16 October 2008

Phone messages...

| ChoiceMade
Join the conversation
63

I was at a friends house in Chisholm about an hour ago and the phone range with a recorded phone message from Zzzzzzz droning on about how he wont build a power plant near your suburb.

Geez, talk about desperate!!!

He went on about something else like GP’s.

The Libs in Brindabella have no chance what so ever, and it would be just gold if Dozspot were to roll Smyth or Pratt!

Join the conversation

63
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

I want my number listed, so that people with a real reason to call me can do so. I don’t want political parties, charities or anyone selling anything to call me though. Ever.

that’s the dilemma, but. you list you no. and it is public, means anyone in the public can access it and call you. you can say ‘no thanks’ and hang up, but ya gotta answer to find out who it is first. luckily, i don’t have many friends.

Just got an SMS spam from Zed. He definitely doesn’t want my vote.

Silly Zed. He should have prefaced his ‘call’ with: Sorry to phone you in this fashion, folks, but I’m saving the environment by electronic means – check your mailbox for the alternative – wasted paper from Labor.

Or something along those lines … I think I just might have forgiven the call if he had!

Deano said :

deezagood said :

Canberra will never have good environmental policies whilst ACTewAGL is in-bed with the Labor government.

Only problem with your complaint is that the Chief and Deputy Ministers of the day are the only shareholders of ACTEW. So a change of government just changes the names involved, not the motivations behind their actions.

One word Deano: Costello

Mate if you want to suppress it, I support your right to do so and will work with you for a change to the law to see that come to pass.

Considering that for some reason I get tampons and nappies sent to me at work with my name on it, I’m not really in the mood to sympathise with you to a great extent. It’s a letter, get over it.

tylersmayhem4:05 pm 17 Oct 08

your address and name is clearly public

How are our names and addresses clearly public? Mine certainly isn’t on a billboard or internet site.

tylersmayhem4:05 pm 17 Oct 08

I just Googled “You’re a knob” Skid, and it didn’t come up with that link.

Tylers: You could go to the UC Library but that one is 10 years out of date. I imagine that means it’s all electronic now.

tylersmayhem said :

They didn’t say they didn’t want to vote jakez. They said they didn’t want unsolicited mail sent to their home.

Thanks for that Justbands – that’s exactly right. I was expecting a response like that from Jakez.

Yes, I do and always will want to vote. I just think it’s very poor form to use our details which are intended to be used to register us “impartially” to vote. Using our private details in order to SECURE a vote should not be allowed. Sure, the details are available to the parties, but it’s VERY cold caller and telesales style to use this trusted information in such a way. Very on par with Zed’s approach.

You were expecting me to go off on a tangent about voluntary voting? Jesus Christ tylers can you refrain from getting pissy for two seconds. I never said it was right, I never said it was ethical, I merely gave you the answer.

Personally I think the electoral roll is rightfully public information, your address and name is clearly public, and if you don’t want it to be public you can have it hidden (although I’m not entirely sure if you need a special reason though and if you do, you shouldn’t need one).

tylersmayhem3:40 pm 17 Oct 08

And one other thing – I was posing a question for the forum, not just you.

tylersmayhem3:38 pm 17 Oct 08

Gee Skid – yeah – that was asked for. Thanks

tylersmayhem said :

So if this list is “public”, how would the average John Citizen get a copy?

You came back here to have a rant because you wanted to show that were too lazy to type three words into Google?
You’re a knob.

http://www.aec.gov.au/FAQs/Electoral_Roll.htm

deezagood said :

Canberra will never have good environmental policies whilst ACTewAGL is in-bed with the Labor government.

Only problem with your complaint is that the Chief and Deputy Ministers of the day are the only shareholders of ACTEW. So a change of government just changes the names involved, not the motivations behind their actions.

tylersmayhem3:15 pm 17 Oct 08

From the AEC site: “Electors who believe that having their address shown on the publicly available electoral roll could put their personal safety, or their family’s safety, at risk, can apply for silent elector status.”

So if this list is “public”, how would the average John Citizen get a copy? (no, I’m not interested in getting a copy – it’s a hypothetical question). More along the lines I mean does “public” mean those in power or those with money?

Zed is a zombie?!!!1!!!1

Fabienne: Who’s Zed?
Butch: Zed’s dead, baby. Zed’s dead.

justbands said :

I thought there was provision to have your details hidden on the electoral roll, although a quick check of the AEC site & I can’t see anything suggesting that you can.

