Tag: victorian state election 2018 (Page 4 of 4)

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet the Australian Liberty Alliance

November 12, 2018 / Catherine / 2 Comments

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

Website: https://www.australianlibertyalliance.org.au
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/australianlibertyalliance/
Current president: Debbie Robinson
Themes: Stopping the alleged Islamisation of Australia. Small government. Freedom of speech. Right wing, libertarian, pro-Western values, pro-guns, anti-socialism, anti-PC.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

The ALA’s best friends appear to be the Australian Country Party, the Aussie Battlers, The Liberal Democratic Party, The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, and Transport Matters. Hinch’s Justice Party, Sustainable Australia and Hudson for Northern Victoria also get some love.

I’m still trying to work out if the Aussie Battlers have blundered into the right wing, or whether it’s intentional. It’s also worth nothing that I’ve seen a lot of preferences go to Transport Matters from all sorts of directions – presumably because most people can agree on wanting better public transport. I’m wondering if they might actually pick up a seat.

The bottom of the ALA’s ticket is always Liberal, Labor and the Greens, in that order, with one notable exception – in the Western Metropolitan Region, ungrouped independent Kathy Majdlik is singled out for last place. Given the sort of things the ALA supports, I am predisposed to like Ms Majdlik. The Victorian Socialists and Fiona Patten’s Reason Party are also regulars on the ALA’s hate list, and there are guest appearances from various other ungrouped independents and from the Voluntary Euthanasia Party and the Animal Justice Party.

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

Victorian State Election 2018 – Meet the Australian Labor Party (ALP)

November 12, 2018 / Catherine / 11 Comments

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

Website: https://www.viclabor.com.au/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/VictorianLabor/
Current leader & Campaign page: Daniel Andrews
Themes: Centre left, a bit more left than other Labor branches. Big on infrastructure, especially public transport, education, hospitals. Pro-union.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

Like many other parties this year, the ALP are more consistent in who they don’t like than who they do. All of their tickets put the Australian Liberty Alliance last, and the Liberal / National Party second last. The Democratic Labour Party and Australian Country Party are also always in the bottom five, but the fifth member varies a bit. Wherever there are ungrouped independents, they are in the bottom five. Other contenders are Hudson for Northern Victoria, Health Australia and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers.

At the top of the ballot, there is more variation. Fiona Patten’s Reason Party and Transport Matters are almost always in the top five. I’m pleased to see that in South Eastern Metropolitan, they put the grouped independents who are campaigning to end violence against women first on their ballot. Sustainable Australia, Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party and the Animal Justice Party tend to be in the top five a fair bit, as do the Socialists. The Greens are either in the top five or just outside it. Once or twice the Liberal Democrats and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers make it in.

I’m getting a bit of a sense again that some of the variation in these ballots relates to what is likely to be popular with voters in that region, but I can’t be certain.

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

Victorian State Election 2018 – Meet The Australian Greens!

November 12, 2018 / Catherine / 10 Comments

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

Website: https://greens.org.au/vic
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/VictorianGreens/
Current leader: Samantha Ratnam
Campaign Website: https://victoria.greens.org.au/platform
Themes: Left. Big on the environment, inclusiveness, and social justice generally. Currently trying to find the balance between idealism and functioning as a serious political party.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

The Greens are pretty consistent with their voting ticket. They have clearly done a deal with the Victorian Socialists, who are always first on their ticket (thus fulfilling everyone’s secret conviction that the Greens are a party of watermelons – a green shell around a red centre!). The Animal Justice Party and the Voluntary Euthanasia Party are almost always second or third, but they give second place billing to the ungrouped independents in South Eastern Metropolitan (who are a single issue party opposing violence against women) and third place to Diana Grima in Western Metropolitan (I have not yet researched her, but this is a good sign). The Transport Matters and Health Australia parties also do well, and the ALP is in their top five several times, and just outside it otherwise.

At the bottom of the ticket, we always have the Australian Liberty Alliance, as well we should. The Liberal Democrats, Democratic Labour Party, Shooters and Fishers and the Liberal Party usually make up the rest of the bottom five, but the Australian Country Party makes a few appearances here as well.

Basically, no surprises here.

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

Victorian State Election 2018 – Meet the Australian Country Party/Give it Back!

November 12, 2018 / Catherine / 9 Comments

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

Website: https://australiancountryparty.org.au/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CountryPartyVic
Victorian Campaign Page: https://australiancountryparty.org.au/policies/victorian/
Themes: Pro-regional Australia, pro-personal responsibility, pro-guns. Deeply suspicious of environmentalism in any form. Clearly positioning themselves to take over from the Nationals.

Update January 26, 2019: I’ve been advised that the ACP has undergone a complete reorganisation since November, including an overhaul of policies. I’ll be covering them again ahead of the next election, but if you want to know more, please see the comment below from Glenn O’Rourke, which includes a link to a press release and the new website.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

The ACP is pretty good friends with conservative and libertarian parties who like guns. Their top five spots always include the Democratic Labor Party, the Liberal Democrats and the Australian Liberty Alliance. Other favoured parties are the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, Sustainable Australia, the Health Australia Party, and Hudson for Northern Victoria. The Aussie Battlers and the Transport parties appear occasionally.

