Welcome to country

Watching the opening of Federal parliament with its welcome to country definitely brought a warm inner glow. For many reasons. Tomorrow's sorry story will be hot stuff.

Today was only spoiled by Barry Haase, MHR for Kalgoorlie, whingeing about not seeing the wording of the apology which he does not support in any form. Barry had the largest swing in Western Australia against him in November.

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Kalgoorlie Update

Tomorrow I'm off to Sydney for the Getup! Refresh conference to share some grassroots politicking. So a couple of "local" updates.

The Poll:

Latest Two Party Preferred count in Kalgoorlie electorate: Barry Haase (Lib) 52.22% Sharon Thiel (ALP) 47.78. That's a swing of 4.08% to Labor. So much for the mythology about the popularity of Work Choices, AWAs and the economic boom in WA. Haase was re-elected on Kal's vote where he had the home ground advantage. The Greens vote is down slightly.

Ningaloo Reef Listing:

It didn't take long for the Pastoralists and Graziers Association to lobby the new Labor government. They are arguing for minimal boundaries for the proposed World Heritage listing of Ningaloo Reef.

Labor urged to reject Ningaloo Reef heritage listing boundaries (ABC News 30 November 2007)

Something for Peter Garrett to get his teeth into. Not to mention grassroots campaigners.

I reported this issue during the campaign but it didn't get any traction.

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One Nation: Two Peoples

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.
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)

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.
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.

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)

How's that for cutting edge journalism during the last weeks of the campaign!

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.

Labor View is intended as a place for labor supporters to share ideas and opinions. When you visit please leave a COMMENT below.

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Entry Poll: First Votes for Labor

Bardi Dancers at Stonehenge 2006

The Bardi Dancers from Western Australia's Ardyaloon (One Arm Point) community, who performed at Stonehenge last year, were among the first Australians to vote in the Federal election. Mobile polling booths visited there and Lombardina/Djarindjin communities on Tuesday.

My entry poll taken while handing out ALP how-to-vote cards at each place, confirmed overwhelming support for Labor. The One Arm Point polling took place in the open air in high 30's temperatures. Hopefully an omen for more open government in the near future. We have to keep trying!

Labor View is intended as a place for labor supporters to share ideas and opinions. When you visit please leave a COMMENT below.

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Kalgoorlie Closer?

Halfway through the campaign, it is disappointing to hear so little of substance from our local Liberal member for Kalgoorlie, Barry Haase. His recent glossy mail-out contained a 7 point so-called plan, barren of any new ideas or concrete action.

We had a retread of his Taxation Zone Rebate proposal that doesn’t yet even have the status of a non-core government promise. It may pop up when they get desperate.

He gave uncritical support for the Maret Islands as the site for the LNG plant, before the company have even finished local consultations.

He has made an open commitment to hosting a nuclear waste dump in the electorate and has remained silent about nuclear reactors in WA. He even claimed John Howard was too busy to share his nuclear power plans. Just as busy as he was before the last election, too busy to tell the voters about his Work Choices plans if he snatched control of the Senate.

Being our representative in Canberra is not just a case of follow the leader. Nor is it enough to see the role of parliamentarian as a mixture of public relations and tourism promotion. The Kalgoorlie electorate and Australia need real leaders, not one who are just marking time.

P.S. A 4 page spread has just appeared in the local Broome Advertiser masquerading as a “Community Newsletter”. Barry claims credit for a number of initiatives but the total funds hardly exceed his taxpayer financed printing and postage expenses which are excessive by any standards. His propaganda usually feeds from the trough of public funding.

P.P.S. The Newspoll summary for the last fortnight shows a 10.2% swing to the ALP in Non-Capital cities in WA whatever that means. A good chunk of Kalgoorlie may fit into that category. The Statewide swing of 4.4% leaves Labor's candidate Sharon Thiel with just 1.9% to make up. If you believe the polls.

Labor View is intended as a place for labor supporters to share ideas and opinions. When you visit please leave a COMMENT below.

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E-lection 2007

Broome Voices No.3

The last in the pre-election video interviews for the youdecide2007 Kalgoorlie electorate. Eddie, who lives and works in Broome, shares his ideas about Work Choices, the Iraq war, the Northern Territory aboriginal communities intervention and water resources.

To view the other interviews, please click the LaborView Videos links on the right.

First-home-buyer baby-bonus

Things are hotting up at youdecide2007 with housing affordability the latest issue. In an interview the member for Herbert, Peter Lindsay, blamed young people for being "financially illiterate' and getting behind with their mortgages by becoming pregnant.

Obviously he's not courting the young female vote. I'm expecting a 'First-home-buyer baby-bonus' election promise to cover this gaff. The story was picked up by the SMH: Labor attacks Liberal housing comments (19 September 2007)

Labor View is intended as a place for labor supporters to share ideas and opinions. When you visit please leave a COMMENT below.

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Howard Swings

Latest news! Another Howard comeback. In a poll of Federal Cabinet ministers the Prime Minister's approval rating has leapt to 45%. Malcolm Turnbull received one vote for preferred PM.

