Proposed Redistribution Splits Wingecarribee

by travisaholland Posted on June 17, 2013

The NSW electoral redistribution process has entered its endgame phase with the release of proposed names and boundaries due to take effect at the 2015 election.

The major change in the local region is the boundary between the electorates of Goulburn and Wollondilly being moved from its existing spot at the northern shire boundary south to the Wingecarribee River. As a result, Bowral, Mittagong and northern villages will be in the electorate of Wollondilly, while Moss Vale, Berrima and southern villages remain in Goulburn. Robertson and surrounds been moved out of the electorate of Kiama into Goulburn.

It should noted that this is only the proposed boundary stage, and submissions are open until July 17. However, often little changes between the proposal and the final boundaries.

Below are two maps showing the electorates covering the Wingecarribee Shire. You can download detailed PDFs from Elections NSW.

Goulburn
Wollondilly

There has been some speculation from various quarters about what the abolition of Burrinjuck, which previously neighboured Goulburn to the west, would mean for Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson and Goulburn MP Pru Goward. On Twitter, Opposition Primary Industries spokesperson Steve Whan is stoking those coals.

Burrinjuck’s southwestern neighbour Murrumbidgee has also been scrapped in favour of a new seat of Cootamundra.
For the 19,000 voters in Wingecarribee Shire who are now in the electorate of Wollondilly, this means Liberal Jai Rowell will be the sitting member door-knocking the area leading into the 2015 election. Rowell is a first-term MP whose electorate office is presently based in Tahmoor.

Goulburn MP Pru Goward’s Bowral electorate office looks superfluous and will probably be moved to the city of Goulburn either ahead of or just after the election. This means that the Wingecarribee Shire will be without an electorate office of any state or federal member.

Kiama voters lose Gareth Ward in favour of Pru Goward.

What do you think about the redistribution?

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King of Throsby

by travisaholland Posted on June 5, 2013

Former Wingecarribee Shire Councillor May King will contest the seat of Throsby for Clive Palmer’s party.

Ms King, a one-term member of Council from 2004-2008, is taking on the campaign from her hometown of Wingello, which is actually in the electorate of Hume.

Ms King said she is motivated by a passion for the region and wants to “see it represented in a very positive, proactive way.”

She has created a Facebook group for feedback about the campaign and ideas for Throsby. More than happy to receive feedback/suggestions about Throsby.

Ms King has promised to announce policies soon, but indicated to the Southern Highland News she was interested in health, transport and tourism.

“There are some great policies, and they will be announced and expanded upon as the campaign goes on,” she said.

“I think Australians are looking for a good alternative to vote for, and I believe the Palmer United Party is a great alternative. People from all walks of life all over Australia have put their hand up to be candidates.”

The seat of Throsby will also be contested by Liberal Larissa Mallinson, The Greens’ Peter Moran, National Gary ‘Angry’ Anderson, Wayne Hartman from the Non-Custodial Parents Party and a yet-to-be-confirmed Labor candidate.

Labor’s preselection is due to take place on June 15, with the candidates being sitting first-term MP Stephen Jones and Wollongong nurse John Rumble.

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Throsby: Rinse and Repeat

by travisaholland Posted on May 21, 2013

The Non-Custodial Parent’s Party (Equal Parenting) will field a candidate for Throsby in September’s election. Wayne Hartman, who was the party’s candidate in 2010 and attracted a little under 2% of the vote, will recontest the seat.

The party seeks to have “less government control of many aspects of daily life”, in particular family law and child support. Their platform includes repealing child support legislation in favour of “equal time shared parenting legislation”.

The NCPP also has other small government policies such as: the Australian Defence Force being restricted to the defence of Australia; protection for Australian manufacturing but otherwise reduced government red tape in business; leave coal-fired power stations in place as the only reliable and safe source of energy; controlled immigration; removal of negative gearing rules; do not oppose same sex marriage; and states handing over a variety of powers to the Commonwealth.

NCPP Candidate Wayne Hartman in Bowral in 2010
NCPP Candidate Wayne Hartman in Bowral
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Throsby in the Green

by travisaholland Posted on April 29, 2013

The Greens have again selected Shellharbour City Councillor Peter Moran as their candidate for the seat of Throsby at this year’s federal election.

Moran contested Throsby at the 2007 and 2010 elections, winning 9.08% and 11.93% of the vote at each respectively. In both elections, Moran also polled better than the Greens’ national average vote.

Moran recently told the Illawarra News that he disliked the adversarial two-party system:

Democracy should not be about a system dominated by two parties only, operating in an atmosphere of adversarial confrontation. It is time we recognised the value of constructive debate and negotiation which is required when such a majority does not exist, and the important role played by The Greens and independents in that process

He also committed to tackling coal seam gas developments, telling the ABC that he believes the issue is a vote winner in the Southern Highlands:

In the 2010 elections for instance the Greens received over 20 percent of the vote in the booth at Exeter which is right in the heart of the blue ribbon conservative area of the southern highlands. And I think that is reflective of the fact that the Greens for instance are the only party with a clear position on Coal Seam Gas.