Silent electors need to have a bloody good reason not to be publicly listed, along the lines of personal, family, or national safety being at risk.
(Like working for ASIO, or being in witness protection)

The form you want is here:
http://www.aec.gov.au/Enrolling_to_vote/Special_Category/Silent_Electors.htm

I meant to post this on the other thread – whoops.

My little girl woke up this morning with a shocking chest infection and wheezing. I tried to get her into a doctor and couldn’t – not a single appointment available anywhere on the southside (I tried numerous clinics). So – we had to wait for hours at the Phillip walk in clinic, with my very sick little person coughing and wheezing. That is unacceptable; how can people accept that this is good healthcare? Everywhere else that I have lived it was possible to make same-day appointments (especially with a sick child) at the clinic of your choosing. I can’t fathom that Canberrans accept this.

Stanhope has lied, blatantly, regarding the power station fiasco. His lies are well documented. He has run roughshod over communities and failed to engage them – early – in the decision-making process (a hallmark of good consultation) on a range of issues. That is what makes community groups so irrate – the sense of utter powerlessness.

Canberra will never have good environmental policies whilst ACTewAGL is in-bed with the Labor government. Any advances made in making the ACT more sustainable (solar panels for all, water tanks for all, insulation for all) will ultimately significantly reduce ACTew’s profits, so why on earth would the Labor government embrace these initiatives? They have had eight years to do the things they said they would – eight years.

Stanhope is all powerful and has used this to his full advantage. He needs a lesson.

I want my number listed, so that people with a real reason to call me can do so. I don’t want political parties, charities or anyone selling anything to call me though. Ever.

you know you can have an unlisted no. and only let people you want to call you call you..? zzzzzzzz…..

I thought there was provision to have your details hidden on the electoral roll, although a quick check of the AEC site & I can’t see anything suggesting that you can.

In all of that, I left out the word ‘bed’. You can have a game ‘Spot The Ball’ (no pun intended) and (ahem) insert it where it fits, if the will(y) (no pun intended) takes you.

tylersmayhem2:15 pm 17 Oct 08

One of the people in my office said they got the call and couldn’t hang up the line – it just kept going. It also woke up his two year old. A bit alarmist maybe, but he made the point what if something had happened to his kid and he needed to call an ambulance etc? I see this as quite different to receiving a letter in the mail that you can dump in the recycle bin on the way in the front door, as I’ve been doing most days.

I’d be writing a formal complaint in that case! I guess a great thing about having a phone service through the likes of iiNet – my service is not in the White Pages, or easily secreted into circulation by companies not named here.

tylersmayhem said :

Very on par with Zed’s approach.

I disagree.

One of the people in my office said they got the call and couldn’t hang up the line – it just kept going. It also woke up his two year old. A bit alarmist maybe, but he made the point what if something had happened to his kid and he needed to call an ambulance etc? I see this as quite different to receiving a letter in the mail that you can dump in the recycle bin on the way in the front door, as I’ve been doing most days.

tylersmayhem said :

This really is poor form! Mind you, I also don’t appreciate Stanhope and Co. using their clout to access my wife and my names and address to send what really is unsolicited mail to my home. Do other parties who are not in power have this advantage. Our details on the electoral role should not be used in this way!

Yeah, since way before I was able to vote, I always thought it was dodgy that any muggins could waltz into the library, say, and look up anyone’s details.

What about White Pages?, I hear you snort and thunder.

Yeah, but. I wouldn’t know an electoral roll if it sidled up to me at a bar and offered to buy me a beer (possibly a Black Wattle Barons Native Range Original Ale, such as I received last night from the affable and personable Jazz as part of a promotion on another thread) and am I seeing anyone and would I like to have a roll in the hay (hey?!) or would I like to French kiss (for which I would need to adopt a new role — you’ll just have to imagine the little hat thingy that looks like this over the ‘o’ — ^, par ce que c’est quel on a besoin de si on utilise le mot ‘role’ <>…)

Farouk. Lost the plot and the thread.

Yeah, it always seemed dodgy. These days, of course, as I mentioned elsewhere, the electoral role, fark! roll for ACT is being held (no pun intended) on many Palm Pilots. Superb.

Many years ago, my sister (we’ll call her ‘Biscuit Heard’ here) was sharing a place in the inner north with a brother of her friend, and we’ll call him (‘Crocodile Heard’). Unrelated of lineage, and unrelated as in not sharing the same nor doing the squelchy, sticky, Oh God! — that wasn’t a cry of organicism, but rather the realisation that I’m talking about my sister doing horizontal folk-dancing. Away, damn thoughts. Yeurch!

