9 October 2008

Election Wrap - 9 October

| johnboy
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Mental Health:

The CT’s David McLennan has struggled manfully to keep track of the rivers of gold being thrown at mental health by both parties.

CAP:

According to the Canberra Times the Community Alliance is looking for a volunteer to organise their events. A little late in the day surely?

Norvan Vogt wants to keep things simple when it comes to mental health policy.

Labor:

The CT tries to get across a growing mess in the upkeep of the Supreme Court. There’s a press conference with Simon and JonKat there this morning which might address the issues.

Simon Corbell has announced he’ll set up a “sentencing council” to slap around judges handing out inadequate sentences. Someone’s been listening.

Jon Stanhope is excited that the Green Building Council has opened a Canberra office. If re-elected he’ll give them $75,000 for a study on refurbishing old buildings with an eye to green star ratings. Wake me up when something happens.

Katy Gallagher is having a go at perceived failings in the Liberal mental health policy.

Andrew Barr would like to know where the Liberal education policy is. Lost behind the couch? Or the dog ate it?

Liberals:

Zed’s promised the Canberra Times that he’d move any power station / data centre away from Tuggeranong.

The election turns once more to Gungahlin with Zed announcing he will build a swimming pool, and even a PCYC, and a swag of other goodies besides.

Adam Verwey:

Adam is calling for continuous disclosure of political donations. In this internet era the only reason why not to is an effort to put one over voters.

Mulcahy Canberra Party:

Richard Mulcahy is going in to bat for his beloved Canberra Symphony Orchestra. He wants more ACT Government funding for the music enjoyed by the wealthiest Canberrans.

Motorists Party:

One Nation On Wheels (aka The Australian Motorists Party) haven’t got anything official out, but I heard them on 666 yesterday calling for kids expelled from schools to be sent to Quamby, a facility we don’t even want to send criminally convicted felons to.

Greens:

The Greens are calling on supporters to stay calm about early positive polling numbers. They’re asking supporters to keep putting in the hard yards.

Meredith Hunter promises the Greens would make better use of Federale funding for household energy efficiency.

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Jonathon Reynolds9:16 am 11 Oct 08

@politikos

politikos said :

Couldn’t make it to the meeting and it might help me narrow down who to vote for – can’t believe the number of candidates in Molonglo!

An audio version of the meeting now uploaded, size is 76Mb, streaming version.
Available on the CanberraVotes site, also linked from GCC meeting video page

his own expense with no profit driver

Freemium is a valid business model, provided you have a large enough support base. 🙂
I am entirey willing to have conversations about attention also being a commodity, and I can also provide some analytic research to back me up.

However, its a very dry topic, and I much prefer my socialising and beer drinking to be entertaining.

Gungahlin Al12:14 pm 10 Oct 08

The GCC meeting full video is now posted on our website for your viewing pleasure.

For those wondering what the fuss with the format was about, the full instructions as supplied to all candidates prior to their attendance is also on that page.

A link for an audio-only file will be posted later tonight.

Thanks Jonathon for the work you’ve done in posting this for us. I might take a mo to remind people that Jonathon has been doing this (and video records of as many other election run-up meetings all around Canberra as he can get to, as posted on his http://www.canberravotes.com website) at his own expense with no profit driver, simply as personal project to make sure as much as possible of the commitments and events from this election are captured and preserved. I think he’s bonkers bothering, but then again no doubt there’ll be cause to refer back to some of it over the course of the next term of government…

The Motorist Party’s policy on Quamby is a complete joke. It sounds like something Pratt would do as well. Thank god they won’t get elected!

Zed has similar policy – in today’s CT. Except the minimal amount he’s willing to spend on public art he wants the community to vote on = bit like a high school prize or soemthing.

Sepi: Unless the Liberals have echoed Mulcahy, that was Mulcahy’s policy not the Liberals.

However generally you are right to point out the contradiction and if pressed I think it’s safe to say the Liberals share in that contradiction.

