Tag: australian politics (Page 10 of 17)

Victorian State Election: Meet the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party

November 17, 2018 / Catherine / 5 Comments

I don’t have time to read all of this!
The Basics

Website: https://www.vicshootersandfishers.org.au/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SFPVIC/
Themes: Hunters’ rights, outdoor sports, guns, the great outdoors.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

The Shooters and Fishers have put the Liberal Democrats either first or second on every ticket, and Transport Matters in their top five in every region. The DLP and Hinch’s Justice Party are also popular.

The Animal Justice Party, unsurprisingly, can be found at the very bottom of every ticket. Directly above them are Labor, Liberal and the Greens, all jumbled up together in an order that I suspect is random. Fifth from the bottom is usually the Victorian Socialists, but they make an exception for the ungrouped independents in Western Victoria and Western Metropolitan, and in Northern Metropolitan, where Walter Mikac is running on the Aussie Battler ticket, they make a point of putting him in their final five.

Given that apparently Druery has been heavily involved in putting together some of these tickets, I’m no longer sure just what we can learn from these, but I do think the LDP is a philosophical match, and I have no doubt whatsoever that the AJP didn’t find their way to the bottom of the ticket by accident.

The Body Politic
Policies, Snark, Terrible Theme Songs and Other Observations

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet the National Party of Australia!

November 17, 2018 / Catherine / 3 Comments

I don’t have time to read all of this!
The Basics

Website: http://vic.nationals.org.au/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheNationalsVic/
Themes: Better infrastructure and more money for regional Australia. Very, very tough on crime. Strangely obsessed with fishing.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

Basically, see my comments on the Liberal Party. Because the Nationals are the other half of the Coalition (something many people, including the Liberal Party, often forget), they share a group voting ticket. So we have the same array of conservative religious parties (hello, DLP!) and pro-gun parties (let’s hear it for the LDP, the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, and the Australian Country Party!) at the top of the ticket, with all those lefty environmentalist types placed firmly at the bottom of the ticket.

I’m somewhat less irate at this ticket coming from the Nationals, however, mostly because guns actually make somewhat more sense in rural areas (i.e., there are actually some reasonable uses for them) and this is something their electorate is likely to want, whereas I suspect most urban Liberal voters like gun control nearly as much as I do. So where it feels like sleight of hand coming from the Liberal Party, it feels appropriate coming from the Nationals. I mean, I wouldn’t vote above the line for them, either, but at least it is consistent with their brand and stated beliefs.

(I also have a bit more tolerance for the Nationals’ preferences because they are the junior party in the Coalition, and probably got less say on the preferencing anyway.)

The Body Politic
Policies, Snark, Terrible Theme Songs and Other Observations

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet the Liberal Democrats

November 17, 2018 / Catherine / 5 Comments

I don’t have time to read all of this!
The Basics

Website: https://www.ldp.org.au/victoria
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LibDemVIC/
Themes: Libertarians. Free speech, right to bear arms, small government, cutting welfare, privatising everything.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

Bizarrely, the most favoured party in the LDP’s top five is the Democratic Labour Party, which on the face of it, should have nothing in common with the LDP’s libertarian principles. I mean, the DLP has a pretty strong emphasis on both conservative social values and universal access to things like healthcare. About all they have in common is a desire to repeal 18C. Sustainable Australia and Transport Matters also appear in the top five six times each, and Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party, the Aussie Battlers and the Shooters and Fishers are also popular.

The Australian Liberty Alliance features twice in their top five, so clearly the LDP has no problem with right-wing nutters.

Left wing nutters are clearly another story, because the bottom of the ticket always runs Animal Justice, the Victorian Socialists, Liberal or Labor (usually mixed up in such a way as to help neither), and last of all, the Greens.

Not, of course, that I am calling the Greens left-wing nutters. But I’m pretty sure the LDP is.

The Body Politic
Policies, Snark, Terrible Theme Songs and Other Observations

Victorian State Election: Meet Karl Josef Pongracic!

November 16, 2018 / Catherine / 0 Comments

I don’t have time to read all of this!
The Basics

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KMECBallarat
Themes: Education. Vagueness.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

As an ungrouped independent, Karl Pongracic doesn’t have a group voting ticket of his own. But it’s sometimes illuminating to see how others see our independents.

In this instance, however, there isn’t much to learn. He’s scoring worst with the hard left parties, who are all putting him 40th or later out of a possible 46 places on the ticket, with the exception of the Greens, who put him 25th. He’s faring slightly better with the right wing parties, but he’s usually still somewhere in the 30s. His best result is being placed at 13th by Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party, but Hinch seems to like all the independents, so that doesn’t tell us much.

The Body Politic
Policies, Snark, Terrible Theme Songs and Other Observations

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet Hudson for Northern Victoria!

