Cate Speaks

Politics, Poetry and Reviews

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Federal Election 2019: Meet Sunny Chandra and Robert Whitehill

May 5, 2019 / / 9 Comments

Summary

Website: http://sunny4senate.com
http://www.robertwhitehill.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sunny4senate/
https://www.facebook.com/Robert-Whitehill-Independent-Senate-Candidate-for-Victoria-387949562009940/
Slogans:
 Regional Growth, Renewable Energy, Immigration Matters
Best for everyone
Themes: Chandra: better infrastructure and more money for regional Victoria, renewable energy.  Centrist.
Whitehill: public transport, so very much public transport, renewable energy, autistic acceptance, anti-bullying. Centre left.
Electorate:
 Upper House: VIC
Preferences: Chandra and Whitehill have preferenced the Secular Party first, followed by Independents for Climate Action Now, the Animal Justice Party, the Small Business Party and the Pirate Party.  The odd one out is the Small Business Party – the others are all fairly progressively aligned, and interested in climate change and the environment.  There’s a mild libertarian streak in here, too.  It’s an unusual mix.

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Federal Election 2019: Meet the Health Australia Party

May 5, 2019 / / 2 Comments

Summary

Website: https://www.healthaustraliaparty.com.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HealthAustraliaParty/
Slogans:
 People. Environment. Democracy. Society. Economy.
Individually we are one drop, together we are an ocean.
Themes: Progressive social values, slight libertarian tendencies.  Worried about the environment.  Big into natural health.  Inclined to feel that the science on vaccination is not settled.  It is, but I’ve already written that post once this month, and I’m not doing it again.
Electorate:
 Upper House: NSW, VIC, WA
Preferences: The Health Australia Party has issued a single how to vote card which tells voters to put them first and then to number at least 6 parties above the line or 12 candidates below.
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Federal Election 2019: Meet # Sustainable Australia

May 4, 2019 / / 16 Comments

Summary

Website: https://www.sustainableaustralia.org.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VoteSustainable/
Slogans:
 Better, not Bigger
Secure Jobs. Affordable Housing. Better Planning.
Themes: ‘Sensible centre’ party, chiefly interested in overpopulation, sustainability, the environment, job security.  Worried about immigration.
Electorate:
 Upper House: ACT, NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA
Lower House: Berowra, Bradfield, Cunningham, Fairfax, Farrer, Flinders, Goldstein, Higgins, Hotham, Kingsford Smith, Lindsay, Mackellar, Macnamara, North Sydney, Richmond, Robertson, Shortland, Warringah, Whitlam
Preferences: Sustainable Australia is giving us no clues to who they prefer.  Their HTV cards for each Senate region read: Vote 1 above the line, then number at least 5 other boxes in order of YOUR preference.
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Federal Election 2019: Meet the Australian Labor Party

May 4, 2019 / / 7 Comments

Summary

Website: https://www.alp.org.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LaborConnect/
Slogans:
 A fair go for Australia
Themes: Centre left economic and social policies.  Pro-worker, will take action on climate change.  Generally likes putting money into education and health.  Do you actually need me to tell you what the ALP is about? No, you do not.
Electorate:
 Upper House: All of them
Lower House: All of them
Preferences: Labor has put the Greens either second or third on all of their how to vote cards.  Hinch gets second billing in VIC, and independent Craig Garland gets second billing in TAS.  Animal Justice is in third place everywhere except the ACT and the NT, where they aren’t running, and in WA, where they are third, behind the Western Australian Party.  Amusingly, HEMP appears in their top six in four states.  The Democrats show up in fifth place in Victoria and SA, and the LDP  make it into the top five in WA and SA.  There are guest appearances from Sustainable Australia, Katter’s Australian Party (!!), the Secular Party, The Women’s Party, ICAN, the Centre Alliance and the Lambie Network.

In the states with smaller Senate papers, the UAP and the Liberals or Nationals are turning up at the end of the six, allowing them to avoid preferencing Fraser Anning in the ACT, and Rise Up Australia, Fraser Anning and the CEC in NT.  In WA, the Nationals are evidently considered a better choice than either the right wing nut jobs or the more anarchical left wing parties like the Pirates or the Socialists.

These strike me as pretty solid, respectable how to vote cards.  Evidently at the senate level, at least, Labor has decided that the true enemy is the extreme right, not the Greens.  Long may this last.  They clearly don’t adore the extreme left, though it’s interesting to see that the AJP is apparently now considered somewhat respectable, and I’m still highly amused at HEMP’s presence on their how to vote cards.  There is no real excuse for Katter, but what can you do?
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Federal Election 2019: Meet Rise Up Australia

