THIS week’s revelations that individuals and corporations linked to the Chinese Government have made large donations to the two major Australian political parties might make you think that the Foreign Investment Review Board had its finger on the pulse when it recommended that the Treasurer block the bid by two Chinese companies to buy more than 50 per cent of the NSW electricity company Ausgrid. Continue reading “Intelligence and China: mushroom cloud of the unknowing”
Month: August 2016
Secrecy, loopholes mark political funding
DEMOCRACY and market capitalism hand in hand achieve much. But equally market capitalism can get out of hand. Money can influence votes and voters and the politicians they elect. We were reminded of this last Thursday when the Australian Electoral Commission announced the breakdown of $62.8 million in public funding to political parties, up from $58.1 million after the 2013 election.
Many voters get no say in last Senate seats
THE final Senate vote is in. It shows some problems with the new voting system. Four senators were elected with less that a quota of votes. Exhausted votes ranged from a high of more than nine percent in NSW to a low of two percent in South Australia. Continue reading “Many voters get no say in last Senate seats”
Plebiscite: an expensive and divisive gathering of statistics
AUSTRALIA will spend $440 million on next week’s census. The census will ask about 55 questions, making it about $8 million a question. That is a lot more useful and a lot cheaper than the proposed $160m plebiscite on marriage equality. The plebiscite will get an answer to only one question, and we already know what that answer is. Moreover, the answer is completely useless because MPs will not be bound by it and nor will the question contain any exact legislative words. Continue reading “Plebiscite: an expensive and divisive gathering of statistics”