14 July 2010

You need to sort out your electoral enrolment right now

| johnboy
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[First filed: Jul 13, 2010 @ 10:54]

Cthulu t-shirt [T-shirt from CafePress.]

That for many of our younger readers RiotACT is the primary source of news is a cause of sleepless nights for me.

So we’re going to be serious for just a minute.

If you’re not enrolled to vote, or you’ve moved house since the last election, you need to sort out your enrollment. Probably today, by the end of the week at the latest.

We joke that voting doesn’t matter in the ACT, and it’s true that if you say you’re really sorry the electoral commission will probably waive the first fine.

But there are some big things to vote about that matter. Stuff like handing the internet over to a faceless committee of public servants who’ll decide what you can see and read (and already ban R18 computer games to appease authoritarian nutballs). Stuff like climate change policy, drug laws, war and peace.

Even if here in Canberra a change in sitting members is unlikely big changes in voting patterns will get noticed, policies will be modified.

But you have to enroll and once the election is called it is too late.

The ABC’s Anthony Green has an excellent piece on how to check your enrollment and how to go about voting.

Then, if you’re not enrolled, get down to the post office to fill in the paperwork.

Today.

(And then get reading, trust no-one, and form your own opinions. It’s a lot of work but it’s your future)

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Pommy bastard12:54 pm 15 Jul 10

johnboy said :

You can change it yourself!

Not according to my profile John?

Name
Username Pommy Bastard Your username cannot be changed.

Although you interwizzygeeks may know different! 🙂

One said :

Pork Hunt said :

Under the proposed internet filter, what happens if your name and address is:

Ms Virginia Cockburn
69 Sextant Way
Scunthorpe

and people try to Google you??

lol

Yes people can still G u but only if they don’t use a stupid system created by Card carring low paid production line memberships – so much for ordering products from Australia.

The only thing the filter stop is people. It wont stop bad content – much like a bad ACT government that hangs around doing nothing, publishing only propaganda with hate messages towards others, filling up over 40k in letter boxs with ALP how to vote cards created from recycled 30 page ACTEW statements made from 150gms rain forrest paper. Simply look at how many filters are in place for the ACT government not to waste money to know that a filter is a waste of time.

The Police could try law enforcement but why bother when they can simply hang out for another pay rise while their mates paid by the AEC go along littering the road sides and committing criminal damage to property.

AEC do not provide good information them selves – there is no information on accessing voting centres under threats of harm by other voters; something you would think every Australian had a right to know

I wish I had a ‘One’ filter…

justin heywood said :

We humans have an almost infinite capacity to delude ourselves.

It is even easier if you drink.

Personally I don’t subscribe to left and right. I think politics is better represented by a ring. If you go far enough to the left you end up being on the right…

Pommy bastard11:25 am 15 Jul 10

farq said :

Pommy bastard said :

Former “Pommy Bastard”, now “Dual Citizenship Bastard.”

Congratulations. You now belong to a country that is good at sports. We expect that you will be changing your user id.

Seriously congratulations again. More aussies the better I say.

Many thanks!

Johnboy, can change my username/ login to “Former Pommy Bastard”, please?

You can change it yourself!

justin heywood10:59 am 15 Jul 10

p1 said :

Re the ABC…..

I have a friend who takes all his news from alJazeera, as he claims that all Western media is biased. When I suggested that alJazeera might have a bias of its own, he said ‘No no, there is no bias. I agree with everything they say.’

We humans have an almost infinite capacity to delude ourselves.

TheVirulentOne said :

Re the ABC, if you can’t see the left wing bias I suspect you see a surgeon and have the blinkers removed.

Guess it is, as always, relative to where you are looking from. While I understand that maybe my views might not be the median of those held by every Australian, neither are anyone else’s.

As someone said in a thread the other day, think of someone who you think is of average intelligence, and fully half of all Australians are stupider then them. Same applies to politics.

Pork Hunt said :

Under the proposed internet filter, what happens if your name and address is:

Ms Virginia Cockburn
69 Sextant Way
Scunthorpe

and people try to Google you??

lol

Yes people can still G u but only if they don’t use a stupid system created by Card carring low paid production line memberships – so much for ordering products from Australia.

