Queensland Election

[willedoo]

It's just over a month to go to the Queensland election and polls are predicting a LNP majority government. I heard a so called expert on the radio the other day saying the government knows they're gone and are working on saving some of the furniture by concentrating on winnable seats. If the LNP win government it will be their second term since the party merger in 2008, and if you include the former National/Liberal coalition, it will be the third conservative party term in thirty five years.

 

I had a look at the candidates in my electorate and it's fairly ordinary with no independents running. Labor, the LNP, Greens and the Legalise Cannabis Queensland party are the only offerings. As usual around this time, plenty of promises and weasel words.

[old man emu]

3 hours ago, willedoo said:

As usual around this time, plenty of promises and weasel words.

That's why the rest of us are getting pretty sick and tired of politics. We say we live in a democratic society, but "democratic society" for those who have neither wealth nor power, or both, is no different from a dictatorship or theocracy. We are suckered into believing that we hold power through the ballot box, but that's a fallacy. Sure, we can change which mob makes the rules, but those rules never seem to benefit the commoners.

[nomadpete]

9 hours ago, old man emu said:

Sure, we can change which mob makes the rules, but those rules never seem to benefit the commoners.

The reason for that comes down to the lobby business.

 

Policy by any party is dictated by the big lobbyists.

 

That explains the disconnect between government and the electorate. Government is connected to its (lobby) benefactors.

[old man emu]

21 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

The reason for that comes down to the lobby business.

Have you ever wondered where the money comes from for all those important sounding organisations whose CEO is always sought for comment on some government policy? You know the type - "Centre for ... ", or "Australian Institute of ... "

 

The comments always seem to be pro-Conservative.

[Marty_d]

Big business.

 

Which is why, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, we should outlaw all political donations.  Everything.  To anyone.  Not a dollar to any political group.

It wouldn't be rocket science for the AEC to work out and deliver an advertising & staff salary budget to every political party and Independent, based on a fair formula and kicking in under certain conditions.

That way we all pay the political parties through the tax system, so there's no incentive for them to listen to lobby groups.

To put it simply, he who pays the piper calls the tune.  So if we sit back and let the Minerals Council of Australia or the Australian Christian Lobby give money to politicians instead of us doing so, we shouldn't whinge when the pollies listen to them.

 

 

Edited September 23 by Marty_d

[old man emu]

I wonder how many people are actually financial members of a political party. 

[facthunter]

YOU still get to vote and plenty of people would give their lives to get such a right for their kids. Don't waste it. Not ALL. Pollies are crooks. We are fortunate to have what we have. What country would you rather live in? Stop the whinging and get real. Ignore most of the media..   Nev

[old man emu]

36 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Not ALL. Pollies are crooks.

There are a lot of local members who actually try to do what they said they would try to do for their electorate. However, these are the backbenchers who don't seem to have much say in the course the Ship of State sails. You might say that these backbenchers are the cooks, engine room crew and cabin stewards of the cruise ship. The big decisions affecting the course of the ship are made by the elite on the bridge, who have access to their charts and environmental factors that affect the course.

[willedoo]

I suppose there might be some advantage having your local member as a member of the government rather than a member of the opposition. If the LNP take government as expected, our local member will become the police minister. I don't know how well ministers look after their electorates - I'd assume they would have plenty of staff to look after that side of things.

 

If the LNP get in, hopefully the fact that the conservatives have only served two terms out of the last thirty five years might have knocked a bit of the born to rule attitude out of them and they will actually try to behave as if they want a following term. When Can Do Campbell Newman and the LNP won their one and only term in 2012 they certainly hadn't learned any lessons. That was a total disaster, but at least Newman served a purpose. He set a low bench for the LNP; they could only go up from there.

[facthunter]

The REAL issue is Where is it better than HERE?   Nev

[willedoo]

14 minutes ago, facthunter said:

The REAL issue is Where is it better than HERE?   Nev

Nev, why don't you start a thread on it? I haven't found a better country. Beats me why people from around the world are breaking their necks to get into the U.S..

