politics

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet Michael Fozard!

/ Catherine / Leave a comment

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

Campaign Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/vote4michaelfozard/
Themes: Community.  Getting politicians to stop ignoring Gippsland.  Making Gippsland Great Again.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

As an ungrouped independent, Mr Fozard does not get to lodge a Group Voting Ticket, so instead, we’re going to take a little peek at what the other parties thought of him.

He’s mostly sinking to the bottom of most of the tickets, though it’s the most left-wing parties that are inclined to put him dead last or close to it.  His best score comes from Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party, which puts him at 7th – but given that the DHJP seems to favour all of the independents, this isn’t particularly illuminating.

The Democratic Labor Party puts him at 11th, and given their care to re-order candidates even within political parties, this is probably meaningful, and suggests he has some approval from the conservative side of politics.  The Australian Liberty Alliance puts him at 21st, and Health Australia and Sustainable Australia both put him at 23rd.  Given that there are only 46 candidates on the Eastern Victoria Region, this is not really a ringing endorsement.

So… probably conservative, but a bit early to judge.

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

Continue reading →

Advertisements

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet Fiona Patten’s Reason Party

/ Catherine / 1 Comment

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

Website: https://reasonvic.org.au/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ReasonVIC/
Themes: Evidence-based policy, sensible compromise, harm minimisation, individual liberty. Socially progressive, economically centrist.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

Patten has put the Voluntary Euthanasia Party first in her preferences wherever they are running. The Animal Justice Party is second everywhere except South Eastern Metropolitan, where she has put them third after Chawla’s grouped independents, and Eastern Metropolitan where she has put them third after Sustainable Australia.  Sustainable Australia is always in the top five, and the Liberal Democratic Party and Hinch’s Justice Party are also there most of the time.  Vote 1 Local Jobs also makes it in, and the Socialists appear a few times.

She favours Labor over the Greens in some electorates and the Greens over Labor in others, and they are usually in the upper middle part of the ticket.  The Liberals are always the last of the major parties, and occasionally they are in the bottom five.

Reliably last on her ticket are the Australian Liberty Alliance, with the Democratic Labor Party ranked just above them.  The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers are usually third last and the Australian Country Party are also usually in the bottom five.  Ungrouped independents of all stripes are usually just above the ALA, and the Aussie Battlers also make regular appearances near the bottom of Patten’s ticket.

This is an interesting ticket, because the bottom half of it is a pretty close match to my own leftie preferences, but the top half has a few oddballs in it.  I’m disappointed, but not surprised, to see the Liberal Democrats up so high – my biggest issue with Patten’s previous party, the Australian Sex Party, was that it was too libertarian for my taste – but there are definitely some social justice tendencies in here, and I’m glad to see Chawla and Lee getting some more love!

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

Continue reading →

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party!

/ Catherine / 2 Comments

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

Website:  https://www.justiceparty.com.au/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/justiceparty.com.au/
Themes: Tougher sentencing!  No bail for violent criminals!  Tougher parole laws!  And be nicer to animals.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

Hinch’s favourite parties seem to be the Aussie Battlers, Transport Matters and Sustainable Australia.  From memory, Sustainable Australia is as hard to get a read on as the Battlers, so this indicates a preference for the highly confused… Hudson, the Liberal Democrats and the Animal Justice Party also appear several times in his top five.  In Eastern Victoria he puts Michael Fozard high on his ballot, and in South Eastern Metropolitan he puts Chawla’s team second and all the ungrouped independents towards the top of his ballot.

The bottom of his ballot is always the Greens, with Liberal and Labor directly above, often alternating candidates (sometimes Liberal first, sometimes Labor first).  The Australian Liberty Alliance is always fourth last and the Victorian Socialists always fifth from the bottom.  The only exception to this rule is in South Eastern Metropolitan, where he clearly has Feelings about the Transport Matters candidates.  Ali Khan is ranked 16; Sharma Chetan and Roona Fazal are at 27 and 28; but Inderpal Singh and Deepakbir Kaur are at 52 and 53 – below even the Greens!  I would love to know what they have done to offend Derryn, but alas, a quick Google tells me nothing.

