Saturday, 7 September 2013

State of Play in NSW North Coast Federal Electorates, 9 pm 7 September 2013






Right click on tables to enlarge
http://vtr.aec.gov.au/HouseDivisionMenu-17496-NSW.htm

If there's a high informal vote in the Senate in the Clarence Valley ...


Click on image to enlarge

Today's Daily Examiner has rewritten the rules for voting in the Senate. While the AEC's instructions for voters in NSW who vote below the line is to number every box (and remember, there are 110 boxes) in order of preference the Examiner on page 5 advised its readers to number every box from one to 10. That will see voters having to vote 1-10 eleven times - the end result will be eleven Number 1 votes, eleven Number 2 votes, eleven Number 3 votes, ...

Australian Electoral Commission Virtual Tally Room 2013 & other links


Virtual Tally Room archive.


ABC News 24 ABC Election Centre live from 6.00pm AEST. Geoblock removed for election night.

ABC Radio 702 live stream from 6pm.

On election night, a quick update on the result in your electorate will be available by tweeting @abcelections and ABC Vote Robots will reply.
To get results, send a tweet to @abcelections in a format like: "What's the result in South Perth?" or "What's happening in Eden-Monaro?"

The Back Alley Gallery street art initiative in Lismore


Street art in the Lismore Local Government Area as part of the Back Alley Gallery project.

Thanks to Lismore Mayor Jenny Dowell for tweeting these photographs.


Friday, 6 September 2013

The violent face of things to come under an Abbott government?


The campaign worker wearing a Liberal Party t-shirt carries a Stanley knife. Source: Supplied

POLICE are investigating allegations that a Liberal campaign worker threatened the sister of western Sydney Labor MP Ed Husic with a Stanley knife last night.
It is the second incident involving police and Liberal staff in the past two days.
The Daily Telegraph has learned that on Thursday, a group of Liberal Party campaign workers rushed Mr Husic's sister, Sabina Husic, with the knife yelling "you f..king dog".
The alleged incident occurred when Ms Husic and colleague were patrolling Labor posters in Mt Druitt, in the seat of Chifley on Thursday night, after reports they had been vandalised, when they were set upon by three cars.
A witness said four men, including the local Liberal campaign manager Jeremy Greenwood, the campaign director for Liberal candidate Isobel White, approached Ms Husic yelling abuse. One of them was holding a Stanley knife.

A complaint was made to Mt Druitt police and the NSW Liberal Party campaign head office.
It is believed Mr Greenwood has since been removed from the campaign, after photographic evidence - obtained by The Daily Telegraph on-line - was supplied to the Liberal HQ.
Ms Husic declined to comment claiming the matter was under police investigation.......
Read the rest of the 6 September 2013 Daily Telegraph article here.


I don't intend to censor the Internet - Abbott's last lie of the federal election campaign?


Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on the subject of the Coalition’s internet censorship policy, as reported by news.com.au on 6 September 2013:

"We don't support Internet filtering, we have never supported Internet filtering...
I think there should be commercially available filters at the PC and mobile phone level for people to opt into if they wish.
I read the policy last night, quickly it has to be said, I thought it was a reference to the ability of people to get an Internet based filter. I am sorry it was poorly worded, that has been cleared up."

If reader’s take the time to peruse the Coalition’s original policy below (which has since been removed from its election campaign websites) they will quickly discover that a mandatory filter on all devices capable of accessing the Internet (with a user opt-out option) and the mandatory participation of all Internet Service Providers was not a case of poor wording or last minute addition.

If elected on 7 September Abbott and Coalition have plans to immediately push for coal seam gas industry expansion in NSW


So much for Nationals candidate Kevin Hogan’s assurances concerning coal seam gas exploration and mining on the NSW North Coast.....

Australian Mining 4 September 2013:

The Abbott government would also drive the expansion of NSW’s coal seam gas sector. Macfarlane would make the NSW domestic gas matter one of his top three concerns, The Australian reported.
Macfarlane has already set a Christmas deadline to resolve the issue, saying it may already be three months overdue.
He labelled the condition urgent “beyond belief”.
“It’s a massive problem and it’s going to cost jobs from Newcastle to Wollongong if we don’t get it sorted,” he said.
“The only situation short-term is to get the CSG industry going well enough to supply the domestic demand, which is going to start to exceed supply in 2015 and 2016 when they start turning on the LNG trains in Gladstone.
The Coalition government and Macfarlane also promised to bring in an exploration development incentive.
Under the scheme, junior mining companies with no taxable income can pass eligible exploration expenses on to their shareholders.
A Minerals Council of Australia spokesman said the pledge showed the Coalition understood the importance of exploration.
“The MCA has regularly highlighted the tax asymmetry in the treatment of exploration expenses for companies with no taxable income.”
The Australian Tax Office will decide on a part of the costs that investors can claim as tax credits.
It is aimed at junior mining companies with no taxable income and will be capped at $100 million over the forward estimates.
Association of Mining and Exploration Companies head Simon Bennison recently told Australian Mining juniors are operating without support and said if this continues, the future of the industry is in jeopardy.