[facthunter]

There was a time when I would have happily gone to the States to live. Not now.  Nev

[willedoo]

Someone on the radio pointed out that if the LNP win next month's Queensland election, it will be only the second general election win for the conservatives since Joh Bjelke-Petersen's last win in 1986. The LNP did one term from 2012 to 2015. The Borbage coalition government (1996-1998) didn't win a general election. The court of disputed returns ordered a re-ballot in one seat and the coalition won the by-election which caused the Labor government to lose their majority. I've used the term conservatives to cover all three conservative entities that have held government since the Bjelke-Petersen era - the National/Liberal coalition, National Party on their own and the merged LNP. Bjelke-Petersen won his last two elections out of coalition with a National Party majority.

[facthunter]

Joh was just a bloody crook.  Nev

[willedoo]

A journalist once asked him about the separation of powers and he had no idea what the journalist was referring to.

[willedoo]

The election campaign is officially underway. Premier Steven Miles took the fifty cent bus ride to see the governor and dissolve parliament. No limo for that humble 50 cent Labor man. The government is running ads blaming the opposition leader, Noddy, for heaps of cuts and sackings when he was a member of can-do Campbell Newman's government. The way the polls are going, Labor is headed for losing possibly half their seats.

[willedoo]

I think Albo will be watching the Queensland election closely. Some polls have had Dutton and Co. in minority government territory and there's no guarantee federal Labor will get a second term.

[red750]

He has already said there will be no arrangement with the Greens whereby they could form a coallition.

[willedoo]

Poor old Noddy copped a bit of difficult questioning from journalists in Townsville. He seemed frustrated they weren't accepting his slogans as an answer.

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/brisbane/comments/1g15mwr/david_crisafulli_has_dodged_38_questions_in_a_row/

 

 

[willedoo]

I bet he's really p*ssed off with Robbie Katter saying he will sponsor a bill to criminalise abortion if the LNP win government. It's the sort of election issue they could have done without. Until this point it's been an easy run for the opposition leader repeating his four issue mantra but now some tricky questions are coming at him.

[old man emu]

Is Robbie Katter trying to create a MAQA movement along the lines of MAGA?

 

Leaving aside one's personal beliefs regarding abortion, does any elector have the right to limit what another does with their own body? Suicide used to be a crime, so attempting it was a crime. Sure, there are lots of approve controls on things that can damage a person's body. Smoking, drug taking and alcohol consumption are the usual examples. However, those controls are in place more to ease the burden on the various public services that are required to deal with the effects of that consumption. But walk through any shopping centre in Australia and not the number of people who have decided to have tattoos mark their bodies. Getting a tattoo is an alteration to the body, but no one demands that it no longer happens.

 

I firmly believe that I don't have the Right to tell a woman what to do with her body. Afterall, prostitution, carried out in accordance with some minor rules, is legal. 

[facthunter]

In plenty of places it isn't. Many Countries are places where women have almost NO rights. . Nev

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

Many Countries are places where women have almost NO rights

Then it's good to live in a country where the rights of women are almost 100% equal to those of men.

[willedoo]

9 hours ago, old man emu said:

Is Robbie Katter trying to create a MAQA movement along the lines of MAGA?

I don't know what his game is, he's usually relatively sensible. Maybe his party is courting the religious vote thinking they might pick up another seat or two. I can't think of any seats where the bible vote would sway the result.

[willedoo]

Noddy's predicament is that they are potentially losing the votes of women voters and any of their men who are supportive of them on the abortion issue. He repeatedly says they have no plan to change the laws if they are elected. But he refuses to answer the question on whether he would allow a conscience vote for LNP members if Katter got his repeal bill up in parliament. In theory, if Labor cops a hiding and loses heaps of seats, the LNP will have a lot more numbers. If Noddy allows them a conscience vote, the bill could potentially receive heaps of LNP votes. Katter has four seats currently and one independent. It's probably unlikely to come to anything but refusing to answer questions about a conscience vote makes him look shifty, as if he's covering up the fact that he would allow a conscience vote if the bill was voted on. Added to that is his past coming back to bite him on the bum. When the abortion laws were decriminalised a few years back, he voted against the legislation. The two of them are having one more public debate before the election. The premier won the first one and should have no trouble in the second debate with this abortion issue front and centre.