The only thing the filter stop is people. It wont stop bad content – much like a bad ACT government that hangs around doing nothing, publishing only propaganda with hate messages towards others, filling up over 40k in letter boxs with ALP how to vote cards created from recycled 30 page ACTEW statements made from 150gms rain forrest paper. Simply look at how many filters are in place for the ACT government not to waste money to know that a filter is a waste of time.

The Police could try law enforcement but why bother when they can simply hang out for another pay rise while their mates paid by the AEC go along littering the road sides and committing criminal damage to property.

AEC do not provide good information them selves – there is no information on accessing voting centres under threats of harm by other voters; something you would think every Australian had a right to know

Pommy bastard said :

Former “Pommy Bastard”, now “Dual Citizenship Bastard.”

Congratulations. You now belong to a country that is good at sports. We expect that you will be changing your user id.

Seriously congratulations again. More aussies the better I say.

Always thought that The Call of Ktulu was one of the best songs on Ride the Lightning.

I would totally vote for Dave Mustaine if he was standing for election.

TheVirulentOne7:40 pm 14 Jul 10

Too much haste, too little checking – “Re GetUp, NOT being controlled by a political party hardly makes them independent”. And make ‘suspect’ SUGGEST !

TheVirulentOne7:37 pm 14 Jul 10

Re GetUp, being controlled by a political party hardly makes them independent. The most basic research on their campaigns reveals an extremist left wing agenda. Though they would probably call themselves ‘progressive’, ie high tax, maximum government interference on everyone’s lives bar terrorists, open borders, anti-business, anti-choice, etc…

Re the ABC, if you can’t see the left wing bias I suspect you see a surgeon and have the blinkers removed.

If I was donating to an organisation claiming to be “an independent political movement to build a progressive Australia”, I’d hope they were of benefit to somebody…

However according to the AEC report into their activities prior to the 2007 election…
Pg24: GetUp entities were not associated entities (as then defined) as they did not appear to be controlled by one or more registered political parties, nor did they appear to operate wholly or to a significant extent to the benefit of one or more registered political parties. The available information did not show a real or actual benefit to any party or parties, nor did it show a sufficiently direct link between the entities and any political party or parties. The AEC had insufficient grounds to undertake a more formal investigation.

Pommy bastard4:35 pm 14 Jul 10

Interestingly, when I made my pledge to the people and nation of Australia last Friday, I was given, and completed, an enrollment / registration form at the ceremony.

Former “Pommy Bastard”, now “Dual Citizenship Bastard.”

dvaey said :

Icepoet said :

dvaey said :

Stuff like climate change policy, drug laws, war and peace.

One thing Id often like during an election, is some sort of table published maybe in the CT, which briefly summarises the candidates views on various subjects.

Davey, last election Getup did just that.

The only issue with it was that the Liberal candidates refused to participate last time so it was impossible to compare your results with their candidates.

Sounds great, Ill have to have a look for it this time around. As for the libs refusing to participate, isnt that their loss? If the site will suggest who to vote for, and they refuse to put their name on the list, along-side their political views, they might as well take it off the ballot paper, IMHO.

+1 for that suggestion.

Get up is a business based on fleecing the well-intended. Not supporting them is not such a bad thing in and of itself.

Icepoet said :

dvaey said :

Stuff like climate change policy, drug laws, war and peace.

One thing Id often like during an election, is some sort of table published maybe in the CT, which briefly summarises the candidates views on various subjects.

Davey, last election Getup did just that.

The only issue with it was that the Liberal candidates refused to participate last time so it was impossible to compare your results with their candidates.

Sounds great, Ill have to have a look for it this time around. As for the libs refusing to participate, isnt that their loss? If the site will suggest who to vote for, and they refuse to put their name on the list, along-side their political views, they might as well take it off the ballot paper, IMHO.

arescarti42 said :

“That for many of our younger readers RiotACT is the primary source of news is a cause of sleepless nights for me.”

Don’t flatter yourself JB.

