The Nationals and political advertising cons

The three days preceding the political advertising blackout at midnight on Wednesday were more than a little painful, as television screens were blitzed by campaign advertising by all major political parties. Here on the NSW North Coast it was a veritable snow storm of spin.

However, what really took the top prize was the Nationals running with one ad which brazenly stated that it was the only party which helped to get an increase in the pension.
Not even lipservice paid to truth there. In fact, putting it bluntly, that would have to be a blatant lie.

The Nationals were not the only party debating pension increases over the last three years and, I can recall that in 2008 they supported an increase of only $30 a week and even then not for every class of pensioner. Remember that vacant space in their initial argument when it came to disability support pensioners?

Every Nationals candidate in 2010 from party leader Warren Truss down to novice Kevin Hogan seems to have conveniently forgotten that fact.

Number and age of everyone who now gets to vote on 21 August 2010

As a result of the recent High Court Decision (6 August) to extend the period for enrolling to vote in the federal election to 8pm 26 July 2010, the revised total number enrolled to vote is 14,088,260.
This compares to a previous total of 14,030,528 prior the Decision, representing an increase of 57,732 voters. A further 40,408 voters had their existing enrolment details updated.
Overall, 143,728 net additions to the electoral roll have occurred since the announcement of the 2010 federal election. A net total of 443,187 electors have been added to the roll since the close of rolls for the 2007 federal election, when 13,645,073 were enrolled to vote.

Click on image to enlarge

AEC XLS file of age and gender by actual electorate.

Will Migaloo survive glacial pace of legal proceeding at The Hague in Australia v Japan?

As Migaloo the adult male white Humpback Whale makes a welcome annual appearance on the east coast of Australia, many are wondering how long he will be able to avoid the harpoon of any overeager Japanese whaler operating in the Southern Ocean.

Because so far it has only been sustained public pressure which has seen Japan draw back from its intended inclusion of humpbacks in annual catch targets since 2007.

The matter of Japan's activities is currently before the International Court of Justice in Australia v Japan.

On 13 July 2010 The Court determined that Australia has until 9 May 2011 to lodge it pleadings and Japan until 9 March 2012 to lodge its counter pleadings.

Unfortunately this would leave more than enough time for any incoming Coalition Government to withdraw from these proceedings. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott being less than enthusiastic in the past and clearly implying a willingness to consider abandoning proceedings in The Hague should he win government on 21 August 2010:

''Coalition policy is not to take Japan to the international court. We are against whaling, but we wouldn't seek to advance [the cause] in that particular way......
we don't want to needlessly antagonise our most important trading partner, a fellow democracy, an ally......
There are limits to what you can reasonably do, and taking war-like action against Japan is not something that a sensible Australian politician ought to recommend.''

ABC News photograph of Migaloo 14 August 2010 off the Queensland coast near Cairns

1 more sleep until polling day and......

...the NSW North Coast Nats candidate in Page (and former Croweater) Kevin Hogan's campaigning is beginning to smack of desperation - he's got his wife sending out personalised letters spruiking the cause.

The missus wants to tell a few voters all about Kevvie's virtues as "a husband and father, rather than just as the political candidate you see in the newspaper or on TV".

Apparently he has too much "humility" to tell us himself that he's a "man of integrity, commitment and intelligence".

Unfortunately for the luvverly Karen (pictured) she doesn't have all that much material to work with and I'm left wondering what the Nationals campaign team thought they were achieving this late in the piece.

For the record here's an image of the letter in question and while I'm at it - a chapeau tip to Clarencegirl and someone she calls R's Dad for passing this little gem on.

Sophie's digital pen rulz on polling day!

Australian Electoral Commission media release:

13 August 2010

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) acknowledges the Federal Court Decision today that a claim for enrolment by Ms Sophie Trevitt meets the purposes of s102(1)(b) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act.

The AEC has therefore added Ms Trevitt to the electoral roll this afternoon and she will be entitled to vote in the federal election.

The AEC notes that the particular methodology used by Ms Trevitt in her online completion of an enrolment form was a digital pen on a trackpad for the purposes of providing a signature.

His Honour Perram J stated in his judgement (Getup Ltd v Electoral Commissioner 2010 FCA 869) today:

"22. Granted then that faxing and emailing a JPEG files satisfies, for the Commissioner's purposes, the requirements of s10(1)(b), it must follow, and I find, that the signature tool and the Ozenrol site likewise satisfy that provision."

After the federal election the AEC will need to discuss the Decision with the Electoral Council of Australia, a body that includes the Electoral Commissioner and his Joint Roll Partners (State Electoral Commissions) to ensure that the methodology is appropriate for all enrolment purposes across the three tiers of government.

The AEC also will discuss the judgement and associated roll issues with the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters in the next Parliament.

The AEC notes that GetUP Ltd publicly launched their Ozenrol portal on the day before the announcement of the election and withdrew it on day of announcement. The AEC does not have figures on any other attempted enrolments during this period.

The AEC also notes that another prospective claimant in this case to the Federal Court, Mr Steven Hind, sought to update his details using Ozenrol site but did not pursue his claims.

Mr Hind's case, however, quite apart from the deliberations of the Court were accepted by the AEC. Mr Hind used the Ozenrol site in making his claim for enrolment and did not provide a signature but was able to take advantage of the recent passage through the Parliament of the Electoral and Referendum Amendment (Pre-poll Voting and Other Measures) Act 2010 and the commencement of Schedule 2 to that Act on 19 July 2010. These new measures allow online update of a pre-existing federal enrolment.

WHK Horwath has verified Abbott & Co policy costings? G'arn!

Doesn't bluddy bode well. One of the only concrete things Abbott and Co actually do in the middle of all their campaign spin is to sidestep the Australian Treasury and contract the frequently rebranded accounting firm WHK Horwath (which is a listed company and the member firm representing Crowe Horwath International throughout Australia and New Zealand) to run a calculator over their policy costings.
"We aim to establish strong relationships with our clients, becoming an integral part of their organisation, adding value every step of the way through our proactive approach and driving their success." sez Horwath.
Gawd, I 'opes not!
In 2006 as Horwath & Horwath this company settled a claim "made in respect of 6 audits conducted by Horwath & Horwath as well as in relation to the preparation and verification of various financial reports pursuant to certain provisions of the trust deed. In particular the claim relates to the way Horwath & Horwath reported on, and failed to conclude that the provision for bad and doubtful debts in Geneva's financial statements was materially understated. It also concerns their failure to report on how Geneva did not have in place and maintain a satisfactory system of internal controls, as a result of which it followed poor lending practices."
And in its current manifestation it's into online footy tipping!
In 2010 WHK as it's now known may have agreed to honestly report on Coalition costings, but really, what in earth was it thinking to land the accountancy group in the middle of this particular political pottage.

2 more sleeps until polling day and......

.......Maud up the Street has invited me to put my feet under her table next Sat'dee and then stay on to see how the federal ballot plays out.
She said to come early as she will've slow cooked a Mista Rabbott with garden vegies and new potatoes using her grandmother's receipt.
Slowly stewing a symbol of the pollie everyone loves to hate. Hmm, a bit of sympathetic magic going down there perhaps?