Month: February 1998

For every litre of milk sold by home-delivery in Canberra, 0.9 cents is going to the Transport Workers Union as part of a deal brokered with the vendors and the ACT Milk Authority in 1993 to settle an industrial dispute.

More than $150,000 has been paid to the union by the vendors and reimbursed by the authority in the form of allowing higher prices for milk.

The money is still being paid, but is now described as a consultantcy and the authority and the union say it is for services that have stood up to detailed scrutiny and competitive tender.

However, according to documents received by The Canberra Times, the matter has been referred to the Australian Federal Police by the head of the Chief Minister’s Department, John Walker, apparently of his own motion based on legal advice because the government is in caretaker period.

Mr Walker has asked the police to investigate whether the payments are “”inappropriate and possibly illegal payments to the union to ensure industrial harmony”.

The ACT secretary of the TWU, Trevor Santi, said he was unconcerned because the payments had been thoroughly scrutinised and were for consultantcy services for advice on industrial relations, legal matters and occupational health and safety. The TWU had tendered below two others offering the same advice.
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The outcome of tomorrow’s election will depend on a few votes at the very end of the count.

Whether Smith or Jones gets elected could be determined by 14th or 15th preferences of some voters. But other voters who have only numbered five or seven boxes will have denied themselves the chance to influence whether Smith or Jones gets elected.

The importance of number all the squares on the ballot paper is greater in the Hare Clark system than elsewhere. This is because only the voter can express preferences. Unlike the Senate system, there are no registered preference cards by the political party and no party box.

Further, the party does not determine the order of candidates in the party box. Under Robson rotation, different batches of ballot papers are printed. One batch will have Berry at the top of the Labor column; another batch will have Stanhope and another McRae. So my ballot paper will look different from yours. The candidates will be in a different order.
Continue reading “1998_02_february_make vote work”

Chief Minister Kate Carnell is well ahead of Opposition Leader Wayne Berry on a range of leadership measures, according to the latest Canberra Times Datacol poll.

Voters were asked to rate the leaders on a scale of one to five for 11 characteristics.

Mrs Carnell is most ahead on the critical questions of “”good communicator”, “”strong leadership”, “”inspiring” and having a vision for the ACT.

The other tests were intelligence, trust, knowledge, care, honesty, dependability and grooming.

Most alarmingly for Mr Berry, Mrs Carnell is ahead on all 11 leadership tests among people who are still undecided as to how to vote and among people giving first preference to minors and independents. Even Labor voters rate Mrs Carnell higher than Mr Berry on the strong leadership and communication factors and rate her close to their own man on several other tests.

Voters’ satisfaction levels of the leaders also put Mrs Carnell well ahead. Seven per cent rated her very good and 14 rated her very bad, whereas 27 per cent rated Mr Berry as very bad and only one per cent as very good. On an averaged scale of one to five is was Carnell 3.07 to Berry 2.25.
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Several glitches appeared in the Hare-Clark voting system at the weekend. They need addressing, but it is more a question of fine tuning. Some will use the glitches to argue for wholesale change, but this would not be in the interests of the people of the ACT.

Some form of proportional representation is vital in a place like the ACT which is fairly homogeneous politically. Any single-member system would result in huge majorities for the winning party with very weak Oppositions. For example, at the weekend’s election the Liberals beat Labor in all booths except six out of 38 in Molonglo, one of 22 in Brindabella and 3 of 22 in Ginninderra. Now a precise translation of that vote into a single-member situation is not possible. Preferences and vote attitude might change in a different system. None the less, it indicates that Labor might have won just two or three seats out of the 17. Similarly in the 1992 election, the Liberals might have been reduced to three or four seats. Democracy needs a solid Opposition. A single-member system is unlikely to give that. Australia-wide a single-member system is appropriate because there will always be significant areas of solid Labor or Liberal vote to provide enough members to provide an Opposition that can cover the key areas. But in the ACT that is not the case.

A further advantage of the Hare-Clark system is that it gives minor parties and independents a chance. Typically, Hare Clark can be expected to deliver a cross bench of four or five of the 17 seats. On past form, the cross bench is likely to behave responsibly on the question of allowing a government to be created and allowing it a budget to govern.
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There are some hopeful signs that the Australian Republic Movement is getting its priorities in order. Its first priority is to secure an Australian head of state. Its other priority is to have that head of state selected by a two-thirds majority of parliament, apparently because it would be more acceptable.

But now that minimalist position is a turn-off for most Australians, if the opinion polls are any guide. People want a direct election for the president. The polls have been stubborn on this. It may be argued that this solid majority can be changed with more debate and the knowledge that a direct election will result in a Liberal vs Labor stand-off, but there is little evidence of it. Such a turn-around happened in the 1988 referendum, but that was from a Yes to a No, not the other way around.

This newspaper has supported the two-thirds model, but it now has to be recognised that the people do not. After a long debate and huge national media coverage, public opinion remains solid. There must come a time when public opinion has to be respected and acted upon, if democracy is to mean anything. The question is whether this is the time or have opinion leaders under-estimated the length of time it takes to get the message through that a direct election would probably mean a politician president as a Liberal and Labor candidate slug it out; whereas a two-thirds parliamentary selection means that each side of politics can veto a politician candidate from the other side? With more time would the people come around to the indirect election?
Continue reading “1998_02_february_leader12feb republic compromise”