MetaFilter posts tagged with australia and election

Senator On-Line

finite — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 13:19:45 -0800

Senator On-Line (‘SOL’) is a truly democratic party which will allow everyone on the Australian Electoral roll who has access to the internet to vote on every Bill put to Parliament and have its Senators vote in accordance with a clear majority view. They will be running candidates for the upcoming federal Upper House (Senate) elections.

Australian Federal Election

wilful — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 16:58:55 -0800

The Australian Federal election is winding its desultory way towards resolution on 24 November. So far, it has failed to catch much of the electorate’s imagination, and the centrist Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd, retains his comfortable lead in the polls, indicating a change in executive government after 11 years of John Howard’s big-government conservatism. Rudd’s “me too” strategy suggests that ideology is dead in Australia. (Previously) There have been few surprises this campaign, and only the usual level of gaffes and cock-ups. There has been little attention given to the Senate race, despite some interesting horse trading such as Family First preferencing Pauline Hanson. The rise of psephological blogging has provided much-needed relief in the face of The Australian’s prostituting of itself to the conservatives. Personally I reckon Latham had a solid point, though it was easily ignored by the commentariat. It’s all about interest rates and the economy now.

Australian Federal Election 2007 on November 24

Effigy2000 — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 19:48:36 -0800

And we're off! Prime Minister John Howard has set the date for the Australian Federal election as November 24th, meaning we're up for a long six-week campaign. With Kevin Rudd leading the PM by between 16 to 18 points (depending on who you read) in recent opinion polls, this election seems the most likely to provide a change of Government since Howard was first elected 11 years ago. Antony Green's usual excellent election guide is up and running here, along with an excellent calculator which shows which seats are up for grabs dependent on a 2 party preferred swing. You might also want to check out the Vote-O-Matic, a fun but entirely disposable quiz which aims to help you decide who you'll vote for. Metafilter's international readers unfamiliar with the Australian political scene will likely be scratching their heads when trying to figure out just what the hell is going on over here, but this page offers a useful guide as a starting point. It can be handy to read over whether you're from outside Australia or a true blue Aussie yourself. Some other excellent Australian election resources include; Links to some of the contenders web pages; Australian Labor Party (plus the Kevin07 website). Liberal Party The Nationals Greens Australian Democrats Pauline Hanson's United Australia Party And here's some links to some excellent blogs which will no doubt continue to annoy the mainstream media throughout the campaign. Oz Politics Poll Bludger Possum Comitatus The Road to Surfdom Larvatus Prodeo Tim Dunlop's Blogocracy Mind you, the following two blogs are by mainstream media pundits, and right wing columnists Piers Ackerman and Andrew Bolt. Piers Ackerman's Blog Andrew Bolt's blog. And finally, Google's election guide, seen previously on Metafilter. The next six weeks are going to be long, grueling and if the experts are to be believed, incredibly negative. Strap yourselves in, folks. It's going to be one hell of a ride.

Googling the Australian Federal Election

Jimbob — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 18:57:09 -0800

Google launches a site dedicated to the upcoming Australian Federal Election with Youtube channels from each party, electoral boundaries integrated into Google Maps, a search engine to allow you to view what each candidate has said on a range of issues, from immigration to interest rates, news from your electorate, and graphs of media activity on candidates and issues. Australians have been lacking a comprehensive political resource like the UK's The Work For You, and Google has brought it one step closer. Unfortunately, many of the resources are in the form of gadgets you add to your iGoogle homepage, rather than standalone applications.

Poo Bum Dicky Wee Wee!

Effigy2000 — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:51:44 -0800

People vandalising Wikipedia is hardly a new thing but now even the office of the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, is getting into the act. Website Wiki-Scanner (previously) has traced several edits to Wikipedia articles by the Prime Ministers staff, according to Australian newspaper The Courier Mail. And they aren't confined solely to the Wikipedia entry on the PM himself; there was even an act of vandalism on a martial-arts related entry, in which one of Howard's ministerial staffers wrote, “Poo bum dicky wee wee” on the page. Not good news on the eve of a federal election that the PM is largely expected to lose. Meanwhile, 'new media' is being put to good use at Opposition leader Kevin Rudd's website, Kevin07, where a recent blog entry compiles Youtube's 'best' political videos. Hours of fun for the whole family!

John Howard in 'Cabinet: The Movie.'

Effigy2000 — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 04:06:52 -0800

Cabinet: The Movie. Starring Australian PM John Howard and a bunch of chickens. [more inside]

McLeod's Pollsters

Effigy2000 — Thu, 17 May 2007 23:52:04 -0800

As the countdown to the Australian federal election continues ever onward, the key issue looks set to be industrial relations. The incumbent Howard Government's WorkChoices laws (now re-branded due to their increasing unpopularity) have seen the poll figures for challenger Kevin Rudd go up and up and up. But even as the Government prepares to unleash a major advertisement spree in an attempt to sell the alleged benefits of Work Choices, the new laws have come under attack from the most unlikely of places; popular prime time TV soap McLeod's Daughters, which last night aired this thinly veiled assault (youtube) on the central element of WorkChoices, AWAs.

Campaigning in Oz

Ethereal Bligh — Mon, 13 Sep 2004 23:31:36 -0800

Sunday Night's Election Debate — National security issues loom large, voters are admonished not to decide to “cut and run”. Medicare and the economy were also points of contention. The greens are being attacked as “commies”. John Quiggin has some observations.