Imi is 18 and a first-time federal election voter. She is currently completing Year 12 and is studying Australian Politics for VCE. She will be voting in the inner metropolitan seat of Higgins, in Melbourne. Imi has kindly agreed to answer some questions about the upcoming federal election. With no assumptions as to her knowledge […]
Dark clouds and silver linings, the ICAN #ClimateAction vision: @adropex reports #ActiveDemocracy
Distinctive campaign battle lines were defined long before Scott Morrison’s belated April 11 announcement that we would be going to the polls on May 18. For months the Coalition had insisted the election was going to be about the economy, security and putting locals first, “to keep our economy strong, to keep Australians safe and […]
The Liberal campaign in #KooyongVotes an #AusVotes dinosaur: @adropex reports #ActiveDemocracy
Cutting his parliamentary teeth in the Tony Abbott opposition of the 43rd Parliament, Josh Frydenberg could be excused for thinking that with a blue-ribbon seat and a bit of judicious backing in the leadership spills he was set for life. Certainly, since winning the seat of Kooyong in 2010, his rise through the Liberal Party […]
A successful #IndependentsDay is like winning Eurovision: @adropex reviews #GetElected #ActiveDemocracy
Pale, male and stale The political class ‘is on the nose’ and trust in our politicians is going into a deep dive. Parliament is seen as being dominated by “personalities, parties and pecuniary interests”. People are tired of the scandals, the factional power struggles and the revolving door of leadership and prime ministers. With each […]
I felt she was speaking directly to me: @digitdave reflects on @indigocathy and #ActiveDemocracy with @adropex
Like the waters of the Murray-Darling Basin, communities run deep in regional and rural Australia. From the Hawkesbury River and the central coast of New South Wales to the Murray River and the valleys and ranges of north east Victoria, people gathered at Parliament House overlooking Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin to listen to Cathy McGowan’s […]
Shouting at the television and planting gardens: #ActiveDemocracy stories by @adropex
What do shouting at the television and gardening have in common? From little things big things have grown. Gather ’round people, let me tell you a story… or two. Whilst a television was not one of the perks of an Aboriginal stockman’s life in the Northern Territory in 1966, the story of Vincent Lingiari and […]
The #AusVotes preference system or choosing sides when your team can’t make the Grand Final: @adropex stops #ShoutingAtTheTV and comments
The closest I have come to an election campaign was handing out How-to-Vote cards in the Victorian state election last year, but I must admit to being an interested observer of #Auspol since the 2013 federal election which saw a local independent unseat a major party incumbent in the hitherto safe Liberal seat of Indi. […]
Burnt bridges: A reflection on the demise of Sophie Mirabella by @adropex
The result in the seat of Indi is final. Only in the last few weeks, as her 2016 campaign collapsed, has the topic of Sophie Mirabella not rekindled in me the upset and anxiety of the last decade. Rather the emotion was one of grudging compassion. With hindsight, the similarity in the unrelenting […]