27 September 2016

Who are all these election candidates, anyway?

| Bob Douglas
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Making responsible voting decisions for the ACT Assembly on October 15 has been made quite complex by the proliferation of independent candidates and those representing newly formed parties. Add to that the operation of the Hare Clarke system and the Robson rotation as well as the plethora of signs, pamphlets and doorknockers with which we are being inundated and we could all be forgiven for simply taking the how to vote card from one of the well established parties and doing as we are told.

That of course is how it usually works and that is probably what the established parties would prefer.

For those who really want to know more about the emerging candidates, the Canberra Alliance for Participatory Democracy has a website arranged by electorate listing all the candidates and their websites. It has invited all candidates to complete a pro forma statement that includes their qualification to be a representative, their key policy interests, the way they plan to manage their representative role and whether or not they support six statements that the Alliance has developed as a “Charter of Democratic commitment”

The website already has 42 candidate statements on file. They are arranged by electorate and party. At this stage, the files contain statements by each of the party leaders and 12 of the 25 liberal candidates, 11 of the 25 ALP candidates, 10 of the 15 Greens candidates and 6 of the 16 Independent candidates.

11 of the 25 known Ginninderra candidates; 9/16 Brindabella candidates; 7/17 Yerrabi candidates; 7/15 Murrumbidgee candidates and 9/18 Kurrajong candidates have submitted statements.

All of the candidates on file have endorsed the charter with a few adding minor amendments to it. Nearly all of the statements are a refreshing departure from the often trivial restatement of party policy that is part of the material that arrives in our letterboxes.

The website is at www.canberra-alliance.org.au and is being updated every few days .

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Raging Tempest4:15 pm 28 Sep 16

David Pollard said :

How critical is it to you that a candidate lives locally? Is it a deal breaker, or is it simply strongly in their favour?

For me it is a deal breaker, same if you’ve just parachuted in or used to live there but currently don’t. If you aren’t experiencing the issues in person, you have no buy in and no proper concept of the impact of the issues in the area as a representative. For example (being in Tuggers/Brindabella) – road duplications, public transport (45 minutes to go 5km), tip smells…
I think what the CAPD put together is really useful though.

David Pollard said :

How critical is it to you that a candidate lives locally? Is it a deal breaker, or is it simply strongly in their favour?

It isn’t highly important to me.
But then I don’t agree with these smaller electorates, as they are intentionally designed to keep out independents and smaller parties and favour the larger parties. In a relatively small place such as the ACT, we should only have one electorate. This would be more democratic, as it would better reflect the wants of the community.
If I want to contact an elected member about something, I would likely (have done) not think to contact my ‘local’ member, but the minister responsible for that matter, regardless of what electorate they live in.

David Pollard1:38 pm 28 Sep 16

Raging Tempest said :

Great idea; unfortunately doesn’t answer my first question for the candidates – do you live in the electorate you are campaigning in, and if so, how long for?

They ran the same process at the federal election for ACT candidates, and have refined the form since then. I suspect they would be open to refining it continually.

Personally, I do live in my electorate. I think that with the greater number of smaller electorates it is becoming more important that our representatives live locally. It probably isn’t absolutely critical, but many of the pains of the community need to be lived through, not just visited once or twice.

How critical is it to you that a candidate lives locally? Is it a deal breaker, or is it simply strongly in their favour?

Raging Tempest12:36 pm 28 Sep 16

Great idea; unfortunately doesn’t answer my first question for the candidates – do you live in the electorate you are campaigning in, and if so, how long for?

David Pollard11:05 am 28 Sep 16

Disclaimer: I’m an independent candidate for Yerrabi

I gave the Canberra Alliance for Participatory Democracy website a plug on 2CC this morning as part of the solution to the mess of roadside election material. I am proposing we limit the number of signs on our roadsides (http://www.davidpollard.com.au/policies-and-platforms/roadside-election-material/), but if we do that we will need to ensure a democratic way for all candidates to be known. I think your website is an excellent way to achieve that.

A great initiative. Thanks.

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