Ok, the consensus appears to be out on that one, I withdraw my previous statement.

Also, for those who are interested, the ABC has a bunch of RSS feeds, local, national and international which are pretty good.

dvaey said :

Stuff like climate change policy, drug laws, war and peace.

One thing Id often like during an election, is some sort of table published maybe in the CT, which briefly summarises the candidates views on various subjects. After doing some digging last election, I strangely found that the candidate most in-line with my views for the few issues important to me, was one who I normally never would have even looked at due to their party affiliation.

Davey, last election Getup did just that. They gave you an online questionaire to fill in about what you believed was important and asked the candidates to fill in the same questionaire. When you submitted your questionaire it showed a table indicating which candidate shared the closest responses to you.

The only issue with it was that the Liberal candidates refused to participate last time so it was impossible to compare your results with their candidates.

Ps. Has anyone seen Getup’s new spoof ad – based on a well known flavoured milk ad?

Very funny.

arescarti42 said :

“That for many of our younger readers RiotACT is the primary source of news is a cause of sleepless nights for me.”

Don’t flatter yourself JB.

This isn’t so far from the truth. I get my Canberra specific news more from the RiotACT then any other source. Or at least I hear about it here first, I often then read reports elsewhere if it interests me.

For wider news with a left wing for grown-ups slant I read ABC. It’s not really left wing, but all the older rightwing people think it is.

Stuff like climate change policy, drug laws, war and peace.

One thing Id often like during an election, is some sort of table published maybe in the CT, which briefly summarises the candidates views on various subjects. After doing some digging last election, I strangely found that the candidate most in-line with my views for the few issues important to me, was one who I normally never would have even looked at due to their party affiliation.

It’s “enrolment” … one “l”.

I’ll be voting for the side that opposes the internet filter. At this stage its going to be some minority group as the libs havent actually made a stance against it.

arescarti42 said :

“That for many of our younger readers RiotACT is the primary source of news is a cause of sleepless nights for me.”

Don’t flatter yourself JB.

Um… No for overworked yunguns like me it really is. I can understand why JB might be nervous about the responsibility but I really can’t be bothered trawling through the celebrity baby photos on news.com.au or abc or reading between the lines of general lack of content on Canberra Times just to find out what I need to know. Hence RiotACT.

REMOVE GOVERNMENT!

Is this not called RIOTACT for a reason?!>!>

The NAB and Commonwealth bank windows are still intact. All of you are joke worthy.

As if Cthulhu would be worse than any of the other candidates.

“That for many of our younger readers RiotACT is the primary source of news is a cause of sleepless nights for me.”

Don’t flatter yourself JB.

Man, my attempt at smartarsery would have gone better if I’d spelt “Cthulhu” correctly. You wouldn’t think I’d just finished reading about 8 of Lovecraft’s books in a row…

Tetranitrate6:53 pm 13 Jul 10

BimboGeek said :

caf said :

each vote is worth about $2.50 in electoral funding to your number 1 preference (as long as they get over a couple of percent of the vote).

So speaking as one of those youths who get all our news from RA…

Does that $2.50 redistribute on preferences if my primary vote is for something exceedingly silly? How do I find out which parties are getting or likely to get a few percent of primary vote?

No, it doesn’t.

In my opinion, the AEC should be re-named to AIPC (Aust.Invasion of Privacy Commission). Two Elections ago, my wife recieved an “AEC Enrollment Form” in the mail for where we live, explaining that she should enrol to vote. I guess they must have access to ATO/Centerlink data. My wife at the time was an Australian Resident, not a Citizen, and the last I heard, you have to be a Citizen to be able to (must) vote. My wife has since become a Citizen, and enrolled and voted at last Election. Now, while we are living OS temporally, we have had our mail redirected to my Sisters address. The AIPC have sent a letter to us telling us that we must notify them that we have changed address. Who needs ASIO spies, when we have AEC(AIPC)spies working for the Guvment?

Yay, I’ve found the online form and filled it in. Now all I need to do is print, sign and submit it!

Do you think it’s OK to use pink paper?