The main trends I see here is that Hinch really doesn’t like the major parties, but he has a soft spot for independents.  He tends to favour the more confused and woo-filled minor parties over either the lunar left or rabid right parties, suggesting a centrist leaning.  And putting Chawla and Lee at second on his ticket suggests that stopping family violence is a priority for him.

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

Continue reading →

Victorian State Election 2018 – Meet the Democratic Labour Party!

/ Catherine / 6 Comments

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

Website: https://dlp.org.au/victoria/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/democraticlabourDLP/
Themes: Fighting the Red Menace.  Catholicism.  Religious freedom. Better support for people with disabilities.  Wage fairness. Family.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

The DLP favours conservative parties over less conservative ones, and tends to give the top slots on their ballot to the Liberal Democrats, Australian Country Party, Health Australia the Aussie Battlers, Hudson for North Victoria or the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers.  The Transport Matters Party, Derryn Hinch, and the Liberals make it into their top five once or twice, as does Ungrouped Independent Michael Fozard.

At the bottom of their ticket, they are quite consistent: it’s Labor, Socialists, Voluntary Euthanasia, Fiona Patten’s Reason Party and the Greens.  They dislike the last two so much that they often scramble or reverse the numbers there, just to be perverse.  They really hate Vote 1 Local Jobs, too, which gets the same treatment in the one electorate where it is running, and they aren’t too happy with the ungrouped independents in South-Eastern Metropolitan.

The Australian Liberty Alliance is noticeably missing from both these groups, and tends to lurk at around about 30 on the ballot – well after the people they actually like, but before the Atheist Red Menace of the ALP, the Victorian Socialists and their ilk…

I note that they also seem to be trying to pull an LDP in this election – they are now listed as ‘Labour – DLP’ on the ballot, which should attract a fair share of inattentive Labor voters.

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

Continue reading →

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet Bobby Singh

/ Catherine / 4 Comments

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

Facebook page for Bobby Singh: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003227085250
Themes: Unclear, but somewhat conservative.  Employment and cost of living seem to be areas of interest.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

As an ungrouped independent, Singh doesn’t get a group voting ticket.  But it’s interesting to see where he has been placed by others. His best billing comes from Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party, which puts him at 11th, after Chawla and Lee, the Aussie Battlers and the other ungrouped independents.  Chawla and Lee put Singh at 24, but beyond that, he’s not getting much love.  A lot of the parties in South Eastern Metropolitan seem to have decided that Independents are far too much like hard work, and have stuck all the ungrouped independents last or near last on the ballot.

The Body Politic
Policies, Snark, Terrible Theme Songs (how can I be this far into the project with no theme songs?) and Other Observations

Continue reading →

Victorian State Election 2018 – Meet Peter Mack!

/ Catherine / Leave a comment

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

Oh, yes you do. I haven’t been able to find out a thing about him, so this is going to be short.

Peter Mack has basically no online presence, as far as I can tell.  No website, facebook, or twitter, and he doesn’t even seem to write letters to the local paper! The VEC tells me that he lives in Botanic Ridge, and there is a Peter Mack from Botanic Ridge on Linked In who is listed as a Director at Causicare, or possibly a Mental Health worker at MIND.  But the Causicare website only mentions a Helen Mack, and I can’t find him at all at MIND.  It’s clear that he works with mental health, however.

I got all excited when I saw that a Peter Mack had written a book with Nicole Lee on Metaphoric Narratives in Healing, and thought that maybe some of our South Eastern Metropolitan Independents were joining forces to fight for mental health and good things, but then I saw that the book was described as

…a unique story of two medical doctors who went through a healing journey together, using meditation and past life therapy. Their experiences are being shared from both the patient’s and the therapist’s perspectives and provide an intriguing account of the workings of the inner psyche…

So probably not our Mack and Lee, then, since I don’t think they are medical doctors.