May 4, 2019 / / 6 Comments

Summary

Website: https://riseupaustraliaparty.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RUAParty/
Slogans:
 Say no to Racism, Multiculturalism, Islamism, Socialism, Communism, Nazism
Keep Australia Australian
Themes: Right wing Christian conservative party.  Into individual liberty, except for things like euthanasia, abortion, being gay, etc.  Think that Muslims can’t be true Australians.  Economically regressive. Fond of freedom of speech and also censorship.  Logical consistency is not their best trick.
Electorate:
 Upper House: NSW, NT, QLD, VIC
Lower House: Bendigo, Boothby, Casey, Chisolm, Corangamite, Dunkley, Hotham, Isaacs, Jaga Jaga, La Trobe, Lingiari, MacNamara, Mallee, Solomon
Preferences: Rise Up Australia has possibly the most nauseating How to Vote tickets so far.  They favour the Liberals, the Christian Democrats, the Australian Conservatives, Fraser Anning’s Conservative National Party, and the DLP as their top parties in every state except QLD, where the DLP doesn’t run.  After the DLP, we get United Australia Party, One Nation, the Great Australian Party and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers.  In Queensland, we finish off the set with Love Australia or Leave.

Essentially, if it’s a horribly racist, extreme right-wing Christian party that loves guns, Rise Up Australia is all for it.  What a bunch of charmers.
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Federal Election 2019: Meet the Animal Justice Party

May 4, 2019 / / 10 Comments

Summary

Website: https://animaljusticeparty.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnimalJusticePartyAJP/
Slogans:
 Vote for the Animals
Kindness. Equality. Rationality. Non-Violence.
Themes: Animal rights, fighting animal cruelty, and giving animals a voice in Parliament.  They would really like everyone to be vegan.
Electorate:
 Upper House: NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA
Lower House: ~ 50 electorates in NSW, QLD, SA and VIC
Preferences: They have put the Greens second in VIC, SA and TAS, third in WA, and fifth in QLD.  Sustainable Australia is second in QLD, and appears in the top six on most of their how to votes.  Health Australia is second in WA and in their top six in Victoria.  Other parties they like include the ALP ,   the Socialist Alliance, the Pirate Party, Hinch’s Justice Party (not surprising, as he is quite vocal on animal welfare), and Independents for Climate Action Now.

Overall, then, they are preferencing generally left-wing and pro-environment policies, but they are not afraid to embrace a bit of hippy whackiness from the Health Australia folk.
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Federal Election 2019: Meet VOTEFLUX.ORG | Upgrade Democracy!

May 4, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Summary

Website: https://voteflux.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VoteFlux.org/
Slogans:
 It’s time to fix Democracy.  Vote to Flux the system!
Themes: Direct democracy again, with everyone voting on every piece of legislation, and the Senator voting according to the majority – but this time you can trade your vote!
Electorate:
 Upper House: NSW, VIC, WA
Lower House: Perth
Preferences: They don’t want to interfere with your right to direct democracy by providing a how to vote card.
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Federal Election 2019: Meet the Pirate Party Australia

May 3, 2019 / / 3 Comments

Summary

Website: https://pirateparty.org.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/piratepartyau/
Previous names: Call to Australia
Slogans:
 Freedom, Democracy, Science
Politics is broken, we need your help to fix it.
Themes: Freedom of speech, freedom of information, privacy, self-determination.  Approach to copyright favours consumers over creators to an undue degree.  Universal basic income, being nice to refugees.  Progressive values generally.
Electorate:
 QLD, NSW, VIC, WA
Preferences: How to Vote Cards aren’t part of the Pirate Code
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Federal Election 2019: Meet Karl Morris

May 3, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Summary

Website: https://www.karlmorris.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karlmorriskeepingthebastardshonest
Slogans:
 Keeping the bastards honest while protecting pensions and super
Themes: Being a true independent who supports the government of the day.  Protecting superannuation and pensions, clearly.  Stability in general.
Electorate:
 Upper House: VIC (Ungrouped Independent)
Preferences: Mr Morris is an ungrouped independent, and as such, he relies upon people voting below the line and being able to count to twelve.  Rather than telling people which way to vote, he has created six tickets, depending on whether you prefer the ALP, the Coalition, the Greens, One Nation, Hinch’s Justice Party or United Australia, and each of the tickets starts with him, and then follows a typical ticket for the preferred party in question.  So the ticket which favours One Nation then preferences Rise Up Australia, the Shooters Fishers and Farmers, the LDP, the Christian Democrats and Sustainable Australia; whereas the ticket which favours the Greens then sends your votes to Animal Justice and Labor.

I’m kind of impressed at his even-handedness, to be honest.  He’s not trying to tell you who to vote for, and is trying to make sure that if you vote for him, the rest of your vote will reflect your core values, whatever they are.  My only quibble is that there really is no fun to be had in stopping at a mere twelve preferences on a ballot of this size, but to be fair, even I would draw the line at creating six full below the line ballots, each with a different personality…

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Federal Election 2019: Meet Max Dicks

May 3, 2019 / / 10 Comments

Summary

Website: http://vote1maxdicks.com.au
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vote1maxdicks/
Slogans:
 A voice for Victoria
Don’t be a Dick, elect  one.
Themes: Likes people and wants to make the world a better place.  Particularly interested in addressing climate change, improving the government, teaching emotional intelligence in schools, and more infrastructure for rural areas.
Electorate:
 Upper House: VIC (Ungrouped Independent)
Preferences: Unknown

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