Anyhoo, Biscuit and Crocodile got corro from Monsieur McMullan addressed to (wait for it) Mr and Mrs Heard. Biscuit, being a bit of a punny, funny, extroverted, smart-ar$e wordsmith (I think there was a mix-up at the hospital — she at Camperdown, me at TCH, could happen — she’s working on her doctorate of wordsmithing actually: Dr Heard, Literacy Woman) well, she wrote back with tung thtuck thirmly in theek and got a very nice hand-written note back from Monsieur McM along the ‘We are amused’ line.

tylersmayhem1:36 pm 17 Oct 08

They didn’t say they didn’t want to vote jakez. They said they didn’t want unsolicited mail sent to their home.

Thanks for that Justbands – that’s exactly right. I was expecting a response like that from Jakez.

Yes, I do and always will want to vote. I just think it’s very poor form to use our details which are intended to be used to register us “impartially” to vote. Using our private details in order to SECURE a vote should not be allowed. Sure, the details are available to the parties, but it’s VERY cold caller and telesales style to use this trusted information in such a way. Very on par with Zed’s approach.

justbands said :

They didn’t say they didn’t want to vote jakez. They said they didn’t want unsolicited mail sent to their home.

I know that justbands but thank you for the clarification.

tylersmayhem said :

This really is poor form! Mind you, I also don’t appreciate Stanhope and Co. using their clout to access my wife and my names and address to send what really is unsolicited mail to my home. Do other parties who are not in power have this advantage. Our details on the electoral role should not be used in this way!

All Parties receive a regular CD from the AEC with all enrolment details.

They didn’t say they didn’t want to vote jakez. They said they didn’t want unsolicited mail sent to their home.

tylersmayhem said :

This really is poor form! Mind you, I also don’t appreciate Stanhope and Co. using their clout to access my wife and my names and address to send what really is unsolicited mail to my home. Do other parties who are not in power have this advantage. Our details on the electoral role should not be used in this way!

The electoral roll is publicly available tylers. I wholeheartedly support your currently repressed right to not have to register to vote.

tylersmayhem12:32 pm 17 Oct 08

This really is poor form! Mind you, I also don’t appreciate Stanhope and Co. using their clout to access my wife and my names and address to send what really is unsolicited mail to my home. Do other parties who are not in power have this advantage. Our details on the electoral role should not be used in this way!

Deadmandrinking12:31 pm 17 Oct 08

But the libs would be worse…gotta love bipartisan!

Carol said :

If you knew what the Goverment and ACTPLA have done and will continue to do if reelected to destroy quiet residential communities in the Valley…

…and everywhere else. Teh current gov’t appears to seriously not care about basic amenity for residents. Hargreaves and the rest of them. They sign over public projects to private companies, distancing themsevles from accountability for how the projects are run. Residents are left with no recourse, no one is answerable for what is happening.

The power station debacle was an example of the way they are thinking and operating, it’s incredibly arrogant, and also as if the government sees themselves as some kind of private company set up to “run” the ACT, rather than representing the interests of ACT residents. There’s an “us and them” view that is very apparent.

Carol said :

If you knew what the Goverment and ACTPLA have done and will continue to do if reelected to destroy quiet residential communities in the Valley then I suspect you would change your view on the value of alternate candidates in Brindabella. Please help us stop multistory inappropriate nonsustainble commercial residential development in Fisk St, Monash and other similar family neighbourhoods

A question I ask out of pure ignorance, Carol, but it comes up as an issue at the radio station I work for: do people generally get bent out of shape about it being referred to as “The Valley”?

When I was in training, a resident from there made quite strident statements to that effect, and I took note and responded accordingly, but it comes up all the time now because the call is: Artsound FM, 92.7 in Canberra and 90.3 in Tuggeranong. Some of my fellow presenters say, ‘90.3 in the valley’ and I wonder (though not too much) if fingernails are scraping down chalkboards. Or not.

I used to mooch around Monash when the outlaws lived there. Must go back for a look-see. We have Hash runs there sometimes with the Harriettes.

If you knew what the Goverment and ACTPLA have done and will continue to do if reelected to destroy quiet residential communities in the Valley then I suspect you would change your view on the value of alternate candidates in Brindabella. Please help us stop multistory inappropriate nonsustainble commercial residential development in Fisk St, Monash and other similar family neighbourhoods

Poor Jakez – tormented cross-threads by Maryhow and now threatened cross-threads via BarryF. I suppose the good news is that as a YL Jakez’s head is his least vulnerable point, so he won’t miss it when its gone.

