Cate Speaks

Politics, Poetry and Reviews

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Federal Election 2019: Meet Australia First

May 3, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Summary

Website: https://australiafirstparty.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AusFirstParty/
Slogans:
 Identity. Independence. Freedom.
Restoring Nationhood and Wealth for Australians
Themes: Extreme right-wing.  Xenophobia.  Anti-immigration. White Australia policy.  Also horrible about gay people.
Electorate:
 Upper House: None
Lower House: Lalor, Lindsey, Longman, Swan
Preferences: I’ve only found one How to Vote card for this lot, but it starts with the Christian Democrats, and # Sustainable Australia, then preferences an Independent, Mark Tyndall, followed by United Australia, the Greens, Liberal and Fraser Anning’s Conservative National Party, with Labor Last.  That is one weird ticket for a right wing party.  I mean, the first half makes sense, but then the Greens?  And then Fraser Anning’s chap second last?  I wonder if there is some bad blood here.
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Federal Election 2019: Meet Pauline Hanson’s One Nation

May 2, 2019 / / 9 Comments

Summary

Website: https://www.onenation.org.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OneNationParty/
Previous names: One Nation
Slogans:
 We’ve got the guts to say what you’re thinking.
Themes: Right wing nationalism, populism, xenophobia.  A bit too cosy with the gun lobby.  Convinced climate change is a hoax.  Hate the UN.
Electorate:
 Upper House: NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA
Lower House: Nearly everywhere in QLD and WA, handful in TAS, VIC, NSW and SA
Preferences: One Nation preferences the Liberal Democrats and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers in their top four in every state.  Better Families are in their top two wherever they are running, and the Christian Democrats and the Australian Christians are also in the top five wherever they are running.  Rise Up Australia is first in VIC and 6th in QLD.  Katter’s Australian Party is, unsurprisingly, first in QLD.  The Australian Conservatives are 6th in both TAS and SA, Sustainable Australia appears three times, suggesting that One Nation, at least, views them as racist, and the Seniors Party, WA Party and the CEC each make guest appearances.  Interestingly, the Nationals appear on their ticket only twice, suggesting that the Nationals’ fabled alignment with One Nation is not felt from the other side of that equation.

Essentially, we have an emphasis here on guns and the sort of Freedom of Speech that involves being as offensive as possible.  They like right-wing Christian parties, and clearly don’t have a lot of respect for women (I am shocked, shocked I tell you).  And they are not afraid to embrace the crazy.
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Federal Election 2019: Meet Yellow Vest Australia

May 2, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Summary

Website: https://www.australianlibertyalliance.org.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yvaustralianworldwide/
https://www.facebook.com/australianlibertyalliance/
Previous Names: Australian Liberty Alliance
Slogans:
 None that I could find.
Themes: Far right populism.  Xenophobia, Islamophobia.
Electorate:
 Upper House: VIC, WA
Preferences: The only party to number every box above the line!  Alas, because they are terrible people, they have numbered them terribly.  Their first preference in each state goes to Fraser Anning’s Conservative Nationals.  They follow this up with the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, the Australian Conservatives, One Nation, and the Coalition.  The Greens are dead last on both their tickets.  In WA, they are directly preceded by the Socialist Alliance and Labor.  In Victoria, someone didn’t do their homework, so they are directly preceded by the Socialist Equality Party and Climate Action! Immigration Action!  Accountable Politicians!  Ten to one they have no idea what this party is actually about, and just freaked out when they saw Climate Action, because ICAN are directly above them, and they aren’t keen on the Australian Workers Party, either.

Basically, racists with guns are fantastic, but they are terrified of anything that might suggest any sort of respect for the environment, or for people who aren’t white and wealthy.
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Federal Election 2019: Meet the Australian Greens

May 1, 2019 / / 13 Comments

Summary

Website: https://greens.org.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Australian.Greens/
Slogans:
 Your Movement.
Vote Climate
The Time to Act is Now.
Themes: Socially progressive, economically left wing, pro-environment.  Urgent need for climate action.
Electorate:
 Upper House: All of them
Lower House: Most of them
Preferences: The Greens have a slightly mixed bag, preferencing a variety of socially progressive / environment groups in each state, and not hesitating to include the loopier ones in the mix.  Frequent flyers (and I use this term advisedly) are HEMP and the Animal Justice Party, who turn up in the top six four times each.  Independents for Climate Action Now are in the top four in all three states where they are running candidates, the and Socialist Alliance appear twice, as do the Pirates and Sustainable Australia.  There are guest appearances from Hinch’s Justice Party, the Australian Democrats, the Australian Workers Party, and several grouped independents.  Labor is always in their top six – the Greens clearly want to make sure that if your vote exhausts, it at least has a decent chance of landing somewhere tolerable.

