SOUTH AUSTRALIANS PUZZLED BY SENATE VOTING SYSTEM
South Australians are puzzled by Senate voting this election, due largely to the mass media's trivialisation of the Senate into a reality television show.
The new Senate voting system changed from a 'just vote 1' above the line approach to 'vote 1 to 6'. Below the line voting has also changed, but most will vote above the line.
Micro parties can no longer win on less than 1 per cent of the primary vote - preference 'whispering' is gone.
But, people still ask 'where are your preferences going?'
Senate preferences only go where you, the voter, write them on your ballot paper - parties cannot send them somewhere else.
Votes on the white Senate ballot paper do not decide who forms government - only who holds government to account. The Senate's structure - with equal representation for states - allows you to safely vote for someone who will apply your values to government legislation and stand up for SA.
Rikki Lambert,
Australian Conservatives Senate candidate, Angaston.
GOVERNMENT DEBT LEVELS HIGHER UNDER COALITION
So far in this election campaign, we have seen one side of the Member for Barker Tony Pasin.
He has been promising money here and there in the battle for hearts and minds because he realises there is a mood for change and rightly so, as there are important issues that the government he belongs to has poorly handled.
There is a flip-side to Mr Pasin and the Coalition government that needs to be scrutinised.
The Liberal Party has done a preference swap deal with Clive Palmer's United Australia Party. The problem with helping Mr Palmer is that he wants to tear up the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
If this was to occur, South Australian irrigators would be worse off.
During the past six years of Coalition governments, the cost of power has skyrocketed and they have done nothing about it.
Remember the National Energy Guarantee, which would have helped alleviate those high prices?
Well, that was sabotaged, not by the opposition but by the far-right of the Liberal Party.
Mr Pasin is a member of a parliamentary group called the Monash Forum.
Its purpose is to promote coal mining and the building of coal-fired power stations.
His membership shows that he is oblivious to climate change and that he does not realise that renewables produce cheaper power than new coal-fired power stations.
The Coalition claims that they are better economic managers than Labor, but the facts say otherwise.
In the last six years of Coalition governments, total government debt has more than doubled.
Not only will this money have to be repaid but also the growing interest bill as well.
This government talks about surpluses but in actual fact has only delivered record debt for this country - actions speak louder than words.
And when you look at the prospect of interest rates falling even further, this is yet another sign the Coalition are poor economic managers.
Lastly, there is the issue of the long-nosed fur seals that have dared to venture from the ocean into the Coorong.
They are protected under Australian law while swimming in the ocean but due to a legal loop-hole, when they swim through the Murray Mouth into the Coorong, they lose that protection.
Mr Pasin has advocated for the killing of these animals in the Coorong. He places a loop-hole above the intrinsic value of these wonderful animals.
Verdict - it's time for a change.
