I’m a troublemaker sometimes
Council elections are happening this month. In a lot of areas there’s been a change. Here in Glen Eira we used to have 3 wards with 3 councillors each. Now we’ll have 9 wards with 1 councillor each. I’m not so sure this is a good idea. Unfortunately some elected councillors aren’t great. In the ... [More]
Some random thoughts on the State Election result. Labor is back in government for a 3rd term, winning at least 52 seats, perhaps only down slightly from the last “Danslide” election. It underscores for me that despite widespread predictions of a COVID-19 backlash against the government, and Dan Andrews specifically, most people – even if ... [More]
Nothing stops the Big Build… except for the election.
Fires have ravaged south eastern Australia this summer. As I write this, cooler weather and even a little rain provided a few days of relief, but warmer weather is on the way. There’s much of the fire season still to come. 26 people are dead. 8.4 million hectares are believed to have burnt – figures ... [More]
Saturday’s Federal Election result might have been unexpected by many, but it underscores the Coalition’s illogical obsession with East West Link. Well, illogical from a transport planning perspective that is. Remember, it’s got a business case that says it will lose money – unless you include Wider Economic Benefits with which the Victorian Auditor General ... [More]
I don’t often write about climate change, but here are a few thoughts as we go into the Federal election on Saturday. But first I need to get these points out of the way: Climate change is real. If you think climate change is a hoax because you think you know more than the 97% ... [More]
Many people have written about the state election result. I thought I’d add my two-cents worth… noting that as of Wednesday night, some seats are still in doubt. The Coalition crime fear campaign didn’t resonate. The stats don’t match the rhetoric, and while the accounts from actual victims could be harrowing, Melbourne is not a ... [More]
It’s state election day this Saturday, though many people have already voted: Weâre up to 970,454 votes on Day 9 of early voting â 585,869 was the Day 9 early voting total in 2014. The number of postal votes received has risen to 177,572. Want to see how your Districtâs early voting tally compares to ... [More]
Just a quickie… A senior politician (I won’t say who, or which side) once told me something which, at the time was somewhat surprising to hear, but in retrospect it’s obvious – and puts a lot of things into perspective: For politicians, the number one priority is to get elected / to get re-elected / ... [More]
Here’s what I think about the Same Sex Marriage postal survey: I’m voting yes. The reality is that not everyone is attracted to the opposite sex. Who are we to deny them getting married if they want to? Despite how some others paint it, it doesn’t harm anybody else, and certainly doesn’t harm heterosexual marriages. ... [More]
Following a little jaunt out to Caroline Springs on Tuesday (more on this in the next post), with some tweets along the way, I had an interesting Twitter conversation with a disgruntled Geelong line user. One of my tweets noted that a huge crowd waiting at the platform for a Geelong train had in fact ... [More]
While I work on a bigger post (or at least one requiring a bit more research), here’s a quickie on an interesting parallel observed last week. Part one In the same week that Minister for Energy and the Environment Josh Frydenberg joined in a parliamentary stunt playing with a lump of coal, he also launched ... [More]