Easy voting card
I received a letter from the Electoral Commission of South Australia on Friday, reminding me that voting on March 20 is compulsory and letting me know where to vote.
According to the commission’s website, the letter is meant to be sent from Monday, March 15 to all electors.
A total of 1,092,762 South Australians are enrolled to vote.
At the standard postage rate of 55 cents a letter, that’s a mail-out cost of $601,019 plus printing, maybe a million dollars altogether, even if the postage was discounted.
It’s unnecessary expenditure, in my opinion. (more…)
Turmoil on the Mount
The Sunday Mail has a page 10 story today headlined “Turmoil on the Mount — Newspaper editor quits, reporter accused of poll bias”.
It’s mainly about allegations of bias against The Border Watch by the Liberal Party.
The story is based on the fact former editor Frank Morello has been assisting independent candidate for Mount Gambier, Don Pegler, with his media releases.
Frank’s wife Sandra is a senior journalist at The Border Watch and was effectively the chief political reporter.
When the Liberals discovered Frank’s connection to Pegler’s campaign they complained that Sandra had a conflict of interest. They had earlier claimed Sandra’s reporting was biased (before they knew of Frank’s connection).
ABC Radio interviewed Pegler about the allegations on Friday. (more…)
Historic Robe
We visited Robe for the first time on Sunday. It’s a small seaside town about 150km from Mount Gambier towards Adelaide.
There is some lovely coastal scenery and good beaches. The main street has a mix of antique shops, book stores and eateries.
Many of the 19th century buildings from its heyday as a major port are still standing.
Wikpedia includes this interesting note:
During the Victorian gold rushes around 1857, over 16,000 Chinese people landed at Robe to travel overland to the goldfields, as Victoria introduced a landing tax of £10 per person (more than the cost of their voyage) to reduce the number of Chinese immigrants. The immigrants then walked the 200 miles (320 km) to Ballarat and Bendigo.
Robe was named after the fourth Governor of South Australia, Major Frederick Robe, who chose the site as a port in 1845. (more…)
MacKillop could be a seat to watch
The electorate of MacKillop could be an unlikely one to watch in the South Australian election on March 20.
Postal vote rorts
I’m shocked that political parties can mail out postal vote application forms.
The envelope Juliet received during the week looked like an official Electoral Commission document (pictured above). When I saw it I asked why had she applied for a postal vote? She hadn’t.
Inside was a letter from Mount Gambier Liberal candidate Steve Perryman and a postal vote application form branded with his image and contact details.
Incredible. I received one as well. (more…)
South Australian internet censorship
South Australians will face online commenting restrictions when writs are issued for the March 20 State Election.
The Advertiser revealed today that a new law came into force on January 6, requiring internet bloggers, and anyone making a comment on next month’s state election, to publish their real name and postcode when commenting on the poll.
No such rules apply to commenting on federal elections.
The Right to Know Coalition, made up of major media outlets, has described the new laws as “draconian”. (more…)
New site: Country Voice SA
This is the second public announcement that a new website has been launched called Country Voice SA.
The first announcement was by Peter McFarlane on StumbleUpon. I was surprised today when the live site counter showed there were 74 people online at the same time, until I detected the stumble link. Thanks Peter.
Country Voice SA contains news, views and discussion about issues relevant to regional South Australia.
Regular contributors include former SA Nationals president Wilbur Klein and yours truly.
The views are purely those of the authors as individuals, and do not necessarily represent any organisations we may be involved with. (more…)
