Bullet train party claim ‘least annoying’ tag

c_c said :

pirate_taco said :

They’ve definitely got a good marketer on board.

Tim Bohn, 2B Advertising & Design to be specific.

Böhm to be precise…

Worthy of a vote if maglev is the proposed technology – but is it another “I voted for a dragway’ one trick pony?

High speed rail is a great idea, I’m glad the Australian Greens got it back on the agenda. Unfortunately bullet train for Canberra are unwilling to advise what exactly they intend to do from the Legislative Assembly to make it happen. I know of three people who have been banned from their Facebook page for having the temerity to ask just that.

miz said :

Independent Calvin Pearce in Brindabella has put up some amusing signs along the lines of ‘better than the devil you know’ – Monaro Hwy and Erindale Dr.

That is exactly what is needed- think outside the box- the dozens of placards on William Hovell and Gungahlin drive all have one message ‘Vote 1’…Do something different…Check out the signs for Canturf near Fyshwick every couple of months…always changing and always clever/funny.

watto23 said :

I’ve got no idea who to vote for. Liberal are out because they have stuffed at least 10 different pamplet in my no junk/advertising signed mailbox. Also I think they are relying on this triple rates slogan too much. Its misleading at best, they’ve put no timeframe on it so they can’t be called liars down the track and its purely designed as scaremongering.

As for Labor and the Greens. They’re record isn’t exactly glowing either.

Unless the independants and smaller parties share preferences to get a quota, its unlikely they’ll get in, although its not impossible. Far more likely in Hare-Clark than other voting systems.

I did see a pirate party independant flyer the other day. Some of the stuff on it made a lot of sense, I can’t help thinking though the name and the inability to get the party registered would hurt them.

Things like a bullet train/VFT etc are affordable and would work in Australia. We just don’t have the political will to do it and most middle class welfare recipients would rather they kept their welfare than have quality infrastructure built for the country. The NBN is a prime example of using the cost as a sacre tactic.

Thanks for the feedback, although I should point out the following:

1. As I’ve already noted, I instruct my volunteers to avoid placing material in letterboxes marked with “no junk mail” and the like.

2. The timeframe may be seen as important to some, but a) Labor only clarified the timeframe after our rates campaign, b) despite clarifying the timeframe, Labor still won’t state the extent of the increase if “triple” is incorrect, and c) all claimed costings are in today’s dollars.

I think the Bullet Train party and my individual campaign are the only candidates to place ads on the RiotACT.

c_c said :

pirate_taco said :

They’ve definitely got a good marketer on board.

Tim Bohn, 2B Advertising & Design to be specific.

Tim Bohn is doing a fantastic job.

By contrast, Labor’s tagline – “Making Canberra Even Stronger” – is redolent of the feds. “Strong” is a wasted adjective re Canberra, in the local government sphere. Makes one wonder what other adjectives were thrown up in their focus groups! And which marketer is behind their campaign.

I’ve got no idea who to vote for. Liberal are out because they have stuffed at least 10 different pamplet in my no junk/advertising signed mailbox. Also I think they are relying on this triple rates slogan too much. Its misleading at best, they’ve put no timeframe on it so they can’t be called liars down the track and its purely designed as scaremongering.

As for Labor and the Greens. They’re record isn’t exactly glowing either.

Unless the independants and smaller parties share preferences to get a quota, its unlikely they’ll get in, although its not impossible. Far more likely in Hare-Clark than other voting systems.

I did see a pirate party independant flyer the other day. Some of the stuff on it made a lot of sense, I can’t help thinking though the name and the inability to get the party registered would hurt them.

Things like a bullet train/VFT etc are affordable and would work in Australia. We just don’t have the political will to do it and most middle class welfare recipients would rather they kept their welfare than have quality infrastructure built for the country. The NBN is a prime example of using the cost as a sacre tactic.

