12 September 2008

Election Wrap - 12 September

| johnboy
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General:

At last! We’re in caretaker mode!

Liberals:

The Canberra Times says Zed’s made up another policy (i.e. it’s not actually available on his website but he’s talking about it) this time to get five hundred lucky older Canberrans $1,000 of free dental work. Raffle it off at the Tradies every Tuesday night?

Zed’s now put out a media release outlining his “Agenda for the Ageing”.

AMP:

The Motorist Party has announced some policies:

Flashing lights for school zones (works VERY well in NSW)

Traffic infringement revenue to be spent on road safety and driver education.

Greens:

Shane Rattenbury is calling for a solar test to be applied to all new developments, insuring they take advantage of passive solar techniques.

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Get the AFP to put in flashing lights. They did it to the crossing near the police college in Barton.

Loquaciousness3:42 pm 12 Sep 08

caf said :

The bias doesn’t have to be against one candidate or another, it can be against all candidates equally – it’s still bias.

If it’s equal, it’s not bias. Bias is unequal treatment of the protagonists.

caf – indeed. I was being a bit facetious, and didn’t properly explain myself. What I meant was that you could think all candidates suck, but that’s being biased against them as a group. As in, “I like everyone, except politicians, who all suck.”

L

Gungahlin Al3:37 pm 12 Sep 08

Agree on the LED flashing lights JB. Unfortunately the good <a href=”http://www.gcc.asn.au/News/Transport/hargreaves-rejects-school-signs.html”.Minister Hargreaves begs to differ.

We have had a little poll on the issue on the wwww.gcc.asn.au front page and a surprising proportion (but by no means a majority) agree…

Loquaciousness3:33 pm 12 Sep 08

Gungahlin Al said :

Loquaciousness: I guess it isn’t as simple as ‘if you don’t like it don’t read it’.
Perhaps more like, ‘if you don’t like it, feel free to say so, but don’t be either surprised or upset if others don’t agree with you’.

Absolutely – unfortunately, it’s not what people say when in the heat of the argument 😉

It’s an open forum, and it’s natural that people are going to get into clashes. Quite frankly, it’s what I like best about RiotACT, but to say something like “if you don’t like it, don’t read it” is really quite inane, and a bit of a cop-out. That doesn’t seem to stop it coming up in every single argument, though.

L

The bias doesn’t have to be against one candidate or another, it can be against all candidates equally – it’s still bias.

If it’s equal, it’s not bias. Bias is unequal treatment of the protagonists.

This seems to be a common point of confusion. Bias is means impartiality, but impartiality does not imply neutrality. For example, a judge in criminal law proceedings is supposed to be impartial, but that does not preclude them from making a judgement on the guilt or innocence of the accused – they may well be called upon by the law to do just that. Just because a judge or jury finds against a defendant doesn’t mean that they were biased against the defendant – they may have fairly, impartially and without bias come to that decision. In fact, we tend to hope that they have.

Similarly, just because a commentator lauds or decries an action by a political actor doesn’t necessarily make them biased for or against that actor. You can certainly call good and bad policy without being biased, as long as you’re judging it impartially.

someoneincanb said :

JB please, please, please could you hand the daily Election Wrap over to another person who could report the facts without political bias?

Firstly I’m not entirely sure who you’re saying I’m biased against. I get accused of bias against everyone which is how I know I’m doing my job.

Secondly no.

Moving on…

Peter.. School zone lights are a good idea because sometimes a zone is in force, and sometimes it is not the flashing light clears up confusion while removing the need to consult a tide table to figure out the speed limit.

Pedestrian crossings on the other hand are always in force and are marked out by huge white lines painted on the road. I’m not for the cost of lights and the extra visual pollution just for idiots who can’t make out large yellow signs and huge white lines on the road.

MrMagoo said :

No Jakez I was having a crack at them. In a previous life I ‘worked’ on the dragway project from a Government perspective and the proponant drove me made. There is no solid need for such an infrastructure project like this when there is a viable alternative 2.5 hours up the highway. Uncle Bill promise dthem one a few years back and now its lead to a ‘political party’.

