Comments on: A walk in the Park: episode two

By: Adrian Thompson

Adrian Thompson — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 06:56:03 +0000

Quick one (my last post got eaten by my PC!) but the polling booths were very noticeably Labor/Liberal, with in descending order Greens, One Nation, CDP and Socialist Alliance being strongly represented, and Andrew Owens’s signs and banners prominently displayed at all the booths I saw. I voted at one with my wife at open of voting, and then visited another one bringing my son (his first vote ever) back from cricket. At the latter I actually saw Andrew and one of his supporters putting up signs – I actually admire candidates that do the hard yards themselves – and also saw Ben Wyatt and Alan Carpenter show up for a photo shoot. We drove around three other booths and they seemed about the same.

In the end I voted Owens, Margetts, Stevenson in that order. I am glad that so many candidates gave the ALP a run for their money, and particularly that the symbolic 50% was not reached. For the amount of money being waved around, one can only hope that Victoria Park will benefit from the tough contest – however, listening to Wyatt on TV last night shows he has learned nothing and will stick to the spin for now (”I would be happy if I won by one vote, I don’t care about swings”, looking slightly intoxicated).

I sincerely hope that Owens, still very young, realises that 1.4% is a good showing in such a large field, and to have come from nowhere, poll immediately behind the 2005 contenders, conduct a focussed, branded campaign at a purely grassroots level, take on serious issues in a mature way, get media attention, and do well at a multi-candidate debate, takes considerable intelligence, hard work and personal qualities. I’m sure that other parties are no doubt contacting him right now to try and bring him in, and I hope that he shows the strength of character he did in the debate and can resist those pressures and inducements. I look forward to seeing where he directs his energies in future, and he has my email address as of last night so is more than welcome to let me know.

I’d also like to thank everyone here for providing a reasoned, informative commentary on the election as it seems no media agency was willing to do, and thanks to watcher for that 6pr interview – I missed most of it due to telephone calls from clients. Thanks to Vic Park Local for his insightful and incisive analyses of not just the major party campaigns but all the others as well. And most importantly thanks to PB for giving us the space to do this.

By: Josh

Josh — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 09:11:44 +0000

I just want to say thank you to all the contributors – i’m a student from NSW and love following elections, but it has been barely covered over here. i’ve just read through the forums and i’m pleased to hear that people are going to send a bit of a pointed message to the ALP. i would definitely prefer Wyatt to win over Stevenson (about 1000 times better, in my opinion) but he sounds a bit like an ultra-polished no-real-policy candidate from where i’m sitting. Great to hear that Dee Margetts is doing well among PB’s dedicated contributors – i’m a huge fan of the Greens in general. Because of the time difference (cue daylight saving party), the coverage won’t being until quite late here, but i think it is worth it so i can cheer the Greens on. thanks again everyone,
josh

By: Vic Park Local

Vic Park Local — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 06:08:44 +0000

Well, I have just discharged my civic duty and voted. For the first time that I can recall I changed my vote at the very last minute. I had intended to vote in a certain order prior to arriving at the polling station but as I arrived at the polling place a candidate was leaving. This candidate was dressed so poorly I changed my preferences! Petty? Probably, but things like that count.
I will be following along tonight here and directly at the WAEC. Will Vic Park shows us something come close of polls tonight? I wait with baited breath.

By: Jim Grayden

Jim Grayden — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 15:25:14 +0000

No Adrian, it’s not me. I’ve met Bruce Stephenson at Swan Division and, despite my personal issues with the Liberal Party, he’s probably the best choice of Liberal candidate I can think of.
Re: Alfred Cove, That wasn’t me but rather my brother John. I won’t convince you otherwise but there was no arrangement with Shave. I can guarantee you that no-one from our campaign was involved in any meeting, deal etc with anyone from the Lib’s on any point. I’ve never met Shave, John saw the opportunity to present an alternative to the electorate exactly as I did in South Perth.

By: adam

adam — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 14:56:56 +0000

i saw the two main candidates on the state edition of the 7.30 report tonight….not good coverage for the liberal bloke (stevensen?) i would have thought??

By: Reece Blackley

Reece Blackley — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 10:23:36 +0000

yeah as a Queens Park resident I’d like to thank you all for what you have said, you wouldnt even know there was a byelection if you read the papers or watch TV as there is just nothing at all being said. I get all the flyers of course but people say anything so to hear about the debate and 6pr and people’s analysis of the issues is really worth its weight in gold. I would like to see the roads fixed as in this area theyre not roads more like parking lots. I would like to see the rec centre stay open, I played basketball there as a kid, it’s a great little place. Why does everything have to be about money? Anyway I’ve said my piece, thanks poll bludger and thanks all of you.

By: William Bowe

William Bowe — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 06:23:07 +0000

Hello all, just dropping in to heartily thank all concerned for their marvellous contributions to these two threads during the by-election campaign (see the last paragraph of my recent “Plunge taken” post), and to encourage you all to tune in to The Poll Bludger’s live online coverage of the count tomorrow night.

By: Deewun

Deewun — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 05:19:45 +0000

Being from Victoria I’ve enjoyed the commentary which has allowed me to get a better impression of whats going on. TY PB and posters. BTW VP Local, the Libs have printed on green paper a few times before in order to confuse green supporters, it was bought to the attention of the AEC by Bob Brown, but dissmissed because there wasn’t enough proof that it was intentional.

By: The Poll Bludger » Blog Archive » Plunge taken

The Poll Bludger » Blog Archive » Plunge taken — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 05:19:14 +0000

...] g round of applause is in order for all who have contributed to the comments threads (a href=”http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollbludger/325″>here and here), which have possibly been the most productive in this site’s history. Clearly the electorat [...

By: watcher

watcher — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 01:44:34 +0000

bill johnston (labor) and mark neeham (lib) were just on liam bartlett’s show. missed most of johnston, but i think he said something about a swing against labor. i’ll tryt and find out exactly what he said and post again.

neeham said it’s a chance for people to send a message because vic park has been taken for granted. he said this election is about local issues, not whether matt birney or alan carpenter stuff things up