Greens want larger electorates, more members, and presumably more Greens

Ben_Dover said :

Hello Greens, planet earth calling.

Please note: We voted out 3 of your 4 MLAs last election, Shane only got in by the skin of his teeth. Your policies and personailities are not wanted. End of.

+1
People see them for the watermelons they are. I wish this party of would-be eco terrorists would hurry up and fold.

I favour the 5×5 option, as I think it’s easier to jiggle 5 electorates to match the geography of the Territory. That said, I can’t fault the Greens for pushing for the option that would lead to more members of minor parties in the Legislative Assembly – obviously they believe that more representation of minor parties leads to better outcomes, or else they just would have joined one of the major parties!

(Interestingly, pushing for 3×9 isn’t the most self-interested tack that the Greens could have taken – 3×7 would be better for them, as they would generally be best placed to take the seventh seat, but in a nine member electorate they would likely be sharing the crossbenches with a minor party of the right).

Remember that more than a fifth of formal votes at the 2012 election expressed a first preference for a minor party, so locking those parties out of the Assembly is ignoring the wishes of a decent proportion of the population.

Gungahlin Al said :

Matt_Watts said :

Gungahlin Al said :

cranky said :

Just seems a method of increasing the snouts in troughs. Another ten at somewhere in the vicinity of $300K (plus staff) PA per bod is ludicrous.

WVH could do with 3 mill PA.

$300K each? On what planet?

Not an unreasonable estimate, depending on how many staff each MLA would have if one considers the full costs (eg super, etc).

Read the comment Matt. “$300K (plus staff)”

You’ve never been one for semantics, Al 🙂 I really only paid attention to your comment.

You were shocked and I reacted; I now retract that, given the context. But the cost $300K each, taking into account staff, allowances and office space, is not unreasonable at all. Probably cheap.

wouldn’t it be better to have direct representation, instead of the unaccountable rubbish system we have now?

Smaller electorates with one member.

Gungahlin Al said :

Matt_Watts said :

Gungahlin Al said :

cranky said :

Just seems a method of increasing the snouts in troughs. Another ten at somewhere in the vicinity of $300K (plus staff) PA per bod is ludicrous.

WVH could do with 3 mill PA.

$300K each? On what planet?

Not an unreasonable estimate, depending on how many staff each MLA would have if one considers the full costs (eg super, etc).

Read the comment Matt. “$300K (plus staff)”

I’d say he was referring to the selective editing where the hospital could do with $3 million.
If you would like to come up with another figure Al I am happy to listen to your reasoning for it.

Matt_Watts said :

Gungahlin Al said :

cranky said :

Just seems a method of increasing the snouts in troughs. Another ten at somewhere in the vicinity of $300K (plus staff) PA per bod is ludicrous.

WVH could do with 3 mill PA.

$300K each? On what planet?

Not an unreasonable estimate, depending on how many staff each MLA would have if one considers the full costs (eg super, etc).

Read the comment Matt. “$300K (plus staff)”

Gungahlin Al said :

cranky said :

Just seems a method of increasing the snouts in troughs. Another ten at somewhere in the vicinity of $300K (plus staff) PA per bod is ludicrous.

WVH could do with 3 mill PA.

$300K each? On what planet?

Not an unreasonable estimate, depending on how many staff each MLA would have if one considers the full costs (eg super, etc).

cranky said :

Just seems a method of increasing the snouts in troughs. Another ten at somewhere in the vicinity of $300K (plus staff) PA per bod is ludicrous.

WVH could do with 3 mill PA.

$300K each? On what planet?

Just seems a method of increasing the snouts in troughs. Another ten at somewhere in the vicinity of $300K (plus staff) PA per bod is ludicrous.

WVH could do with 3 mill PA.

“….more members equals a better chance for smaller or other parties to get into the Assembly.”

Yes Shane, that would be good only if you also believe your own small party has improved the governance of this town.

I’ve no doubt you and everybody YOU know believe that it has, but I think the electorate generally passed judgement on the idea at the last election.

Imagine the balance of power being held by a GROUP of small, narrowly focussed parties – although it could get interesting if it were the Greens and the Motorists.