Last election it was their “I voted for a Dragway’ stickers, funny how at no stage did either major party, nor Green no Indpendant Candidate ever stipulate in their policy support for a Dragway.

Sorry this group really shites me.

Dragway aside, why is it that none of the other parties have raised the issue of school zone marking, flashing lights at ALL pedestrian crossings, if you see the crossing lights, maybe you will actually stop before scaring the beejeezus out of the pedestrian….

I know that the guy in the white holden did stop, but the distance between his bumper and my legs was damned close… oh, an hour ago. Tempted to kick his car a few times, but pedestrian vs car never works out too well.

there are 2 pedestrian crossings in phillip. why the hell would you speed down townshend street in the first place?

we need warning lights at the crossings.

Gungahlin Al3:05 pm 12 Sep 08

Loquaciousness: I guess it isn’t as simple as ‘if you don’t like it don’t read it’.
Perhaps more like, ‘if you don’t like it, feel free to say so, but don’t be either surprised or upset if others don’t agree with you’.

That said, I don’t think anything is a consensus topic on RA. Surprised people weren’t arguing over whether the water spout in Garema yesterday was actually wet…

Jonathon Reynolds1:54 pm 12 Sep 08

MrMagoo said :

Sorry this group really shites me.

Hmmm… all these things that the AMP “WILL” be doing supposedly from the cross benches. If any party wants to make claims that they WILL make particular things happen then they need to run a full ticket and be positioning themselves as an alternative government.

Besides every bit of media and even their own website “policy” releases so far are clearly showing them to be a single issue party. Mind you I will admit I agree with their position on having school zones clearly signposted as they have suggested.

No Jakez I was having a crack at them. In a previous life I ‘worked’ on the dragway project from a Government perspective and the proponant drove me made. There is no solid need for such an infrastructure project like this when there is a viable alternative 2.5 hours up the highway. Uncle Bill promise dthem one a few years back and now its lead to a ‘political party’.

Last election it was their “I voted for a Dragway’ stickers, funny how at no stage did either major party, nor Green no Indpendant Candidate ever stipulate in their policy support for a Dragway.

Sorry this group really shites me.

Loquaciousness1:35 pm 12 Sep 08

Cue flames in 3 … 2 … 1 …

Loquaciousness1:33 pm 12 Sep 08

Jonathon Reynolds said :

Simple solution:
If you don’t like what JB has to say you have two options – (a) don’t read it or (b) establish your own site where you can say what you like.

Hmm … as someone who has been told “if you don’t like, don’t read it” a few times on this site, I’d like to point out that it’s a little difficult to find out whether or not one likes it without reading it. And I like the grand majority of this site, as do many others. Certainly enough not to boycott it over a few little upsets, anyway.

Seems a little unfair, somehow.

L

Jonathon Reynolds1:19 pm 12 Sep 08

@verbalkint:
Feel free to register… its either lack of exposure for the site or the fact that people will actually have to use their real life details which appears to be the impediment.

Regardless, the National Library PANDORA project have requested to archive the site (after the election) so the main purpose is that it will become a time capsule of the issues (as recorded) for the future.

I just regret being waylaid with the flu going around over the last couple of weeks… it has put a bit of a dent in (meaning: I missed) some of the events I was planning to cover.

I should have Maxine Cooper (Environment Commissioner) presenting on the State of the Environment Report to the GCC cut, editied and up by the end of the weekend with any luck. (Got to find some time to sit down and cut in her powerpoint presentation slides)

MrMagoo said :

The Motorist Party making promises, I only thought they wanted a Dragway and nothing else. Or is that the revenue from traffic infringements going to worthy road projects ie. Dragway.

Are you trying to have a go at them or did you actually believe they were only interested in a dragway?

From the outset they have flagged these types of issues. I have no problem with a dragway per se (I’d prefer it to be privately funded of course), or setting up a system of specifying revenue. It’s the things that they don’t have policies on that concern me. Approaching issues with ‘integrity, fairness, blah blah’ is essentially meaningless and I can’t get behind an unknown horse.

