Pollies, keep away from online petitions
THE Parliament of Australia website defines a “petition” as a personal request for action.
“The right to petition federal parliament has been one of the rights of citizens since federation, and it is the only way an individual can directly place grievances before the Parliament.”
Parliament has specific rules about how they must be written and compiled before accepted as a “petition”. But this has not stopped online communities from creating their own versions of public engagement. Who can forget Choppergate? Speaker of the House Bronwyn Bishop chartered a helicopter and flew evergreen 35-year-old turned back the clock, rebounding off half-back to win All Australian honours for a sixth time.
Zac Smith and Rhys Stanley have transformed Geelong’s ruck division from a major weakness to a formidable force. Given more time to jell with Dangerfield, Selwood and our emerging midfield group, the Cats’ engine room is sure to dominate.
Next year Geelong will also benefit from greater crowds and facilities with the $91 million, Stage 4 redevelopment of Simonds Stadium set to be complete by May 17.
So unlike this year, if the Cats do again win the right to host a home final, hopefully the AFL rewards them. from Melbourne to Geelong to attend a function for a State Liberal candidate. This chopper cost the taxpayer $5000. When the expense was revealed in the papers, the Speaker was living on borrowed time.
Social media lit up. Television and radio shock jocks hounded the PM and an online petition was organised.
Eighty thousand people put their names to the document demanding the resignation of Speaker Bishop.
The petition itself was not solely responsible for the removal of this wayward politician, but it reminded the government people were aware of the shenanigans that were still considered to be “within the guidelines”.
Online petitions are almost always for very specific causes. Things like the inclusion of a specific drug on the PBS or the demand for a specific person not to be deported from Australia. They have clear arguments and often deal with personal stories of grief.
But recently pollies have been
Geelong may have been just one win away from a grand final but from where we were last year it has been one meteoric rise.
According to the great Leigh Matthews, a premiership team takes time to develop. The last trade period the Cats brought in a raft of recruits and all have had a positive impact, but coach Chris Scott made it clear from the day they arrived that this is a work in progress and will take time.
The fresh faces need to learn to play the Geelong way, band together and adapt to each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Geelong has once again refused to bottom out for draft picks, rebuilding exploring the online petition gambit for their own benefit.
Local Federal MP Sarah Henderson started an online petition to keep Target in Geelong. I am assuming it was unsuccessful, but was it ever going to change the opinion of the CEO?
Why do politicians need to use this personal format at all? The pollies should be receiving them, not sending them. This is the elected few who sit in Canberra and vote. They are supposed to make decisions, do deals and get some traction. A pollie raising a petition looks like an MP with no influence.
But this week The Greens started a new one. It’s called “Democracy For Sale”. They are asking for “urgent reform of Australia’s political donations system.” They want a ban on “for profit donation”, they want an “increase in transparency” and most importantly they want “real-time online disclosure of donations”.
All of these things are great. They make democracy make sense. Who Sean Sowerby is a Seven News weekend sports presenter, born and raised on the Bellarine Peninsula. Twitter: @SeanSowerby7 would disagree with this reform, especially the real-time disclosure?
We have a right to know who is getting Rolex watches. We have a right to know which corporations are paying for people to attend weddings in India.
But asking the general public to put their names and email addresses on this petition will not change the Canberra conga line. It may load up The Greens database with new email addresses, but political change does not come from an online poll.
Real reform comes from real leadership. Real negotiation. It does not come from political stunts.
If they want to save Target, if they want to change the donation system, if they want to pass same-sex marriage, then they have to negotiate, write some legislation and vote. It’s pretty simple. This is why they got elected. When will they start doing their jobs? Ross Mueller is a freelance writer and director.