Oh What A Brave Bunch They Are

[enf]

FFS.........Makes me SO proud of those who would lead us....



Paywalled....

Politicians scramble to flee Parliament House as Canberra goes into lockdown

Australia’s politicians are scrambling to fly out of Canberra as the ACT goes into an emergency lockdown.
Helena Burke, Courtney Gould
NCA NewsWire
August 12, 20215:00pm


The Australian Capital Territory will enter a snap seven day lockdown from 5pm Thursday after a case of COVID-19 was recorded. Chief Minister Andrew Barr…

Australia’s politicians are scrambling to flee Parliament House ahead of Canberra’s emergency lockdown.

Labor MPs Jim Chalmers, Bill Shorten and Murray Watt all confirmed they had fled or plan to flee the capital on Thursday.

Speaking at parliament, Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers defended his decision to return to Queensland.

“The lockdown’s at 5pm – some of us have got kids to go home to,” he said.

“It makes a lot of sense (to leave).”

Canberra was ordered into a seven-day lockdown from 5pm on Thursday after a positive case of Covid-19 was detected in the territory.
Canberra is set to enter a seven-day lockdown at 5pm tonight. Picture: APH

Canberra is set to enter a seven-day lockdown at 5pm tonight. Picture: APHSource:Supplied

During question time on Thursday, the speaker informed parliament that “parliamentarians who remain in the ACT are classified as essential”.

The speaker said parliamentarians’ staff would also be considered as essential workers.

Mr Shorten fled the capital on a flight to Melbourne on Thursday afternon.

Senator Watt is set to flee later today on a commercial flight to Queensland.

While parliamentarians have previously been offered special privileges in emergency situations with private “special purpose flights”, sources have told NCA NewsWire that MPs will need to flee Canberra on commercial aircraft this time around.

The Party Games newsletter Get your political briefing from news.com.au's political editor Samantha Maiden.

Parliamentarians have previously been offered private ‘special purpose flights’ in emergency situations. Picture: Gary Ramage / NCA NewsWire

Parliamentarians have previously been offered private ‘special purpose flights’ in emergency situations. Picture: Gary Ramage / NCA NewsWireSource:News Corp Australia

NSW has enforced a stay at home order for anyone in Canberra from August 5, however it is currently unclear what restrictions will be in place for ACT arrivals in other states.

A spokesman for Senator Watt confirmed the Labor MP would be “following any requirements as necessary” upon arrival in Queensland.

During question time, the speaker emphasised the “strict” Covid-19 rules that had been in place in Parliament House during the past two sitting weeks.

The rules in Parliament House were “above and beyond the current ACT rules” he told the chamber.

[efab]

I hope they all get the virus. Problem is these mongrols get paid no matter what happens.

[lsemmens]

It will be interesting to see who remains in Can'tberra. Who called the lockdown? If you believe all the gossip rags, it's the pollies fault that we are all locked down anyway. Surely, if they were responsible, they'd have departed Canberra first........

[shred]

In fleeing, they potentially spread the virus to their home towns. Haven’t we learned anything about contagious diseases since the middle ages?

[enf]

.................................................. Haven’t we learned anything about contagious diseases since the middle ages?

No, we still elect politicians.

[enf]

It will be interesting to see who remains in Can'tberra. Who called the lockdown? If you believe all the gossip rags, it's the pollies fault that we are all locked down anyway. Surely, if they were responsible, they'd have departed Canberra first........

The ACT government, responding to the first case here in over 12 months, in consultation with whomever they have as health experts called it. The infected guy was all over the place for about 4 days, attending numerous populous events.

I was out yesterday to do my normal shop, but the queues to get anywhere were staggering and the wife and I gave it a miss. Just went to the butcher. You don't need a BLM protest to stage a super spreader event, the residents did that themselves.......ridiculous AND embarrassing considering what has happened elsewhere. FFS, there were long queues to get petrol.....you can't GO ANYWHERE.....

[wotnot]

No, we still elect politicians.

Not this black duck =)

[Uncle Fester]

No, we still elect politicians.

It is compulsory, like every proper dictatorship.

[Uncle Fester]

Not this black duck =)

How?

[Uncle Fester]

I was out yesterday to do my normal shop, but the queues to get anywhere were staggering and the wife and I gave it a miss. Just went to the butcher. You don't need a BLM protest to stage a super spreader event, the residents did that themselves.......ridiculous AND embarrassing considering what has happened elsewhere. FFS, there were long queues to get petrol.....you can't GO ANYWHERE.....

Welcome to the new normal (sorry I couldn't resist).

You will get used to it and soon you might find out that panic buying and bunkering up is exciting... because there is nothing much else to do

[enf]

We're still free to shop and such....I'm going to wait until tomorrow and go for a bit of a drive (you know, to the chemist) and see if the morons have come to their senses.

