Category: politics (Page 33 of 42)

Victorian Senate Group I: Let’s get Secular!

August 23, 2013 / Catherine / 8 Comments

So, we’ve seen various shades of Christian Right, a couple of flavours of patriotism ranging from the mildly xenophobic to the outright racist, some libertarians, and, of course, our good friends over in the world of legalised drugs. Now for something completely different, we have the Secular Party.

I have to admit, this lot make me uncomfortable, which is interesting, because so do all the Christian parties. The right wing Christians make me wince because they seem to be at their loudest when promoting the most un-loving and un-compassionate policies they have, and I want to keep saying, look, we aren’t all like that. But the secularists also make me uncomfortable, because while I absolutely do think that religion has no place in government, I find it frustrating when people assume that I must be either stupid or complicit in my own oppression. (I’m actually not particularly oppressed by my religion, thank you.) It’s possible that I have been spending too much time reading the words of internet atheists, who seem to be an entirely different breed to the totally lovely atheists I know in real life.

Victorian Senate Group H: Allying with the Country

August 23, 2013 / Catherine / 7 Comments

Moving along the ballot paper we now reach the Country Alliance, which at first glance looks a lot like the Nationals, only with more firearms, fishing and firewood, and an emphasis on outdoor activities. My old school in Adelaide would have loved this stuff, I reckon.

Victorian Senate Group G: Putting the Family First

August 22, 2013 / Catherine / 1 Comment

Moving along the ticket we find ourselves back in right-wing Christian land, albeit in a somewhat calmer and less racist incarnation. Yes indeed, it’s time to meet Family First! Incidentally, what’s with all the right-wing Christian political parties on the ballot this year? I count four, and that’s just based on the ones I recognise – there may be more hidden in small parties I haven’t read up on yet. As a left-wing Christian I find this rather disheartening…

(but for heavens’ sake, let’s not start another, left-wing Christian party to the mix. Religion doesn’t belong in politics, to my mind… and in some ways, that could be a summary of this entire post, but I digress)

It is worth noting that while one cannot strictly do a donkey vote of the senate above the line (if you do number all the groups above the line in order, the AEC will simply ignore all the numbers other than 1, and your vote will follow that party’s ticket), anyone who decided, for some obscure reason, to donkey vote below the line would be likely to have their vote end up either at the Liberal Party or here with Family First – between the two, there are unlikely to be many fractions left after that point. So donkeyish voting in the senate will be electing someone from the right wing of politics.

Also, a quick disclaimer – I currently have a horrible lurgy and am doped up to the gills on Codral, so this post may be sillier than usual, and while I will do my best to avoid typos, there may be some transposed words, so apologies in advance for any errors – feel free to point out corrections in the comments.

Victorian Senate Group F: Help End Marijuana Prohibition – the party with the acronym that speaks for itself

August 22, 2013 / Catherine / 10 Comments

Oh, I like this party already. It’s not so much that I care one way or another about Marijuana – I do think it’s a bit silly to criminalise it, but I’ve never been especially interested in it myself – but you have to love a party that was clearly founded by people who were going, hey, we want to legalise marijuana, so what should we call our political party? I know, let’s call it HEMP! Now, what can we make that actually stand for…

Acronyms. Just say no.

The other thing that I love about this party is that it is a ‘genuine grassroots party’. Grass. Get it?

Yeah, I’m easily amused. And this, incidentally, is exactly why I don’t have any interest in drugs – I’m silly enough without any chemical aids.

Victorian Senate Group E: Liberals / Nationals in Brief

August 21, 2013 / Catherine / 7 Comments

Next up on the ticket is the Coalition, comprising the Liberal Party and the Nationals.

After some consideration, I am electing not to write a full post about the Coalition. My reason for this is simple: most people are aware of exactly who the Coalition is, and far more knowledgeable people than I are analysing their policies in newspapers, in blogs, and on the television. And, frankly, both the Coalition and Labor get an entire series of debates in which to tell us about their policies. It’s not difficult to find information about them (though I will say, past experience has taught me that the Liberal Party are really quite thorough about hiding their policies on their website).

The purpose of this series is to assist people in figuring out who all the tiny parties are. You don’t need me to tell you what I think of the Coalition’s policy. In fact, you probably don’t want me to.

On the same principle, I will also not be writing a full post about the Labor Party when I reach them. Fair is fair. If I find myself with too much time on my hands before the election I may come back and have another pass at this (especially for the Nationals, who really don’t get their share of coverage), but for now, I’m just going to briefly discuss the Coalition’s senate ticket and then move on. (I think we all know that HEMP is going to be far more entertaining anyway…).

