of FriendlyJordies to mind.
• A bill to lower the threshold for which third parties campaigning at elections will have to register as political campaigners, requiring them to file annual financial disclosure returns. The current six-figure threshold does seem on the high side, but the cause of “public confidence in Australia’s political processes” would surely be better served by lowering the threshold for declaring donations to political parties.
Other news:
• The Australian Electoral Commission has published the full panoply of reports and data relevant to the now finalised federal redistributions of Victoria and Western Australia. Antony Green has worked his estimated margins into a finalised 2022 federal election pendulum.
• Rachel Siewert, Greens Senator for Western Australia, announced on social media this week that she will resign her position in the Senate next month. This will allow the party’s preselected lead Senate candidate, Dorinda Cox, to build her profile ahead of next year’s election, a common practice for the Greens.
‘Barney in Tanjung Bunga says:
Tuesday, August 17, 2021 at 5:17 pm
Boerwar,
The Indigenous population was always in the high priority groups, that was the excuse given when the Sydney private school was vaccinated. The school was supposedly only enquiring about their Indigenous students and somehow everyone got included.’
_____________________________
Yep. So, what went wrong?
If the Ashes proceed, it will be a Justin Langer led team against the English team with the weakest batting line up since Don Bradman’s last test in 1948 and a bowling attack led by ancients.
The ACB will be charging premium prices for park cricket.
Lizzie,
I think the fellow is a FIFO mine worker
https://www.news.com.au/national/northern-territory/nt-records-no-new-covid19-cases-but-chief-minister-warns-not-out-of-the-woods/news-story/6e1b2db0bf6099d23589fafdee9c505f
Mr Gunner said the man was a US citizen and that NT authorities had made the decision to “respect” his decision not to disclose his vaccination status.
______
So “respectfully” deport the smartarse!
He has taken the 5th on vaccination status.
The local member is a cypher for his or her party. In particular a vote for the local Liberal candidate, no matter how good they might be as a person, no matter how progressive they might be on a raft of social issues, no matter what their links to the local area, is a vote for Scott Morrison, a vote for Peter Dutton, a vote for Barnaby Joyce and the rest of the scurvy crew. It’s a vote the hard right ideologues and religious nutters in the Party. It’s a vote for continued climate inaction. It’s a vote to maintain a venal, incompetent and corrupt right-wing Government in power.
Liberal / National last every time.
Mrs Sprocket had her 2nd AZ jab today – said the doctor’s surgery was chokka with people lining up, and complained about the lack of social distancing. She refused to stay the 15 minute observation period.
Dr Paul Kelly (what a great Aussie name) had some interesting stats today. If true, this is MASSIVE…
‘Paul Kelly says 99% of NSW Covid cases were not fully vaccinated, based on large sample
The chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, says based on data from around 6,000 cases from the NSW outbreak, 99% of the cases were not fully vaccinated.
A total of 3% were partially vaccinated, while another 4% were diagnosed within three weeks of receiving their first dose.
Kelly said:
The key message here is go and get vaccinated, particularly if you’re in the older age group but, as minister Wyatt has mentioned, but everyone.
Vaccination is available. Right now. In many places very close to you.
He said no fully vaccinated cases have required admission to the ICU, but noted one death of a 91-year-old man who was fully vaccinated:
I believe there might have been two now, but there’s very few of the cases that have been diagnosed have been fully vaccinated and died. So it is a protection. It is hope. It’s our way out of this crisis.
Steve777 @ #3006 Tuesday, August 17th, 2021 – 5:57 pm
So an incompetent, corrupt or criminal local member is fine as long as they are with the right party?
Just out of interest, do you draw a line at all? If so, is it whether the offense is merely morally bankrupt, or does it have to be a criminal offence? If the latter, is it only a problem if they are convicted, or does the number of years they might get make a difference?
spr
Yep. Get jabbed!
It’s been a depressing week. I am glad that the inevitable horror of Afghanistan has happened fast and it’s obvious Biden made the right decision.
Shame on the LNP for not acting sooner to minimise our role with evacuation. Canada showed what I think Labor would have done for Australia as Bob Hawke showed.
Why do they make up lies like this ? What’s the mindset ?
https://twitter.com/lukehgomes/status/1427546688206491652
Player One @ #3010 Tuesday, August 17th, 2021 – 4:30 pm
There is a difference between Labor and Liberal.
The Liberals want an ICAC that only pursues criminal behaviour, whilst Labor wants one with wider powers similar to what we see with the State bodies.
But obviously they are both the same.
SK
I think Shivnarine Chanderpaul has lost the most games of test cricket with 77. Anderson has 57.
