#nsw state election

[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.

[hobbitinthetardis]

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

[fuckyeahjcchasez]

[yeltsinsstar]

Honest Government Ad | Visit New South Wales!

[dinoburger]

ok this is pretty important for any activists in Australia, I believe there's going to be state elections for Victoria and NSW soon, but from what I know the site will serve the same purpose during the federal elections too

in essence, it's a group that is pushing to have politicians sign a pledge to indicate what actions they're willing to pursue in support of Palestine, and hold them to account if they fail to follow through

everyone should be keeping an eye on this project if they want to vote consciously

[robotslenderman]

lmao eat shit

[celticcrossanon]

CC, how are things going with Charles and Camilla in Australia so far (from your point of view)?

Hi Nonny,

From my point of view? We haven't seen them yet. There was an arrival on a wet, cold and windy Friday evening at 8.30pm local time, and then a rest day on Saturday. I don't know what they have planned for Sunday so I will be able to comment better once that day has happened. :)

There is the usual online beat up over things that don't really matter, In this case it is the narrative "The State Premiers aren't travelling to the reception for The King and Queen - they are snubbing them!". Premiers are the elected heads of each state, at the State level of government - I think they are the equivalent of the State Governors in the US? The Federal level of government sits on top of the state one, and the leader of that is the Prime Minister. He represents Australia as a whole and he is the one that goes to eg overseas funerals, and he turned out to greet The King and Queen at the airport.

The representative of the monarchy in Australia is the Governor-General, and she also turned out to greet The King and Queen at the airport. That is all that I would expect for The King and Queen, and I would only expect the Prime Minister to turn up for any other visiting Head of State.

At the reception for The King and Queen in Canberra, I expect the Prime Minister, the Governor General, and (possibly) the Premiers of the two states being visited (NSW and Canberra) (as that would be polite imo). Anything else doesn't make sense. The Premiers represent the states, and if their state is not involved in the visit then there is no reason for them to turn up. The Prime Minister has it covered for Australia in general, and the Governor-General has it covered for their office of representing the monarchy in Australia. This visit has been planned for months so if it was protocol for the State Premiers to be there, they would have the reception booked into their diaries and they would attend.

Sorry, that was long and a bit of a rant - I am just annoyed by the media narrative as it makes no sense.

Short version: we haven't seen enough of The King and The Queen for me to form an opinion; the media is being idiots about the visit as per usual.

[fallowhearth]

(if still looking for asks) Pale thoughts also? And/or provide an objective and definitive ranking of Australian states

I'm now trapped on the train home so yes please I need entertainment

My favourite thing about Pale is that it's so long hardly anyone read it. So pretty much everyone posting about it regularly as it released was someone whose thoughts I wanted to hear. I really didn't like Lucy when the story started - I'm never going to like the paladin type. But I liked her a lot as the story went on. She's a good kid. Also, critical support on the voluntary child soldier thing. Avery I found extremely stressful to read about initially, as her family situation would kill me instantly irl. Verona has literally never done anything wrong in her life.

1. Victoria - as a born and bred New South Welshman I'm not too proud to say they have the culture, lifestyle, and snobbery to match.

2. NSW - the big dumb stupid sibling that everyone hates for mostly accurate reasons. Still nowhere I'd rather live though! Would also like to throw all our state politicians save my rep into the harbour.

3. Tasmania - gorgeous old growth forests, unsurpassed natural beauty, shame about the fact that being gay was criminalised until 1997.

4. Western Australia - really I don't have much animosity I just don't have any positives either. Perth is nice. Shame about the mines.

5. Queensland - too hot, too many Irukandji in the water, they keep re-electing Bob Katter, also the recent history of being a police state. As they say, when crossing the QLD border, remember to turn your clock back 20 years.

(sorry Queenslanders, some of my best friends are originally from QLD, etc)

[zahri-melitor]

Fuck this has been the funniest political day online in a WHILE.

NSW Liberals clearly got sick and tired of holding the title as possibly the most competent state branch of the party and decided to show off their incompetence by…failing to file all nominations for local council elections.

Everyone’s still working out the damage but there are already calls for the state director to fall on his sword.

And while for some of councils affected it wouldn’t have made a huge difference (honestly shocked they bother attempting to run in Blue Mountains), they’ve also screwed themselves in a couple of councils they’re currently holding majorities in.

Incredible. Show stopping. Possibly part of some nonsensical attempt to gain advantage by lodging right on the deadline. True incompetence by people I dislike.

