Two thought provoking views on the Dont Vote and YES campaign by Ash Towns of Medina. We apologise for the length of the letters but we believe it is definitely worth a read. *************************************************************************** I have a question for the proponents of the Dont Vote campaign. Should you succeed in invalidating the vote by your strategy, what will you say to the majority of the electors of Cockburn and Kwinana who do not want this to happen. The didnt ask for it and will be forced to pay for it because a few such as yourselves deemed it an improvement. On many issues I agree with you wholeheartedly, you know this if you know me at all. We agree that the majority of Kwinana does not want this amalgamation because your strategy is not to get yes votes but to use the Dadour provisions to win the debate by default. You know that only a small percentage of our electors bother to fill in the ballots and so can win merely by allowing the usual amount of dead votes to count in your favour. If you are hoping that this improves the lot of everyone by changing our representation (ie the council), it will of course change the council. Will it improve anything? I dont know, but I do know that to change the council we merely have to vote at the next council elections if we dont like those who are currently running things. Should you succeed, the chances of anyone from Kwinana representing us on the new council is reduced by a factor of 3 given the respective population difference. How is this an improvement? Will it force the kind of changes you want? No one knows because we havent had the new council elections. I am not supporting the no campaign because I like our current council. I support the no campaign because I am as aware as you are that this is what the majority of people in these two electorates want. The Kwinana council knows this because of previous polls and the flood of signatories to the petition for a vote. Therefore, the money theyre spending to get people to vote is being spent on behalf of the majority of electors which is an appropriate use of ratepayers money. If, as it has been suggested, many millions of dollars of ratepayers money will be spent of the changes wrought by the amalgamation, a few thousands now may mean significant savings in the future. In truth, if I thought for a minute that the majority of voters in Kwinana supported the yes vote, I would wear a yes shirt. We all know they dont so what will you say to those who didnt vote and didnt want this forced amalgamation when they wake up to what happened? The Dadour provisions that allowed these electors a chance to vote are under threat. Another wasted vote is more ammunition for those who would see them repealed. Then there would be no choice at all. Democracy is about majority opinion dont you think? Maybe if there werent so many dead votes in the last council election Wayne would now be a councillor and would be helping to shape our future in a much more direct fashion. I dont want an incinerator but this wont stop it, tip passes arent an improvement for those without a trailer and I dont believe history has proved amalgamations save money. So whats the gain? Anyway, I support your right to free speech, I just hope that if you win, it works out how you think it should. Cheers, Ash Towns. I have a question for the proponents of the Dont Vote campaign. Should you succeed in invalidating the vote by your strategy, what will you say to the majority of the electors of Cockburn and Kwinana who do not want this to happen. The didnt ask for it and will be forced to pay for it because a few such as yourselves deemed it an improvement. On many issues I agree with you wholeheartedly, you know this if you know me at all. We agree that the majority of Kwinana does not want this amalgamation because your strategy is not to get yes votes but to use the Dadour provisions to win the debate by default. You know that only a small percentage of our electors bother to fill in the ballots and so can win merely by allowing the usual amount of dead votes to count in your favour. If you are hoping that this improves the lot of everyone by changing our representation (ie the council), it will of course change the council. Will it improve anything? I dont know, but I do know that to change the council we merely have to vote at the next council elections if we dont like those who are currently running things. Should you succeed, the chances of anyone from Kwinana representing us on the new council is reduced by a factor of 3 given the respective population difference. How is this an improvement? Will it force the kind of changes you want? No one knows because we havent had the new council elections. I am not supporting the no campaign because I like our current council. I support the no campaign because I am as aware as you are that this is what the majority of people in these two electorates want. The Kwinana council knows this because of previous polls and the flood of signatories to the petition for a vote. Therefore, the money theyre spending to get people to vote is being spent on behalf of the majority of electors which is an appropriate use of ratepayers money. If, as it has been suggested, many millions of dollars of ratepayers money will be spent of the changes wrought by the amalgamation, a few thousands now may mean significant savings in the future. In truth, if I thought for a minute that the majority of voters in Kwinana supported the yes vote, I would wear a yes shirt. We all know they dont so what will you say to those who didnt vote and didnt want this forced amalgamation when they wake up to what happened? The Dadour provisions that allowed these electors a chance to vote are under threat. Another wasted vote is more ammunition for those who would see them repealed. Then there would be no choice at all. Democracy is about majority opinion dont you think? Maybe if there werent so many dead votes in the last council election Wayne would now be a councillor and would be helping to shape our future in a much more direct fashion. I dont want an incinerator but this wont stop it, tip passes arent an improvement for those without a trailer and I dont believe history has proved amalgamations save money. So whats the gain? Anyway, I support your right to free speech, I just hope that if you win, it works out how you think it should. Cheers, Ash Towns.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 05:17:03 +0000
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