updates on cadidates for Ginninderra, with some links for the other electorates
New information edited in has been done in italics
Getting a list of the candidates for the local election was...interesting.
The Electoral Commission told me that they had no idea who was running - and didn't care. I was shocked at the time, but on reflection, an organisation dedicated to helping Australian democracy isn't going to have much time for this farce.
So fair enough. They aren't handling the elections, either [!] They did let me know that the polling booths were option for postals etc, so I went there.
The idiots running the booths *wouldn't tell me who was running*. Their idea of being helpful was pointing to a room they knew was empty and telling me to ask members of the parties in there.
Persistence and the implicit threat of violence eventually wore them down enough that they agreed to let me copy names down from a ballot paper.
The net is better - candidates for the 3 electorates are available here:
http://www.elections.act.gov.au/elections/2008/ListOfCandidates08.html
An overview of the candidates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Capital_Territory_general_election,_2008
The choices! Where possible, I've also include links to their policies (if any). These tend to be meaningless waffle, however, they will occasionally include an interesting/unusual goal. I didn't see any actual plan to achieve any of these goals; if I've missed one please let me know.
As always, if you know anything about a candidate, please add a comment. Thank you to those who've already done so.
Independents in Ginninderra:
Adam Verwey: http://www.adam08.com/ Was at the meet and greet on Tuesday - in fact, I found out about it from his (very cool) website. His policies http://www.adam08.com/Policy.html
Mark Parton: http://www.markparton.com/ Previously Mix 106.3 Presenter, he is being supported by the Canberra Business Club - a group of disgruntled ex-Liberal fundraisers, led by Jim Murphy (of Jim Murphy's Liquor).
Harold Hird: Ex-Liberal, ex-"Harold Hird Independents", now an ungrouped Independent. His webpage http://www.haroldhird.com.au/
Barry Smith His webpage: http://www.barrysmith.bigpondhosting.com/
Independents without webpages etc:
Cathy McIlhoney: Seems to be in some way connected with Belconnen Picture Framing, as she is the contact for their sponsorship of Belconnen Lawn Bowls.
Eddie Sarkis: possibly the same Eddie Sarkis who ran for Granville as a Liberal in 2007?
The parties
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The Australian Motorist Party. They want a Dragway. They also have a number of complaints about parking (I was pleased to note that they're very concerned about parking at the hospitals), want flashing lights for school zones and the bus system improved:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/10/2360788.htm
their website http://www.amp.org.au/index.html
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Community Alliance Party: http://www.cap.org.au/
The Canberra Business Club will be supporting the CAP in the other two electorates, but Mark Parton here. policies: http://www.cap.org.au/policies
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The Greens: http://act.greens.org.au/
Brief profiles on both Ginninderra candidates are at: http://act.greens.org.au/candidates/meredith-hunter
and policies at: http://act.greens.org.au/polices
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Labor: http://www.actlabor.com.au/Candidate2008.html
Policies http://www.actlabor.com.au/policy.html available as PDFs.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Democrats: Darren Churchill is running as an Independent as the Democrats were de-registered in the ACT for having fewer than 100 members. Running on a "we're not dead yet" campaign. At: http://act.democrats.org.au/
policies: http://act.democrats.org.au/#top
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Liberals: http://www.canberraliberals.org.au/html/s01_home/home.asp
Most of the candidates have webpages, which are linked to the site. They seem to be running on a "we hate Stanhope" ticket, but do have policy PDFs: http://www.canberraliberals.org.au/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?id=214&nav_cat_id=141&nav_top_id=58
At least one Lib candidate, Andrea Tokaji, is on Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Andrea-Tokaji/15911084234
Getting a list of the candidates for the local election was...interesting.
The Electoral Commission told me that they had no idea who was running - and didn't care. I was shocked at the time, but on reflection, an organisation dedicated to helping Australian democracy isn't going to have much time for this farce.
So fair enough. They aren't handling the elections, either [!] They did let me know that the polling booths were option for postals etc, so I went there.
The idiots running the booths *wouldn't tell me who was running*. Their idea of being helpful was pointing to a room they knew was empty and telling me to ask members of the parties in there.
Persistence and the implicit threat of violence eventually wore them down enough that they agreed to let me copy names down from a ballot paper.
The net is better - candidates for the 3 electorates are available here:
http://www.elections.act.gov.au/elections/2008/ListOfCandidates08.html
An overview of the candidates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Capital_Territory_general_election,_2008
The choices! Where possible, I've also include links to their policies (if any). These tend to be meaningless waffle, however, they will occasionally include an interesting/unusual goal. I didn't see any actual plan to achieve any of these goals; if I've missed one please let me know.
As always, if you know anything about a candidate, please add a comment. Thank you to those who've already done so.
Independents in Ginninderra:
Adam Verwey: http://www.adam08.com/ Was at the meet and greet on Tuesday - in fact, I found out about it from his (very cool) website. His policies http://www.adam08.com/Policy.html
Mark Parton: http://www.markparton.com/ Previously Mix 106.3 Presenter, he is being supported by the Canberra Business Club - a group of disgruntled ex-Liberal fundraisers, led by Jim Murphy (of Jim Murphy's Liquor).
Harold Hird: Ex-Liberal, ex-"Harold Hird Independents", now an ungrouped Independent. His webpage http://www.haroldhird.com.au/
Barry Smith His webpage: http://www.barrysmith.bigpondhosting.com/
Independents without webpages etc:
Cathy McIlhoney: Seems to be in some way connected with Belconnen Picture Framing, as she is the contact for their sponsorship of Belconnen Lawn Bowls.
Eddie Sarkis: possibly the same Eddie Sarkis who ran for Granville as a Liberal in 2007?
The parties
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Australian Motorist Party. They want a Dragway. They also have a number of complaints about parking (I was pleased to note that they're very concerned about parking at the hospitals), want flashing lights for school zones and the bus system improved:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/10/2360788.htm
their website http://www.amp.org.au/index.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Community Alliance Party: http://www.cap.org.au/
The Canberra Business Club will be supporting the CAP in the other two electorates, but Mark Parton here. policies: http://www.cap.org.au/policies
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Greens: http://act.greens.org.au/
Brief profiles on both Ginninderra candidates are at: http://act.greens.org.au/candidates/meredith-hunter
and policies at: http://act.greens.org.au/polices
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Labor: http://www.actlabor.com.au/Candidate2008.html
Policies http://www.actlabor.com.au/policy.html available as PDFs.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Democrats: Darren Churchill is running as an Independent as the Democrats were de-registered in the ACT for having fewer than 100 members. Running on a "we're not dead yet" campaign. At: http://act.democrats.org.au/
policies: http://act.democrats.org.au/#top
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liberals: http://www.canberraliberals.org.au/html/s01_home/home.asp
Most of the candidates have webpages, which are linked to the site. They seem to be running on a "we hate Stanhope" ticket, but do have policy PDFs: http://www.canberraliberals.org.au/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?id=214&nav_cat_id=141&nav_top_id=58
At least one Lib candidate, Andrea Tokaji, is on Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Andrea-Tokaji/15911084234