Election happening in NSW soon!!

A lot of this blog has been about Federal politics.  Issues of immigration, environment and parental leave are federal issues.

State and Federal politics are two very different beasts.  Each state have their unique cultural, environmental, demographic and financial situations.  There are some states, like QLD, that have favoured one side of government more than the other.  State politics use to be considered less volatile to change, however the recent QLD election shows that anything can happen. I was amazingly fascinated with the results in QLD because they were so close and the result was surprising. I strangely started getting a little bit excited about the NSW election.

I have been thinking about this post for over a month, but struggled to have time to think and read.

It's important to realise that State Politics has very different issues they can control and to be wise about which ones you will vote about. State government control a lot of things that we touch, see and have to deal with each day.  Transport. Healthcare. Schools. The main ones that I am interested in are:

• Infrastructure- namely transport and the increase of public transport;
• Education - namely provision of public education in my area (not many co-ed comprehensive public high schools around here);
• Healthcare - namely funding for hospitals and area healthcare services; and
• Environment - mainly mining and mining licences.

I live in an electorate that has been historically Labour, by a slim margin. In the last election, it had a swing of over 20% against Labour to give the Liberal Party victory for the first time in over 20 years.  I don't think it was the candidate. I think it was more the perception of the party at the time.

In this election period, I have not see hardly ANY poster boards for anyone else except my sitting Liberal MP. Are there any other options? I have seen a few posters for these guys. Not sure if I am all for one-issue parties. I have received one hand out in the post for Labour and just received a letter, addressed to me, with my current MPs "plan".

To try to find out what options I have, since neighborhood light posts are not helping, I have gone to this electoral NSW website, which tells me what my other options are. Appears I have 5 other options (which is nice).

Even though my seat has been a swinging seat, I suspect that it will stay Liberal as the local member is very popular. I also think, that on the issues above, all bar one favour the current government than the the one who is challenging.

But I haven't read enough.

What you are thinking about in regards to this State election? Thoughts on one-issue parties? Or other minor parties?

Signing to change - Tasmania's Forests

Hi all. It's been a while. Sorry. I am not afraid to use that word. My only excuse is really a lack of time. How does anyone have time to keep abreast of all the issues and read widely to see the different points of view?

I am writing to advocate signing the petition for the World Heritage Committee not to overturn their decision and remove 74,000 ha from the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage area. I am not sure what signing petitions actually do. I do know it shows my support, even if it's just my name on a list. I am unsure if those like the World Heritage Committee give much weight to petitions. But I am signing it anyways. If it's a small way I can help towards the conservation of forests.

It troubles me that many believe you need to chose between jobs (ie money) and the environment. The environment, especially trees, have been undervalued for both their productivity (their capacity in the essential service to make the oxygen we need to breathe!) and their intrinsic value both in their beauty and habitat value (as homes for other potentially productive creatures of the world).

Having visited the Tasmanian Forests near Strahan in 2009, I was really amazed at how amazingly beautiful the forests are there. It really did provide a glimpse of what Australia would of looked like before European settlers came. While I was there, it made me believe that maybe Tasmania does have the cleanest air in the world!

So I have signed this petition. I like oxygen. And I ask you to sign. Especially if any of the points above resonate with you.

http://www.acfonline.org.au/be-informed/land-forests/tasmanian-forest-protection

(Tasmanian forest, January 2009)

A bit of kick-ass

For the casual observer, reading this blog, they would think that my politics maybe more left than I acknowledge. As my introduction stated, I actually don't really get left or right in politics, but if I am agreeing with anything that comes out the Greens party, I realise that makes me a bit left.

As previously stated, I do not hold a membership to any political party and I don't really think I align with any.

But I loved Senator Scott Ludlam's final speech on 4 March, 2014, before Western Australia goes to the polls again to vote for the Senate. It's kick-ass to a Prime Minister who seems to be hitting hard against the 3 policies I am particularly interested in.

Read or watch the speech here:

http://greensmps.org.au/content/speeches-parliament/adjournment-speech-abbott-well-see-you-wa

My favourite lines are:

Mr Prime Minister, at your next press conference we invite you to leave your excruciatingly boring three-word slogans at home. If your image of Western Australia is of some caricatured redneck backwater that is enjoying the murderous horror unfolding on Manus Island, you are reading us wrong. Every time you refer to us as the 'mining state' as though the western third of our ancient continent is just Gina Rinehart's inheritance to be chopped, benched and blasted, you are reading us wrong. 

and....

Mr Abbott, your thoughtless cancellation of half a billion dollars of Commonwealth funding for the Perth light rail project has been noted. Your blank cheque for Colin Barnett's bloody and unnecessary shark cull has been noted. Your attacks on Medicare, on schools funding, on tertiary education-noted. The fact that your only proposal for environmental reforms thus far is to leave Minister Greg Hunt playing solitaire for the next three years while you outsource his responsibilities to the same Premier who presides over the shark cull has been noted too.

and this is just plain funny....