Wierd how the liberals think spending money on public art (sculpture) is a shocking waste, but that spending money on the symphony orchestra is a good idea (more of an elitist thing, that people will still have to pay to see).

I’ve got nothing against the orchestra – I just really don’t understand the anger generated by a few sculptures.

D-Man said :

I’m surprised there’s nothing on the GCC forum last night. It was a complete farce. There were more candidates than crowd members, the format of the evening was utterly bizarre and the moderator was disastrously bad. Again, once you exclude spouses, apparatchiks and political groupies, there was a total of 8 genuine residents there. My colleague reckons there was only 4, but it’s possible some left half way. God I wish I had been able to. GCC are a laughing stock after last night.

yeah! shame on them for wanting to help to make their community a better place, shame, shame, shame.

on a side note i’m not convinced that refusing to allow MLA’s speak on their portfolio’s was a good decision, while it is important to hear from everyone standing i’d think that more insightful answers would be given if you allowed those with experience in the feild to respond.

Much appreciated, Jonathon! Couldn’t make it to the meeting and it might help me narrow down who to vote for – can’t believe the number of candidates in Molonglo!

Jonathon Reynolds6:39 pm 09 Oct 08

@politikos

politikos said :

Could you elaborate, Al? Some of us have lousy internet connections and won’t be able to view the video.

I’ll cut an audio file from the H4 (sound recorder) and upload it to GCC over the weekend. As a 2 hour .mp3 it will be sizeable but no where near as large as the files I have to handle with the videos.

Hopefully the GCC video should be up tomorrow. The workflow to create these video is a bit finicky, it comes off the camera as an AVCHD directory (that itself can take about 45 minutes to transfer between the camera and PC), by the time its imported into FCE and decoded from AVCHD format it ends up being a 60-80Gb 1920/1440×1080 HD Quicktime movie, I then compress that down into Desktop and iPhone sized Quicktime files. These files are then further converted to Flash FLV files. The FLV files are typically 400Mb to <1Gb and transferred to blip.tv for hosting (file size there must be less than 1GB per video). The upload process itself can take up to 8 hours -but that actually depends on what bandwidth I am getting through the RIM I am attached to. (I usually run the upload overnight whilst I’m encoding other meeting videos I have taken that night in parallel). Then finally the embed code manually placed in the relevant pages of the target web page. Having done over 30 of these videos this convoluted workflow is becoming almost second nature. I’ll be glad when the election is over and I wind the project up on the 18th.

Oh c’mon Granny, give us some goss on the Libs!

The video will be up shortly. Judge for yourself.

How did the Libs do?

Well I went along out of duty, and was completely surprised by what a good time I had! One of the features that I haven’t noticed at other forums was the socialising afterwards. We had wine. We had chocolate. We had cheese. We had us! We had a pretty good time actually.

I had chance to meet Mike Hettinger, which I really enjoyed. He kind of had that cool Jimmy Dean ‘rebel without a cause’ thing happening, which I relate to so well! Like my favourtie t-shirt covered in little white sheep with one black one, and a caption: Why me? *chuckle*

I got to talk to Shane Rattenbury a little. I am terrified of the Greens, but I must admit that he and Norvan are the ones that give me that stirring in the soul, that kind of Kennedy Camelot “dream” thing. They’re the ones that talk and I see a picture. I get a vision. I do like that. Actually Shane Rattenbury reminded me a lot of Bobby Kennedy now I think of it.

Highlights of the night were watching Katy’s dummy spit, and Helen Cross and Norvan Vogt having a go at each other!

*guffaw*

I must admit I like Norvan more every time I see him. He is one of the people that I really believe does do it because he cares, and I feel he has walked the walk not just talking the talk as far as his ideals.

He also has a real vision.

Greg Tannahill liked my idea!! That made me very happy. I missed him at the SIM challenge, but he was also quite impressive and very articulate.