The Motorist Party making promises, I only thought they wanted a Dragway and nothing else. Or is that the revenue from traffic infringements going to worthy road projects ie. Dragway.

ALso, without wishing to be unfair to JR, or his fancy new website (and it does look great) the number of comments on his site (1) is somewhat less than the comments on this website.

So clearly, people seem to prefer their news with a bit of opinion thrown in.

That said, the canberra votes site looks great and will hopefully have a good future!

Given that Mr Reynolds has done it, he can be called many things but ‘hypocrite’ doesn’t appear to be one of them.

Jonathon Reynolds12:19 pm 12 Sep 08

Skidbladnir said :

c) Do both.

Funny thing is I try and keep my/the http://CanberraVotes.com site relatively unbiased.
I come here to comment and actually be biased myself – or is that more technically referred to as just “expressing an opinion”.

c) Do both.

Jonathon Reynolds did…

Jonathon Reynolds11:51 am 12 Sep 08

someoneincanb said :

JB please, please, please could you hand the daily Election Wrap over to another person who could report the facts without political bias?

Why? Because you don’t like his bias? If you wan’t generally unbiased news go read articles on the BBC World Service website – though I can almost guarantee that you’ll find very little ACT election content there.

someoneincanb said :

… this is not unique to ACT Liberal. It is an opinion that belongs in the comments, not in your daily coverage of the political scene.

Oh it makes sense now… you don’t like it if JB should say anything mildly anti-Liberal. (I wonder if this applies should he say anything that is offensive to Labor, Greens or supporters of any other political party/persuation)

Simple solution:
If you don’t like what JB has to say you have two options – (a) don’t read it or (b) establish your own site where you can say what you like.

Loquaciousness11:43 am 12 Sep 08

neanderthalsis said :

Loq, by saying that they all suck. Unbiased, opinionated…

Hmm … opinionated yes, but not exactly unbiased. The bias doesn’t have to be against one candidate or another, it can be against all candidates equally – it’s still bias. But it’s outside of the scope of this article, I think 😉

Mind you, I have to agree with the sentiment, anyway!

L

> JB please, please, please could you hand the daily Election Wrap over to another person who could report the facts without political bias?

Funny, I’ve always thought JB displays his political bias the other way around from what you are accusing him of. Could this mean that he actually has been giving us unbiased reporting?

neanderthalsis11:24 am 12 Sep 08

Loq, by saying that they all suck. Unbiased, opinionated…

Loquaciousness10:56 am 12 Sep 08

caf said :

You can be unbiased and opionated at the same time.

Errr … how? Exactly?

L

It seems to me that johnboy’s snark is delivered quite even-handedly. I for one am quite happy to have opinion delivered with the news – I don’t want the same anodyne reportage found elsewhere in an attempt to be unbiased. You can be unbiased and opionated at the same time.

someoneincanb10:18 am 12 Sep 08

JB please, please, please could you hand the daily Election Wrap over to another person who could report the facts without political bias?

I don’t disagree with your annoyance over policies that are not in writing, but I can guarantee you I am not the only one in the ACT who has found it damn near impossible to get ACT Labor and the Legislative Assembly to provide policies/plans/legislation in writing at times – this is not unique to ACT Liberal. It is an opinion that belongs in the comments, not in your daily coverage of the political scene.

Gungahlin Al9:31 am 12 Sep 08

So Katy signed a $30M contract to redevelop closed school sites the day before caretaker?
Stunning…

No matter what one’s thoughts on the issue, a number of the likely players in an incoming governmetn have indicated a shift or possible part reversal. What moral right does the outgoing government have to lock in a decision that might otherwise be reversed?

It is akin to the way Nick Minchin signed the contract for the new DEST headquarters building on Marcus Clarke just days before federal caretaker. And what happened there? DEST was part gutted, part rolled into DEWR. The outcome was that the locked in building will be nowhere near big enough to house the entire Civic staff, let alone everyone stuck out at BBP or those at Woden.

According to the story the Libs policy will be divvied out on a waiting list system based on priority cases.

Personally, I think I like johnboy’s method.

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