Independent Calvin Pearce in Brindabella has put up some amusing signs along the lines of ‘better than the devil you know’ – Monaro Hwy and Erindale Dr.

http://www.allclassifieds.com.au/ac/display-ad?cid=123545414

GOLD! 🙂

I guess they won’t put placards all over the street – because they have all been stolen

enrique said :

AFAIK they’re self-funded unaffiliated independents, and are very serious about making a bullet train happen all along the east coast with Canberra-Sydney being just the start. Last week they announced the start of the Bullet Train for NSW branch and they’re aiming to go Federal!

Have a look on their facebook site for more info; ask them a question if you want and I reckon you’ll get a good straight answer pretty quick:

http://www.facebook.com/BulletTrainforCanberra

I did ask them what would be a pretty simple couple of questions around where did they get their stats from (as the flyer I saw had no verifiable sources) that was yesterday, I’m still waiting. I’ve however noticed they had time to respond to the pro bullet train comments.

Seriously, if those guys can’t even tell me where they get their stats from to support their argument, why should I give these guys a go?

Mysteryman said :

While I appreciate their efforts to avoid annoying everyone, I do wonder how effective a local group would be in getting NSW and VIC (and the federal government) on board with their plan. Canberra is essentially a stop off on the proposed high-speed rail network. Voting for them on that basis alone seems a bit foolish, considering MLAs need to spend the vast majority of their time on local issues, not federal/interstate ones.

Agree 100 per cent – voting for them is no guarantee of a bullet train (which I actually think is a good idea), I don’t know that it would even make it more likely, let alone a certainty.

The L-that’s-not-in-government won my competition for “most annoying party” by managing to stuff 6 (six!) pieces of promotional material into my “No Junk Mail”-marked mailbox today. It was an impressive effort.

If their policies impressed, I could forgive them… oh well.

Deref said :

There are lots of things I’d love.

I’d love a bullet train running to all capital cities in Australia. I’d love a six-lane autostrada-type no-limits road to run the length of national route 1 (as well as through Canberra). I’d love a comprehensive tram system providing fast, free travel across the whole of Canberra. I’d love international flights to all major centres from Canberra airport.

But no-one with any foot placed firmly in reality believes for one second that those things are going to happen any time soon. Not only don’t we have the population to support them, if we did have that kind of population (more than the US) we’d look like India, in the dying of thirst and starvation sense.

I think the good people of the Bullet Train brigade (and the Trams for Canberra brigade) are probably genuinely nice, well-intentioned people – this thread is certainly an indication that they are. But they’re so monumentally out of touch with reality that I can’t conceive of what they’d actually do if they won any seats. So many studies have proved just how impractical this proposal is, yet I’ve seen nothing from the group offering any substantive refutation of the data or the analyses. (Absence of evidence isn’t, of course, evidence of absence. If there is such a refutation I’d be keen to read it.)

Politics is, as someone said, the art of the possible. These things aren’t in that category yet.

Well you can read this for a start, Phase 1 of the 20 million dollar two year study that was released earlier this year. Phase 2 is due out toward the end of the year. No where in the study does it say that Australia is not yet ready for this piece of infrastructure. The rest will be decided by politicians and ultimately voters.

http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/rail/trains/high_speed/index.aspx

That said – they are good ads… 🙂

c_c said :

Interesting but I still wonder who’s funding them. I think you’ll find this is a front for something, probably Canberra Airport judging by the fonts.

There are a LOT of similarities between their advertising and that of the Airport, methinks…
They should remember that “in kind” donations also have to be declared.

Masquara said :

Straw poll of one: tradie who just came to do some work on my house said he is voting Bullet Train!

But not before he copped an anti-labor rant of biblical proportions I`ll bet.

There are lots of things I’d love.

I’d love a bullet train running to all capital cities in Australia. I’d love a six-lane autostrada-type no-limits road to run the length of national route 1 (as well as through Canberra). I’d love a comprehensive tram system providing fast, free travel across the whole of Canberra. I’d love international flights to all major centres from Canberra airport.

But no-one with any foot placed firmly in reality believes for one second that those things are going to happen any time soon. Not only don’t we have the population to support them, if we did have that kind of population (more than the US) we’d look like India, in the dying of thirst and starvation sense.

