PLS READ THIS VERY SLOWLY Late last year the State Government increased the deposits for candidates contesting the State Election from $750 to $3,000 per seat. Maybe the rational for this was to reduce the number of Upper House candidates and to reduce the chances of fringe groups from achieving a seat through preferences. But the increased fees have not reduced the number of candidates in the Upper House, but has dramatically increased the costs to the Greens who traditionally contest seats in the lower house as well. And while these deposits are refundable if the candidates achieve 4% of the primary vote, it ties up money that could go towards publicity, much needed because of the difficulty the minor parties have in gaining fair press coverage. I believe this increase in deposits is aimed specifically at the Greens! And before I continue, yes Im am a Greens supporter but currently am not a member of any political party and this message has not been sanctioned by the Greens or any other political party or organisation. But this is not the first time the State Government has changed the law to silence an alternative party. In the lead up to the 1985 State election, all parties had to be registered, but what made this sinister is that all registrations were not done simultaneously, so by the time of the election, the Nuclear Disarmament Party could not be registered. So the upper house candidates tried to change their surnames to Ms. Nuclear Disarmament Party et, but this was not allowed (unprecedented!). A court challenge overturned that, but the Electoral Commissioner, using his discretionary powers, would not allow their nominations. A compromise was reached and the NDP contested the election as the Independent Nuclear Disarmament Platform, but this did not stop some major Party “Heavies” attempting to stop NDP supporters from handing out polling cards. During this time there was also an ongoing attempt to charge three previous NDP candidates from the previous Federal election under the Crimes Act for fraud. On the night of that election the NDP SA office was raided by police and the office was searched without a warrant and several members were arrested and spent the night in jail “for resisting arrest”. They were released the next day without charges. During the 1985 Nunawading by election, (Victoria) forged how to vote cards were printed and distributed by the Labor Party directing all preferences to Labor. Following a cover up, no charges were laid. When the NDP ceased to be politically active in South Australia, the fraud charges were dropped. (source: Wikipedia, Sunday Mail, personal experience) So why should we support minor Parties? I believe they are our only way of bringing reform into our current political system. The record speaks for itself. In the mid 1960s the Australia Party brought our involvement in the Vietnam war into the political arena, and through the direction of preferences, encouraged Labor to ultimately adopt it as policy. The Australia Party also brought many other progressive policies into the electorate and this role was ultimately replaced in part by the Australian Democrats. The NDP opened up the debate on the absurdity of the Arms Race and I believe helped to set the scene for the end of the cold war. Nick Xenephon has questioned the need for the spread of poker machines, and even One Nation has reminded us that we still have a long way to go in respecting the people who once inhabited this land. Mark Parnell from the Greens secured the feed in tariffs for roof top solar and SA with its highest uptake of solar, has seen the lowest increase of electricity prices in Australia. Dont believe the Liberal Party spin on this. The Greens are one of the few options that we have for tackling the most serious problems facing humanity, Climate Change and over population. Our current leaders do not seem to understand the urgency of this. Political reform is long overdue in Australia. When 100,000 people in Adelaide march to oppose our going to war with Iraq, the brutality of live exports, over 80% of the population supporting voluntary euthanasia, Clive Palmer dumping toxic waste into the Barrier Reef and with much of our essential infra structure having been sold off to foreign interests, we the people are in effect irrelevant to those who claim to represent us. Sure we vote, but after that we have no input whatsoever to the decision making that ultimately shapes our future. Please distribute this message. Do your own research and support the minor parties in the Upper House (Legislative Council). Show your contempt to this latest attempt to suppress democracy. If you do nothing, or just vote because you have to, you will ultimately regret it as Australia is sold off to the highest bidder and we are reduced to being tenants in our own country. Apathy has a terrible reward. Ian Modistach, B Sc. Biology/Environmental Physics. about a minute ago · Like .. Rae Mus I would ask for a written conformation as to why you should remove your signs when the major parties are allowed to remain. Also because you are a registered candidate you do have the right to hang approved campaign signs and asking you to remove yours without clear violation of campaign signage is a violation of voting regulations. A few seconds ago · Like .. Ken Crabb Write a comment... .. . .. About Create Advert Create Page Developers Careers Privacy Cookies Terms Help Facebook © 2014 · English (UK)
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 07:07:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015