Feeling Exhausted after last Saturday

Finally we are rid of possibly the worst NSW government in living memory. As a former Labor member and a dedicated 'leftie' you will appreciate that it must have been bad for me to wish for a Liberal government. Truth is, they are, unfortunately, the only alternative.......... at the moment. The time will come when The Greens will overtake Labor as THE party of the left. But not while they continue to display the political naivety we saw on Saturday.
I was handing out How to Votes for the Greens at Kangaroo Valley. Their Lower House HTV recommended a '1' for the Greens candidate, Ben, and a '2' for Independent (former Labor member and Kiama Mayor) Sandra McCarthy then nothing. The fine print said you may number more squares if you wish but dedicated Greens supporters were more likely to follow the card and go 1,2 as suggested. Unfortunately all these ended in the 'exhausted' pile and played no part in the result.
It's unfortunate that not many people understand the workings of the preferential voting system. Most either can't be bothered or have an erroneous understanding but either way the OPTIONAL preferential system we have in NSW leads to many votes being wasted. The Federal system is to number AL:L squares thereby forcing voters to put one of the major parties (most common scenario) above the other. In most electorates this reults in being forced to choose between the Labor or Liberal candidate. If you can't do that stay home.

Bring it on

The member for Gilmore has called for a debate as to whether Australia should embrace a nuclear future. Great idea. But first I think she should go on a fact-finding mission to Japan, a country with a history of involvement in nuclear power dating back to before the end of WWII.

While there she should immerse herself in the culture, eat plenty of the local produce, partake of the waters and generally soak up the atmosphere of the country. In this way she will pick up the vibe of the place and see what makes it tick.....tick, tick, tick.

I'm sure she'll come back highly energized by her experience and be able to illuminate us with a glowing report on the current state of the nuclear industry in Japan.

Just for you, Tony

My last entry on this blog was Nov 21, 2010. Not that there has been a shortage of topics to get excited, alarmed or furious about. It's just that I've been very busy and nothing has really got my goat.............until now.

Today Tony Abbott spoke at a rally against a Carbon Tax. He spoke to a group of people, including Pauline Hanson, best described as Bogans. ie the ugly Australians most often seen at anti-Muslim school rallies and anti-asylum seeker protests. They have a right to protest; this is not Libya. But today they, and Tony Abbott, crossed the line of respectability. Amongst the posters were "Ditch the Bitch", the 'bitch' being the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.

Tony Abbott spoke standing in front of a very large banner which proclaimed "JULIAR,  BOB BROWN'S BITCH".

Even if he or the Liberal Party didn't provide the banner, a potential Prime Minister should have had the acumen and common decency to insist that the banner be taken down before speaking. By not doing so he has effectively eschewed any right to the top job.  Malcolm Turnbull and Joe Hockey were notable absentees from the rally. Wise indeed.

In 1993 John Hewson was a shoo-in in the polls to win the Federal election for the Liberals. Then he made a fateful decision to indulge himself in a series of shopping centre carpark rallies. The party faithful and political groupies in attendance shouted and screamed on cue. The TV news reported these rallies and showed footage of JH leading the chanting.

The public's reaction to this hoopla? Well, my dear old Mum looked on and sagely commented than she saw shades of Nazi rallies in those Aussie carparks and that it made her feel very apprehensive about John Hewson's bona fides as PM.

Come election day, the polls were proved disastrously wrong. There had been an unexpected turnaround in public sentiment in the last few days of the campaign. John Hewson was a political dead duck. Who knows what it was that caused this unexpected reversal but I like to think that my Mum was right, yet again.