#election nsw

[hobbitinthetardis]

welcome to having a more progressive state government nsw. congrats guys.

[fuckyeahjcchasez]

[inthefallofasparrow]

Honest Government Ad | Visit New South Wales

[tutuandscoot]

(For the like 2 Australians that follow me)

fuck I love how simple Aussie elections are. 42min in, 3% reported: “yeah major projection.. we got rid of Domicron”.

[axvoter]

Index to the Blatantly Partisan Party Reviews, 2023 NSW state edition

Saturday 25 March is election day in NSW, and it's going to be a fascinating and most likely close contest. As well as the major parties, there is a veritable constellation of micro-parties, independent groups, and solo independents running in the election.

I’ve written my blog entries to demystify these micro-parties and indies. I'm sorry I did not post these until the final days of the election; life got in the way. I do not review Labor, Liberal/National, Greens, or One Nation, as I assume anyone reading this blog already has views on them. All entries are written from a left-wing perspective sympathetic to democratic socialism and green politics, so calibrate according to your own predilections. I make no pretension to false objectivity—that’s why these are blatantly partisan party reviews.

When you go to vote, you will receive two ballot papers. One will be a very large ballot for the Legislative Council (the upper house). This is elected at large by the entire state: a candidate requires ~4.55% to win a seat. But the Legislative Council is the house of review; government is formed in the Legislative Assembly (the lower house). It contains 93 seats, and the number of candidates—both party-affiliated and independent—varies significantly between electorates.

On the small ballot for the Legislative Assembly, you must vote 1 for your preferred candidate and then distribute as many or as few additional preferences as you want. Your vote will be more powerful if you distribute as many preferences as possible. Do not skip or repeat a number. If your preferred candidate is not elected, your vote transfers at full value to your second preference, and so on. You might receive a how-to-vote card from party campaigners: this is a suggestion only and you can fill out your preferences in any order you like.

On the large ballot for the Legislative Council, you can either vote above the line or below the line. Whichever way you vote, you control your preferences—NSW does not have a dodgy system to harvest voter preferences like in Victoria.

Every grouping that has registered at least 15 candidates receives a square above the line; if the square is unlabelled, it is because the group does not have formal party registration. Groups with 2–14 candidates receive their own column but no square above the line; you can only vote for them below the line. Solo independents appear in the furthest right column and can only be voted for below the line.

For most voters, voting above the line will suffice: after you vote 1 for your preferred group, you can distribute as many or as few preferences as you like. You accept the order of candidates registered within each individual group, but you control the order of the groups. You will be able to express preferences for any party/grouping likely to win a seat; it is well nigh impossible for candidates who can only be voted for below the line to win a seat.

You should vote below the line if the following apply to you: a) you want to reorder candidates within a group and/or mix and match candidates across groups, b) you want to vote for ungrouped independents or a group of independents without enough candidates to receive a square above the line, or c) you are a completist like me who wants to indicate a preference for everyone. You MUST give at least 15 preference. Be warned that if you want to preference all the way, it will take a while—it took me over 20 minutes at the 2019 election.

In both cases, the further you preference, the more powerful your vote will be. Distribute as many preferences as you feel you can distribute in an informed manner.

This entry includes links to my reviews of each micro-party. There are 8 groups of independents or unregistered parties. These are noted below by their group letter on the ballot. The format is "party name (rough ideology / recommended preference)". A good preference is a party with few or no significant flaws for the left-wing voter; a decent preference indicates a generally positive platform or a single-issue party with a good but limited objective; a middling preference is a mix of positive and negative qualities; a weak or no preference is mainly negative and either you should give them a poor preference or let your vote exhaust—as noted above, your vote is most powerful if you preference as far as possible.

