Liberals Preselection

We need that warm tomato bloke back again. He had the right idea.

VicePope said :

We need something like a board of 13 or 17 meeting for a couple of hours every week or fortnight to provide general direction to three or so indirectly elected fulltimers who run the place).

Not a bad idea VicePope, but could it be done? It’s pretty hard to get politicians to give up power.

However, I haven’t met too many people happy with the current political set up. If another party offered to review our system, could it win enough support?

Is this really the best the Libs can do? They are shot bunnies while ever Stanhope or another adult runs the ALP. Stanhope’s support team is mostly tripe as well so it will all go to cactus when he chucks it in.

The Libs have nominated their current bunch of tried and failed no-hopers. Plus some new no-hopers. And maybe a couple who would be ok, but probably won’t get in.

(I’m with those who think we need to redesign our ACT electoral system. 17 full time pollies plus crews of hangers on is a joke, and a guarantee that most of those who seek election will be those least suited to it. We need something like a board of 13 or 17 meeting for a couple of hours every week or fortnight to provide general direction to three or so indirectly elected fulltimers who run the place).

What ticks me off is people like Giulia Jones who get preselected and only than start to visit sites like RiotACT. After the election we’ll never hear from Giulia again.

Giulia Jones said :

How about…

I think you have your politics mixed up sweetie, the federal election was last year where you failed liberal senate preselection in tasmania. This election isnt about KRudd its about the ACT.

You dont even have the support of your own party. Same preselection vote as Jackie Burke! The only reason that you got preselected is that the liberals couldn’t find more than 7 people to stand in a 7 member seat. Any chimp could have been a Liberal candidate this time round. Go on deny it.

How about more affordable housing being available, decent public transport, Standing up for Canberra against Rudd’s Razor Gang… a government interested in delivering excellent basic services instead of the grand standing and legacy building we are seeing now?

Good on you arsebandit,

Try and learn to speak correctly before you have a go at me.

I don’t know who you are but you obviously never made it through high school, and couldn’t hold an arguement together.

At least Gary & Steve are articulate

Hey Crikey

You missed my point. I wouldn’t work for Smyth or Burke in a pink fit or the rest that you have a go at in these forums.
I was making the point that Branch stacking by Doszpot & Kent obviously worked. And no the elderly and the short people have a great role to play, just not those two. I was replying to Blahblah who is obviously a Kent & Doszpot worshiper, about time they woke up.

Zed promised us generational change & fresh faces and look who got preselected.

If we got rid of self-government, wouldn’t we end up with something like the NCA running the place and someone like Wilson Tuckey as our minister in Federal Parliament? Yetch (though still probably better than the ACT Libs)

did Reynolds even stand for preselection?

Reynolds waz not preselected

It’s interesting that you mention the legitimacy of the ACT Legislative Assembly. During the federal election I read that Democrats guy’s blog. I mean he choose a loosing team and that he wasn’t really all that polished. But there is a lot of interesting ideas on his Blog.

Here are a few good ones

Canberra the City Sate http://oliebol.tigblog.org/post/352261
Dirty washing in the barr http://oliebol.tigblog.org/post/352271
Which Committees http://oliebol.tigblog.org/post/354875

Merging with NSW probably wouldn’t help. Many of the newly-merged councils are going broke, or fleecing the ratepayers to finance things that don’t benefit them. Our council made rates for residents nearer Canberra more expensive, and cheaper for those further east, claiming that people living in the Canberra end of the shire were “richer”.

So Arsebandit22 believes that older and/or short people can’t or shouldn’t contribute to public life.

Arse by name – arse by nature.

He/she/it probably works for Brendan Smyth….who has left the Liberals in such good shape.

yes Mr Evil, please don’t say that again!!!!

Have to say that I like many others don’t know any better than self Government. However I do agree that it could be done better. There are too many ‘individuals’ on both sides of the political fence in the ACT Assembly.

Since it would seem that we aren’t going to get rid of the ACT legilsative Assembly, the only thing we can do is try and inhabit it with people who want to see Canberra become a better place to live, study and raise a family. At the moment I believe you could them on one hand.

hey Blahblah

You are kidding right, one is vertically challenged and the other is a geriatric and both are mates of Richard (we don’t want to talk about him) Mulchay.

You need to wake up from that drug induced state you have been living in.

I bet you are a young liberal stooge. Gary Kent doesn’t have any other friends.

