Australia gets it right on Idol this year

I would have been happy for either Jess or Damien to win, but really wanted Damien to win and he did. He may not fit the mainstream of an Idol, but his voice is amazing. I am sure somewhere in this blog earlier in the year that I thought Damien was a worthy winner and am glad that I can at least judge a good talent when I see one.

WELL DONE DAMIEN!

All over bar the shouting!

Well State Election 2006 is over and the results are quite pleasing. Joanne Duncan had a resounding win against the Liberals getting nearly 58% of the vote on a 2 Candidate Preferred basis. In one booth, Sunbury Heights, the independent Dave Barry actually got more votes than the Liberals, I think his interesting manner of handing out How to Votes may have had something to do with it. The candidate that couldn't spell got about 6% of the vote, mostly coming from Sunbury, with very little support in the northern part of the electorate.

Congrats Joanne, you are a fantastic person and local member and fully deserve the win. Now for some sleep!

Fundamentalist Christians

No secret about my thoughts on Hillsong and the Pentecostal Churches, they have a lot of money and try to influence voting patterns with their money. I supposed I am not surprised by the following media release by the Church of Fire or whatever they call themselves.

As supa says "Some things just need to be seen and left unspoken..........................."

Nice Candidates

I spent a few hours doing pre-poll voting today, Jo was there and I acted as back up.

The nicest person I have met in this election campaign is Leigh Johnson the Greens Candidate for Macedon, he is such a decent person , he is thoughtful and receptive of the community. Unlike some others.

Tried to do the right thing by the Liberal Candidate warning her that parking her vehicle on a nature strip was illegal all I copped for that was an argument about nature strips, this I found pretty disappointing.

Climate Change and Dams

This is very funny!

Someone has finally listened to what I have been saying about damming the Maribyrnong, very silly idea Ted.

The Difference!

Labor Promises for Sunbury

$15 million for a Day Hospital in Sunbury
$25 million to upgrade Vineyard Rd and put traffic lights at Mitchells Lane/Horne St intersection.
$1 million upgraded Police Station

Liberal Promises for Sunbury

No mention of a hospital
No mention of upgrading Vineyard Rd/Mitchells Lane
A selective High School which would mean one of the current Secondary Colleges would become unviable and most probably close (given their track record with school closures).
Sunbury out of Hume poll. Don't they realise that the LG Act doesn't allow for a poll of one suburb within a Municipality, and by advocating Sunbury out of Hume they want people to pay an extra 60% in rates. Ironically it was the Liberals that put Sunbury in Hume.

What a weekend!

WE went into the city early on Saturday and did a few touristy things, went of a river cruise down the Yarra to Docklands, that was most pleasant, enjoyed Turkish entertainment at Fed Square, and then U2. Well what can I say that hasn't already been said at various sites such as Whirlpool and U2-Vertigo.com. It was the most amazing spectacular I have ever seen, the kids were thrilled with it and it well and truely lived up to everything I had heard. During the song Sunday Bloody Sunday, which was dedicated to the victims of the Bali Bombing, there were numerous messages put up on the big screen that Mr J is still talking about, messages about Peace, Tolerance etc. We stayed overnight in Melbourne, due to me having booked a room very early, as last week the cheapest room you could get in Melbourne in Sat night was over $500, I paid considerably less than that.

On Sunday we walked around the city and headed to Vic Market and did a little shopping, however due to a very big and late night the night before we were all a bit weary. We then headed to Williamstown to get some mussels from Seabounty on Wiliamstown Pier, this is somewhat of a tradition whenever we are in the City and are heading home. $4 per kilo and so fresh and tasty as well.

Now I need some sleep!

I'm Excited

Because this time tomorrow we will be seeing the best concert in the World. U2. I had to forego going to the Make Poverty History Concert tonight due to this, and am now watching the DVD of the U2 Vertigo concert from Chicago last year, I can't wait.

RIP Belinda

Belinda Emmett, you fought a brave and public battle, you had the love of your husband, he adored you. May you be free of pain now and have a peaceful existance.

