Category: General news

Anne Reid of the Secular Party is an accountant who works in the Griffith suburb of West End, and lives just outside the electorate in nearby Yeronga.

Anne Reid – Secular Party

Since being out on the campaign trail, she has discovered that ‘secular’ is a poorly understood term. Essentially, she says, the SP stands for three things: ‘The separation of church and state to ensure government spending is not influenced by religion, the protection of human rights from religious indoctrination, and impartiality towards religion’.

Reid explains her last point, as: ‘not discriminating either against or in favour or religions.’

It is as an accountant that Reid says she is most outraged by the way the tax system privileges religions, citing that: ‘Australia is one of only three countries that exempts both religions and their businesses from paying taxes’. The others are Hungary and Israel.

She said the Catholic Church alone ‘has assets of $100 billon and is the biggest employer in Australia, but does not pay payroll tax’, adding that the SP estimates $31 billion per year is being lost to Government revenue because of tax breaks for religious organisations.

According to Reid, in the last census, 35.3 percent of people in the Griffith suburb of West End and 35.9 percent in Highgate Hill said they had no religious affiliation, and the SP therefore hopes to do well in this electorate.

While closely allied with the Democrats, which it will preference in the Senate ballot, the SP will preference the Greens first in the House of Representatives.

Liam Flenady of the Socialist Alliance routinely attends rallies in support of community campaigns such as marriage equality, rights for asylum seekers, single parents and action on climate change.

When he is not out on the hustings he is a PhD student in composition at the Queensland Conservatorium. He says he keeps his art and his politics separate, but the demands of both are significant.

According to Flenady, the Campbell Newman government has decimated the Arts budget in Queensland, in what he says is a mostly ‘symbolic response to so-called cultural elites’, and he says we can expect the same under an Abbott Government.

He says it is a ‘clever ploy’ to label those in the Arts as elites, when the real elites ‘are people like Gina Rinehart, Clive Palmer and the banks: they’re the economic and political elites who do the real harm to working people’.

As a socialist, Liam says his motivation in this election is to establish a profile and to link up with other activities groups and social movements. “Through people who are already active we can reach broader audiences, and we want to support those campaigns, especially the refugee campaign, because ordinary Australians are being so conned”.

People think, he said, that politics takes place in the parliament, but “we feel it takes place more in the streets; more in workers’ struggles and social campaigns”, “but the media tells us politics takes place in parliament and is about voting, and so we have to engage on that level”.

Liam said the majority of the eleven parties standing in Griffith are right wing, “it is a worry to see this rise of micro-right parties whose preference will inevitably go to the LNP”.

Socialist Alliance will preference the Greens in Griffith, and it encourages people to vote for the Greens in electorates where they do not have candidates standing.

Karin Hunter of the Palmer United Party is a local teacher and businesswoman. ‘I have found Clive Palmer to be refreshingly honest and upfront, and a great advocate for the pensioners, veterans, sick, and the community,’ she said, before explaining the five ways her party differs from the LNP.

The PUP would repeal the carbon tax and refund all payments made to date; they would ban lobbyists from having a role in political parties; they would support the development of mineral processing within Australia, to ‘create jobs, build export revenue and a stronger balance of payments’; they would direct wealth generated in the regions back into those regions; and they would create a more humane response to asylum seekers.

The Greens have recently announced that they will preference the PUP in some seats because of the last of these policies.

Hunter says the PUP believes it would be cheaper and more humane to fly refugees to Australia and process them on arrival, providing they have a valid passport. ‘The PUP would abolish detention centres and keep families together’, adding, ‘we should recognise they have legitimate rights”.

According to her, people are responding well to the more positive message of the PUP and they have had 3 million hits on their website. The party has struck a deal with the KAP and will preference them second.

Consumer insights consultancy BrandHook has conducted a timely study into the voting habits of Australians and discovered that the number of people likely to be casting an informal vote at next week’s ballot is the highest in recorded history. An informal vote is a ballot paper which has been incorrectly completed or not filled in at all.

The BrandHook study shows 6.4% of Australians are planning on casting an informal vote next Saturday. According to the AEC, the previous record for informal votes was 6.3% in 1984, the year substantial and confusing changes were made to the ballot papers.