Maybe we should merge with NSW? 🙂

Happily corrected on the correct etymology of ‘suffrage’ – however none of the respondents have dealt with the moral argument. Living in a democracy requires individual responsibility – the old system of “low-impact governance that took care of the essentials and didn’t bother with the frills” was undemocratic and didn’t allow individual responsibility (which without wanting to go all Robert A Heinlein, is the cornerstone of citizenship).
I moved here after self government – so I can’t say whether or not things were better in the old days…I suspect they weren’t (cue Monty Python “when I were a lad sketch”).
As for “Why can’t we have a Mayor and Council look after the important things – roads, water, footpaths, sewage etc and the Commonwealth look after health, schools, law and order etc” partly because the Commonwealth doesn’t look after those things – they are state end territory responsibilities. And mostly because it’s our responsibilty as citizens to look after these things ourselves, through our parliament. DO you really want to give responsibility for our courts to the Feds? Do you really think that they will produce results in keeping with community expectations? Of course not.
In a democracy you get the government you deserve – we’re responsible for the poor quality of our Assembly – no-one else is. It’s our responsibility to fix it too.

At least the liberals have started to build themselves up again and forgiven Gary Kent and Steve Doszpot for all the past problems. These two seem like excellent candidates Gary is a Board Secretary and Steve was our man at the Olympics. Excellent credentials for helping run our beautiful city.

Hargreaves is looking for staff that don’t mind having a drink with him 🙂

jimbocool said :

Secondly – the right to vote is called ‘suffrage’ for a reason – you suffer the choices you make when you vote.

Suffrage doesn’t mean anything to do with suffering, but while we’re on the point of voting, we voted AGAINST self government, and had it thrust upon us anyway. Canberra worked under the old system, it was low-impact governance that took care of the essentials and didn’t bother with the frills. No one is happy under this under-skilled lot who are in thrall to cowboy developers and shadowy lobbyists.

Anyone notice all the ads in the CT lately for staff for the various ACT “ministers”? Hargreaves seems to have the most staff vancancies.

jimbocool please stop whinging about the whingers!

Why can’t we have a Mayor and Council look after the important things – roads, water, footpaths, sewage etc and the Commonwealth look after health, schools, law and order etc.

Canberra has become a shithole under self-government – and the Assembly attracts mainly shithole politicians like Brendan Smyth, Jackquie Burke, Karen MacDonald, John Hargreaves, Katie Gallagher, Deb Foskey, Steve Pratt.

jimbocool. As one of the ‘whingers’, let me say this.

You’re right. The ACT government does have a lot of responsibilities.

MY point is that our leaders spend more time trying to dance on the national stage and not enough on the hospitals, legal systems, education systems etc, which it is their responsibilitiy to manage.

I don’t want to know what Stanhope’s view is on security issues, gay marriage, or battery hens. I want to know why you can wait up to 6 hours in the emergency dpartment of our hospital. I want to know what the ACT government is doing to secure water for our city.

(Oh and I hate to be pedantic, but suffrage is from Latin, meaning to express support, although in the ACT’s case, your definition, to suffer, is more accurate.)

Here we go again – the tired old “self-government was the worst thing to ever happen” and “we only need a council” tripe served up on the Riot. First up I’d like the whingers above to tell me of any other city council that has:
a) a pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary education system
b) a three tiered court system – magistrates, supreme and appeals court (along with a children’s court)
c) a remand centre, weekend detention centre, and soon a prison (as well as a community corrections system)and a youth detention facility.
d)a national park
e)a primary, secondary and tertiary health system
f)the whole gamut of transport regulation – licences, roads, public transport, infrastructure
g) public and community housing
h) disability services
i) a whole heap of other stuff that you lot would no doubt be first to complain about if it didn’t meet your expectations

Now that’s a fair bit of stuff to look after, which requires departments, and departments need to report to someone that is accountable to the people – a minister, and a minister should be appointed by a parliament. And in the ACT we have the most accessible parliament in the land.

Secondly – the right to vote is called ‘suffrage’ for a reason – you suffer the choices you make when you vote. Living in an undemocatic community – the “let’s return to the NCDC days” argument is not only a rubbish viewpoint, it’s a moral cop out as well.

If you don’t like the government or the members of the Assembly, do something about it – vote ’em out or run for the Assembly yourself.

I agree ant. There is not enough talent in this town to run a conventional parliament, particularly one with the grand city-state aspirations of the present incumbents. (Our ‘Attorney-General’ has an arts degree from UC, for cryin’ out loud).

It is a vicious circle. If you were a talented, successful and idealistic individual, would you want to stand behind the likes of Stanhope or Zed Seselja?

How do we get out of this?

The worst thing that ever happended to the ACT was self-government. Thanks to Federal Labor. All we need is a Mayor and a local part-time Council.

I agree that people like Smyth, Burke, MacDonald, Hargreaves, Gallagher, Foskey are a waste of public money.

It’s good that the Liberals have started to work out that the likes of Smyth and Burke are bad news for their party.

I think the way our gov’t is structured like a little Parliament puts off the kinds of people we need, and instead attracts people who are hopeful of a Federal parlimant career.

Why on earth does a city administration need an opposition? What a waste of money. All those elected people should have a real job, not being an “opposition”.

Doszpot *giggle*