Author: Catherine (Page 29 of 54)

Meet the Independents: Dennis Hall

June 29, 2016 / Catherine / 0 Comments

My plane is now flying over the Middle East. On my left, I have the Tigris River. And on the right, I rather fear, I have Dennis Hall, who wants Independent Nationhood for Australia – yes, it’s Brexit all over again, and just when we were breaking into Eurovision, too…

Mr Hall earns my instant ire by advising people continually ‘remember to number 1-12 candidates below the line, and forget the rest.’

No. Do not forget the rest. Particularly do not forget the rest if you are voting for independents or small parties. If you do, you risk your vote exhausting and someone you like even less getting into the Senate. Seriously, people, 12 is the minimum, and that’s great, because now you don’t have to be afraid of voting informal by accident. But for heaven’s sake, number all the candidates you can!

Oh yes, that’s right. I need to talk about Dennis Hall…

Mr Hall has a Facebook page only, not a website, which makes his policies a bit tricky to track down, but he has a profile and some useful statements, so I’ll be mostly using those here. Here’s what he says about himself.

I consider myself an everyday Aussie. Born in Bairnsdale, East Gippsland and growing up in regional Victoria.

In the early ‘80s I discovered an interest in the Australian Constitution, that interest quickly became a passion and now I am an advocate for constitutional change that is in the best interest of all Australians.

He likes footy, pottering around in sheds, and democracy.

Am I the only one having an attack of ‘On The Mateship’ from Keating the Musical? It’s that whole ‘I’m just a bloke / an Aussie bloke’ vibe. Oy. Continue reading

Meet the Independents: Glen Floyd

June 29, 2016 / Catherine / 2 Comments

It is time now to leave the world of sensible, reasonable politicians with pleasing policies, and wade cautiously into the ENTIRELY CAPITALISED world of Glenn Floyd, who bills himself as “THE-UNTOUCHABLE”, and starts his website with the following words of wisdom in large, friendly letters:

DER! – IT’S HOMELESSNESS STUPID!
IT’S HOMELESSNESS!
IT’S HOMELESSNESS!
IT’S HOMELESSNESS!

INDEPENDENT-VICTORIA, I REFUSE ALL DONATIONS, YOUR SENATE ‘CANNOT BE BOUGHT’ WITH THESE BRIBES!

Righty-ho then. I think he might be equating homelessness with being untouchable, but I’m not sure whether he himself is homeless. Or, actually, of what he means. But he is obviously anti-corruption, and pro-transparency. And also pro-capital letters. Never have I seen a candidate who was so fond of his caps lock key.

Meet the Independents: Mark Francis Dickenson

June 29, 2016 / Catherine / 1 Comment

Moving along as we approaching the Baltic Sea, we have Mark Dickenson, a candidate with both a GoFundMe page, a dubiously-titled Facebook page (Dicko for Senate is not the handle I would have chosen), and a rather strangely titled blog (is he a Terry Pratchet fan, perhaps?). Clearly a man with a lot to say, and a slightly odd sense of humour.

Mr Dickenson has a press release about his campaign, titled ‘A political candidate with a social conscience‘, that begins as follows:

In an unprecedented step to regain voter confidence, an aspiring Senate candidate named Mark Dickenson is engaging the community as never before.

With a growing presence on social media and other media platforms, he actively engages his audience and is unafraid to answer the hard questions.

I’m not quite sure why I find this so hilarious, but it gives me a giggle every time I read it. There is a certain grandiosity of language that reminds me of some of the more unfortunately-worded grant applications I have read at work. But, hilarity aside, he does seem to want to do some good things, and there is a certain simplicity when he says ‘I’m one of you, not one of them [the politicians]’ that resonates with me even when I am tired and sarcastic.

Meet the Independents: Christopher Beslis

June 29, 2016 / Catherine / 2 Comments

Our next Independent, as we fly over Hungary and Romania, is Christopher Beslis, who is running for public office ‘on a platform with fresh ideas to improve our country’. He is doing this because he feels the major parties are no longer listening to the public. I’d say he has a point there.

It’s hard to summarise Mr Beslis’s policies, for the simple reason that most of them are single sentences. However, his opening statement gives you a pretty good idea of where he is coming from:

I decided to run for public office because I want to serve the people of Victoria and the people around the country to improve society with policies to help those less fortunate such as: people in poverty, the hungry, the homeless, the physically disabled, the intellectually impaired and pensioners.

