[csaa-forum] election result

[Gabriela Coronado]

My experience of 'Democracy' is from Mexico and I am not able to vote
here. I was very surprise seeing some of the electoral practices that in
Mexico (a country trying to clean electoral fraud) are completely
unacceptable. First, a candidate cannot use resources from the
government even if it is the party in office. The voting site needs to
be clear from any party propaganda 2 days before the election. No
candidate or party representative can talk with people when they go to
vote. I thought that these practices were copied from 'DEMOCRATIC'
countries and now I realised that they are not and the opposite is just
taken from granted by Australians as acceptable behaviour. Gabriela  


Dr Gabriela Coronado.

Organisational Studies, School of Management

University of Western Sydney, Australia

Phone: 61 02 9852 4126

Fax: 61 02 9852 4185

E-mail: g.coronado at uws.edu.au

Mail: Locked Bag 1797 South Penrith DC 1797


-----Original Message-----
From: csaa-forum-bounces at darlin.cdu.edu.au
[mailto:csaa-forum-bounces at darlin.cdu.edu.au] On Behalf Of Shane Homan
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2004 2:04 AM
To: csaa-forum at darlin.cdu.edu.au
Subject: [csaa-forum] election result

Hi, 

I've been viewing this debate from the temp. vantage point of Liverpool,
UK, where many news items have appeared about how Australia does policy
'better' - the Blair government is looking at our policies on pensions
(superannuation), education and health as the models to follow. We're
now exporting ways to sell and manage the transfer of public
responsibilities to the private.

In terms of 'the loss of the west' for Labor, what hasn't been reported
/researched is the strategic use of the media in their western suburbs
seats in Sydney. Jackie Kelly spent substantial sums to place a 2 page
liftout in the Penrith Press newspaper every week ('Kelly Country) which
displayed her 'westie' credentials as a local member: Jackie playing
pool at the local pub; Jackie walking her children; 'Protecting
Medicare', etc. This has masked the occasional slips that reveal her
real thoughts: Jackie advised her low-wage electorate to hire a cleaner
if domestic fights arise from housework; Jackie countered the decline in
higher education funding by telling the media her electorate weren't too
fussed about university education. 

I've witnessed the transfer in my own family in this electorate from
being solid Labor voters, to Lib / One Nation voters (sounds like an
Oprah confessional), where people have long memories; the "17 per cent
interest rates" under Hawke/Keating confronts wider appeals to policies
of more colective ambition. As Don Watson has noted, everyone is
'aspirational' - yet even with a lad from Green Valley as its leader,
Labor has been, I suspect, outwitted in both substance and style (and
I'm not talking about a preference for Meatloaf over Britney here!)

cheers
shane

Dr Shane Homan
Cultural Industries & Practices Research Centre School of Social
Sciences University of Newcastle Callaghan NSW 2308 Australia
Ph: 61 - 2 - 4921 6787
Shane.Homan at newcastle.edu.au
fax: 61 - 2 - 4921 7402

Reviews Editor, Perfect Beat:
the pacific journal of research into contemporary music & popular
culture

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