Abbott and Morrison find a deeper part of the barrel to scrape.

Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison today announced a new draconian and cruel asylum seeker policy. Rudd's leap to the right on this issue has allowed Abbott and Morrison to go even further to the right than they would originally have. Read the following from the SMH and it's painfully clear it's not about "saving people from drowning at sea" and all about using desperate people fleeing for their lives for cheap political points,

The Coalition has ramped up its hardline stance on refugees, announcing on Friday that almost 32,000 asylum seekers who have already arrived in Australia by boat will never get permanent settlement as well as stripping them of the right to appeal to the courts. 

The Coalition would also introduce indefinite work-for-the-dole obligations for those found to be refugees.

            ''The essential point is, this is is our country and we determine who comes here,'' Mr Abbott said.  

As part of the toughened policy, a Coalition government will scrap the right of asylum seekers to appeal to the courts, which in the March quarter brought the number of asylum seekers who were granted refugee status from 65.3 per cent to more than 90 per cent. 

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the Coalition would return to a ''non-statutory'' process, in which a single caseworker would decide the fate of asylum seekers.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/tony-abbott-evokes-john-howard-in-slamming-doors-in-asylum-seekers-20130815-2rzzy.html#ixzz2c5p2h8KT

AustraliaVotes 2013 | The Diaz Trainwreck

Why Labor's marriage equality stance is a con job.

At the end of the leader's "debate" PM Kevin Rudd pledged to introduce a marriage equality bill within 100 days days if re-elected. The ALP left and Rainbow Labor will try to spin this as a win for the equality campaign, especially now that Rudd is in favour but allowing a conscience vote will doom the bill.

Labor has a policy of binding their MPs to vote one way or another on a bill with threatened punishments ranging from a stern warning to expulsion from the party depending on if the policy is in the ALP National Platform and how strongly the National Executive feel about said bill. A conscience vote allows Labor (just as it did when Gillard was PM) to straddle both sides of the fence at once. Labor MPs in progressive seats can vote yes and say it's not their fault when it fails while Labor MPs in socially conservative seats can vote no.

Let's not forget in the past they've made an openly gay Minister (Penny Wong) vote NO to marriage equality because it was a binding no. They don't really care about equality, it's all about the politics and the politics of this makes sense but it's a disgusting way to handle it, especially with 70%+ of the country supporting marriage equality. The Government should NOT have the right to discriminate with anything it does. If they want discrimination when it comes to marriage they should leave marriages under the control of churches and only officially recognise de-facto/civil unions/whatever they decide to call it which recognises relationships whether same-sex or opposite-sex. 

US Elections 2012. Prediction and updates.

Welcome to AustraliaVotes Live coverage on the 2012 US Elections. Updates will be sporadic at times and some updates will only be on the AustraliaVotes twitter (all times are Sydney time)

5:00pm OBAMA WINS

2:00pm  Electoral College Vote Update. ABC Australia - Obama 217-167, CNN Romney 152-143, PBS Romney 158-154, MSNBC Obama 162-153

1:30pm New Hampshire (16%) Obama 55 - Romney 44. Michigan (14%) Obama 51 - Romney 48

1:15pm Ohio (32%) Obama 54 - Romney 42. Florida (42%) 50-50. Virginia (42%) Romney 52 - Obama 47. Wisconsin (1%) Romney 52 - Obama 47

1:10pm Ballot Measure update. Alabama (1% reporting) Limit Obamacare Yes 61-39. Arkansas (1%) Allow Medical Marijuana No/Yes tied on 50. Florida (52%) Limit Obamacare Yes 51 - 49, No public funds for abortion No 55 - 45. Maine (2%) Allow Same-sex marriage No 59-41. Maryland (1%) Allow same-sex marriage Yes 55-45. Massachusetts (14%) Allow medical marijuana Yes 63-37

12:10pm Ballot Measures - Florida (18% reporting) Limit Obamacare in state No 53 - Yes 47. No public funds for abortion No 56 - Yes 44.

12:00pm Electoral College Update - CNN Obama 64 - Romney 40, ABC Australia still 177-167

11:45am Romney currently leading the popular vote 51-48 (2,045,558 - 1,949,578)

11:40am Senate - Vermont - Sanders (IND) hold, leading McGovern (GOP) 76-19 with 1% reporting. Indiana - 14% reporting Donelly (DEM) and Mourdock (GOP) tied on 47%

11:35am 24% in from Florida - Obama leads 51-48

11:32am That 177-167 is from ABC Australia. The CNN tally is Romney 24 (WV, IN, KY), Obama 3 (VT).

11:25am CNN projects Indiana for Romney

11:15am Current electoral college tally - Obama 177, Romney 167.

11:10am To start, here is my prediction of the Presidential Election from a couple of days ago.

Live: Sydney by-election

Sydney by-election results.
Turnout: 62.2% - 2.8% informal

Primary Vote

Candidate	Party	Vote %	Swing %
Robyn Peebles	CDP	1.9	0.8
Alex Greenwich	IND	47.3	11
Chris Harris	GRN	17.7	4.9
Shayne Mallard	LIB	30.9	-5.3
Glenn Wall	IND	2.2	2.2

2CP

Greenwich 63.7% - Mallard 36.3%

NSW Council Election: Byron Booth Results.

Nothing much out of the ordinary with the booth results as far as I can tell. The weird thing is The Greens getting 2.99 quotas yet only electing 2 councillors, must have been a very tight preference exchange.

NSW Council Elections: Blue Mountains Booth Results

Next up we have the Blue Mountains booth results. First ward - we see a few booth wins for Labor and a few for The Greens with the Liberals winning most, second and 3third wards dominated by the Liberals with Labor dominating the fourth.

NSW Council Elections 2012: Blacktown Booth Results

In this post and ones to follow I'll be embedding the booth results from the recent NSW Council elections for selected councils, starting with Blacktown. See the tabs at the bottom for other wards. If you have any questions feel free to post a comment or ask me on twitter

2012 NSW Council Elections - candidates elected by council

Will be continually updated as more results come in

Payments made to parties after 2010 election.

This spreadsheet is in response to a post on Facebook about compulsory. I'm using it to show why the parties probably aren't to keen to get rid of compulsory voting while we have the current public funding model - to receive funding a candidate must receive at least 4% of the first preference vote (single electorate or senate race, not nation-wide) The amount paid per vote for the 2010 election was 231.191 cents.