November 15, 2018 / Catherine / 7 Comments

I don’t have time to read all of this!
The Basics

Website: http://www.hudson4nv.com/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/hudson4nv/
Themes: End the neglect of Northern Victoria. Give me infrastructure or give me death! (I may be being a little more melodramatic than is warranted here.)

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

At the top of the ticket we have a mix of parties. (Why are the group voting tickets so varied within individual parties this year? I don’t remember it being nearly this inconsistent previously) The Aussie Battlers are in the top five on seven our of eight tickets, and Fiona Patten’s Reason Party, the Animal Justice Party, Transport Matters, and Sustainable Australia each appear five times in the top five. Derryn Hinch, health Australia, the Australian Country Party, the Democratic Labour Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the Shooters and Fishers also each appear in the top five at least once.

The bottom of the ticket is reserved for independents (both grouped and ungrouped) and the three major parties. The Greens are usually, but not always last. The Liberal/National Parties are listed before the ALP on four out of the eight tickets. The Australian Liberty Alliance is always in the bottom five unless it is pushed out by the independents, and the Victorian Socialists are usually listed right before that.

If you are getting a sense of deja vu reading this, there’s a reason for it. These tickets are VERY similar to that of the Health Australia Party. They are not identical within regions, but they have a lot more in common than they do separately.

Once again, we don’t like major parties, and we don’t like either the extreme right or the extreme left of politics. And at the top, we seem to be favouring small parties with somewhat confused but broadly leftish tendencies.

The Body Politic
Policies, Snark, Terrible Theme Songs and Other Observations

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet the Health Australia Party!

November 15, 2018 / Catherine / 6 Comments

I don’t have time to read all of this!
The Basics

Website: https://www.healthaustraliaparty.com.au/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HealthAustraliaParty/
Themes: Natural medicine, distrust of the scientific establishment, leftish but big on individual rights, pro-environment, pro-Mother Nature. Claim they are not anti-vaccination, just pro-safe-vaccination, but their party leader is a ‘world leader’ in homeopathic immunisation, so…

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

Once again, we get a mix of parties at the top. Frequent flyers are the Democratic Labor Party, which is in the top five on all but one ticket, the Animal Justice Party, which is in the top five in six of eight tickets, and Fiona Patten’s Reason Party, which is in the top five about in five of eight. The Australian Country Party, Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party, Sustainable Australia, Transport Matters, the Liberal Democrats and the Aussie Battlers all make it into the top five multiple times.

To my amusement, Fiona Patten’s Reason Party almost inevitably occurs right before or right after the Democratic Labor Party, and the Animal Justice Party is almost always paired with the Australian Country Party or Shooters and Fishers. This suggests either deep confusion or a perverse sense of humour on the part of whoever put these voting tickets together.

The Australian Liberty Alliance is last on every ticket, and the Victorian Socialists are fifth last. In between, we always have the Coalition, Labor and the Greens, usually in that order, though Labor is first of the three times and the Greens once.

So basically, we don’t like major parties, and we don’t like either the extreme right or the extreme left of politics. And at the top, we have no idea what we want, but I’m guessing that social conservatism and kindness to animals are important to Health Australia.

The Body Politic
Policies, Snark, Terrible Theme Songs and Other Observations

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet Michael Fozard!

November 14, 2018 / Catherine / 6 Comments

I don’t have time to read all of this!
The Basics

Campaign Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/vote4michaelfozard/
Themes: Community. Getting politicians to stop ignoring Gippsland. Making Gippsland Great Again.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

As an ungrouped independent, Mr Fozard does not get to lodge a Group Voting Ticket, so instead, we’re going to take a little peek at what the other parties thought of him.

He’s mostly sinking to the bottom of most of the tickets, though it’s the most left-wing parties that are inclined to put him dead last or close to it. His best score comes from Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party, which puts him at 7th – but given that the DHJP seems to favour all of the independents, this isn’t particularly illuminating.

The Democratic Labor Party puts him at 11th, and given their care to re-order candidates even within political parties, this is probably meaningful, and suggests he has some approval from the conservative side of politics. The Australian Liberty Alliance puts him at 21st, and Health Australia and Sustainable Australia both put him at 23rd. Given that there are only 46 candidates on the Eastern Victoria Region, this is not really a ringing endorsement.

So… probably conservative, but a bit early to judge.

The Body Politic
Policies, Snark, Terrible Theme Songs and Other Observations

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet Fiona Patten’s Reason Party

November 14, 2018 / Catherine / 9 Comments

I don’t have time to read all of this!
The Basics

Website: https://reasonvic.org.au/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ReasonVIC/
Themes: Evidence-based policy, sensible compromise, harm minimisation, individual liberty. Socially progressive, economically centrist.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

Patten has put the Voluntary Euthanasia Party first in her preferences wherever they are running. The Animal Justice Party is second everywhere except South Eastern Metropolitan, where she has put them third after Chawla’s grouped independents, and Eastern Metropolitan where she has put them third after Sustainable Australia. Sustainable Australia is always in the top five, and the Liberal Democratic Party and Hinch’s Justice Party are also there most of the time. Vote 1 Local Jobs also makes it in, and the Socialists appear a few times.