His policies are, as you might imaginem fairly socially progressive and left wing, which is how I like them.

Meet the Independents: Karthik Arasu

June 29, 2016 / Catherine / 3 Comments

The holiday is over, and I’m sitting on a plane on my way home to Melbourne*. With 22 hours of flying time ahead of me, what better time to start investigating the smorgasbord of Independents that the Victorian Senate Ballot Paper has to offer? I apologise in advance for any excess silliness in these pages – though, in all honesty, I’m pretty silly even when I’m not increasingly sleep deprived and experiencing turbulence. But with only a few days left until Sunday, I cannot afford to let sleep deprivation get in my way!

Onward, to the first candidate of this on-board political experience, Karthik Arasu.

Mr Arasu wants you to know that he is the first Indian-born independent senate candidate from Victoria, which is oddly specific now I write it out like that. I wonder how many Indian-born politicians we have at present? I suspect not a lot – none come to mind off-hand. The other thing you need to know about Mr Arasu is that he is Working Today for a Better Tomorrow. Good man.

I found this rather nice press release about him in News18 India, very much of the ‘local boy makes good’ variety, and with some interesting discussions of Australia’s electoral process (I found it interesting that they went out of their way to note that Australians do not tend to vote along ehtnic lines – I’m guessing that in India, perhaps people do?), in which we learn that Mr Arasu was born and brought up in Chennai, studied engineering there, then emigrated to Australia where he did a Masters, before becoming a business consultant and working with small self-help groups in Victoria.

I think we can safely assume that Mr Arasu is going to be fine on Immigration.

Mr Arasu’s policies are in fact Promises, and they are rather charming, and definitely full of kindness to both people and the environment. Continue reading

Blog Hiatus during June

May 23, 2016 / Catherine / 15 Comments

Just a quick note to say that I’ll now be travelling until late June, so there will be no more politics posts until I return just before the election. I hope to quickly look at some of our independents then, assuming I am not completely jetlagged. Maybe even if I am – in which case, be prepared for an even more idiosyncratic style of commentary than usual…

In the interim, you can still comment, but please note that I’m moderating all comments and will not be checking my email quite so many times per day as I usually do, so it may take a day or so for your comment to be approved. I’ll generally approve anything that is not absolutely abusive, though if you are posting the same insults and not adding to the conversation, I will eventually cut you off.

I will also be closing comments on a handful of posts where the comments are getting contentious, or are pretty much all just insults with no informational content. I am totally fine with people disagreeing with me, but if all you have to say is that I am stupid and biased, well, I never claimed not to be biased (in fact, I am pretty open about my biases), and as for stupidity, anyone reading this is probably clever enough to decide for themselves about my intelligence.

There are, of course, a number of small parties that will appear on the ballot paper which I have not addressed this time around – please refer to my 2016 Federal Election index page to find what I’ve written about them in the past – or visit their websites for yourselves! You might be pleasantly surprised by them. I really don’t know everything!

And please – enrol to vote. Enrol to vote TODAY if you haven’t already – the rolls close at 8pm this evening, and I want to see all of you on them!

See you in five weeks!

Meet the Small Parties – Australian Defence Veterans’ Party! (Veterans Party)

May 22, 2016 / Catherine / 8 Comments

I’ve been saving the Australian Defence Veterans’ Party for last, because they’ve had a note up on their website all week promising that they would release their full policy document today. Alas, as of 9:20pm this evening, they haven’t done so, and since I really need to spend tomorrow packing for my trip (which, aargh, I have not yet started doing!), I’m going to have to piece together what I can from the information currently available, both on their site and on their Facebook page. So please do bear in mind that this particular commentary will be less thorough than some of the others, and if this party sounds like your cup of tea, I’d encourage you to revisit their website closer to the election date.

The ADVP tells us on their front page that they are:

Protecting Australian values and the Australian way of life. In the Spirit of True Mateship.

Alas for my frivolous soul, I now have this song from Keating! The Musical on endless repeat in my brain. This is not helping…

Scrolling down a bit, we learn that their vision is:

To represent all Australians, with a special focus on the ageing community and those who have served their community or country within Australia and abroad.

Our values are Australian to the core, and include trust, loyalty, integrity, respect and mateship. Quite simply, we believe that should treat everyone as you would treat one of your mates.

We’re here for Australia’s protectors and defenders, for Australia’s farmers and teachers, for emergency responders, Defence members and police. We’re here for all Australians.

(on the matey matey matey matey mate-ship!)

