I’m standing as an independent for councillor in the local elections. I’ve talked to people about this, and do plan to identify as “informed by the Pirate Party”. The idea was to build up a profile at local levels to leverage into higher levels of Government. I plan to sell the idea that others in the pirate party would have an “outside perspective” to help me make sense of what’s going on, together with my personal “on the ground and there” perspective.
I’ll be working on my campaign statement for my website. I’ve already had two invites to candidates forums.
I’m planning to sink about $1,000 of my own money into this, but also run a relaxed campaign. I’m planning for ads in the local papers of about $300 each pointing to the statement on my website, leaving about $300 for printing. This could be at the local officeworks, or perhaps something more serious. I can just print out a typed shortened version of my candidates’ statement, or perhaps go for something more polished.
That’s the “me” candidates statement, but I still have lots of Bennelong leaflets I can hand out to give people an idea of what the Pirate Party is about.
Apart from the Pirate Party, I anticipate having people from the Non Smokers Movement of Australia and the Sydney Outdoor Lighting Improvement Society at booths to hand out flyers. How many would they need? But Pirates are welcome to come along too.
If I go above $1,000 there are additional accounting requirements and I would have to open a dedicated account. So, I’m not planning to go above that unless someone gives me a good reason.
I’m not planning to letterbox, but I’m also planning to make a point of mentioning how I don’t want to waste paper. I have something of a reputation in the area - it will be interesting to see if that converts into something more.
Best of luck! Standing for local elections might seem small and less relevant to some, but making progress on grassroots change positions us as a movement willing to make positive and effective change that is willing to make whatever gains for what we believe is right.
Wish there was more we could do to help interstate.
Ok, a bit of a progress report. I’ve registered, and am working on my candidates statement to put on my website. I’ve $220 of worth of advertising in one paper, and expect to get about $200 in another, leaving about $500 to spend on printing. That could be the candidates statement, or perhaps flyers in a more organised fashion. Letterboxing may not be worthwhile, though maybe there’s a point to handing out material on election day. I have my stuff from the last election as a supplement, too.
I’ve had two invitations to candidates forums and one to comment at Ryde district mums and an invite to join another candidate for coffee and there’s also an article coming out soon in one of the local papers.
So, yes help on election day would be good, and maybe beforehand. But thanks for asking, we’ll see how we go.
Hope you approve of the pirate party references. If you you print it out to hand out, write
"approved by John August, 10 Lorna Avenue North Ryde" and … “Printed by ( your name and address)”.
I anticipate I’ll be printing some of these for general use. It goes to about 3 pages. I may pack something down to 2, or expand it to 4.
Hi John. Actually I was thinking a few months ago about the rampant pace of development in some areas of Brisbane which is being encouraged and supported by the current council partially through rezoning low density residential areas around the city and I’ve concerned about some things like rising land value having an impact on the current high housing prices and access to community infrastructure like parking and roads.
I’d love to hear more of your thoughts on that in Ryde.
“If you think people who don’t do the interest would be interested in this statement - please print it out for them. Ideally, that’s something printed that will be appreciated.”
I think you meant to write:
“If you think people who don’t do the internet would be interested in this statement - please print it out for them. Ideally, that’s something printed that will be appreciated.”
and;
“When a business dose not rent-seek or push its costs onto others, it can do good. It’s something the Liberal party tends to be blind about.” -> "When a business does not rent-seek or push its costs onto others, it can do good. It’s something the Liberal party tends to be blind about.
Andrew - yes, you’re quite correct. I’ve edited the statement as you recommend, and I also found a few other corrections of my own. I ran a spell checker, but in my haste forgot to run a grammar checker. But it might not have found the things you did in any case. Cheers, John.
And look for pages 8 and 9. Note the article has lifted some material from my candidates’ statement, and it was not even really written as a media release. So, good …
And, hi Miles …upon reflection, increasing land values and development are not directly related, though they may be symptoms of the same malaise. One free market apologist statement is that if the market were let rip, there would be so much development that land values would drop. But, in fact it is dwelling not land prices that would be that much affected if they were, and you’re talking about high density dwellings as compared to other dwellings, and land values might even increase into the bargain if there’s synergy. The other question is - why has the market “picked on” Ryde? What’s so different? Are we so differently regulated compared to other regions?
The other factor in the equation is zoning decisions. They can increase property values in a way which sits outside of the market to some degree. I understand from Mark G that the book “Game of Mates” talks about this in some detail, it a book I still need to read. A set of zoning changes could have the “double whammy” of increased land prices and increased development all at once ( and also loading on facilities and traffic as well into the bargain).
But, can such increases change accessibility of stuff? Well, not directly. However, if you have zoning changes which increase population density without addressing the increased need for services, you’ll then have changes to accessibility. But perhaps it is so easy to tick a box on zoning changes without enforcing some engagement with infrastructure and access to services.
Lots of thoughts all over the place here, but maybe MarkG will make better sense of them, and I hope to have it clearer in my head in case voters ask me questions at candidates’s forums.
I’ve had net probably 40 hits on my candidates statement on my web page since it went up, and hopefully there will be more to come, and the articles are good. I need to get my ads sorted out for The Weekly Times directing people to the web site.
My plan is to have my candidates statement down to 2 sides of an A4 sheet and hand that out at booths, rather than a “flyer” as such. I’m also planning to hand out old Bennelong election material as background, and turn the corflutes into A frame thingys.
The question is how many of these sheets to print out. 1,000? 2,000? or what? I’ll be making a point of keeping my election expenses below $1,000 regardless.
Next week will be the start of pre-poll voting in Ryde. It would be good to have a presence there. I’ll be contacting people I know from the Non-Smoker’s Movement and the Sydney Outdoor Lighting Improvement Society. However, if people have time to spare during the day and can do a bit of a stint there, let me know.
Then, there’s election day itself, September 9. If people can turn out for that we can have people handing out material at the booths.
So there we go. Any thoughts? Who has free time? If there’s a deafening silence, I’ll be phoning people up …