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A Labored Process

by travisaholland Posted on April 23, 2013

The Labor Party has announced it’s candidate for the seat of Hume will be Yass businessman Michael Pilbrow.

He joins four other candidates, including Liberal Angus Taylor, Katter’s Australian Party candidate Bruce Nicholson, Adrian van der Byl for the Christian Democrats and Independent James Harker-Mortlock. The Greens are yet to announce a candidate.

Pilbrow told the Goulburn Post:

The voters in the Hume electorate need committed representation in the federal Parliament and I will provide that.

Hume is very large not only in geographic terms, but in terms of the wide and diverse range of interests and concerns of its constituents.

Voters need to know that the candidate they elect to the Parliament will be diligent in representing their interests and in pursuing the issues that concern them. Ï am deeply committed to that task.

Pilbrow unsuccessfully contested pre-selection for the safe ACT seat of Fraser in 2010, but was beaten out by Andrew Leigh.

Mr Pilbrow owns Pilbrow Global which, under its trading name Strategic Development Associates, which provides strategic development advice and consultancy services.

He has worked on a review of the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and community development programs in Aceh, Indonesia, following the Boxing Day Tsunami. Mr Pilbrow has worked for the Australian Government aid agency AusAid and has a Bachelor of Economics from Monash University. In 2012, Mr Pilbrow was an ACT State Finalist for the Australian of the Year local hero awards.

Retiring Hume MP Alby Schultz recently told the Goulburn Post that he believed Mr Pilbrow needed to remove his business from dealings with the Commonwealth before being named as a candidate:

I believe Mr Pilbrow is in the process of extracting himself from his business pecuniary interests arising out of contracts, which I am reliably informed he currently has with the Commonwealth, so that he is not disqualified from being a candidate.

Angus Taylor said it was “good to see a Labor candidate has finally entered the fold.”

“[Pilbrow's] challenge will be to justify the trail of destruction left by Labor and their independent and green mates,” Mr Taylor said.

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Redistributing Councils

by travisaholland Posted on March 28, 2013

Two very different government processes with potentially deep implications for governance in the Southern Highlands are underway at the moment. The first is the Independent Local Government Review while the second is the Electoral Boundaries Redistribution.

Here is a brief primer on the two, which you might like to recommend to the Southern Highland News, whose journalists believe the two processes are one and the same, according to this recent article.

Local Government Review Redistribution
Affects Local Governments, but is being conducted by a panel appointed by the state government Affects the State Government, but is constitutionally-mandated and is conducted by independent panel members
Could result in some Local Government boundary adjustments and amalgamations, but the State Government has promised there will be no forced amalgamations Will result in state electorates having their boundaries adjusted to ensure all electorates are within 10% of an equal number of both current and expected future voters
Could result in some significant policy suggestions and changes about the way local government is conducted in NSW Will result in at least one seat in regional NSW being abolished and replaced with another in Sydney
Is taking submissions and conducting hearings throughout the process, with opportunity for interested stakeholders to contribute, including citizens, governments and other organisations Is taking submissions and conducting hearings throughout the process, with opportunity for interested stakeholders to contribute, including citizens, governments and other organisations
Commenced July 2012 and is expected to conclude with a report to the Minister in July 2013 Commenced Monday February 4, 2013 and should conclude by the end of this year. New boundaries take effect at the next election in March 2014

Resources and Further Information
There is a significant amount of information about the local government review at the review panel’s website. For information on the redistribution, visit the NSW Redistribution website or see ABC Election Analyst Antony Green’s blog.

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Jones threatened by VOFF

by travisaholland Posted on February 4, 2013

The Wollongong-based pressure group Victims of Financial Fraud (VOFF) has voted to contest the seat of Throsby at the 2013 election, in a bid to unseat sitting Labor MP Stephen Jones.

VOFF was formed last year to argue for compensation for Illawarra victims of financial fraud by Trio Capital. While the government awarded $55 million in compensation to investors covered by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority in 2009, this did not extend to those with self-managed super funds. Ever since, VOFF members have fought to recover their funds.

Mr Jones told ABC Illawarra that he has arranged several meetings between representatives of VOFF and Financial Services Minister Bill Shorten. However, VOFF has vowed to unseat Mr Jones.

Last year, VOFF spokesman John Telford told the Illawarra Mercury the government had “politically discriminated” against the self-funded investors. The VOFF website claims the government “chose” to compensate some investors.

Mr Jones insists he is not aware of any existing legal mechanism under which the self-funded investors can be funded.

The report of the inquiry into the collapse of Trio Capital from the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services can be accessed here [PDF].