At a local level it is interesting that the Democrats don't seem to have a candidate for Kalgoorlie yet. Also don't know if former member Graeme Campbell intends standing again. He could be an independent, Australia First (try his website for a scary trip) or join Pauline Hanson. If anyone knows or finds out please leave a comment.

If people are looking for an Aussie female, battler from the bush, to vote for then our ALP candidate Sharon Thiel stands out. To find out more about Kalgoorlie and other marginals visit youdecide2007 by clicking the image on the right.

Labor View is intended as a place for labor supporters to share ideas and opinions. When you visit please leave a COMMENT below.

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Broome Voices No.1

As promised the first video interview for youdecide2007 Kalgoorlie electorate coverage is now on YouTube: Broome Voices No.1: Neil Gower

For more detail see: A Good News Story

Labor View is intended as a place for labor supporters to share ideas and opinions. When you visit please leave a COMMENT below.

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Kalgoorlie Update

Last night the ALP ran its first TV ad for the seat of Kalgoorlie featuring their candidate Sharon Thiel.

The line on this resource rich electorate:

the Kalgoorlie electorate is a huge source of wealth for the Howard Government while local Kalgoorlie communities aren't getting their fair share back from Canberra

This should bring a pork barreling response from the government. The current polls move the seat from relatively safe to marginal. It was formerly Labor and is held by Barry Haase by 6.3%.

Labor View is intended as a place for labor supporters to share ideas and opinions. When you visit please leave a COMMENT below.

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AWAs up in the air

Current political wisdom has it that the West loves Australian Workplace Agreements. Some of the pilots who fly in the mining workers might not agree. A proposed strike at National Jets System centres on the operation of AWA's.
According to The Australian yesterday:

An NJS pilot who addressed yesterday's meeting said many of the airline's pilots had been forced to sign Australian Workplace Agreements to gain upgrades and NJS had not honoured those agreements.

This is the second time this year that the Kalgoorlie electorate has seen conflict over AWA's. In June, as the ABC reported:

The Federal Government has referred to the workplace watchdog BHP Billiton workers' concerns about Australian Workplace Agreements (AWA).

More than 200 workers at the company's Mount Newman mine in Western Australia have signed a petition, saying they work in an environment of intimidation and fear the possibility of a serious accident.

The story has fallen off the radars today but then problems with AWAs are not going away. Ironically many of the workers on AWAs in Kalgoorlie do not live in the electorate and vote elsewhere.

Labor View is intended as a place for labor supporters to share ideas and opinions. When you visit please leave a COMMENT below.

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The blame game

Whatever happened to the cooperative Federalism Howard has been promoting for several years? The PM surrounded by smiling Premiers, solving the nations problems together. He said he could work with the Labor States better than Federal Labor.

We didn't need leaked Liberal Party polling to figure out that the Mersey Hospital, sending the army into the NT communities and house prices attacks are part of an deliberate strategy. If you can't beat Rudd, stick the wedge into the States. Must be an election coming!

I went to Windjana Gorge for the weekend so I missed the detail about the government's anti-States ads blaming them for future interest rate rises. Who is paying for the ads? Seems anything goes these days at a Federal level. It is okay for Federal parliamentarians such as the member for Kalgoorlie Barry Haase to abuse their printing and postage allowances. His recent mail-out included an invitation to join his re-election campaign. A little research revealed that Howard changed the rules in 2004 to allow pollies to use their allowances on their own election campaigns. This is not a trival issue as the annual expenditures run as high as half a million for some MP's. Ironically Western Australian State laws are much tougher on the use of public funds for political propaganda purposes.

Labor View is intended as a place for labor supporters to share ideas and opinions. When you visit please leave a COMMENT below.

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The Kalgoorlie Numbers Game

Can Labor win Kalgoorlie?

I have had an interest in the numbers game, Psephology, for a long time. It is linked to another ‘-ology’ interest, the study of word origins, etymology. It is derived from psephos, the peeble used in ancient Athens for voting. Ever been blackballed? The abacus is a mixed metaphor.

The Kalgoorlie Result

So what does the raw data from 2004 tell us?
Two-party Preferred was ALP 43.70% – LP 56.30%.

Swing required: 6.3%. If a national swing is on, this is a marginal seat.

Informal vote: 5.34%. This is too high.

Turn out: 83.53% of those enrolled compared with 94.32% for all of Australia. The difference is nearly twice the required swing!

Preferences: The flow from the other candidates was weak, including from the Greens. It was 58.75/41.27 against the ALP, worse than the final result. The lower Greens flow may have been caused by the donkey-vote factor as Barry Haase was directly below their top position on the ballot paper.

If Labor is to defeat John Howard, it must pick up seats in Western Australia. It cannot concede any marginal seats, especially not a traditional one like Kalgoorlie.
Getting people enrolled and getting them to vote are clearly priorities for this electorate.

Source:

http://results.aec.gov.au/12246/results/HouseDivisionFirstPrefs-12246-241.htm


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