I did specify that under the proposed internet filter what would happen etc…

It seems that people have taken my feeble attempt at humour seriously and are wildly googling some fictitious womans name and address to see what happens today.

Lesser evil? I thought that was this guy? http://bit.ly/aOcoC6

johnboy said :

Anyone else want to bring Trunking Symbols up to speed or shall we let him google?

Let me Google that for you.

grumpyrhonda5:35 pm 13 Jul 10

Thoroughly Smashed said :

Pork Hunt said :

Under the proposed internet filter, what happens if your name and address is:

Ms Virginia Cockburn
69 Sextant Way
Scunthorpe

and people try to Google you??

Is Google Images SafeSearch turned on or off?

Safe search was turned off and I am at home. This is what the result was.
Your search – Ms Virginia Cockburn 69 Sextant Way Scunthorpe – did not match any documents.

Suggestions:

* Make sure all words are spelled correctly.
* Try different keywords.
* Try more general keywords.
* Try fewer keywords.

johnboy said :

Anyone else want to bring Trunking Symbols up to speed or shall we let him google?

My normal way of explaining things is to google it, then just link to the wikipaedia entry anyway.

Trunking symbols5:20 pm 13 Jul 10

What is CTHULHU 2012? Is it someone’s name? Does it stand for anything? Why was this pic used for this posting?

Anyone else want to bring Trunking Symbols up to speed or shall we let him google?

@BimboGeek:

http://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/Publications/handbooks/candidates/election_funding.htm#ele

There is a summary of how it works there and more detail in the attached link, but no, the only vote with the power to give a candidate money is a number 1 vote (in the senate and the house of reps), if the candidate you vote for gets below 4% of the vote, they don’t get any money so the Commonwealth doesn’t pay anyone.

As far as groups that are likely to get over 4%, Nationally, only the ALP, Greens, Libs and Nationals get over 4% (and the nats only get just over 5%), but these things are done by electorate (for the house) and state or territory (for the senate).

In the ACT, in Canberra, Fraser and in the senate, the only parties that are any chance of getting over 4% of the vote are the ALP (51.1%), Libs (33%) and Greens (13%), the Dems get just over 1% and the rest are tiny.

I’d be interested to know what happens if you google that right now, but I think I will wait till I get home from work to try it.

Thoroughly Smashed4:33 pm 13 Jul 10

Pork Hunt said :

Under the proposed internet filter, what happens if your name and address is:

Ms Virginia Cockburn
69 Sextant Way
Scunthorpe

and people try to Google you??

Is Google Images SafeSearch turned on or off?

Under the proposed internet filter, what happens if your name and address is:

Ms Virginia Cockburn
69 Sextant Way
Scunthorpe

and people try to Google you??

astrojax said :

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

Maybe if you could tell me which politicians are the most like which MasterChef contestants I could work it out on my own.

but you vote pollies in, not out, woody, so that would make it hard… 😉

Sounds like a restructure to the countries electoral system we could all get behind. Whoever receives the most text messages during each month goes home…

caf said :

each vote is worth about $2.50 in electoral funding to your number 1 preference (as long as they get over a couple of percent of the vote).

So speaking as one of those youths who get all our news from RA…

Does that $2.50 redistribute on preferences if my primary vote is for something exceedingly silly? How do I find out which parties are getting or likely to get a few percent of primary vote?

They didn’t teach these finer details in high school, or if they did, I was wagging SOSE to hang out in the music and drama room…

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

Maybe if you could tell me which politicians are the most like which MasterChef contestants I could work it out on my own.

but you vote pollies in, not out, woody, so that would make it hard… 😉

Typsy McStaggers3:55 pm 13 Jul 10

Here is an AEC enrol to vote promotion I thought was excellent, well away from what we’ve come to expect over the years. Well worth a look …
http://qanda.abc.net.au/_Enrolment-Video-GetUp/video/1146595/30560.html
Sorry I don’t know how to do the hyperlink thing!

grumpyrhonda3:37 pm 13 Jul 10

There is a site on Canberra Connect which is very useful.

https://forms.act.gov.au/smartform/public/FormServer?formId=1038

This online form notifies the ACT Government of your change of address in relation to:

– Dog registrations
– Drivers licences
– Government housing tenancy
– Library cards
– Motor vehicle registrations
– Rates and land tax
– Senior cards
– CIT enrolment

I have used it once and have found it very helpful.