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Here’s Tony

by travisaholland Posted on January 30, 2013

Prime Minister Julia Gillard today announced the 2013 election will be held on September 14, nearly nine months away.

With the date now set, attention can fully turn to the local seats. The two seats of most interest locally are Hume and Throsby, which combined cover the whole of the Wingecarribee Shire. They are also two very contrasting seats. Throsby is held by first-term Labor MP Stephen Jones and covers a diverse coastal, urban and country area. Hume is an amorphous inland country seat held by retiring Liberal Alby Schultz.

Here’s a brief look at the players.

Hume

The race for Hume is dominated by Alby Schultz’s heir apparent Angus Taylor (updated, see note below). Taylor does have a good grip of the issues in Hume and has an established campaign office in Goulburn. Nipping at Taylor are Katter’s Australian Party candidate Bruce Nicholson and [update: former] National Party member (but not endorsed candidate) James Harker-Mortlock. Adrian Van Der Bryl of the Christian Democratic Party has also joined the campaign.

Two more interesting points before we move on to Throsby.

  • Taylor has copped some criticism for standing in for Alby Schultz at official events. Here is what the Goulburn Post has to say on that matter:

From what I’ve seen so far, Angus is a hard-working bloke who is putting in the hardest yards of all the candidates so far.  I doubt he expects anything to be handed to him but I think… me personally… just my opinion… filling-in for Alby looks like a hand-out or a leg-up.

 

  • When two KAP candidates in other states made anti-gay comments, Nicholson deftly avoided commenting on it, telling Highlands Votes he’ll let KAP head office respond instead.

Throsby

Labor incumbent Stephen Jones may yet be challenged for pre-selection, but realistically his electorate would be stupid to toss out a hard-working, likeable first-term, young MP for anyone else. The problem is that Jones is from Labor’s left while his branches are dominated by right-faction powerbrokers. Thus far, other announced candidates include Liberal Larissa Mallinson and the Nationals’ Nick Cleary.

Mallinson seems to have a fairly choreographed campaign so far, and has made a few visits to the Southern Highlands, but is keeping a pretty low profile as far as local media goes. Meanwhile, Cleary takes his chances to promote and defend high-profile Nationals wherever he can, such as this letter to the Southern Highland News praising the work of State Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson.

 

*This post originally referred to Angus Taylor as a ‘city boy’. Angus tells us he is from a fifth generation farming family, and was brought up on a farm in Monaro. Angus’ dad was president of NSW farmers and vice president of the National Farmers’ Federation. He currently lives on a rural property east of Goulburn.

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Hume-id

by travisaholland Posted on December 3, 2012

Four candidates for the seat of Hume have so far announced themselves ahead of the expected 2013 Federal election. Labor and the Greens are the notable exceptions. Here’s the field so far:

  • At the head of the pack, Liberal candidate Angus Taylor has set up a Goulburn office and has even been officiating at community events in place of current MP Alby Schultz.
  • A Katter’s Australian Party candidate from Tahmoor has also joined the race. Bruce Nicholson is active and vocal on Twitter and has written a few firey letters to the Goulburn Post.
  • National Party member James Harker-Mortlock has announced his intention to stand in defiance of the Coalition agreement, which prohibits Nationals candidates from challenging the Liberals in Hume. As such, Harker-Mortlock will not be officially endorsed, but has announced he intends to direct all preferences to Taylor.
  • Former Goulburn state candidate Adrian Van Der Byl has been endorsed by the Christian Democratic Party to join the campaign. Van Der Byl obtained 3.4% of the vote at the 2011 state election.

We’ll do our best to cover the campaigns for Hume and Throsby as the 2013 election nears. If you have spotted a candidate or have some thoughts or information to share, please let us know.


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Unity is the Word

by travisaholland Posted on September 19, 2012

Following the Wingecarribee Council mayoral election, Cr Arkwright offered Councillors an opportunity to address the chamber. Four Councillors took up the opportunity, and all preached unity and cohesiveness.

Cr Duncan Gair was first, telling the room that Council had: “a lot to get through and to heal the wounds.” He asked Councillors to work together for the benefit of the community and to seek to regain community confidence and support.

Cr Larry Whipper opened his remarks with a nod to Councillor Arkwright’s election, saying it was “good to see a woman at the head of the table, so to speak.” He also said it was “imperative that [Council] lick a few wounds and move forward.”

Labor’s Cr Graham McLaughlin said: “We need to be a cohesive council to move forward,” and stated his support for the election of the mayor from the floor of the chamber, saying that’s how it should always be.

Finally, newly elected Cr Ian Scandrett thanked his family and supporters and welcomed the gallery. He also said it was great that the media was allowed to record the meeting and that he looks forward to revisiting the recording of meetings “on a future occasion.”
General manager Jason Gordon wrapped up the love in by saying he was “looking forward to working together for the benefit of the community.”


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