Animal Justice Party (animal rights / middling to decent preference)

Australia One / Riccardo Bosi—Group U (conspiracy theorists who are a threat to public safety / lowest possible preference)

Call to Freedom / Milan Maksimovic—Group E (Christian fundamentalism / weak or no preference)

Christians for Community / Milton Caine—Group T (Christian fundamentalism / weak or no preference)

Elizabeth Farrelly Independents (centre-left NIMBY / middling preference)

Family First / Lyle Shelton—Group A (Christian fundamentalism and conspiracism / weak or no preference)

Group P—Danny Lim (anti-racism personality / middling to decent preference)

Indigenous–Aboriginal Party of Australia (Indigenous rights / good preference)

Informed Medical Options Party (uninformed anti-vaxxers / weak or no preference)

Legalise Cannabis Party (single issue / decent preference)

Liberal Democratic Party (far-right libertarian cookers / weak or no preference)

Public Education Party (single issue / decent preference)

Revive Australia Party / Silvana Nile—Group G (Christian fundamentalism / weak or no preference)

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (fans of gun violence / weak or no preference)

Socialist Alliance (socialism / good preference)

Socialist Equality Party / Oscar Grenfell—Group K (socialism but for crackpots / weak or no preference)

Sustainable Australia—Stop Overdevelopment/Corruption (anti-immigration NIMBYs / weak or no preference)

United Australia Party / Craig Kelly—Group B (covid conspiracists in a policy-free space of grievance / weak or no preference)

Ungrouped independents (mix of ideologies and recommendations)

Happy voting and enjoy your democracy sausage!

[sigridkaffen]

COALITION-FREE MAINLAND BITCHES LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOO

[laughkookaburralaugh]

Labor won!!

[aceoffangirls]

My mind sometimes forgets and also finds it funny how in America the Liberal party more left wing and in Australia the liberal party is more right winged.

[yeltsinsstar]

Honest Government Ad | Visit New South Wales!

[adreamthatsworthkeeping]

There is no one decent in my ward. One ward over plenty of great people. But I get a bunch of idiots.

[tenth-sentence]

New South Wales allowed every adult male to vote in the last election before Separation.

"Killing for Country: A Family History" - David Marr

[batshit-auspol]

I think mentioning the liberal party’s recent fuckup in NSW would be worth mentioning here

In today's Batshit Moment in Australian politics, a teenager has accidentally been elected to Penrith Council after one of the two major Australian political parties forgot to nominate their candidates by the required deadline.

(Despite its name the Liberal Party is actually the more conservative of the two major parties in Australia)

[calandrinon]

tfw you find out about the death of one of your country's more iconic (if occasionally problematic) entertainers through listening to the SBS Romanian news bulletin while ți umblând cu câinele

better or worse than the supernatural meme? we may never know cos if I post a poll it will get 5 votes and i will cry 😁

[star-temeraire]

20 whole ass seats babey!!!!!!!!!!

[axvoter]

Blatantly Partisan Party Review VI (NSW 2023): Group G (Silvana Nile / Revive Australia Party)

Prior reviews (as the Christian Democratic Party): federal 2013, federal 2016, NSW 2019, federal 2019

What I said before: “The CDP sees no place in society for people who think, behave, or believe differently to them. Unless you worship the strict, narrowly-defined, judgemental, petty god to whom the CDP claims allegiance, this party is not for you.” (federal 2019)

What I think this year: This is all just a little bit weird really. Fred Nile was first elected to the NSW Legislative Council in 1981 for the Call to Australia Party, the predecessor of the Christian Democratic Party. He has been in the NSW parliament for over 40 years now; he is 88 years old. He secured the election of his first wife alongside himself for 14 years, the late Elaine Nile, and his second wife Silvana is running this year.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Fred announced his retirement in 2021, endorsing Lyle Shelton as his successor. But then he rescinded the deal (eat shit Lyle) and has served out his term. The CDP dissolved in 2022 and Nile joined Seniors United, but it too has been dissolved. He again announced his retirement in October 2022, but—you can see where this is going—announced last month that he’d stand again. Weirdly, he’s the second candidate to his wife Silvana, and they are the only two candidates in Group G. They do not get a square above the line (you need 15 candidates for that) and even if they had a square above the live and Silvana won election, there’s no chance they’d get a high enough vote for Fred to win a seat from second place. Why is he going out on a loss rather than retiring with dignity? Strange stuff.

Anyway, don’t vote for the Niles, they’re awful bigots. I would say they’ve leapt on the latest bandwagon of bile against drag queens, but Fred’s been pulling that particular wagon since he came to prominence as an opponent of Mardi Gras in the 1980s. Forty years down the track and he has not become a better person.

Recommendation: Give Group G (Silvana Nile / Revive Australia Party) a weak or no preference.

Website: https://www.facebook.com/fnileindp/

[weewilliewinkie]

another fantastic day to fuck the tories outta parliament!!!!