Hey Fester, yes....it is the new normal and I never expected we would escape it. Just a little disappointed in the behaviour is all. Even the pollies surprised me with their lack of common sense. What an example to set....geeez.

[enf]

Two more....makes 6 total...

[Uncle Fester]

Including one unlinked high school student who was infectious for three days in school.

Will be interesting in week or two to see what comes from that.

While everybody everywhere has to wear masks, they are NOT even recommended(NSW) in school classrooms where 30 kids spend 6 hours a day with zero social distancing where they can share all their stuff, so of course nobody wears one.
They have to wear them OUTDOORS waiting for the canteen and when they walk to some sport activity.

I guess it is only my problem that I suffer from common sense and logic.

[wotnot]

How?

That's a bigger question than it looks. If I just limit answer to via what 'mechanism', I always suspected it was because I'd never enrolled to vote...this is what I thought anyhow, and it wasn't until I changed residence back in 2018, did I receive a letter informing me that as I had a permanent Qld address, I was now automatically enrolled to vote, and I thought "how interesting", and did a backtrack thru the Qld govt. tombs, and found they'd (state electoral commission) changed this in 2016, to determine 'eligibility' to vote, was bounded by whether you had permanent residence in Qld, and thus you automatically enrolled to vote once you met that qualification. In my case, this was tagged from centrelink EDP when I declared change of address wrt my disability pension, but I'm pretty sure drivers license database is roped in as well, as you have to declare residential address + vehicle 'home' location, on that license application.

Digging a bit deeper into this, and long time ago (read: a century) the federal govt. here delegated responsibilities of voting compliance/enforcement, to the states and territories to enact upon, along with the perceived notion that one will be fined if they don't vote. I've lived in 2 states over the years, NSW & Qld, and after 60+ years of choosing not to vote, neither state have ever said boo to me about it ...and they've always been able to to get in contact with me, especially since I have been on the pension - that's 12years now. A lot of fed/state elections have come & gone in that time, and I did not participate, do I get contacted, fined, have my pension payment garnished? Nope, and believe me, I was full well expecting that to happen, at the -last- election here, having been automatically stuck on the electoral roll, but nah, not a peep, bit like that monty python skit with Ralph Mellish ..nothing happened () ...and I'm like "again with the toothless tiger shit? why aren't you enforcing you own changed rulings?".... {shrug}... so I get to wondering. Logically speaking, if they're going to enforce the compulsory voting policy, and states/territories are responsible for doing that, somewhere there should be a 'prescribed penalty' for failing to vote, and for Qld it seems, the penalty is $20 (TBH, I couldn't find any penalty scheduling for 'repeat' offenses such and similar, just the flat redback for your non-participation). Every year, end of June, I get a letter from the ATO informing me I didn't pay tax, as I'm on a disability pension. They're really on the ball.

I do know NSW had picked up their game, when it came to fining ppl for not voting. This was response to them finding out that a good majority of the 18-26yr age group weren't voting. I've no idea what the fine is there, or if anyone's called their bluff, and put it to a test of law. (like, I'm not really sure if they should have access to demographic data of voters), but it'll be different in each state/territory no doubt.

The simple answer to your question of "How?", -was- "Because they let me get away with it!" (not enrolling to vote, which precludes me from voting)

Now, I have to change tack slightly, and the answer is more "Copping a $20 fine for not voting, gives me more peace of mind than having to vote any of these wombats into power" ...pause.... "If they ever decide to fine me" =)

[shred]

Not this black duck =)

You don’t actually have to vote. You have to turn up at a polling booth and have your name ticked off the list. It’s expected that you’ll make a mark on the bit of paper and the deposit it in the box provided. I believe drawing a penis on the form is a popular way to express your contempt for the process.

(Note that I actually do take voting seriously. I feel that if you don’t vote, you lose the right to complain about the politicians… and I like to complain about them)

[enf]

You don’t actually have to vote. You have to turn up at a polling booth and have your name ticked off the list. It’s expected that you’ll make a mark on the bit of paper and the deposit it in the box provided. I believe drawing a penis on the form is a popular way to express your contempt for the process.

(Note that I actually do take voting seriously. I feel that if you don’t vote, you lose the right to complain about the politicians… and I like to complain about them)

Totally agree.

In an earlier life I used to draw my own box and tick it. It said "none of the above".

[wotnot]

You don’t actually have to vote. You have to turn up at a polling booth and have your name ticked off the list. It’s expected that you’ll make a mark on the bit of paper and the deposit it in the box provided. I believe drawing a penis on the form is a popular way to express your contempt for the process.