Victorian Senate Group D: Senator Online, and probably Tweeting during Question Time

August 21, 2013 / Catherine / 0 Comments

Senator Online bills itself as ‘Australia’s New and National Online Political Party’, and adds “I care about our future. Now I can vote directly on laws that affect us.”

We’ll get to that bit later, but in the meantime, I have to share with you my joy about their Senate ticket. Remember how I was speculating on how far down the ticket one could get without hitting a major party? Well, it seems that Senator Online was wondering that, too, because their ticket wanders merrily through a list of tiny and slightly mad parties, leaning somewhat to the right but starting with the Bullet Train for Australia and the Animal Justice Party (both of which this perverse blogger is looking forward to *immensely*, it must be confessed), before finally reaching the Greens at 82 on the ballot paper (a mere 9 places after ‘Stop the Greens’, which suggests an ironic sense of humour), then moving on to Labour, Liberal and the Nationals last.

Victorian Senate Group C: One Nation Under Hanson

August 21, 2013 / Catherine / 7 Comments

Working my way across the ballot, who should I find next but One Nation, possibly Australia’s most infamous political party of all time. I’m amused to note that the Rabid Right seems to be lined up at the extreme left of the ticket, while the Loony Left seems to be more concentrated at the right hand end, but I digress.

And now I shall digress some more to express my deep disappointment that One Nation finally got a proper web designer, because their old site was *adorable* in an early-1990s, bright red text on a yellowish background sort of way. I suppose I shall just have to find some other way to entertain myself.

One Nation informs me that it is “The Voice of the People”. I find this very promising, because I am a person and I also have a voice, so clearly we shall get along well!

Victorian Senate Group B: The LDP – not so much Liberal as Libertarian

August 20, 2013 / Catherine / 8 Comments

I have to admit to a certain trepidation in writing up this party. My first encounter with the Liberal Democratic Party was three years ago, when I was reading up on all the small parties for the 2010 election, and I had to stop part way through my analysis of their policies because I was getting so angry and upset about their views on healthcare that Andrew started to worry about my blood pressure. Which is a little ironic, really.

So, thinking of calm blue oceans, let us enter the libertarian paradise that is the Liberal Democratic Party website.

Victorian Senate Group A: In Which Australia Rises Up

August 19, 2013 / Catherine / 5 Comments

Starting from the left hand side of the paper tablecloth that we like to call a Senate Ballot paper, we have the Rise Up Australia Party, whose website has the cheery slogan “Keep Australia Australian!”.

Already, I am dubious. This is probably because I am un-Australian.

Their little flag-picture thingie adds a few more key words and slogans: Families, Education, Jobs, Business, Free Speech, alongside “Multi-Ethnic, One Culture”, which I’m not sure is grammatical, but I probably shouldn’t start insulting them before I’ve actually read their policies. I will note that I am always a little suspicious when “Free Speech” turns up on the front page of a party website, as in my experience this particular priority has a significant correlation with people wanting to say really nasty things and not have anyone complain about them.

Federal Election 2013: Partying with the small parties

August 19, 2013 / Catherine / 2 Comments

So, we all have our opinions about Liberal and Labor, more or less. Most of us are even vaguely aware of the Greens, Family First and One Nation. And who could possibly forget the existence of the Sex Party?

Hooray for us! That’s six whole parties we’ve heard of… but what about the other 33 charming little bagatelles currently decorating the Victorian Senate Ballot Paper? What of HEMP and Rise Up Australia? What of the Secular Party and Smokers’ Rights? And are the Democratic Labor Party and the Liberal Democrats offshoots of Labor, Liberal, the Democrats, or some other beast entirely?

For those of us who like to vote below the line, these are important questions which could keep us busy for far too much of the lead-up to the election.

Or perhaps I’m just taking this whole thing way too seriously…

Either way, over the next few weeks, I intend to work my way down the Senate ticket, group by group, visiting their websites, reading their policies, checking out their preferencing, and reporting back on what I find. My reports will be as partisan as all hell as far as commentary goes, because I’m a Bleeding Heart Greenie Feminist Lefty Pinko with no economic sense, and I’m not ashamed of that. They will, however, be as factually accurate as I can make them.

I will be working from the assumption that policies and mission statements posted on official party websites are a fair representation of what that party stands for – or at least, what that party wants voters to believe they stand for. In other words, I will not attempt to predict future behaviour based on what any elected representatives or random party members have done in the past, but I will feel entirely free to provide commentary on any subtext I believe is implicit in these statements.

My reasoning for this is simple: there are a lot of political parties out there, I have limited time, and I am not a political commentator. But I do have the ability to read documents and make some deductions about the person writing them – what he or she is trying to convey, and perhaps what this implies about his or her values. And of course, a look at where preferences are going can tell you an awful lot about a party’s true colours.

But enough of this introductory babble! It’s time to meet some of our small parties…