Paul Dixon, Partner at BrandHook says the political turmoil of the past few years has helped create this situation.

“We have done a lot of work into understanding people’s habits and how habit drives almost half of people’s daily routines. Voting is no exception – it’s a habitual behaviour. The current political landscape has led to people breaking their voting habits,” he said.

Given the high levels of informal voting predicted for this election, politicians need to remind people of their party’s traditional political values – a habit they have compromised in more recent elections. This is borne out by the fact that the 2010 election, soon after the displacement of Kevin Rudd as leader of the ALP, had the second highest recorded level of informal voting – according to the AEC, it was 5.5%.

“This election could be won by the party who convinces people to go back to their old voting habits. In order to do that, they need to remind voters why they used to feel comfortable voting on autopilot.

“Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd have one week to convince people to move away from voting informally. The current personal attacks are just clouding the issue for voters, not giving them clarity about the essence of the party,” said Dixon.

The research also revealed 37% of Australians would probably choose not to vote if voting became optional. This was highest amongst the younger age groups: 18-24 year olds (52%), 25-34 (48%). This lack of interest could have longer-term ramifications for political parties – the young people of Australia are in danger of never forming a political alliance, and therefore a voting habit.

About the BrandHook study

BrandHook conducted the Voting Habit Study in August 2013 with a nationally representative sample of 1,280 Australians 18+. They were asked:

“How likely are you to vote informally in the upcoming election?”

“If voting wasn’t compulsory in Australia, would you vote in the Federal Election on September 7?”

Please note: Many respondents in the research groups confused ‘informal voting’ with ‘donkey voting’. Once the difference was explained, only those intending to legally fill in their ballot paper were counted towards the survey results.

There are eleven candidates standing for election to the House of Representatives in the Queensland division of Griffith, and the polls are getting tight

Many will be watching Griffith because Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is, of course, the sitting member, with the LNP’s Dr Bill Glasson his main contender.

Mr Rudd’s office has politely declined my request for an interview, but Dr Glasson’s office has not responded to several requests.

But the minor parties have had no problem talking to me.

Here are links to my pieces on each of the candidates I spoke to.

Redistribute the wealth – Liam Flenady – Socialist Alliance

The Churches should pay their way – Anne Reid – Secular Party

The world’s problem is population – Jan McNichol – Stable Population Party

Griffith’s PUP is a Hunter – Palmer United Party – Karin Hunter

Katter invokes country Labor – Luke Murray – Katter Australia Party

Gays and muslims cause global warming – Sherri Church – Rise Up Australia

Many of the minor parties seem to be using the election as a platform for their policies and a way to raise their profile in this division. The rise of single-issue parties may also be a symptom of voter disillusionment with the major parties. It will be interesting to see if this translates into votes for some of them on Election Day.

Seven Over Our Dead Bodies environmental activists began their hunger strike to protest the planned development of a coal complex in the Galilee Basin outside Aurizon on Eagle Street in Brisbane CBD today.

The theme of the hunger strike is Carbon Bomb and the protest at Eagle Street was marked by Former Australian Senator Andrew Bartlett stealing the Carbon Bomb from Aurizon.

The group is targeting Aurizon’s plan to develop the largest coal complex in the world in the Galilee Basin in Central Queensland by providing financial capital to the debt-ridden Indian company GVK to develop the first three mines.

Generation Alpha founder Ben Pennings said Aurizon has ignored pleas from groups like Greenpeace, Get Up, Avazz, Friends of The Earth and the Australian Conservation Foundation.

“We are doing this to engage the environmental movement and beyond about the issue and get them more active,” Mr Penning said.

Mr Bartlett said in a press release the coal mine at Galilee Basin will produce over 700 million tons of carbon emissions each year.

“[That is] more than the total emissions Australia, the UK or Canada [produce yearly],” Mr Bartlett said.

Lauren Granger-Brown said she is committed to the hunger strike.

“How long is a piece of string,” Ms Granger-Brown said when asked for how long she will hunger strike.

Over Our Dead Bodies will continue their hunger strike at a shop front at 969 Ann Street in Fortitude Valley, which will serve as their headquarters.

For more info about Over Our Dead Bodies, you can visit their website: www.OverOurDeadBodies.net