The most notable aspects of these preference lists are the frequent appearance of the AJP and HEMP.  The Greens and the AJP have evidently made up their feud, and it also looks like the Greens have decided that it’s safe to talk about legalisation of drugs again.  So that’s a bit of a change.
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Federal Election 2019: Meet the Democratic Labour Party

May 1, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Summary

Website: https://dlp.org.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/democraticlabourDLP/
Slogans:
 Putting YOU back into Labour.
Labour – the way it should be.
Themes: The Labor Party for Catholics.  Quite decent on workers, people with disabilities and refugees.  Terrible on LGBTQIA+ people and not great on women, either.
Electorate:
 Upper House: NSW, QLD, VIC
Lower House: Aston, Ballarat, Blair, Capricornia, Casey, Chisolm, Deakin, Dunkley, Menzies
Preferences: I can only find How to Vote Cards for Victoria, where they favour the Australian Conservatives, the Christian Democrats, Rise Up Australia, United Australia and the Liberal Party.  So all the parties professing Christianity, and then the Coalition and the Coalition’s not-so-secret partner.
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Federal Election 2019: Meet the Secular Party of Australia

May 1, 2019 / / 5 Comments

Summary

Website: https://www.secular.org.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SecularPartyAustralia/
Slogans:
 Imagine no religion… in government!
Challenging religious privilege
Themes: Separation of church and state.  Religion is a bit silly and wrecks everything.  A bit funny about Muslims.
Electorate:
 Upper House: Victoria
Preferences: They are agnostic about who you should vote for, apparently.
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Federal Election 2019: Meet the Liberal Democratic Party

April 30, 2019 / / 9 Comments

Summary

Website: https://www.ldp.org.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LibDemAus/
Slogans:
 Low Taxes. Small Government.
Individual Responsibility.
Themes: Dog-eat-dog libertarians.  Fond of guns and free speech.  Not interested in the environment.  Very much an ‘I’ve got mine’ philosophy.
Electorate:
 Upper House: NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA
Lower House: Bean, Calare, Fadden, Fairfax Farrer, Lyne, McPherson, Moncrieff, Parkes, Rankin
Preferences: This lot are way too libertarian to tell you who to vote for, apparently.  Except in NSW, where they like HEMP, Pauline Hanson, Small Business, Science and the Pirates.  Interestingly, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers don’t get a look in – I’d have expected them instead of One Nation.
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Federal Election 2019: Meet the Australian Democrats

April 30, 2019 / / 12 Comments

Summary

Website: https://www.australian-democrats.org.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/australiandemocrats/
Slogans:
 Not Left. Not Right. Just Forward.
Keep the Bastards Honest
Themes: Inclusiveness, compassion, community, collaboration, transparency.  Science-based policy.  Making sure people in rural and regional Australia have access to resources.
Electorate:
 Upper House: NSW, SA, VIC
Lower House: Adelaide
Preferences: The Democrats seem to have a penchant for tiny parties.  In NSW, they are voting Science, Together, Sustainable, Pirates and ICAN – a fun, progressive ticket that cares about science and inclusiveness.  In Victoria, we have the Secular Party, Hinch, the Republicans (ten to one they have not looked at that mess of a website), ICAN again, and HEMP – a little more centist, but progressive overall.  And in SA, they vote Sustainable, HEMP, Centre Alliance, Greens, ALP, and then all of a sudden they completely jump the shark and put a seventh party on their ballot, and it is the Great Australian Party, of all things.  Australian Democrats, what are you *thinking*???  I can’t see the Democrats as closet conspiracy theorists, and I am baffled at this particular preference choice.
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Federal Election 2019: Meet the Citizens Electoral Council of Australia

April 30, 2019 / / 13 Comments

Summary

Website: https://cecaust.com.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cecaustralia/
Slogans:
 Stop ‘bail-in’
Break up the banks
Rebuild the country
Themes: Giving the banks back to the people – global finance is the enemy.  Gigantic infrastructure projects, including a space program.  Very excited about nuclear energy, but also fond of mining and crude oil.  Not interested in the environment.
Electorate:
 NSW, NT, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC
Preferences: No how to vote cards, but the CEC includes the following parties as ‘genuine’ and worth voting for where there is no CEC candidate.  Hold onto your hats, because this is a trip.

  • Katter’s Australian Party
  • The Greens
  • Pauline Hanson’s One Nation
  • Centre Alliance

I bet you never expected to see those four parties on the same list.  The common factor is small parties that the CEC views as taking on the banks.  But I think the real thing you can take away from this is that the CEC are not quite living on the same plane as the rest of us.
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Federal Election 2019: Meet the National Party

April 29, 2019 / / 7 Comments

Summary

Website: http://nationals.org.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheNationalsAus/
Slogans:
 A strong voice for regional Australia
Think Local. Vote National.
Themes: Conservative, with an emphasis on regional communities. But not very good at it.  Don’t mention water management.  Apparently, that’s Labor’s fault.
Electorate:
 Upper House: All of them except the ACT
Lower House: All the ones that aren’t in cities.
Preferences: The Nationals pretty much share a Senate How To Vote Card with the Liberals, but there are a few exciting exceptions.  Like the Liberals are putting the United Australia Palmer second on almost all their Senate How to Vote cards except for those where the Liberals are a separate party – but in Tasmania, they have rebelled from the Liberals’ party line and put Pauline Hanson’s One Nation in third place, after the Liberals but before United Australia.  In Western Australia, they have put One Nation in at sixth place, which is a less pointed rebellion, but certainly an indication that the worm is a-turning.

Otherwise, we have a similar tendency to preference the LDP, the Australian Conservatives and the various conservative Christian parties, with the Shooters and Fishers appearing twice, and Katter’s Australia Party, Hinch’s Justice Party and the Small Business Party each appearing once.

And HEMP is still ahead of the ALP and the Greens in the NT, which I still find vastly amusing.

So it’s a similar portfolio to that of the Liberals – a lot of Clive Palmer, a lot of libertarian and religious conservative parties, but a bit more interest in guns, be they by way of hunting and fishing or just, you know, racism.
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