Just when it seemed that it had become a presidential campaign in Kalgoorlie, with few personal insights from the two main contenders, One Nation have reminded voters what they stand for. According to the Kal Miner, a regional newspaper owned by the West Australian:
Race relations emerged as an election issue in Kalgoorlie yesterday.Barry Haase, current Liberal member, disagreed with One Nation, blaming a lack of police resources. ALP candidate Sharon Thiel pointed to the high incarceration rate of indigenous people in prisons in refuting Major’s claims.
One Nation candidate Derek Major said police failed to target indigenous people in Kalgoorlie-Boulder for fear of being branded racist.
But his claims have been refuted by local indigenous leaders and other candidates.
Racial claims refuted (Kalgoorlie Miner, 17th November 2007)
That’s the closest we’ve come to some hard election news lately if you don’t count this bit of info-tisement on the same day:
Centrelink manager Glen Jones was presented with a national award for exemplary service yesterday.How's that for cutting edge journalism during the last weeks of the campaign!
Presenting the award Kalgoorlie MHR Barry Haase said Mr Jones had done a “hell of a good job” with a “hell of a lot of staff”.
Mr Jones acts as a point of contact for Mr Haase for nearly all the Centrelink offices from Broome to Esperance.
Award for Centrelink head (Kalgoorlie Miner, 17th November 2007)
Meanwhile back in Broome, an inquest is being held into aboriginal deaths at which it was revealed there is a waiting list for public housing of 863. Kimberley housing wait list nearly 900 (The West Australian, 15th November 2007)
The overwhelming majority of those on the list are aboriginal people. I have not seen any comments by the candidates so far.
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2 comments:
Kevin, it was nice of One Nation to liven up the campaign. I don't know if you saw Friday's paper, but we gave front page to Labor's $60 million promise to improve road and rail access to the Esperance port (http://www.kalminer.com.au/Regionals.aspx?MenuID=246&ContentId=47234)
That was the first major infrastructure announcement we've seen from either side in Kalgoorlie. I was beginning to wonder if there was a campaign on at all.
By the way, the "cutting edge" piece with Barry at Centrelink didn't appear in Saturday's print edition.
Regards,
Michael (editor, Kal Miner)
Michael
Thanks for your response. The print editions often arrive late in theses parts and are bumped in price. We've both been wondering the same thing. There was an announcement by Sharon Thiel about the roads funding in Port Hedland (See youdecide2007 for the media release).
I approached the Broome Advertiser about highlighting the "Broome Voices" videos which cover the political spectrum but they don't seem interested. There was no election coverage in last week's edition, though they printed one of my letters a week earlier.
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