BarryF said :

Hey Jakez – can you feel that hot breath on the back of your neck, it’s going to be Steven Doyle (Zed’s Chief of Staff) about to punch your lights out. He was apparantly overheard in campaign head quarters saying, when this election is over I’ll crack open jakez head.

Nothing to worry about, cause you probably won’t see it coming.

God I hope so.

jimbocool said :

It’s always a dead giveaway that they’re using the RP when they start talking about people’s ‘voting records’ – forgetting that caucus rules in the US are not as tight as here and toeing the party line is pretty much voluntary, particulary south of the Mason Dixon line.

Boy I wish that were the case here. What is it about Australia that inspires such binding caucuses?

There is much about US campaigning that Australian politicos should look at. They are years ahead of us in some areas. As previously said though, Aussies need to understand that in the US, a significant aspect of campaigning is ‘getting out the vote’.

Hey Jakez – can you feel that hot breath on the back of your neck, it’s going to be Steven Doyle (Zed’s Chief of Staff) about to punch your lights out. He was apparantly overheard in campaign head quarters saying, when this election is over I’ll crack open jakez head.

Nothing to worry about, cause you probably won’t see it coming.

Yes, Cat – the Libs are obsessed with the Repuplican playbook – forgetting that the US voluntary voting system makes it impossible to reproduce the same effect here *sigh*

It’s always a dead giveaway that they’re using the RP when they start talking about people’s ‘voting records’ – forgetting that caucus rules in the US are not as tight as here and toeing the party line is pretty much voluntary, particulary south of the Mason Dixon line.

We usually ignore the phone if it rings while we’re eating tea, and we ignored two calls last night… glad we did; that wouldn’t be worth interrupting leftover pasta bake for…

Mulcahy used phone spam in 2004, so maybe the Libs feel that it’s an effective tool as he got elected. I’m not aware of any research on the effectiveness of it in Australia, but the Libs also think it worked for Howard in 2004, and it’s relatively cheap and gets around the advertising ban so…

Then again I heard from a scrutineer about a 2004 ballot paper that put Mulcahy dead last and wrote, “that’s for the phone spam!” next to it!

The cat did it10:28 am 17 Oct 08

The robo-calling puts Zed in august company- in the same basket as the dodgy holiday offers earlier this year. Unfortunately, politicians are exempt from the ‘do not call’ register.

I suspect there are some Karl Rove wannabe’s in the ACT Liberals Office (are you listening Andrew?), who devour tales of the Republican tricks and deceits and try to imitate them. However, it’s a different political landscape here, and many of the tricks end up being counter-productive. Like robo-calling.

I disagree with ChoiceMade about the Brindabella outcome – I am fully expecting people in this area to steer clear of Hargreaves, who has done nothing but make a goose of himself (he used to be good, what on earth happened? is he a changeling?). Also, the power station is a big issue in some parts of the electorate – the Labor lady handing how to votes out at Chisholm shops (working for ALP’s Joy Birch) said she had had heaps of people mention the power station as an issue, it just kept coming up.

Re the recorded promo calls – I can’t stand cold callers, and hate voice recognition and its ilk too. Put it together, send it at witching hour and what have you got? A very, very BAD idea.

Equally bad idea though was to put a political sticker on the CT. It may be legal but it is unethical. It makes you look as if you are desperate, have no boundaries and believe that the end justifies the means. Don’t do it people. This is a savvy town and both parties should know better.

I scored one too – I felt sorry for our answering machine having to endure the parasites dribble.

Wish it’s delete button was a bit more powerful though…

justbands said :

Gee, aren’t we all very “hahaha, I’m smarter than you” & smug this morning!

“What’s with this ‘we’ $hit, paleface?!”

Gee, aren’t we all very “hahaha, I’m smarter than you” & smug this morning!

Spam calls do annoy people. Commercial companies use them because they get sales, they do the sums & figure out that it doesn’t matter if they annoy 9,900 people if the other 100 buy their product. (Perhaps I should start adding “In my personal opinion”) Political parties would be foolish to work on that same theory. They need to convince the 9,900, not the 100.

jakez said :

Punter Campaign Mistake No 1: Assuming your reaction is everyone’s reaction. I don’t know anything about the effectiveness of the messages, but I’ve seen enough campaigning strategy to know that some of the stupidest things are aggregately fantastic.

I really do hope spam doesn’t work though.