[mrhaitch]

hi mr haitch!

i received a lovely response from haitch that has helped me quite a bit in processing and working on my fear of death. however, i saw a post of yours just now and it made me think. it was your response to someone basically arguing about democrats and republicans, and your opinion on the potential impacts of another trump presidency. so i ask, as a fellow non american, how do i not feel so anxious about this? i try to think that no, trump is not going to cause the heat death of the earth, but it freaks me out.

as an australian, i can say that we are quite influenced in america. just the other day, coming back from my university counselling, there were two young women wearing MAGA hats on the train just days after he got in. it infuriated me, though everyone is allowed their own opinion (even if it makes me want to rip my eyeballs out and throw them at them). how do i not think that this is the end of the world? for some it is. i have heard far too many people expose their genuine plans for suicide now that trump is in. someone said they are taking their girlfriend out for one last dinner and they’re committing together. that horrifies me to my core.

in my state, we recently just elected our state premier, which is now a party i would describe as on the right, for an easy comparison. abortions, breast cancer screenings, and thousands of hospital staff are to be cut. children committing crimes will be doing adult time, which i can only imagine you understand just how antithetical that is to actually solving the problem. after this election, there was a nazi rally in our central city. i worry that with trump’s election, it might truly come home to us.

so, how do i not feel so scared?

on a side note, i HAVE to ask your opinions on deathcore? i’m seeing thy art is murder and brand of sacrifice in a few days, and i saw ice nine kills and amity affliction today! i’m seeing lorna shore and to the grave in feb, TTG is a super cool deathcore band from NSW here in aus! even things like suffocation, dying fetus, infant annihilator, or cannibal corpse? (and the terrifier series if you have watched them!)

but yeah, it’s a weird time to be alive, but i want to believe that after this, we will not have to experience it again. perhaps someone will have better aim, we will never know.

this is far too long, so have a good night or day!

As time goes by, I find myself more convinced by Foucault's writings on biopower - and especially when it comes to anxiety.

We need to start thinking about how we're defining anxiety: when we talk about it do we mean the emotion arising, rationally, from a particular stimulus? Or do we mean generalised, non-specific anxiety which arises from a disease or abnormality in the mind? The latter needs treatment - the former needs scrutiny, but also not to be ignored or discarded.

The fear many of us are feeling right now is rational. We feel it for a reason - fear is what keeps you alive in moments of danger. It helps us think and move faster. It helps us see clearer (if we learn to direct and control it). While it can be a hard emotion to sit with, we can't push it away or try to treat it. Use that fear to motivate you to build connections with the people around you, to organise, to strengthen community bonds if the worst happens and you need people to support you.

So the short answer: you don't need to get rid of your fear.

Now for the second part:

I'm really not a fan of deathcore. I know it's the genre of the moment, but it's never really done it for me (and I say this as someone who previously moonlighted for a deathcore band a few years ago). Call it personal taste, but I feel that there's a race to the bottom with regards to guitar tuning: everyone is going lower and lower and you end up with a bass heavy mush with little articulation. Everyone starts slamming the lower strings, more than one breakdown per song, etc.

(very much old man shaking his fist at the eyounger generations)

With that said I'm a big fan of cannibal corpse (although, let's be real, they are very much OG Florida death metal) and quite like Ice Nine Kills. One band I am quite excited about, though, is a UK local act who blend elements of deathcore with black and death metal. Link below:

[lenreli]

The New South Wales Liberal party has demanded a week-long extension to lodge nominations for more than 130 council candidates after the party missed the deadline in a “monumental stuff-up”. The NSW Liberal party president, Don Harwin, sent a letter to the NSW electoral commission overnight after the party’s head office missed the Wednesday noon deadline to lodge the necessary paperwork to nominate all of its candidates for the local government elections on 14 September. Guardian Australia understands Harwin has given the electoral commission until 4pm on Saturday to respond, and that the letter detailed “issues” with the electoral process. It is understood that the letter also pointed to a section of the Local Government Act outlining that there is discretion around the nomination deadline of the fifth Wednesday before polling day, with the election manager able to determine a different date “in a particular case”. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the party is preparing to take legal action against the electoral commission if this discretion is not used to grant an extension. The electoral commission confirmed it had received the letter, and said the commissioner was considering the correspondence. It comes after the fiasco cost the party’s state director, Richard Shields, his job. In a statement issued after an emergency meeting late on Thursday night, Harwin said the executive had unanimously decided to terminate Shields’ employment.

Of course LNP are trying to blame (and sue) after this. USAmerican try-hards.

[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!