Not to mention that even in the safest of seats, each vote is worth about $2.50 in electoral funding to your number 1 preference (as long as they get over a couple of percent of the vote).

captainwhorebags3:19 pm 13 Jul 10

Solidarity: it’s illegal not to be enrolled. It may mean that it’s harder for the AEC to fine you, but it’s breaking the law nonetheless.

And just so you don’t call bullshit, here’s section 101(4) from the Commonwealth Electoral Act (1918):

Subject to subsection (5A), every person who is entitled to have his
or her name placed on the Roll for any Subdivision whether by
way of enrolment or transfer of enrolment, and whose name is not
on the Roll upon the expiration of 21 days from the date upon
which the person became so entitled, or at any subsequent date
while the person continues to be so entitled, shall be guilty of an
offence unless he or she proves that the non-enrolment is not in
consequence of his or her failure to send or deliver to a Divisional
Returning Officer or an Australian Electoral Officer, a claim, duly
filled in and signed in accordance with the directions printed
thereon.

Solidarity said :

If you’re not enrolled, you won’t get fined. You get fined for being enrolled and not voting, not not being enrolled and not voting. Stop spreading electoral commission propaganda.

Only cause they won’t know you didn’t vote ’cause you weren’t enrolled….

I’ve been wondering a little about the big new tax on the internet (errr, filter…)

They have said they will block instructions and aids to criminal activity. Will circumventing the filter be a criminal act? If so, will they be blocking every single proxy server on the interwebs?

georgesgenitals2:56 pm 13 Jul 10

Woody Mann-Caruso said :

*groan*

Can’t you just tell me which box to tick? I can’t be expected to keep up with Fox News and news.com.au.

Maybe if you could tell me which politicians are the most like which MasterChef contestants I could work it out on my own.

Perhaps we need to put the pollies through an elimination round?

If you’re not enrolled, you won’t get fined. You get fined for being enrolled and not voting, not not being enrolled and not voting. Stop spreading electoral commission propaganda.

Woody Mann-Caruso2:26 pm 13 Jul 10

Why do you love child pornography so much, farq?

Speaking of Japan, can I get the school uniform rebate if I just want my missus to dress up as Sailor Moon?

Now is also the time to start sending emails to the ALP candidates asking if they will support the Internet Filter in the next Labor caucus.

verbalkint said :

So, if you live here, and you haven’t moved your enrolement details across, do it now! It may well give the ACT the level of representation it deserves and an extra politician up on the hill can only help to increase the attention that we get from the Feds.

Yeah, right.

The AEC has a webform that you can use to quickly check your enrolment here: https://oevf.aec.gov.au/

It’s reply paid anyway.

I checked mine just when Julia got the nod, turns out I was enrolleda t the wrong house. Price of being a renter in Canberra, so much missed mail.

And change you Medicare card address too, it counts for health funding allocation.

Woody Mann-Caruso12:03 pm 13 Jul 10

*groan*

Can’t you just tell me which box to tick? I can’t be expected to keep up with Fox News and news.com.au.

Maybe if you could tell me which politicians are the most like which MasterChef contestants I could work it out on my own.

Also, it is worth noting that the ACT has the largest (Canberra – 165,000) and third largest (Fraser – 158,000) electorates in the country.

The smallest electorates in the country have only 90,000 voters in them. If everyone who lived in Canberra was elrolled to vote here, these already huge electorates get too large and that might even be enough to convince the AEC that we need a third seat.

So, if you live here, and you haven’t moved your enrolement details across, do it now! It may well give the ACT the level of representation it deserves and an extra politician up on the hill can only help to increase the attention that we get from the Feds.

With mine, I filled the form online and saved it. A little while later I received my application in the mail to sign and mail it back free even without me asking for it. Thanks Gubberment!

There probably isn’t time for that process now GSG. But the form at the post office already has pre-paid envelopes I believe.

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