Rex
Even worse, her response is along the lines of “Well, what was it then?”
So an incompetent, corrupt or criminal local member is fine as long as they are with the right party?
No major party will knowingly stand such a candidate, so it’s a moot point. I would certainly take any allegations made in the mainstream media during a campaign with a huge grain of salt and in the case of the Murdochracy assume that it is likely to be a lie.
I live in a blue-ribbon Liberal seat, so it doesn’t matter who I vote for in the Lower House, the Liberal always wins. However, if the Labor candidate was a very poor one, I’d vote for a left candidate or acceptable independent. Still Labor above Liberal, still Liberal last. No way am I voting for robodebt, the religious right, Covid negligence and incompetence, cuts to health and education, Thatcherism, racist dog-whistling, climate inaction and automatic sign up to America’s next war.
In the Senate, my vote does count. If a Labor candidate is unacceptable I can vote below the line and avoid the bad candidate. Plus Liberal last.
Test
‘…And in the Commonwealth, a person cannot take office if convicted and under sentence for a crime ‘punishable’ by a sentence of more than a year, thus linking disqualification not only to the person’s actual sentence but to the maximum sentence for the crime.’
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/Publications_Archive/CIB/cib0203/03CIB22
sprocket @6:14
“Paul Kelly says 99% of NSW Covid cases were not fully vaccinated, based on large sample
The chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, says based on data from around 6,000 cases from the NSW outbreak, 99% of the cases were not fully vaccinated.”
Interesting stat, but what its really telling you is that those more likely to have been vaccinated are also those least likely to be engaging in behaviours that would result in infection. Mostly an older/younger divide.
Edit: We really need to get very high vaccination rates in the 20 and 30 somethings. By far the best way to get to 90+ % with these age groups is to make access to social venues contingent on vaccination.
sprocket_ says:
Tuesday, August 17, 2021 at 6:11 pm
Had mine in Spring St clinic BJ.. very well organised 4 or 5 jab rooms with 4 or 5 per room .. social distancing & a timer on wall for each patient.. making a fortune but very well staffed
“Test”
Failed. Mostly.
P1
Read this and consider what you are voting for.
@KKeaneally tweets
What do right-wing extremists want?
To tear apart our society and destroy Australian democracy, by any means possible, including violence.
Dr Debra Smith explains
https://www.smh.com.au/national/right-wing-extremism-weaponises-democracy-against-itself-20210816-p58j5g.html
Edit: The silence on this issue speaks volumes
Player One @ #3009 Tuesday, August 17th, 2021 – 6:30 pm
According to your criteria, you would have preferenced Anthony Mundine at the last election. A brilliant choice, someone with defective reasoning ability. I can understand why you feel an affinity with him, though.
By the way, have you managed to research why i matters in relation to electricity distribution?
BK @ #3004 Tuesday, August 17th, 2021 – 5:49 pm
He could be a member of the Military, stationed in the NT. I don’t know what the jurisdictional demarcation lines are in that casew.
Morrison, quite predictably, lying about his lost war in Afghanistan.
Sir Henry Parkes,
Living and working in Chile at the tail end of the Pinochet era (1994 – around 2000), this became very obvious to me. There was also a lot more to lose in Chile, by keeping the right wing in power, which made people in Chile more likely to call out the same-same bullshit.
So, a conversation I witnessed in Chile, circa 1999:
Everyone: sitting around after finishing their shifts at a well-known radio telescope a bit up in the Atacama after travelling east from La Serena. Red wine, conversation and good cheese abound.
Jen (an Australian working there): Well for the election, I think that Lavin looks like a very competent person. [Jen is currently in the process of marrying into a very comfortably off Chilean family]
Francisco: But Jen, he is Pinochet’s man.
Jen (very angry and upset) : I am not political. I do not care about politics. I like Lavin. Back home in Australia, my family is completely uninterested in politics. We refuse to even talk about it, and I cannot understand why you want to bring up politics when I make a simple statement like I like Lavin.
N.b. Fransisco was of Atacarmenan extraction (his forebears where native Chileanos). He was (an I am sure still is) a very accomplished radio engineer. He lived near where he worked, in the district in Santiago named Vitacura. One day he came home from work and had the police (carabineros) busting in about 10 minutes later. Neighbours has called the police assuming a robbery was in progress, because a man of Native American extract (and did have an excellent beard) was seen going into a house in Vitacura.
So, Sir Henry, I tugs me forelock to you, for being a perspicacious fellow who can recognise a fraud: Same-same; I do not care about politics = I vote Tory
Morrison lost the war.
Morrison failed to rescue those who will now fall prey to the Taliban.
Absolutely nothing new there.
He is as useless as tits on a bull.