I reckon we left the building around 11:30pm still laughing and joking around.

Seriously I have been to several candidate forums now, and if you couldn’t have fun there you’ll just have to wait till personality transplants get invented. In the meantime keep on chucking a big Mrs Jessup, sucking lemons and walking around with a plum in your bottom.

Thanks, Al!

Gungahlin Al2:16 pm 09 Oct 08

Yes NS “34 in the audience” means that. And it was school holidays – you may have noticed the lack of traffic jams lately?

Politikos: we required an extention if you like of the Robson rotation. On speaker on behalf of each party on each question. And any one individual who had answerred a question couldn’t answer another party question until such time as all the other candidates from that party had a go at answerring something. This did not preclude questions directed straight to individuals.

Katy Gallagher and Helen Cross in particular disagreed with that approach. Care factor. The reality is that when for instance another ALP candidate fielded a health question, she (Adina Cirson) did admirably – good speaker and across the issues in a general sort of way. Vicki Dunne fielded a health question (Jacqui Burke’s portfolio) and did well.

Frank Pangallo, Democrats and CAP allowed their support candidates to take the lead and that showed both good and not-so-good performers. Young Greg Tannahill for the Democrats was a stand-out performer. Both of the majors have held back their support candidates as mainly fillers lurking in the background of photo shoots. As a result the speaking skills of a couple were sadly lacking.

Katy got particularly cheesed off when we wouldn’t let Andrew Barr field a question on the rapidly deteriorating Gold Creek Homestead as he’d already spoken. This demonstrated that she is unaware that the issue is no longer in the planning portfolio but is now in limbo between Community “halls” and Aged Care (Health and Community Services portfolio I believe) and land releases (Stanhope’s balliwick). Either way, as DCM she should have been across the issue and known that. She was quick to snaffle the announcements on what community groups would have access to the old schools, when it was Barr who had to do all the running and take the heat on that.

Apart from all that, some people were fazed by the short responses we required – one and two minutes. I think Shane Rattenbury said it felt like speed dating. I thought of it more as what marketing people call and “elevator pitch”. With 2 dozen candidates to hear from, it made sure it stayed a waffle-free zone.

The important thing was that it was a meet the candidates event, not a listen to the parties session. Everyone got a chance to speak, at least a couple of times, and that was our intention. Those who rolled with it looked OK, those who bucked it not so.

The video has been pulled off the camera and encoded overnight. The upload will take 6-8 hours. With jobs and meetings, it will likely be tomorrow evening before it’s posted.

Meeting conduct aside, issues anyone?

Oh wait, or did you mean that there were 34 in the audience not including the candidates?

Actually that’s much more likely and definitely better numbers. 32 is decent I guess but I still think that’s low for a Meet the Candidates forum.

Gungahlin Al said :

There were 34 in the audience, and I think 24 candidates. I know of one partner and one adviser in the audience, but wasn’t interrogating everyone.

So there were only 8 genuine community members?

Good god, that is a farce! The way GungahlinAl and JR go on about GCC I thought GCC may have actually been relevant in the Gungahlin community and maybe even a significant player (in context of community councils).

I infrequently go to Woden Valley Community Council and I don’t think I’ve ever attended one with such low attendance. Admittedly I didn’t go to their Meet the Candidates night, but whenever they have Ministers along there’s usually atleast 40 people in the room (two thirds of whom would be genuine WVCC members). There was one a few months back with Barr with easily 40+ people.

Gungahlin Al said :

All candidates should have done their homework and got across their party’s policy platforms. It was clear from some of the responses who had and who had not. It was also clear that some are articulate speakers and would likely be able to perform well in the Assembly, and others would struggle. And there were some surprise packages there too.

Could you elaborate, Al? Some of us have lousy internet connections and won’t be able to view the video.

Gungahlin Al1:10 pm 09 Oct 08

Some of us have jobs D-Man.

Ah well, the video of the full meeting will be posted to our site likely tonight, so people can view and make their own minds up.

