Elections in 2010

December 24, 2008 in Campaigns, Federal Election, Rants & Raves, elections
Tags: politics, Liberals, ALP, environment, Internet, climate change, workers rights, Australia, Greens, Australian Greens, Kevin Rudd, Nationals, federal government, donations, political parties, human rights, voters, Bob Brown, electoral reform, voting, Australian Electoral Commission, political donations, ballot box, AEC, electoral commissions, Malcolm Turnbull, public policy, Internet filtering, populism, House of Representatives; Senate, voter attendance, voter enrolment

The next federal elections are due sometime in 2010. And while it may seem a bit early to be talking about these elections, the truth is it’s just the right time to talk about the next federal elections. It may be difficult to say what the exact issues will be for the election, but it’s worth having a look at some of things that could be issues. And of course it’s worth looking at the parties, players and independents in the mix.

Local government elections are important

December 22, 2008 in Rants & Raves
Tags: Australia, ballot box, democracy, education, elections, electoral commissions, electorates, government, human rights, local government, politics, polls, Victoria, Victorian Electoral Commission, voters, voting

Reading through Saturday’s offering of newspapers, I noticed the Herald Sun’s (Melbourne) vox pop about local government elections. In Victoria at the end of November, all 79 municipalities held their local elections, and as noted, and not just by the Herald Sun, voter attendance was spectacularly low. In my own local municipality the informal vote lodged in one ward secured a quota in its own right. But since the elections there has been a lot of criticism of the voter attendance rate, concerns about the expense of conducting local government elections and the purpose of conducting local government elections.

Progressive political campaigning in Australia

December 21, 2008 in Campaigns, Rants & Raves
Tags: Australia, ballot box, campaigning, connectivity, coordination, cyber activist, democracy, ECD, electronic civil disobedience, government, innovation, Internet, non-party political, online action, online activism, political activism, political parties, politics, progressive, progressive change, public policy, sustainability, voters, Web 2.0, Web 3.0

There are so many different issues facing Australia and there are so few real political options. And there are a dwindling number and strength of progressive political organisations dedicated to engaging with voters about how they vote and changing that vote.