I’m sorry. I know it probably makes me un-Australian, but I do wish we could retire the word ‘mateship’.

Meet the Small Parties – Australian Progressives

May 21, 2016 / Catherine / 11 Comments

On first glance, the Australian Progressives look like a party after my own heart. Their front page, which looks a little bit like the cover of a science fiction novel, and is brought to you by the Letter E, which stands for:

Ethics. Empathy. Equality, Evidence. Engagement. Empowerment.

Please note the use of full stops, because you are not going to get nearly as many of these on the policy page. These are their party values, of which more later.

The Australian Progressives believe in the advancement of an empathetic society – one in which all citizens of this country can reach their full potential and find fulfilment in their lives within a thriving environment. We want to be a government with the guts to advance society through laws, services and infrastructure, rather than gambling on the off-chance that “the free market” will look after everyone and everything. Government and communities should work together to develop creative, passionate and driven individuals who can improve the world around them, embracing education, technology, science, culture and global leadership.

These are good goals, in my view, and this is another party that is aiming to be a party of government, not a single-issue microparty.

Let’s see how they plan to achieve them.

Meet the Small Parties – Australian Liberty Alliance

May 21, 2016 / Catherine / 3 Comments

And once again we are veering across to the right wing of politics, with the Australian Liberty Alliance, who have kindly put this statement up front and centre so we can see what they stand for.

Our Australia stands for individual liberty, small government, Western values, social fairness and an integrated multi-ethnic society. Our Australia has no place for big government, racism, moral relativism, divisive multiculturalism or tolerance for the intolerant. Migrants do not dream of a new life in Australia because we are a Socialist, Islamic or tribal society. Migrants come for the freedom, justice and prosperity only Western civilisation creates.

You know, that’s actually a pretty decent mission statement. I don’t agree with very much of it, but they have done a first class job of stating right there on their front page what they stand for, and everything else you will read is going to follow from that. And at first glance, they don’t appear to be attempting to halt all immigration and kick out everyone who wasn’t born here, so already they are doing better than the Australia First Party in my book. They evidently don’t like Muslims, but on the other hand, they do not seem to be white supremacists, so… yay? (I will note, though, that their candidates are all white. And if you are in New South Wales, you can even vote for Angry Anderson!)

They are also disappointingly non-hilarious in their headlines. I’m trying to decide whether I prefer my scary right wing parties to be well-spoken or clearly unhinged. I think the latter – the former are far more likely to achieve their goals…

Let’s see how this translates to policy…

Meet the Small Parties – Health Australia Party

May 19, 2016 / Catherine / 7 Comments

Let us now return to where the grass is greener, the farmers markets are brighter, the wind farms more appealing, people chat merrily over coffee cups and sunlight beams inspiringly through the tall trees in the forest – it’s the Health Australia Party. Don’t we all feel better just looking at that slideshow of inspiring pictures? Of course we do! And that is just one way in which the Health Australia is ‘a healthy choice’ and ‘for all Australians’. I am feeling loved and embraced already. There is a decidedly crunchy granola feeling about this website.

The Health Australia Party (HAP) is a true centre party committed to promoting open and transparent Government decision making, balance and honesty of information, and stimulating individual freedom of choice and thought – to ensure we have a genuinely Healthy Australia.

Only if Australians can come together, rather than fragment, will the ongoing health, affluence and lifestyle of our country be assured. So the HAP is creating a new paradigm:

A middle ground where Australians can come together, seek consensus and share values and aspirations.
A new political space based on grass roots consultation, transparency and relevance that aims to improve the health of the Nation starting with the health of individual citizens, through to local councils, to state and territory governments, and finally to the national government and to international alliances.

They sound lovely. They have five fundamentals – Healthy People, Healthy Economy, Healthy Environment, Healthy Democracy, Healthy Society. I can get behind this.

Until…

Quality medicine for all people, with access to the best of proven natural and pharmaceutical medicine. Remove the influence of multinational pharmaceutical companies. Affordable medicine – using evidence from unbiased real-world clinical studies and targeted spending. Reform the health bureaucracy. Apply research funds wisely.

Build a health-creation system, not a disease-management system.

The bolds are mine, because I took one look at them, and my heart sank. Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have an anti-vaccination party on my hands, and this post just got either a lot longer or a lot shorter, because I suspect you’ve made up your mind about them one way or the other just from that sentence.

(Oh, let’s face it. You know me by now. Shorter is not the direction this will take…)