To clarify, no-one left part-way through. There were 34 in the audience, and I think 24 candidates. I know of one partner and one adviser in the audience, but wasn’t interrogating everyone. And the greater majority of people stayed around until well afterwards as well, with the last people leaving around 10.30.

We came up with a format to specifically get every single candidate to speak. They want our votes, so we should hear from them, not let them hide behind well-skilled incumbents. There were some cranky faces among some of said incumbents. Tough. All candidates should have done their homework and got across their party’s policy platforms. It was clear from some of the responses who had and who had not. It was also clear that some are articulate speakers and would likely be able to perform well in the Assembly, and others would struggle. And there were some surprise packages there too.

This approach avoided some of the things that have occurred at other candidates outings. For instance, at the Light Rail meeting, Simon Corbell gave all the answers for ALP (even though the transport minister was there and numerous ALP candidates). And candidates were not allowed to ask questions of other candidates, a problem elsewhere.

Anyway, GCC’s a democratic organisation. You sticking your hand up? Nah didn’t think so.

The motorists party… what the hell kind of stupid idea is that?

What exactly went wrong?

Still nothing from the Emperors of Gungahlin on their forum last night i see. Shame. I’m having a crap day and wanted to see them describe what a brilliant success it was…

johnboy said :

politikos said :

I agree they have some patrons who are not well heeled.

But I’ve seen the foyer at intermission time and they would be the exception rather than the rule.

Johnboy, perhaps you’re judging too much by appearances?! You can dress well without spending much money. After all, it costs more to dress in Levis and Nike runners than in a nice dress!

politikos said :

Mulcahy gets points with me for supporting the Symphony. I’m by no means wealthy, but I’ve always loved classical music and know lots of others who do too (who aren’t among the “wealthiest Canberrans”). So much money is given to sport, why not some to what’s left of the arts?!

I agree they have some patrons who are not well heeled.

But I’ve seen the foyer at intermission time and they would be the exception rather than the rule.

Mulcahy gets points with me for supporting the Symphony. I’m by no means wealthy, but I’ve always loved classical music and know lots of others who do too (who aren’t among the “wealthiest Canberrans”). So much money is given to sport, why not some to what’s left of the arts?!

One Nationa on Wheels, now that my friends is 1st class top draw humour. Oh well if quamby is closed they can get the expelled kids to build their bloody drgway. child Labour, works for Nike.

How did you know Zed was excellent if you weren’t there “SwingingVoter”? You may well be the dumbest individual I have ever encountered.

SwingingVoter10:18 am 09 Oct 08

D-Man said :

I’m surprised there’s nothing on the GCC forum last night. It was a complete farce. There were more candidates than crowd members, the format of the evening was utterly bizarre and the moderator was disastrously bad. Again, once you exclude spouses, apparatchiks and political groupies, there was a total of 8 genuine residents there. My colleague reckons there was only 4, but it’s possible some left half way. God I wish I had been able to. GCC are a laughing stock after last night.

A friend of mine attended and said it was a disgrace.

Re my post yesterday of the Libs trotting out Belinda Barnier as their Green Candidate, it happened last night at GCC – Zed was directing the questions asked to certain candidates and guess what Belinda got the Greenie question re animals and wildlife corridors from my friend from an animal liberation group. I suspect more will come as their spin doctors get onto it.

As usual Zed was excellent.

*Jake sits back and waits for Jonathon Reynolds and Gungahlin Al to read D-Mans post*

Hilarity surely will ensue.

I’m surprised there’s nothing on the GCC forum last night. It was a complete farce. There were more candidates than crowd members, the format of the evening was utterly bizarre and the moderator was disastrously bad. Again, once you exclude spouses, apparatchiks and political groupies, there was a total of 8 genuine residents there. My colleague reckons there was only 4, but it’s possible some left half way. God I wish I had been able to. GCC are a laughing stock after last night.

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