Victorian Senate Ballot Ticket G - Country Alliance
Ticket G - Country Alliance http://www.countryalliance.org/
The Country Alliance was founded in 2004 by Mansfield Mayor Russell Bate and five others. It was registered as a state-level party in Victoria in 2005, and contested the 2006 and 2010 Victorian State elections. It was registered as a federal-level party in 2011, and the 2013 election will be the first federal election that it has contested. It bills itself as an ‘anti-green but pro-environment’ party, and focuses on issues around regional/country areas and outdoor recreational activities.
Their policies:
For: rural and regional Australia, outdoor recreational activities (boating, fishing, shooting, rodeos, four wheel driving), decentralisation of state and federal government, ‘traditional values, culture, views and aspirations of Australian communities and especially those in rural and regional areas’, creation of a Department of Agriculture based in Shepparton, boat ramps, waste services for camping grounds in state parks/reserves, funding for research and development in the dairy sector, funding to improve efficiency at dairies, government promotion of outdoor recreational activities, studies into the economic benefits of outdoor recreational activities, improved educational facilities in rural and regional Victoria, financial consequences for protestors, lower stamp duty for houses that have fire refuges, availability of firearms used for hunting and target shooting irrespective of their use by military or police, firing ranges, a statutory authority to oversee game hunting, allowing the consumption/use of any animal or waterfowl taken legally under a pest mitigation program, trial and junior game licenses, making it easier to collect fallen timber for firewood, increased investment in fishing, expanded fishing programs, review of the effectiveness of marine parks, recreational fishing allowed in marine parks, study on the ecological/socio-economic impacts of commercial and public use of estuaries/inlets/bays, better health and specialist health services in rural and regional Australia, scholarships to attract doctors to regional areas, logging in water catchment areas, recreational motorbike licenses for 14 - 18 year olds, payroll tax exemption for regional Victorian businesses to be raised to $1 million, improved pest species management, indefinite government leases on land used for community activities (such as golf courses), review of the number of poker machines in use with regard to problem gambling, better access to public land for outdoor recreational activities, development of renewable energy sources, clean coal, exporting brown coal, water and water infrastructure remaining in public hands, dams, full and fair compensation must be provided to any entitlement holder who has that entitlement removed or adjusted by the government.
Against: carbon pricing, emissions trading scheme, protests against the forestry industry and other industries, compulsory evacuation of communities at risk of bush fires, federal legislation that impacts on recreational fishing activities, VCAT rehearing/deciding on planning issues, poker machines outside of casinos and racing venues, poker machines being able to accept $50 notes, privatisation of public assets, shutting down coal fired power plants, the creation of more national and marine parks until the management of existing parks is assessed as adequate (with the assessment to include genuine local community and user group consultation), fluoride in water supplies unless the local community genuinely supports it, environmental water being sourced from the water market, permanent water trade out of irrigation districts,
Preferences
Top 10: Katter’s Australian Party, Sex Party, DLP, Liberal Democrats, Helen Kroger (Liberals), Shooters and Fishers, Mehmet Tillem (ALP), Liberal / The Nationals, Australian Labor Party, Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party
Bottom 10: Stop CSG, Family First, Australian Democrats, Stable Population Party, Citizens Electoral Council, Socialist Equality Party, Rise Up Australia Party, The Wikileaks Party, Animal Justice Party, The Greens
Where is my vote likely to end?: DLP or the Coalition
The Country Alliance was founded in 2004 by Mansfield Mayor Russell Bate and five others. It was registered as a state-level party in Victoria in 2005, and contested the 2006 and 2010 Victorian State elections. It was registered as a federal-level party in 2011, and the 2013 election will be the first federal election that it has contested. It bills itself as an ‘anti-green but pro-environment’ party, and focuses on issues around regional/country areas and outdoor recreational activities.
Their policies:
For: rural and regional Australia, outdoor recreational activities (boating, fishing, shooting, rodeos, four wheel driving), decentralisation of state and federal government, ‘traditional values, culture, views and aspirations of Australian communities and especially those in rural and regional areas’, creation of a Department of Agriculture based in Shepparton, boat ramps, waste services for camping grounds in state parks/reserves, funding for research and development in the dairy sector, funding to improve efficiency at dairies, government promotion of outdoor recreational activities, studies into the economic benefits of outdoor recreational activities, improved educational facilities in rural and regional Victoria, financial consequences for protestors, lower stamp duty for houses that have fire refuges, availability of firearms used for hunting and target shooting irrespective of their use by military or police, firing ranges, a statutory authority to oversee game hunting, allowing the consumption/use of any animal or waterfowl taken legally under a pest mitigation program, trial and junior game licenses, making it easier to collect fallen timber for firewood, increased investment in fishing, expanded fishing programs, review of the effectiveness of marine parks, recreational fishing allowed in marine parks, study on the ecological/socio-economic impacts of commercial and public use of estuaries/inlets/bays, better health and specialist health services in rural and regional Australia, scholarships to attract doctors to regional areas, logging in water catchment areas, recreational motorbike licenses for 14 - 18 year olds, payroll tax exemption for regional Victorian businesses to be raised to $1 million, improved pest species management, indefinite government leases on land used for community activities (such as golf courses), review of the number of poker machines in use with regard to problem gambling, better access to public land for outdoor recreational activities, development of renewable energy sources, clean coal, exporting brown coal, water and water infrastructure remaining in public hands, dams, full and fair compensation must be provided to any entitlement holder who has that entitlement removed or adjusted by the government.
Against: carbon pricing, emissions trading scheme, protests against the forestry industry and other industries, compulsory evacuation of communities at risk of bush fires, federal legislation that impacts on recreational fishing activities, VCAT rehearing/deciding on planning issues, poker machines outside of casinos and racing venues, poker machines being able to accept $50 notes, privatisation of public assets, shutting down coal fired power plants, the creation of more national and marine parks until the management of existing parks is assessed as adequate (with the assessment to include genuine local community and user group consultation), fluoride in water supplies unless the local community genuinely supports it, environmental water being sourced from the water market, permanent water trade out of irrigation districts,
Preferences
Top 10: Katter’s Australian Party, Sex Party, DLP, Liberal Democrats, Helen Kroger (Liberals), Shooters and Fishers, Mehmet Tillem (ALP), Liberal / The Nationals, Australian Labor Party, Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party
Bottom 10: Stop CSG, Family First, Australian Democrats, Stable Population Party, Citizens Electoral Council, Socialist Equality Party, Rise Up Australia Party, The Wikileaks Party, Animal Justice Party, The Greens
Where is my vote likely to end?: DLP or the Coalition