She favours Labor over the Greens in some electorates and the Greens over Labor in others, and they are usually in the upper middle part of the ticket. The Liberals are always the last of the major parties, and occasionally they are in the bottom five.

Reliably last on her ticket are the Australian Liberty Alliance, with the Democratic Labor Party ranked just above them. The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers are usually third last and the Australian Country Party are also usually in the bottom five. Ungrouped independents of all stripes are usually just above the ALA, and the Aussie Battlers also make regular appearances near the bottom of Patten’s ticket.

This is an interesting ticket, because the bottom half of it is a pretty close match to my own leftie preferences, but the top half has a few oddballs in it. I’m disappointed, but not surprised, to see the Liberal Democrats up so high – my biggest issue with Patten’s previous party, the Australian Sex Party, was that it was too libertarian for my taste – but there are definitely some social justice tendencies in here, and I’m glad to see Chawla and Lee getting some more love!

The Body Politic
Policies, Snark, Terrible Theme Songs and Other Observations

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party!

November 13, 2018 / Catherine / 2 Comments

I don’t have time to read all of this!
The Basics

Website: https://www.justiceparty.com.au/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/justiceparty.com.au/
Themes: Tougher sentencing! No bail for violent criminals! Tougher parole laws! And be nicer to animals.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

Hinch’s favourite parties seem to be the Aussie Battlers, Transport Matters and Sustainable Australia. From memory, Sustainable Australia is as hard to get a read on as the Battlers, so this indicates a preference for the highly confused… Hudson, the Liberal Democrats and the Animal Justice Party also appear several times in his top five. In Eastern Victoria he puts Michael Fozard high on his ballot, and in South Eastern Metropolitan he puts Chawla’s team second and all the ungrouped independents towards the top of his ballot.

The bottom of his ballot is always the Greens, with Liberal and Labor directly above, often alternating candidates (sometimes Liberal first, sometimes Labor first). The Australian Liberty Alliance is always fourth last and the Victorian Socialists always fifth from the bottom. The only exception to this rule is in South Eastern Metropolitan, where he clearly has Feelings about the Transport Matters candidates. Ali Khan is ranked 16; Sharma Chetan and Roona Fazal are at 27 and 28; but Inderpal Singh and Deepakbir Kaur are at 52 and 53 – below even the Greens! I would love to know what they have done to offend Derryn, but alas, a quick Google tells me nothing.

The main trends I see here is that Hinch really doesn’t like the major parties, but he has a soft spot for independents. He tends to favour the more confused and woo-filled minor parties over either the lunar left or rabid right parties, suggesting a centrist leaning. And putting Chawla and Lee at second on his ticket suggests that stopping family violence is a priority for him.

The Body Politic
Policies, Snark, Terrible Theme Songs and Other Observations

Victorian State Election 2018 – Meet the Democratic Labour Party!

November 13, 2018 / Catherine / 7 Comments

I don’t have time to read all of this!
The Basics

Website: https://dlp.org.au/victoria/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/democraticlabourDLP/
Themes: Fighting the Red Menace. Catholicism. Religious freedom. Better support for people with disabilities. Wage fairness. Family.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

The DLP favours conservative parties over less conservative ones, and tends to give the top slots on their ballot to the Liberal Democrats, Australian Country Party, Health Australia the Aussie Battlers, Hudson for North Victoria or the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers. The Transport Matters Party, Derryn Hinch, and the Liberals make it into their top five once or twice, as does Ungrouped Independent Michael Fozard.

At the bottom of their ticket, they are quite consistent: it’s Labor, Socialists, Voluntary Euthanasia, Fiona Patten’s Reason Party and the Greens. They dislike the last two so much that they often scramble or reverse the numbers there, just to be perverse. They really hate Vote 1 Local Jobs, too, which gets the same treatment in the one electorate where it is running, and they aren’t too happy with the ungrouped independents in South-Eastern Metropolitan.

The Australian Liberty Alliance is noticeably missing from both these groups, and tends to lurk at around about 30 on the ballot – well after the people they actually like, but before the Atheist Red Menace of the ALP, the Victorian Socialists and their ilk…

I note that they also seem to be trying to pull an LDP in this election – they are now listed as ‘Labour – DLP’ on the ballot, which should attract a fair share of inattentive Labor voters.

The Body Politic
Policies, Snark, Terrible Theme Songs and Other Observations

Tag: australian politics (Page 10 of 17)

Victorian State Election: Meet the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet the National Party of Australia!

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet the Liberal Democrats

Victorian State Election: Meet Karl Josef Pongracic!

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet Hudson for Northern Victoria!

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet the Health Australia Party!

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet Michael Fozard!

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet Fiona Patten’s Reason Party

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party!

Victorian State Election 2018 – Meet the Democratic Labour Party!

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