Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

MEDIA RELEASE SF/218. Friday October 26, 2007

LABOR’S GRUBBY DEAL FOR:

• Drug shooting galleries in your street;
• Stripping funding from non-government schools;
• Removing the 30% private health insurance subsidy;
• Abolishing secret ballots before strikes;
• Giving free heroin to addicts;
• Shutting down the timber and coal industries.

"Family First was willing to do a preference deal with the two major parties, but Labor walked away from the negotiations because they preferred the Greens.” Family First leader Senator Steve Fielding said today.

"Labor’s grubby deal with the Greens is a complete sell-out on Australian families and small businesses. It virtually hands the Greens the Balance of Power in the Senate and control of everything that happens in Australia, which is horrifying.

“Mr Rudd has to explain why he wants Bob Brown holding the Balance of Power in Australia.

“Labor and Mr Rudd has given the green light to the Greens’ deadly policies to open drug injecting rooms across the country and give free heroin to addicts, which shows Kevin Rudd cannot be trusted to represent everyday families, and proves that his claims to be pro-family are an absolute joke.

“Family First stands for balance and commonsense yet Labor has instead opted for the extreme Greens who will hold the Government to ransom to dictate their dangerous agenda.

“The Greens pose a real danger to our country with their policies which will destroy families, destroy jobs and destroy the economy. Family First is still finalising its preferences.”

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MARGO MEDIA RELEASE 1, Tuesday, October 5, 2007

FAMILY FIRST'S GRUBBY DEAL FOR:

• Same sex marriages;
• Legalised incest and euthanisa;
• Yes to abortion until the foetus is viable;
• The right to bear arms;
• Complete decriminalisation of prostitution;
• Legalising soft drugs

"The Greens were willing to do a preference deal with Family First, but Family First walked away from the negotiations because they preferred the Liberty and Democracy Party,” Greens leader Senator Bob Brown said today.

"Family First's grubby deal with the LDP is a complete sell-out on Australian families and Christian values."
 
“Family First has given the green light to the LDP's deadly policies to legalise 'soft' drugs and late term abortion, which shows Senator Fielding cannot be trusted to represent everyday families, and proves that his claims to be pro-family are an absolute joke.

“The Greens stand for balance and commonsense yet Family First has instead opted for the extreme LDP, who will hold the Government to ransom to dictate their dangerous agenda.

“Family First poses a real danger to our country with their policies which will destroy families, destroy jobs and destroy the economy."

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Make sure you know who you could be voting for if you vote above the line in the Senate by checking out the Australian Electoral Commission list of registered preferences here.

Please, Webdiarists, advise FF voters to vote below the line (FF is also preferencing Pauline Hanson in the Queensland Senate race.). As you know, I recommend that Queenslanders Vote 1 above the line for Senator Andrew Bartlett.

This system is dangerous, as the Victorian ALP's disgraceful decision to swap preferences with FF in 2004 showed. That decision gave Howard control of the Senate. Australia also lost its cross media laws in 2006 as a result. The Nats Barnaby Joyce crossed the floor, but Fielding changed his tune - perhaps in exchange for a chaplain in every school - and got the government over the line. As Peter Andren said this year of the current Senate preferencing system:

But the really sinister side is that you, the voter, hand over your preferences to the party when you vote above the line. This enables deals to be stitched up between major and minor party candidates, deals that can deliver outcomes that would never occur if everyone was only required to vote below the line...not for all the 70 or 80 candidates...but only the number required to fill vacancies.

Now that might exhaust a lot of votes but I argue it would deliver a result more in tune with the wishes of the electorate.

The election of Family First in Victoria from a base of less than 2% of the primary vote in 2004 is the first major sign in Senate elections of this ticket or group voting system seriously distorting rather than reflecting the will of the broad electorate.

But why would Labor and the Coalition jump into the Family First bed together? Well, they both had a common cause of denying the Greens, a fate that almost befell Christine Milne in Tasmania where only the familiarity of Tasmanians with below the line voting scrambled her enough votes to get from a primary of almost a quota...13%...to fall over the line ahead of a fast finishing...you guessed it...Family First flying home on second preferences courtesy of Labor.

At any other time it might have been a leg up for the Free Beer on Sunday party if it suited the purposes of the major parties. The reality is, the vast majority of voters, who would preference quite differently to the party tickets, if there was no above the line voting, are simply unaware of where their preferences go.

Sydney Morning Herald journalist Alan Ramsey said recently that three years ago the Senate campaign got under the guard of most commentators. We were too busy he said looking at the Howard/Latham stoush. Well it's imperative no-one, especially the voter, lets this year's Senate campaign slip under our guard.

PS: Bob Brown would never do anything so nasty as put out that statement. but he must be tempted...