ADVISE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN VOTERS

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-16/xenophon-still-deciding-on-preferencing-greens/4892174?section=sa

Greens Senator facing re-election battle after losing Xenophon preferences

Updated Fri Aug 16, 2013 6:18pm AEST

Photo: Sarah Hanson-Young says she will have to work to boost her primary vote. (News Online Brisbane)

Map: SA

South Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young admits she faces a tough battle for re-election after Independent Senator Nick Xenophon confirmed he would not direct preferences her way.

Senator Xenophon says he has been swamped with calls in the past week from supporters urging him not to give first preference to the Greens above the line on ballot papers.
Senator Hanson-Young relied heavily on preferences when she was elected in 2007.
She says she will have to work hard to boost her primary vote.
Senator Hanson-Young says after six months of negotiations she had hoped to reach a deal with Senator Xenophon and is disappointed he will now preference the major parties.
"Nick made it very clear a week or so ago to us, particularly to Bob Brown, that's what he was going to do," she said.
"If he wants to preference the big parties over the Greens and other minor parties that's his choice.
"We've been worried about this for some time. I've been saying up front and clearly that Tony Abbott is coming to South Australia to get my seat.
"He wants it because he wants to get total control of the Parliament. He can only do that if he knocks me off and Nick has given him a help in that regard, he's given him an absolute leg up."

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See also: Best Chance to remove the Greens from the SA Senate.

WHERE ARE KATTER PARTY PREFERENCES GOING?

I had to e-mail Bob Katter's office three times to get an answer to my query and even then, it did not answer where Bob Katter intended for his personal preferences to go.

He should remember that when he was first elected to the Federal parliament in 1989, he was only elected after the EIGHTH count and he beat the Labor candidate through the preferences of a Liberal candidate. (from Wikipedia on Robert Katter). 

I find it rather annoying of him not to be upfront this time because if he does not say, that means he will have candidates who support various things that go against the voter's wishes. 

If only he would be honest for once. In his answer to me today, he denigrated LNP in most everything and then went on to say he would not be supporting either of the main parties!!!!!  

 

Because of his reply to me, I felt that this following story of yesterday's date should be spread around so people have some idea of what could be going on.

Bev.

What does a Katter/Rudd preference deal mean for Australia?

Posted by: Bernard Gaynor 12th August, 2013

Forget all the analysis you have read about the election being decided in Western Sydney.

The big play is on in Queensland and it is happening this week.

A Katter/Rudd preference deal will be a game changer. And the mail I’ve received from sources across the political spectrum is that it’s on.

This is the scenario: Labor will send their senate preferences to Katter before the Greens. This will almost certainly ensure that James Blundell, Katter’s pro-gay marriage Queensland senate candidate, takes a seat in the red chamber.

In return, Katter will direct preferences to Labor in all lower house seats.

It’s a no-brainer for Kevin Rudd. The Greens might get a little miffed, but they are still going to preference Labor anyway – they’ve nowhere else to go.

Securing Katter’s vote will be a huge boost for a Prime Minister desperate to offset losses in other states. It could deliver Rudd seats in Queensland that were never in play before. In short, with opinion polls once more turning against Labor, the only way Kevin from Queensland will remain in power is if he secures this deal.

It’s also an attractive option for Bob Katter but it does contain risks for him. While almost guaranteeing a foothold in the senate, a deal could also alienate his conservative base and upset candidates who overwhelmingly want to see the back of Rudd.

But as parties must lodge candidate nominations tomorrow and senate preferences are not finalised until Saturday, jumpy Katter candidates will be locked in before they have a chance to protest.

So, what exactly would a deal with Katter mean for Rudd’s chances and the outcome for Australia on September 7?

A lot, is the answer.

Katter’s impact at the Queensland Election last year is not well understood and has been largely underestimated.

The fact is that Katter took votes from both sides of politics. But because it was not a ‘normal’ election and there was such a massive swing against Labor, Katter’s ability to play ‘Kingmaker’ has not been recognised.

It did not help him either that Queensland has optional preferential voting because it reduced his influence to decide the outcome.

Come September 7, these two factors will be gone. The swing against Labor will not be as strong and Katter’s preferences won’t exhaust – they will decide outcomes in key seats.

A lot of key seats.

In fact, if Katter preferences Rudd over Abbott, many safe LNP seats will come into play. That’s because the LNP’s primary vote actually went backwards in one in five seats at the Queensland Election. All of them were in regional areas, where traditional LNP voters turned to Katter and his big hat.

For instance, Herbert is a safe LNP seat centred over Townsville – Katter country.

At the Queensland Election, Katter received 27 per cent at the booths in this electorate. Many of those voters were previously LNP supporters but under a deal with Rudd, Katter would direct them to preference Labor.