I’m including the description anyway, because this post needs all the padding it can get.

I’ll try to circle back to him later, but for now, Peter Mack should be considered a man of mystery!

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

As an ungrouped independent, Mack doesn’t get a group voting ticket.  And it’s pretty clear that the other candidates have no more idea what to do with them than I do, because he is directly after Hines on every ticket – so 10th for Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party, 23rd for Chawla and Lee and 28th for the Greens, after which he drops steadily down the group voting tickets.

Victorian State Election: Meet Stewart Hine!

/ Catherine / Leave a comment

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

Website for Stewart Hine: http://illshowyouthemoney.com.au/candidacy-for-state-parliament/
Themes: Being a true independent.  It’s hard to say what his policies might be.  Probably quite good on environment and public transport, is my guess, and neither hard right nor hard left, though it’s difficult to say where he leans overall.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

As an ungrouped independent, Hine doesn’t get a group voting ticket.  But it’s interesting to see where he has been placed by others. His best billing comes from Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party, which puts him at 9th, after Chawla and Lee, the Aussie Battlers and Hudson.  Chawla and Lee put Hine at 22 and the Greens put him at 27, but beyond that, he’s not getting much love.  A lot of the parties in South Eastern Metropolitan seem to have decided that Independents are far too much like hard work, and have stuck all the ungrouped independents last or near last on the ballot.

The Body Politic
Policies, Snark, Terrible Theme Songs (how can I be this far into the project with no theme songs?) and Other Observations

Continue reading →

Victorian State Election 2018 – Meet Tarang Chawla and Nicole Lee!

/ Catherine / Leave a comment

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

Facebook Page for Tarang Chawla: https://www.facebook.com/mrtarangchawla
Facebook Page for Nicole Lee: https://www.facebook.com/nicole.lee.advocacy/

Themes: Ending violence against women.  Feminism.  Not liking Matthew Guy.  But mostly, ending violence against women.

With friends like these…
The Group Voting Ticket

Chawla and Lee have given their first preferences to Transport Matters.  Seriously, Transport Matters could be the dark horse in this election.  After that, their votes go to the Animal Justice Party and the Voluntary Euthanasia Party, followed by Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party.  They definitely favour small parties over large ones, and have put their local friendly ungrouped independents at 22-24 on the ballot.

They have put Labor ahead of the Greens and Liberal, with these three parties occupying places 29-43 on their ticket, and have saved some ire for the Health Australia Party, possibly because anyone who is disabled is likely to have a low tolerance for woo.  At the bottom of the ballot, they have the LDP, then the Shooters and Fishers, the DLP, and last of all, the Australian Liberty Alliance.  I am not surprised that independents who are passionate about ending violence against women have little time for political parties who are pro-gun and, in the DLP’s case, anti-divorce (historically, at least – I haven’t checked on them yet this year).

Just for fun, let’s see who is reciprocating.  The ALP have put them at the top of their ticket (by which I mean, directly after their own people), as have Transport Matters and Derryn Hinch (who has strong feelings about family violence).

The Greens, the Voluntary Euthanasia Party and Fiona Patten’s Reason Party have put them in third place.  Interestingly, the DLP have put them in the top third.

The Liberal Party, on the other hand, have put them second last on the ballot, way behind the other, ungrouped, independents, and the Socialists and Animal Justice Party have also put them right near the bottom.

But they’ve done pretty well in the preferencing, I’d say.  If they can get a good number of first preference votes, they might squeak in.

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

Continue reading →

Victorian State Election 2018: Meet the Australian Liberty Alliance

/ Catherine / Leave a comment

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

Continue reading →

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

/ Catherine / 3 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

Continue reading →