So to be very blunt, the reason that I extend this invitation to you, Mr Prime Minister, to spend as much time as you can spare in Western Australia is that every time you open your mouth the Green vote goes up. 

and my real favourite, because it reflects some of how I feel about the Abbott government's treatment of asylum seekers.....

And, perhaps most profoundly, your determined campaign to provoke fear in our community-fear of innocent families fleeing war and violence in our region-in the hope that it would bring out the worst in Australians is instead bringing out the best in us. Prime Minister, you are welcome to take your heartless racist exploitation of people's fears and ram it as far from Western Australia as your taxpayer funded travel entitlements can take you.

I wished I lived in Western Australia! (That maybe the only time I ever say that!) Voting happens on 5 April.

I don't know about anyone else out there trying to keep abreast of Australian politics but it's amazing how little I heard from the other political parties on the media. It felt like Tony Abbott's face was everywhere during the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years. But Bill Shorten is no where. I have actually had to subscribed to a certain Labour MPs FB just to get some of Labour's comments. Is there a government stranglehold on the media? (*conspiracy theory*)

And, no, I have not received a reply from my first letter to my local MP. It's early days though. I am gracious.

The faith vote and how to vote

(Vote above or below the line?! April 2013, Blackheath)

I found these below articles helpful for those who are faith based in their ideals and values.

A Christian case for the greens

http://www.jimsphilosophy.com/politics/279-why-do-some-christians-vote-green

And how to vote 

http://drummoynepresbyterianchurch.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/how-to-vote-this-election/

And this article about voting below the line

http://www.biblesociety.org.au/news/vote-fred-risk-getting-pauline-dilemmas-for-christian-voters-2

My favourite quote: 

Election expert Antony Green has pointed out that according to law, voters are allowed to miss out ten percent of the boxes below the line, and mess up the numbering three times, yet still have their vote accepted as formal. This is good news for the preference plodders

So, don't be scared to vote below the line!!! It will make your vote that much more worthwhile!!!

The green vote #2

Now, I am sure readers, when it comes to the Green Vote, the Greens party is the most obvious choice.  However, as we all know, the Greens party will not (and probably should not) be the governing party considering Australia's current political situation.

However, what each party is saying about the environment and particularly climate change is important because this particular issue is one that has long term ramifications, far greater than our economy.

So, it is alarming that a few more articles have come out in the last 24 hours that target the Liberals' stance on the environment. This article is quite detailed. This one is just damning, (by former Greens Senator Bob Brown). It scares me though because I am unsure what voter Liberal is aiming for, but it seems like it is ignoring science (not just climate change but anything remotely natural history related) and also valuing resources on only economics (read extraction) value only. Short term. Business.

The nail in the coffin for me is today's discussions about the budget from the Liberal party. This article summed up that a lot of party's holes in their budget will be funded by cutting resources to climate change, resource management and foreign aid.

I understand the argument that jobs are lost when timber mills are closed. But in a capitalist society, one area of restriction leads to another area of growth? Tasmania has enjoyed a boast in tourism, eco-tourism and organic farming of all types as such produce, fishing and dairy.

I am particularly sad to think that my children may one day not get to see the Great Barrier Reef or the Tasmanian Wilderness (or enjoy the clean air and water these ecosystems make) because a mining company, a timber mill or a farm want to make a 10% profit for the next 5 years.

I am glad I can vote and have a say (even if it feels small).

(From Earth - The Operators Manual)

The green vote

I have been pretty clear that there are three main election issues for me:
1) Humane treatment of asylum seekers
2) The environment
3) Paid Parental Leave

(18.3.13 - Which straw man to vote for?)

The two main parties are very similar on issues 1 & 3 (will discuss later). Issue two, the environment, is one that is coming across as the issue that will sway my vote.

I want to reinforce that I am not a member of either party.  I equally distrust both parties.  However, it greatly disturbs when I read that Tony Abbott, the opposition leader, who has, in the past, denied climate change, would straight out speak something as per this article, misrepresenting the carbon tax, clearly not understanding an emissions trading scheme and suggesting that an expensive, ineffective "direct action" of financing limited, outdated fossil fuel technology to stop polluting will actually benefit the environment.

See article below:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-03/llewellyn-smith---abbott-climate-change/4931534

It is amazing that we should comprehend the "direct action" strategy when it looks like it won't work - even confessed by the Coalition themselves.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/carbon-target-may-be-missed-abbott-20130902-2t16g.html?rand=1378166667641

Then, to read, four days before the election, that the Coalition will sponsor coal seam mining has really tipped me over.

Now I am not a card carrying greeny. I do not campaign or march. I am not an "activist" in that regard. But, the logic of trying to rely on very limited, polluting, fossil fuels instead of investing in renewable energies seems to be beyond the comprehension of the opposition party.

See article here: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/election-2013/use-or-lose-offshore-gas-leases/story-fn9qr68y-1226710075172

What annoys me is that this news doesn't even touch on the sensitivities of coal seam mining - the environmental risk, the loss of farming land, the impact of small communities. It's a throwaway election promise that has some awful consequences.

I do not mean to be so bias in my blogs, but I feel that this issue might be the one that helps me decide where to put my numbers on Saturday.