It’s enough to change the outcome.

The same goes for Leichhardt, the electorate covering Far North Queensland. Katter picked up just over 19 per cent there. If his vote holds up and his how-to-vote cards put Labor above the LNP, Leichardt could fall too.

It’s the same story in other seats. In Dawson, Katter scored 22 per cent. It could also be an unexpected gain for Rudd.

And it would provide a huge boost to Labor’s chances in seats it needs to hold. Katter picked up 16 per cent in Blair and 17 per cent in Capricornia. Under a deal, these seats would stay in Labor hands.

Even in the seats closer to the capital, Katter would still have a say. In Forde, where Peter Beattie is now running, Katter picked up 10 per cent. If this goes to Labor, it is a sure gain for the Rudd campaign.

The mere possibility of this deal would send shivers through the Abbott camp.

It would mean that resources and time would need to be diverted from key battleground seats in other states to save electorates previously pencilled in as certain LNP victories.

That would give Rudd a chance to save a little more of the furniture across Australia. Especially if Katter’s vote went Labor’s way in other states too. Even though Katter’s vote outside Queensland is likely to be very low, it still has the potential to pull a per cent away from the Coalition’s primary vote and then direct a chunk of it to Labor via preferences. It could be crucial.

That is why this deal will make or break the election. If it’s on, Rudd still has a chance. If it’s not, it’s goodbye Kevin.

However, there remain two big uncertainties.

Firstly, despite Katter’s close connection and friendship with Rudd, nothing has been confirmed publicly.

Secondly, it’s by no means certain that Katter’s vote at the Queensland election will hold strong, or that voters will follow his how-to-vote cards.

The first question will be partially answered this Saturday. If Labor’s senate group voting ticket in Queensland puts Katter before the Greens, it’s a pretty sure sign Katter’s how-to-vote cards on election day will favour Rudd.

The second question won’t be answered until ballots are cast and counting starts.

PETER BEATTIE LEGACY

John Passant has a page which appears to be quite interesting - I only discovered it today while searching for items online.

This one about Peter Beattie is relevant now that he has come back into the political spotlight thinking he is going to save Labor from oblivion. 

I hope you may find it interesting.

http://enpassant.com.au/2013/08/08/you-little-beattie/

CARBON TAX - AN IRRELEVANT DISCOURSE

Just searching various items online,  and came across this interesting item about Carbon Tax

The carbon tax - an irrelevant discourse
This is a draft of a paper I wrote in 2011 on the then prospective carbon tax. It has since been published by IBFD. I argued that the compensation package for workers to ameliorate the impact of the carbon tax would prove illusory over time and would make the working class pay for the environmental degradation unleashed by the polluters in their pursuit of profit. Further, the pricing was too low then and into the foreseeable future to encourage a switch to renewables. It would instead lock in gas fired power stations for decades to come. I think the subsequent events have proved me correct. To download hit the download button in the middle of the abstract page which this link takes you too. Here is the link. Or here http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2102517 (0)

You can download the report that John Passant wrote at the link above.

I found it at this link:  http://enpassant.com.au

Dogs have a sixth sense - here's proof

I received this email the other day and thought I'd share it here, but unfortunately it's already out of date. ('and Beattie' should be added to the sign).

Have you ever heard that a dog 'knows' when an earthquake is about to hit?

Have you ever heard that a dog can 'sense' when a tornado is stirring up, even 20 miles away? 

Do you remember hearing that before the December tsunami struck Southeast Asia , dogs started  running frantically away from the seashore, at breakneck speed?

Do you know that dogs can detect cancer and other serious illnesses and danger of fire? 

Somehow they always know when they can 'go for a ride' before you even ask and

how do those dogs and cats get home from hundreds of miles away? 

I'm a firm believer that animals - and especially dogs - have keen insights into the Truth. 

And you can't tell me that dogs can't sense a potentially terrible disaster well in advance.  

Simply said, a dog just KNOWS when something isn't right.....
When impending doom is upon us.   They'll always try to warn us!!
       

Update - Leaders debate 11th August
cartoon by Warren Brown



Scrutiny needed for Powerlink projects

Powerlink is proposing the construction multiple high voltage transmission lines in the north west of the Surat Basin in a web over the land of farming families to supply electricity to coal seam gas infrastructure. This site first covered this issue back in March with the post, Petition against abuse of power by Powerlink.