Cat
US military policy is clear. Get vaxxed or discharged.
William
Noted. You are, as usual correct.
guytaur @ #3028 Tuesday, August 17th, 2021 – 7:06 pm
Has President Biden signed the Executive Order to that effect yet?
Jen (very angry and upset) : I am not political. I do not care about politics. I like Lavin. Back home in Australia, my family is completely uninterested in politics. We refuse to even talk about it, and I cannot understand why you want to bring up politics when I make a simple statement like I like Lavin.
The Extremist Right have learned that you disguise the Extremist Wolf in very likable Sheep’s clothing. It’s usually good enough for those who are ‘completely uninterested in politics’.
yabba,
“By the way, have you managed to research why i matters in relation to electricity distribution?”
Can’t we stick to current issues? Why are you trying to induce a response by heating up old arguments? What is the potential for you to get an answer anyway?
Cat
I think it’s already policy regarding vaccination so it may not require an executive order. Standard Operating procedure for years.
Andrews showing truly excellent leadership on anti-semitic behaviour today.
Well done him!
@Yabba:
“Anthony Mundine”
Choc? I’d vote for Choc.
Warren Mundine … sorry comrade. No can do.
@WRBatt tweets
Idea! Premier’s office holds a voices for vaccines competition where you enter your reason for getting vaccinated and the prize is that Dan Andrews reads it out at the top of every day’s press conference
‘Andrew_Earlwood says:
Tuesday, August 17, 2021 at 7:14 pm
@Yabba:
“Anthony Mundine”
Choc? I’d vote for Choc.
Warren Mundine … sorry comrade. No can do.’
_______________________
Nice one.
Just watching Morrison on ABC TV News lament his own government’s failure to rescue Afghan embassy workers and interpreters, as if he had nothing to do with it. He styled himself as a pathetic, helpless onlooker in a disaster of his making.
The Indigenous population was always in the high priority groups, that was the excuse given when the Sydney private school was vaccinated. The school was supposedly only enquiring about their Indigenous students and somehow everyone got included.’
Any indigenous student who is attending a Private school in Sydney should not be considered a High priority ahead of other as far as I am concerned that would be exploiting the system and is racist.
Indigenous communities who live in remote and disadvantaged areas are the ones who should be high priority.
Sceptic
That is where I and OH had our two AZ jabs. Very well organised, with knowledgeable professionals administering jabs.
PC,
If you haven’t noticed the distribution of this Governments largesse is always about how they can get re-elected.
One of my enduring interests is how islamic regimes gain and hold legitimacy. A cursory survey of the instability in the history of islamic regimes around the world indicates that the issue is endemic and systemic. The Taliban are about to confront this very issue for themselves.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/16/who-are-the-taliban-and-how-will-they-govern-afghanistan-strict-islamic-beliefs
yabba
Do you have some context? Are you talking about i, as in the square root of minus 1
Sorry for everyone else reading, but I have to say, the answer is probably “complex” 😀
P1 is the best Liberal Troll on the site by a country mile.
‘Bushfire Bill says:
Tuesday, August 17, 2021 at 7:16 pm
Just watching Morrison on ABC TV News lament his own government’s failure to rescue Afghan embassy workers and interpreters, as if he had nothing to do with it. He styled himself as a pathetic, helpless onlooker in a disaster of his making.’
_________________________________________
Yep. Right up there with members of the MSM bewailing the failure of the MSM.
We need two Royal Commissions. The first is into the Afghanistan War. The second is into the Vaccination clusterfuck.
Bush II – Obama – Trump – Biden should all hang their head in shame.
I’m not sure what the fuck Boer is badgering on about Morrison losing his war. Morrison-Dutton-Payne have royally fucked up the evacuation of the folk and their families that helped our diggers since 2001. That nasty piece of work Dutton is mainly to blame, but blame for the course of the lies squarely – and equally – on the shoulders of the American presidents. A pox on them.
Sorry Dandy M
I always get sucked in by the idea of a discussion on complex numbers, but I do know that in this context it is a bad idea. Back to the boring grant writing!
A-E
The notion that the defeat, the buggered up retreat and the failure to rescue our friends has got nothing to do with Morrison is a notion that you share with him. Just ask him.
Some good news. Not only is BHP exiting fossil fuels it seems the buyer of the assets is not that keen either.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/aug/17/andrew-forrest-company-drops-wa-canning-basin-gas-exploration-plans-over-climate-concerns?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=soc_568&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1629192228
Fulvio Sammut:
Tuesday, August 17, 2021 at 3:49 pm
[‘Mavis, paranoia comes with the job.’]
Perhaps though I found it easier to wear one hat.