NSW Greens results
The NSW Greens did pretty well. 9% of the primary vote across the state upper and lower houses. It looks like they’ll get two more members of the state upper house, bringing their number to four, but no members of the state lower house. Without a proportional system there isn’t much democracy.
In Marrickville (Sydney inner west) the Greens came so close - 54% Labor, 46% Greens after the distribution of preferences.
The Liberals harassed the Greens in a number of seats with Liberal Senator Bill Heffernen being ordered by police to return Green Party how-to-vote cards after Heffernen stole them and then handed them out while misrepresenting the Greens’ drug policies. Just like the Nationals’ Exclusive Brethren tricks here in 2005, the Liberals didn’t want people to know the truth so they spread misinformation.
March 27th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
One problem with the Australian system of allowing campaigning on the day is that it leaves it up to the election workers to police the limits (6m from the door to the polling place), resulting in complaints that Labour operatives were campaigning *inside* polling booths as people were trying to vote. I only have that second hand, but my first hand observations in a different booth make it seem like a credible report.
Plus, I have to say, many Australians don’t understand how preferential voting works, and the ones who do are somewhat hamstrung by the way electoral funding goes to your first preference - I would have liked to preference some of the very small parties, but couldn’t meaningfully do so without depriving The Greens of the few bucks they get for each primary vote (which is as important for what it says as for the few bucks). Althought the $1500/pa tax deductable donation to a political party is nice.
STV/preferential voting is a nice theory, but it just seems not to work in practice. Perhaps with an educated, involved electorate (ICANN, say) it would work well, but in Australia it’s a bit of a joke.
March 28th, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Shouldn`t Heffernen be hauled to the courts? That practice has to be illegal even in Australia or are Liberals there above the law?
Yours Drakula
March 29th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
“beneath”, old stick, beneath the law. It’s even more problematic because Heffernen is not denying what he did, in fact the contrary. But I don’t think he’ll be prosecuted, because the Liberals are not trying to pin similar behaviour on Labour. That seems to be the only time they believe in accountability.
March 30th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
I thaught such behaviour would be disciplined by the speaker of the house, but then he could be a Liberal. Stealing pamphlets from other parties and mis-representing them, strikes me as being a wee bit out of order.