Congratulations to Kerry Ladbrook who in the 8th August edition of the Queensland Country Life was awarded issue of the week on the letters to the editor page. In the first sentence Kerry refers to Premier Campbell Newman's office asking the question about greater scrutiny for government owned corporations. To read this in full [click here]

 PREVIOUS RELATED POSTS

Petition against abuse of power by Powerlink

 

Power price rise link to Powerlink

 

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Northern Australia should have a say in its own future

By Allan Dale, James Cook University
Cross post under The Conversation republishing guidelines 




Northern futures, northern voices: It seems everyone has ideas about how Australia’s north could be better, but most of those ideas come from the south. In this six-part weekly series, developed by the Northern Research Futures Collaborative Research Network and The Conversation, northern researchers lay out their own plans for a feasible, sustainable future.


Recently, Australia’s north has featured front-and-centre in national debates about the country’s future; the election campaign will likely see more claims about what the north can do for the country.
 
Some cast it as the frontier saviour, a source of bold new resource and agricultural developments both real and imagined. Others dream of securing the north’s expansive landscapes as iconic wilderness.
 
Northern policy has long been a source of conflict. Debates have raged about the success or otherwise of government interventions in indigenous communities. Quick-draw policy responses on complex issues like the live cattle trade have devastated many communities. Additionally, media images of coast-bound refugees keep the north’s strategic importance centre-stage, raising unresolved tensions about our Asian-Pacific relationships.
 
Those debates are often crafted by, and for, a southern audience. In my view, we will continue to repeat the mistakes of the past until we rethink governance of northern Australia. Governance is not sexy, but it’s fundamental to making things happen. As a regional water official at a Mekong Basin workshop in northern Thailand recently stated, governance is “how society shares power, benefit and risk”.

The north needs a say too

In the 1930s, Australian treasurer Ted Theodore was calling for northern separatism; few suggest that now. But many in the north would argue there are major flaws in the south’s contribution to our governance and that major policy decisions are often made in the interest of a southern electorate.
 
The north is different to the south in many ways. It has a low population and institutional capacity. Land tenure is largely public rather than private. It is primarily an indigenous domain. It has enormous mineral and soil wealth, but resource limitations and a vastly different climate. Much of it is closer to populous Asia-Pacific capitals than to Perth, Brisbane or Canberra.
 
Northerners don’t want separatism, but they do want a genuine dialogue between northern and southern Australia; one focused on how the nation as a whole might secure better northern governance. Australian and state and territory governments should negotiate big policy decisions in the north and  manage government policy and programs in radically different ways.
This could emerge through a stronger northern Australian policy and delivery architecture integrated into COAG.
 
But to work, this kind of architecture must be powerfully engaged with a cohesive and strong pan-tropical alliance of northern Australia’s sectoral interests. It would have to include traditional owners, local government, industry, human service and conservation. Such an approach must also be independently informed by the north’s research institutions.

Problems that need attention

There are land use and tenure conflicts across the north (the dispute over what to do with Cape York is just one example), and we need innovation to solve them. This requires a long-term, cohesive and regionally driven approach to land use and infrastructure planning.
 
We also need a more consistent approach to negotiating major project development, to build the long-term foundations for regional community development.
 
Alongside this, we have an opportunity to create a northern-specific ecosystems services economy
– an economy that benefits from conservation. We could deliver land owners real economic benefit for managing extensive landscapes better.
 
Despite the Intervention, the fundamental (top down) model of both local government and indigenous community development has not changed much in 30 years. These approaches disempower and deliver stop-start progress. Fragmented, welfare-oriented, inflexible and annualised government programs simply do not build lasting human capacity.
 
Finally, to shift the whole economy from an historically boom-bust cycle, the nation must build a tropical knowledge economy. This could underpin productivity in existing industries (minerals, energy, agriculture, fishing, tourism) and help us think about export opportunities right across the globe’s tropical latitudes. This will rely on Australia investing in tropical knowledge development (such as tropical health, agriculture, environmental and disaster management, design and energy) within the north, brokered into the wider tropical region through long term partnerships, trade and innovation clusters and foreign investment.

A smart north is good for all Australians

A progressive and productive northern Australia, with a strong identity and great lifestyle, tightly integrated with its Asia-Pacific neighbours, should attract a diversity of people (with a wide skills base) interested in playing a strategic role in the Asian Century.
 
We can transform our reputation from the wild frontier on the northern margin of a vast empty continent, to a naturally blessed region providing high-value knowledge-based services in the south of a dynamic, rapidly growing region of 500 million people.
 
This is indeed about how society shares power, benefit and risk.
 
If we don’t get the governance right, we run big risks: we’ll entrench a boom/bust economy, whole regions of multi-generational disadvantage and degradation of the nation’s cultural and environmental jewels.
 
If we can more equitably share power and benefit across the north, we can capture opportunities that may hold the keys to the whole nation’s future.
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Allan Dale receives funding for a day a week under the Northern Futures Collaborative Research Network. He is Chair of Regional Development Australia Far North Queensland and Torres Strait.


This article was originally published at The Conversation
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