[hotshot-ben]

What a crazy week so far. This weekHas been hectic, but with some good news. Had a renal specialist appointment Monday and mostly positive. Eyes specialist yesterday for another round of eye injections and a long bus ride to and from. The NSW state election is this coming Saturday so had to pick up material this morning. Also had a fun gym session today and had the gym mostly to myself. I did not do as much as planned but that is fine. The goal at the moment is to do thread gym sessions a week, do some sort of movement on three other days and make slightly better food choices. So far so good! Stay strong Live live life 💙💪🤙❤️ (at Ettalong Beach, New South Wales, Australia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqE5FC1SsI4/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mrrightandmrbubble]

Hi, Kirri! I'm from South America and I'm trying to do a research about australian high school. I would like you to clarify some questions I have about school subjects, like: which ones are optional and which are mandatory? also, if you could send me some reliable websites than i can look up. every website i see says something different, can be very confusing so I decided to ask a australian person. Thank you!!!!

Hi, hey, i've been summoned! Okay, i'll admit to you upfront, it's been a hot minute since I was in high school so my knowledge is partly from personal experience but also what is published online. The school structures and curriculum differs from state to state, so it's no wonder you had trouble finding clear answers. I'll try to explain simply:

Australian high schools run from years 7 to 12. (We actually have 13 school years in total including Kindergarten, or preparatory, which is not numbered.) Students can finish in year 10 if they choose not to complete their senior years and test for university entry. If a student finishes in year 10, they get a Record of School Achievement; if they finish senior studies, they get a certificate of education depending on which state they're in:

NSW - Higher School Certificate (HSC)

VIC - Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE)/Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL)

QLD - Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE), Queensland Certificate of Individual Achievement (QCIA)

SA - South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE)

WA - West Australian Certificate of Education (WACE)

TAS - Tasmanian Certificate of Education (TCE)

ACT - Australian Capital Territory Senior Secondary Certificate (ACT SSC)

NT - Northern Territory Certificate of Education (NTCE)

The national curriculum has eight compulsory learning areas, which can be categorized into subjects:

Then there are a wide range of electives, which vary greatly depending on region, type of school (state-funded vs private/faith-based) etc. Students in years 9 and 10 typically choose three electives. Here is an example of electives available to a school in NSW.

In addition, many schools offer the opportunity to study a vocational (often trade-based) course in preparation for studies after high school, called TVET (TAFE-delivered Vocational Education and Training). Many of these course results in credits toward school outcomes. I guess you could say that TAFE to Australia is like community college to the US.

The school year is broken up into four 'terms', with dates varying between states (see links at end for a list). A typical school day goes from 8:45am to 3:00pm Monday to Friday, with breaks for recess and lunch between period. A 'period' = one class, which typically runs for 40 minutes.

Upon completing senior studies and final exams, students are given an ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank), which they can use to select and be admitted to university. In fact, senior exams have just begun so it's a good time to keep an eye on social media and see how current students are talking about the experience! 'ATAR Day' (when rankings are released) is on December 14, another time to take a look.

Australia also has specialist high schools, such as creative and performing arts schools, intensive English centres (for students with English as a second language), sports schools, and technology schools. All of these must teach the compulsory subjects, but offer the chance to specialize in these areas.

Websites where you can learn more about the Australian curriculum:

Australian Curriculum Version 9.0 Australian Schools Directory

Study Australia

ACARA (for statistics)

TVET

ATAR

Hopefully that will help you! I hope you don't mind that I posted this answer but I thought it might be useful to others as well. If you have any other questions, go ahead and ask and i'll do my best!

[myothertardisisonthemun]

This is me, in 2016, a Save Sydney's Museum

The State Government - (Who's still in power btw) wanted to close it down. 7 years later, iThey're still trying to end this museum.

They may not going to tear it (most of it) down any more, but it's no longer going to be a museum.

The Powerhouse Museum is the best. It's full of all kinds of machines and artifacts, and all kinds of technology.

This, plus the regular exhibitions of all sorts of things.

By 2020, the government apparently stopped the closure. They certainly made most of the media think of if that way, which took a lot of the heat off them. The museum supporters (including former curators, directors, other still active museum consultants, and the architect of the museum, many of whom I got to meet)

But now the the Liberal National Party wants to strip it all out. Wit "a new focus on fashion and design" they want to leave it mostly empty space, and turn it into a function center.

They want to build accomodation and a library, but very little of it will be actual museum. They want to strip out the iconic arched hallway, and put in boring concrete cafe style spaces.

They're even going to strip museum from the name.

My favourite museum, a place which inspired so many, reduced to a venue.

There's an election coming up on my state of NSW. There's plenty of other things at stake too, cost of living, price of water and power, housing, many costs have gone up as the LNP government sells of everything it can get it's hands on.

There's a lot at stake. I'm kinda scared, bit the LNP have been a bit of a mess, fighting amongst themselves lately. I have my fingers crossed.

[puffitale]

I just went from “there’s a state election coming up” to “the NSW state election is on March 21st” to “Your electorate doesn’t have to vote this election because of administrative stuff” in under 2 minutes.

Help, um dealing with state electoral whiplash, and frankly I’m considering suing.

Vote Labor/Greens for NSW