Crispin Hull

Here is trivia stuff. general news; oz politics; canberra & foreign; sport; entertainment.

Alas, the answers have been numbered but not separated. if you ask peter knight nicely i’m sure he’ll do it. question compilers like to keep them together while working them up.

Strongly urge that someone with nouse like travis. max mc. or ken may subs them; there are bound to be nit-pickers about.
Continue reading “1994_12_december_trivial1”

In one of his last major tasks as an MLA, Abolish Self-Government Member Dennis Stevenson, will write the “”No” case for the February 18 referendum. The 2000-word “”No” case will be posted to all electors by the Electoral Commission.

However, electors might not get a “”Yes” case.

Mr Stevenson said yesterday that he was against the referendum because it had been proposed by politicians, not the people.

The referendum is to entrench the result of the referendum held at the last election in 1992 at with 65 per cent of voters approved the Hare-Clark system of voting. If the new referendum is passed, the basic elements of the system can only be changed by a two-thirds majority of the Assembly or by another referendum.

At present, the 1992 result can be over-turned by a simple majority of the Assembly.

All 16 other MLAs voted for the referendum. The Liberal and Labor Parties are expected to meet in the next two weeks to discuss preparation of the “”Yes” case.
Continue reading “1994_12_december_stevoref”

Next year will see elections in as many as six of the eight states and territories. It sounds like a lot of democracy, but in fact it shows the Australians are largely at the mercy of state politicians who have shown a consistent propensity to rig electoral systems to their own advantage.

The vagaries of dates and electoral systems in the Australian states and territories and have a distinctly undemocratic flavour that favours incumbent governments of either complexion. It contrasts unfavourably with the position in the US where fixed terms and one-vote one-value prevails.

The tragedy is that despite calls from two Royal commissions about the importance of fair elections the rorts and attempted rorts continue.

The following looks at each in order of electoral timing.

ACT: Election on February 18. Federal legislation fixes the date as the third Saturday in February every three years and fixes the number of members. A referendum is likely to entrench various key elements of the voting system which will make the ACT the most securely fairest system in Australia. The referendum was proposed after the Labor Government attempted to pervert the spirit of the advisory 1992 referendum by proposing party voting.
Continue reading “1994_12_december_states”

Redevelopment of the Watson Starlight Drive-In site in its present form could cost the public up to $17 million, according to Moore Independent candidate Mark Dunstone.

Units on the site, called Karelia Park, are being sold of the plan, subject to approvals.

Mr Dunstone said yesterday that the present lease-purpose clause was for tourist accommodation and had not been varied for the new development. The development had not been approved and betterment tax had not been paid.
Continue reading “1994_12_december_starligh”

Welcome aboard. There is no stopping light rail for Canberra now. The feasibility study by Booz-Allen and Hamilton issued during the week predictably enough said light rail is a goer for Canberra and we should move on to engineering, environmental and detailed costing study.

It fits a pattern of feasibility studies. Yes it is feasible. Let’s have some more studies.

The Government that runs a bus service propped up by a huge subsidy will move headlong into a $400 million light-rail and commit rate-payers’ money for 20 years. It will be the lowest population city in the world to have such a system.
Continue reading “1994_12_december_light”

For a long time New Zealand appeared to be substantially ahead and better than Australia at dealing with those occupying the land before European settlement. That changed last week with the offer by the New Zealand Government to settle all outstanding Maori claims for $NZ1 billion ($A825 million). The offer contained a fundamental inconsistency.

The New Zealand Minister for Justice, Doug Graham, said on one hand that the Government wanted a “”full and final” and “”honourable” settlement. On the other hand, he said it was a “”take-it-or-leave-it” package.

But surelu, a settlement can hardly be honourable if it is not negotiated and genuinely consented to by both sides. A settlement can hardly be “”full” if one side has pre-determined its upper limit.
Continue reading “1994_12_december_maori”

The National Capital Planning Authority has a new chair _ Professor Evan Walker. The appointment was announced yesterday by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Housing and Regional Development, Brian Howe. Professor Walker is Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Melbourne and was a Minister in the Victorian Government from 1982 to 1990.

He takes up the role immediately.

The appointment comes at a critical time for the organisation which has several major matters on its plate:
Continue reading “1994_12_december_ncpa”

Paul Keating’s dipping of his toes into the waters of town planning earlier this year has now resulted in him getting a thorough bucketing. He thought the Cahill Expressway should be knocked down on aesthetic grounds because it cut the city from the harbour _ in much the same way as Parkes Way cuts the city from the lake in Canberra.

On the expressway, Keating was talking about how a grubby transport route was messing up the ambiance of the city and the lifestyle of its residents. Now, of course, a different major transport route approved by his government (the third runway) has wrecked the lifestyle of 100,000 residents _ town planning at its worst.
Continue reading “1994_12_december_ncpamag”

The ACT Government lost up to $15 million by allowing the private sector to develop the Gungahlin suburb of Palmerston, according to three academics who won a planning award for their work last night.

The academics say that, alternatively, the Government could have cut the cost of land by about $9000 a block.

The academics agree with the ACT Government’s position of taking a greater role in greenfields development by moving from privatisation to more joint ventures. But they say the Government could take the whole thing over.
Continue reading “1994_12_december_neutze1”

The party is over before it began for Australians Against Further Immigration _ at least in the ACT. The party did not got the requisite 100 members in the ACT to be registered in time for February’s election and the name will not appear on the ballot paper.

Yesterday was the last day it could submit an application in order to get its name on the ballot paper.

The anti-immigration party has polled around 8 per cent in some by-elections recently which in the Act context would have put it in the running for a seat. Now it will have to rely on its own advertising to associate its candidates with the name.
Continue reading “1994_12_december_parties”