Do Not Read This Title

In today's news:

Forest workers counter anti-pulp mill ads

The forest workers union in Tasmania has launched an international campaign to help secure finance for Gunns' $1.5 billion pulp mill.



But at the bottom of that story, is a few paragraphs on last week's Legislative Council* election for Windermere (East Tamar & part of Launceston).

Mr Frame [spokesman for CFMEU I think, story is a bit ambiguous] also says the re-election of pulp mill supporter Ivan Dean shows there is broad community support for the mill.

Mr Dean won almost 40 per cent of the primary vote in the Upper House election for Windermere last weekend.

"I think the election results from Windermere in the Legislative Council on the weekend indicate that really they want this development to proceed, and they want to bring a sustainable value adding employment opportunity to Tasmania."

That the incumbent got less than half the first preference votes shows that there is broad community support for an issue that wasn't brought up (that I noticed) during the campaign? Yep, that would be my conclusion too.

It doesn't even get a mention on the Green candidates' leaflet. Actually, I brought said leaflet inside and read it, and tossed it aside because it was vague about what he actually stood for. It wasn't until I got to the polling booth and they gave me a bit of paper with the five candidates names on it, that I discovered his affiliation. On looking at it later, there is the party's logo in one corner. Very low key. (Mr Whish-Wilson possibly needs to rethink his advertising material if he ever stand for election again.) The whole damn election was low key. That the incumbent was returned isn't much of a surprise. That he got not much more than 1/3 of the vote on first preferences does suggest there is some dissatisfaction among voters though.


*State Upper House, elections are held every 6 years but only 2 or 3 districts each time

4 sleeps to election day.

I found the positioning of these posters amusing but it doesn't photograph to well (loses the effect). Regular readers might recognise the site, now with the windows boarded up, pending the start of a new development.

( Photos )

Ferguson has been campaigning well. Very visual, a lot of letterboxing (I get something every couple of days, including a letter from his wife last week), and a strong emphasis on local issues.

Campbell I haven't noticed at all, except for the posters, although they showed her doorknocking on TV once so I guess she's concentrating different parts of the city. She did get charged with driving an unregistered vehicle last month. Any publicity...?

There's a couple of Family First posters in there. A "family values" party.

The green candidate (this is onr, apparently, and his name might be Martin, but I could be wrong) is conspicuous by his absence. A lot of advertising for the Senate candidates (Bob Brown & Andrew Wilkie) but none for the House of Reps.

(Quick election explanation: country is divided into electorates, with approximately the same number of voters in each. The party that wins the most electorates (seats) goes to the Gov General and says "Hey, we want to form a government." Simple.

To give an idea, there are 5 electorates in Tas: Denison (Hobart), Franklin (around Hobart), Bass (Launceston & NE), Braddon (main population area of north-west coast) & Lyons (everything else). This was obviously decided on by someone in an office a long way away. Braddon & Bass are both marginal seats, meaning the Liberals hold them, but not by much.

The Senate, of course, is the Upper House that approves legislation. They're elected for each state. Currently the Libs have control of the Senate, but there's a possibility is the Green pick up an extra seat, they could get control, which would be interesting.)

Based on recent campaigning, I won't be at all surprised if Ferguson gets back in.