(Note that I actually do take voting seriously. I feel that if you don’t vote, you lose the right to complain about the politicians… and I like to complain about them)

Don't for a moment think I don't take not voting seriously ~ I do. That said, after 6 decades of watching, all I see is one or the other side of this 2 party political system obtaining office, the 'opposition' side and followers always bitching about that, until enough people get disgruntled due to the current govt not doing enough good, and the 'other side' gets into office, the roles are reversed, and the 'new' opposition side, along with it followers, do the traditional thing of bitching about those currently in power, wash, rinse, repeat...with the perhaps exception of the Whitlam incident, that broke different ground. Aunty might not be the unbiased news source we'd like it to be, but at least they take the time to broadcast parliamentary question time, and quite seriously, I've seen better arguments in a pre-school sand pit over who's turn it is to play with sam steam shovel. I look at the broadcast, and think to myself "FFS, the tax-payer is paying their (high) wages, to carry on like this?" ; I have to shake my head in disbelief, I don't see value for money here.

So, right, what do you do? You can see, clearly demonstrated time and again, that the political -system- in this country, simply doesn't work as it should. How do we, the people, lodge a vote of 'no confidence' with the way the govt and political system is being run? By voting for the other side, just because you're pissed with the current side, and reneging on that 4 years later, because the side you helped vote in turned out to be a real bunch of wallies, and so you vote for the other side again, and that side has an internal upheaval and some bigger idiot ends up with the top job...until they're voted out again? This is very silly, and repetitive. I've never been presented with a set of candidates, with whom I've had any confidence in to do the job entailed of them, and a don't believe any of them truly govern in my (the people's) best interests. It is common speak in our vernacular, "you can't trust a politician", why does that adage exist? It like "you can't trust a 2ndhand carsales seller"... and when it comes to choosing which cabinet member gets what portfolio, more often than not the wrong person is chosen for the job, and/or the duties are outside their experience, we have no control over that, somewhat critical part, of govt structure.

We don't even have one vote one value, we have the preferences system, so the net 'worth' of your voting opinion/voice, is fragmented into pieces, some of which can go towards the candidate/party you *don't* want to vote for. All of that, goes way back a century as well, when the aussie population was so small, they really needed ppl to vote and preferences distributed, to ensure whichever left/right political party achieved a clear mandate (of the people, not just the Lords). The 'context' and 'intent' of many of these portions of the AU constitution, aren't really ...umm... 'in step' with modern conventions, and they're 'mobile' and often subject to changing interpretation...like my previous post, where it's gone from being the individual's responsibility to enroll to vote, to any individual 18yrs or older automatically becomes enrolled. As it's written in the time wherein AU was still largely considered to be a colony of criminals becoming a civilized part of Empire, it was always written in that if one should be found guilty of not enrolling to vote, you were granted amnesty for all the previous years you hadn't enrolled, and you had to provide an acceptable reason for declining/refusing to enroll...ie; I'm a Druid and it's against our beliefs...whatever.

Like I say, I take it serious enough to read through the paper trail, and it did occur to me there was a fundamental flaw -- just because all these measures had been put in place to ensure the people voted for a member of the political institutions to determine who runs our fed/state govt, they've dismissed the possibility that all aussies might decide -not- to vote, in protest at -all- parties that are part of the system. Back in the 70's and the hey days of social unrest and the police state of Qld, we thought about the idea of having a "Don't Vote" party, vote 1, don't vote...no platform, no promises, just the chance to give'em a decent kick in the pants, to say "enough!" ; it's the one and only way left for aussies to demonstrate their discontent here. It won't happen of course, but it'd sure shake them up =)

I reckon we'd like to believe, AU as a republic might be a better shake-out, but it won't be without major changes, and that's hard to imagine. These political institutions are dug in, entrenched, and me voting or not is of no consequence. It's of so little consequence, they can't even be bothered collecting the $20 fine from me for not voting. Begs the question, doesn't it - who's not taking voting seriously? =)

[madtech]

Totally agree.

In an earlier life I used to draw my own box and tick it. It said "none of the above".

I am a firm believer in "None of the above." I believe it should be an option on every ballot. If "None of the above" gets greater than its average % of votes¹ then the seat should be recalled and none of the original candidates can stand for election for any level of government for at least 10 years. In addition all donkey / invalid votes should be counted towards None of the above.

^​1Greater than its average % of votes means if there are 3 candidates + None of the above then if none f the above gets greater than 25% of the vote then seat recalled etc.

[enf]

I am a firm believer in "None of the above." I believe it should be an option on every ballot. If "None of the above" gets greater than its average % of votes¹ then the seat should be recalled and none of the original candidates can stand for election for any level of government for at least 10 years. In addition all donkey / invalid votes should be counted towards None of the above.

^​1Greater than its average % of votes means if there are 3 candidates + None of the above then if none f the above gets greater than 25% of the vote then seat recalled etc.

Sadly I think it would win just about every seat, every time. I say sadly, because we'd never have a government. Then the states and territories would have to make it up as they go along.......... Oh Wait! They do that now.......

[Guiseppe]

How?

Just get your name crossed off and ...