Road Carnage

Last night I attended a Macedon Electorate Candidates Forum, 6 of the Candidates were there and each gave a short speech then questions followed. Some of the more interesting ones were a question to the Liberal Candidate about the 10% tolerance on speed cameras, this question was asked by a gentleman whose father had been killed on the Calder Highway, he asked if the candidate supported the speed limit with the 10% tolerance being 121 kph. The liberal candidates answer was astounding, she said that all cars have cruise control and that most people shouldn't be worried. Now, cmon, pulleeesse. Yeah my current car has cruise control but the car I traded in a few months ago didn't and most of my friends cars don't have cruise control, plus courtesy of Supamum

CC has never been advocated as something to eliminate road accidents, some goes for speed alarms. Monash studies have shown that some 8% of single vehicle accidents are because of the complacency of CC, no need to concentrate on foot to the pedal= less concentration on surroundings in general, lessened alertness, etc. Multi vehicle accidents can be attributed to somewhere between 10%-12% of CC activated.

Another candidate was asked if he realised that all of his election signs were misspelt, Independant when it should read Independent his reply was that it was due to Murphys Law, then blamed the printer. At least Murphy could spell.

Oh Deary!

It's not often, in fact I can't recall ever agreeing with Andrew Bolt, but today I do.

Punters woes!

I am not a punter, only once or twice a year. Last night I went to the Hume Cup Greyhounds at The Meadows. We started out trying to get trifectas but that wasn't working, so we moved to betting quinellas, we had limited success with that strategy, however we still didn't make a killing. It was sort of fun!

Today was Cup Day, I decided to back Zipping, it came 4th so no return either.

The state election campaign is hotting up, new websites popping up here and there. You would think if you were going to provide information on a website it would at least be accurate. Any state government panel members details are publicly available, easily googled, I just can't seem to find this persons name on the panel he claims to be appointed to. I'm sure it's just a typo.

So whose ABC is it?

Not the Glasshouse's anymore.

THIS IS A DISGRACE

Poor Teddy!

This is a corker, Teddy Bails, doesn't even know that his own party owns a website, from Crikey today.

Misha Ketchell writes:

Has the Victorian Opposition Leader committed his first major campaign gaffe? This morning Ted Baillieu fronted interviewer Neil Mitchell on Melbourne radio station 3AW to discuss "Steve Bracks's lies" and got caught out in a fib of his own:

Baillieu: I’m saying Labor lied with regard to the tolls on the Eastlink freeway… They’ve certainly broken a lot of promises Neil... they have broken a string of promises. There’s a website dedicated to Bracks's broken promises.


Mitchell: You’re recommending people to it. Has it got anything to do with the Liberal party?

Baillieu: Not that I’m aware of…

Mitchell: Bracks broken promises, I’ve got it now, it has a new broken promise will go up on this website every day on average. So you don’t know who’s behind it?

Baillieu: I couldn’t tell you Neil… there may be somebody associated with it but it’s just a list of broken promises.

Mitchell: But is it really sensible to recommend that people to it if you don't know its accuracy?

Baillieu: Well I’m just making the point Neil that there are a lot of people who think there a lot of broken promises.

Mitchell: It’s anonymous. That’s not very good is it?

Baillieu: I haven’t looked at it in that sort of detail to see who it is. But it’s been there for a fair while. I’m aware of it.

Mitchell: It says they’ve broken over 300 promises, so as far as know it’s not the Liberal Party.

Baillieu: I don’t know the origins of it Neil.

Mitchell: You’d know if it was the Liberal Party?

Baillieu: I don’t know the origins of it.

Mitchell: But presumably if you own party was doing it they would’ve told you?

Baillieu: Well I've been referred to it. There may be some people in the Liberal party who contributed to it, I don’t know…

Mitchell: Can you tell me what’s at 104 Exhibition Street Melbourne?

Baillieu: Ah, it’s Liberal party headquarters and there are some commercial offices.

Mitchell: Who is J Scheezel?

Baillieu: Ah, Julian Scheezel, that’s our state director.

Mitchell: He’s the person who authorises this broken promises website.

Baillieu: Well there you are. I’m happy to concede that. I wasn’t aware it was being authorised in that way.

Mitchell: It should have the Liberal Party name on it… and yet they didn’t tell you they were doing it?

Nicely wrongfooted by Mitchell and not a good look for a bloke wanting to claim the moral high ground –- but it's the sort of gaffe you can expect when relations between the party leader and HQ are decidedly frosty. (Scheezel is a Costello man while Baillieu is in the Kennett camp.)

Also not likely to inspire confidence are the results of this new Morgan Poll, which found that 70% of Victorians think the ALP will win and 59% think Victoria is heading in the right direction.

But if Ted Baillieu wants some expert advice on the subject, he could do worse than read this piece from this week’s Guardian media section – Politicians take note: spin does not work on the web.