It’s a rookie mistake, jakez, and sadly very common. “Everyone thinks [insert wild claim here]” usualy equals “I think [insert wild claim here] and I’m mad as all hell and someone should do somethink (sic) about it, and why hasn’t the gubmint already done somethink (sic) about it”.

I used to challenge this sort of talk, but increasingly I just smile sweetly, back away then run.

Say 20c per call.

Maybe for the plebs, but with large volume discounts it would be much cheaper. And with the likes of voip providers like engin, they can call as many people as they like for $20/month.

I’m sure they know it will annoy people, but if your going to lose the election anyway…

Punter Campaign Mistake No 1: Assuming your reaction is everyone’s reaction. I don’t know anything about the effectiveness of the messages, but I’ve seen enough campaigning strategy to know that some of the stupidest things are aggregately fantastic.

I really do hope spam doesn’t work though.

So it cost them $12,000 to annoy the hell out 60,000 households? What, they don’t like people voting for them?

I can’t understand how this tactic could be ‘bang for the buck’?

Say 20c per call.

That is $2000 per 10,000 calls.

If they did even 30% of canberra that is around 60,000(?) households

60,000 x 20c = $12,000

Ah, the joys of not having a landline. Still get the odd bit of text spam or cold calls on the mobile, but mostly not. Certainly immune to the ‘Moreover, are you interested in a wonderful opportunity to enhance your earning potential, while enhancing your life satisfaction AND enhancing the length of your pen!s?’ (They have the word ‘enhance’ on a flash card in their cubicles.)

Thanks, Sunil, but I’m pretty satisfied on all fronts, so stop wasting that Mumbai, Manila, or Melbourne oxygen.

On the downside, I’m still in the throes of unhooking myself from “Chopped Us” mobile internet and mobile phone. I’ve discovered their slogan is not ‘Yeah’, it’s ‘FarQ’.

(Except for one “Chopped Us World” staffer in the city who could give customer service lessons to the rest of her organisation. God love people like ‘Mustang’ who breathe just a little sanity into my world.)

Vote early, vote often and smile at the booth people. Yeah, they’re getting paid, but probably not enough given what they’re doing.

VOTE MORGO

> Stupid, stupid tactic.

Yep. Even if I were going to vote for them before, if they called me with one of those recorded messages, they would have lost my vote. Simple.

This election Im was’nt sure who I was going to vote. I was probably going to Vote Liberal (Zed), but after receiving a call from a recorded Zed last night, he has lost my vote.

One this worse that telemarketers calling at dinner time, and that politicians calling at dinner time.

Wait… you LISTENED to it?! haaahaahahaahaa! That only encourages them. Zed and friends were probably sitting there, watching teh machine phoning people, and got all excited when one person (you!) didn’t instantly sling the phone back.

I hope the greens make a good showing, they would add a lot of good. Maybe some of the CAP people, maybe credible independants. It would be nice to see Labor, who’ve earned a return of some sort, in a minority gov’t.

A gov’t made up of several parties/entities would be more what Canberra needs: a council. Councils don’t have to toe party lines, they aren’t closed shops, they’re a conglomeration of individuals representing their communities.

This would be far better for Canberra than having a fake 2 party gov’t vs opposition. It’s a waste of time and money. The people being paid to be in the gov’t should be actually contributing to the runnign of Canberra, not fighting in the Assembly to score points for their party.

Spread your vote around, look beyond the two “main” parties.

The Dozspot campaign ute decided it didn’t need to stop for me on a pedestrian crossing in Manuka yesterday. They did wave at me as they drove past though.

Yeah, this didn’t work for Howard in ’04, but it is textbook Textor.

I hate this style of campaigning, so I hope it backfires on them. They will be push-polling soon if we don’t stamp down on this kind of rubbish.

And, for the record, last night was the last night that you could run political TV ads, so the TV will be ad free.

I had that call last night too, just as I was trying to get the kids to sleep. Now I put the libs in the same catagory as the w*nkers that call me telling me to press ‘1’ as I’ve just won cruise in some competition I didn’t even enter.

labor imo will get up on sat.. not that thet are doing a stunning job its just that the libs come across as desperate whiners that couldnt manage a dinner let alone a Territory

cant wait for the ad freeze to kick in, Nine had 5 political adds in a row during the news.. fk offffff!!!

Got the same phone call and at a very inconvenient time. Didn’t even bother listening to the entire message but hung up whilst muttering several expletives in Zed’s general direction.

I’ll be voting for the candidates who annoy me the least – which doesn’t leave many to pick from.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.