I think the good people of the Bullet Train brigade (and the Trams for Canberra brigade) are probably genuinely nice, well-intentioned people – this thread is certainly an indication that they are. But they’re so monumentally out of touch with reality that I can’t conceive of what they’d actually do if they won any seats. So many studies have proved just how impractical this proposal is, yet I’ve seen nothing from the group offering any substantive refutation of the data or the analyses. (Absence of evidence isn’t, of course, evidence of absence. If there is such a refutation I’d be keen to read it.)

Politics is, as someone said, the art of the possible. These things aren’t in that category yet.

pirate_taco said :

They’ve definitely got a good marketer on board.
Spinning doing and spending very little on campaigning into a positive is a smooth move.

Pirate Party ACT is also doing very little of the above, but that is more due to having few resources to do so.
At the very least we wouldn’t go overboard on the road side signs like the majors are doing, even if we had the resources to do so.

I’ve been having a conversation on twitter about the Bullet Trainers, in particular about what they stand for other than high speed rail [1].
I also sat next to bullet trainer Chris Bucknell this morning while he chatted to Ross Solly on ABC 666 at Central Cafe (you can even see me in the photo posted to their facebook page [2])
What I took away from this was that they don’t have any policies on anything other high speed rail because they don’t expect to be elected.

I think it’s great that they are raising the profile of this issue, but I can’t see how we could get anything done on it from here.
Perhaps they should make a tilt for the Senate next election and get it onto the federal government agenda?

I also note that a lot of candidates installed high speed rail as part of their Lego build, so there is a lot of support for the idea.

Glen Takkenberg
Pirate Party ACT for Ginninderra

1. https://twitter.com/pirate_taco/status/257387199836864512
2. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=388432447892168&set=a.186389491429799.41976.184459528289462&type=1

I should point out that I instruct my volunteers to not place material in people’s letterboxes if it says “No Junk Mail” and the like, and that’s not due to a lack of resources. In fact, the resources spent on letterboxing a suburb like Aranda where I suspect the majority of letterboxes are marked in that way is in one sense grossly inefficient, because for every person you annoy you may well end up increasing your name recognition with another two or so. I still practise that method out of respect.

I guess what I’m saying is that we don’t know what motivates them to not campaign in certain ways. All power to them for getting out there and pushing for what they care about.

pirate_taco said :

They’ve definitely got a good marketer on board.

Tim Bohn, 2B Advertising & Design to be specific.

pirate_taco said :

They’ve definitely got a good marketer on board.
Spinning doing and spending very little on campaigning into a positive is a smooth move.

Pirate Party ACT is also doing very little of the above, but that is more due to having few resources to do so.
At the very least we wouldn’t go overboard on the road side signs like the majors are doing, even if we had the resources to do so.

I’ve been having a conversation on twitter about the Bullet Trainers, in particular about what they stand for other than high speed rail [1].
I also sat next to bullet trainer Chris Bucknell this morning while he chatted to Ross Solly on ABC 666 at Central Cafe (you can even see me in the photo posted to their facebook page [2])
What I took away from this was that they don’t have any policies on anything other high speed rail because they don’t expect to be elected.

I think it’s great that they are raising the profile of this issue, but I can’t see how we could get anything done on it from here.
Perhaps they should make a tilt for the Senate next election and get it onto the federal government agenda?

I also note that a lot of candidates installed high speed rail as part of their Lego build, so there is a lot of support for the idea.

Glen Takkenberg
Pirate Party ACT for Ginninderra

1. https://twitter.com/pirate_taco/status/257387199836864512
2. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=388432447892168&set=a.186389491429799.41976.184459528289462&type=1

They managed to register as party for the election at least. So theres that.

drfelonious said :

They already got my vote as I have done a pre poll vote. This approach confirms my view that I did the right thing. They aren’t Labor Liberal or Green and their single issue is one worth voting for – more than enough to get me over the line.

I’ve pre-polled too and was aghast at the lack of choice.

No way was I going for the bullet train people as it’s a federal issue.