The Liberal Party sits right at the middle of their ticket, with Labor usually a couple of parties behind them. The last four places on their tickets are always the Voluntary Euthanasia Party, the Victorian Socialists, the Animal Justice Party, and last of all, the Australian Greens. These are not people who like environmentalists very much.

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

Victorian State Election 2018 – Meet the Aussie Battler Party!

November 12, 2018 / Catherine / 11 Comments

Update, November 15, 2018: Well, they certainly have developed. I don’t know when it happened, but the Aussie Battlers have made sweeping changes to their policies. No longer do they want to feed roosters to the starving and house the homeless in shipping containers, and now it appears that they are Tough On Crime and don’t like Immigrants. I haven’t had a chance to look at them again properly, but will do my best to review them before the election. In the meantime, you can read an article about the new policies here. But be wary. This is definitely a bait-and-switch, and I’m wondering how many of their candidates were aware that this would happen.

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

Website: https://www.aussiebattlerparty.com.au/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheAussieBattlerParty/
Current leader: Stuart O’Neill
Themes: Common sense, Aussie Battlers, affordable housing and homelessness, ‘the real Australia’. Patriotic and focused on regional Victoria. Pro mouthguards!

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

Oh, this is one hot mess of a party. They have completely different tickets in each region, and the only real common ground is that they always put Labor, Liberals and the Greens last. But always in a different order. Their top five varies wildly with the Animal Justice Party taking top billing in Northern Metropolitan, and the Shooters and Fishers getting it in Western Metropolitan. In South-Eastern Metropolitan, alternate anti-family-violence candidates with the LDP and the Shooters and Fishers.

Their favourite party to support is Sustainable Australia (another party who I find very hard to read), which makes their top five on 7 out of 8 tickets. Derryn Hinch gets into the top five in 6 out of 8, and the Shooters and Fishers and Liberal Democratic Party both get there 5 times. Transport is also important. But honestly, everyone seems to turn up in their top five at least once, except for the Voluntary Euthanasia Party and the Victorian Socialists. Even the Australian Liberty Alliance is in there.

It feels to me like the pro-gun parties are getting a higher than statistically-probable level of top billing, if this were all random, but there are kind of a lot of pro-gun parties this year, and I don’t know how to do statistical analysis, so take that for what it’s worth.

There is some evidence that they might be preferencing the small parties that they expect to be popular in that region – the Shooters and Fishers or the ACP in regional areas, Hudson for Northern Victoria in the north, the Animal Justice Party in the vegan-friendly northern metropolitan region. But it could also be that they have no clue what they are doing, and I find it unsettling that I can’t tell.

Basically, if you are going to vote for this party, do it below the line. You don’t know where your vote might end up otherwise.

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

Victorian State Election 2018 – Meet the Animal Justice Party!

November 12, 2018 / Catherine / 8 Comments

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

Website: https://www.ajpvic.org.au/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ajpvic/

Themes: A voice for animals in politics, and the party for people who think that the Greens don’t go far enough on animal welfare. Left, slightly lunar. Veganism can fix all the world’s problems.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

The AJP has different voting tickets in each region, but there are some common themes. At the top of the ticket, you either get the Aussie Battlers, Sustainable Australia, or Health Australia. Fiona Patten’s Reason Party, The Voluntary Euthanasia Party, and Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party usually come next, and either Transport Matters or the Victorian Socialists will also be in the top five.

After all the left-leaning parties, they generally put the Greens somewhere around 21 on the ticket, directly followed by Labor, the DLP and the Liberal/National Parties.

The last four slots on the ticket are always the Liberal Democratic Party, the Australian Country Party, the Australian Liberty Alliance, and the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, in that order. If there are independents, they usually fall somewhere between the ALA and the Shooters and Fishers, regardless of their actual political views – I’m guessing the AJP didn’t have the time or inclination to do the research on them.

Basically, this is the portrait of a decidedly left-leaning party that really doesn’t like guns. Nobody is surprised by this. They don’t seem to hate the Greens as much as they used to, but putting them directly before the other major parties sends a clear message – you sold out.

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

Victorian State Election – And we’re off!

November 12, 2018 / Catherine / 4 Comments

I’ve been madly reading up on political party policies all week, but haven’t wanted to post anything yet, because I was waiting for the group voting tickets to come out. But they are here now, so it’s time to get started!

As always, I will be reviewing all the minor parties and independents who are running for the Legislative Council, and if I have time, I’ll also look at my local ballot and see what’s going on there.

I’ll be working my way through the parties in alphabetical order this year, with occasional breaks to write about some independents. Since independents are often late bloomers in campaign terms, I’ll try to do all the independents for a particular region on the same day, so that nobody gets disadvantaged.

The main page where I list all the political parties and independents and their websites, as well as links to my reviews can be found here.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Tag: victorian state election 2018 (Page 4 of 4)

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet the Australian Liberty Alliance

Victorian State Election 2018 – Meet the Australian Labor Party (ALP)

Victorian State Election 2018 – Meet The Australian Greens!

Victorian State Election 2018 – Meet the Australian Country Party/Give it Back!

Victorian State Election 2018 – Meet the Aussie Battler Party!

Victorian State Election 2018 – Meet the Animal Justice Party!

Victorian State Election – And we’re off!

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