The Reality of Living in Australia and Covid

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Indeed.
FWIW: Most conspiracy theorists are on the wrong track. It's actually a group called the Pentaveret that are calling the shots.
The existence of the Pentaveret is revealed in the Mike Myers film, "So I Married an Axe Murderer".
The father of Myers' character says: "It is a well-known fact ... that there's a secret society of the five wealthiest people in the world, known as the Pentaveret, who run everything in the world, including the newspapers, and meet tri-annually at a secret country mansion in Colorado, known as The Meadows."
Members of the Pentaveret, he reveals, include the Queen, representatives of the Vatican, the Gettys and the Rothschilds, and, most chillingly, Colonel Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, before he died. "The colonel had sinister "beady little eyes", he says.

The Queen is not particularly rich certainly as regards disposable assets. Wonder why she bothers with the pentaveret

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Lucky Luke 1

We get a huge voter turn out as we have to vote, politics is always talked about and there are not many adults that don't take an interest.

I was referring to the stone throwing. I wish we had real news here from left and right and people didn't take what is said as fact.
That's another story.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

The Queen is not particularly rich certainly as regards disposable assets. Wonder why she bothers with the pentaveret

What she lacks in disposable asserts, she makes up for in her networking abilities (in spades).

Prolly no one else has anywhere near the number of direct lines of comms to most national leaders (and their handlers) to say nothing of the huge extended family members scattered around Europe who bows to her wishes.

But she needs access to the folding stuff the other four members can supply (also in spades).

A 'polyamorous' (polypowerful?) marriage of convenience of five if you like.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Lucky Luke 1

Yep. I've lived in both Sydney and Melbourne. The trouble is % of area wise they are a very small % of Australia. They are a different world and breed to the majority of Australia.
Big city people are city people....

That was the intention of our Electoral College to protect those in the minority out of populous areas. I'm not sure it is still working as intended.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Cadence

That was the intention of our Electoral College to protect those in the minority out of populous areas. I'm not sure it is still working as intended.

More like an inverse square law, nowadays.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Cadence

That was the intention of our Electoral College to protect those in the minority out of populous areas. I'm not sure it is still working as intended.

How our Federal senate is elected
'Composition

Under the Constitution, each state of the Australian federation, regardless of its population, has an equal number of senators. The Senate currently consists of 76 senators. Twelve senators represent each of the six states, elected for a period of six years. A system of rotation, however, ensures that half the Senate retires every three years. The four senators who represent the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory are elected concurrently with members of the House of Representatives and the duration of their terms of office coincide with those for that House (a maximum of three years).

The Senate is elected by a system of proportional representation which ensures that the composition of the Senate more accurately reflects the votes of the electors than the method used to elect members of the House of Representatives.'

More here
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliam...out_the_Senate

The lower house - each member represents about 165,000 people.
'The House currently has 151 Members. Each Member represents an electoral division. The boundaries of these electorates are adjusted from time to time so that they all contain approximately equal numbers of electors—because of the distribution of Australia's population they vary greatly in area (from a few square kilometres to over two million square kilometres). Members are elected by a system known as preferential voting, under which voters rank candidates in order of preference.'
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliam...epresentatives
Preferential voting is good.

The state systems are much the same
https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/about

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

How our Federal senate is elected
'Composition

Under the Constitution, each state of the Australian federation, regardless of its population, has an equal number of senators. The Senate currently consists of 76 senators. Twelve senators represent each of the six states, elected for a period of six years. A system of rotation, however, ensures that half the Senate retires every three years. The four senators who represent the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory are elected concurrently with members of the House of Representatives and the duration of their terms of office coincide with those for that House (a maximum of three years).

The Senate is elected by a system of proportional representation which ensures that the composition of the Senate more accurately reflects the votes of the electors than the method used to elect members of the House of Representatives.'

More here
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliam...out_the_Senate

The lower house - each member represents about 165,000 people.
'The House currently has 151 Members. Each Member represents an electoral division. The boundaries of these electorates are adjusted from time to time so that they all contain approximately equal numbers of electors—because of the distribution of Australia's population they vary greatly in area (from a few square kilometres to over two million square kilometres). Members are elected by a system known as preferential voting, under which voters rank candidates in order of preference.'
https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliam...epresentatives
Preferential voting is good.

The state systems are much the same
https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/about

Thanks! It sounds like your system is not too different than ours other than the preference voting which seems to make sense and our house seats being by population. They hold the purse strings I hope your electorate is smarter than ours.
I hope I wasn't the total cause of the drift.

[RaymondR]

Hi Cadence,

as far as I know the law requires you to attend a polling place and have your name crossed off the registered voter list and not to actually vote however most people go ahead and vote anyway.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

Hi Cadence,

as far as I know the law requires you to attend a polling place and have your name crossed off the registered voter list and not to actually vote however most people go ahead and vote anyway.

Well you can't just have your name ticked off and go home but many will - once in the booth - deface their ballot paper and write in a vote for Mickey Mouse or whoever. Called 'voting informal' and runs at about 5%. https://results.aec.gov.au/20499/Web...tate-20499.htm
And then there is the 'donkey vote' - people who will just number the boxes from top to bottom.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

One really needs to be cleanshaven to wear a mask properly. How many have you seen leaking around chinwhiskers, which will, after all grow back? I think we're gonna have to re-boot Earth.

Ann

Ann, I assume you are clean shaven. Have you never had your glasses fog up while wearing a mask - or seen someone else with that problem? The common masks aren't designed to have an airtight seal. What they do do is stop my droplet laden breath projecting a metre beyond my mouth - when the wind is abaft the beam- not so far when working to windward up the High Street.

Latest news in Vic ... mask mandates back for all over 8 years old.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/a...23-p59jpg.html

Ping the Hairy.

[MicHughV]

I'm enthralled by the Australian state of affairs regarding Covid

I hail from Florida, USA, where life goes on per usual, as mandated by our guv'nor, who is vehemently strict about his " no mask" ordinances.

I won't say life is normal, but it is near as dammit and Florida seems to have little problem with Covid..the mind ponders ???

[GILow]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

I'm enthralled by the Australian state of affairs regarding Covid

I hail from Florida, USA, where life goes on per usual, as mandated by our guv'nor, who is vehemently strict about his " no mask" ordinances.

I won't say life is normal, but it is near as dammit and Florida seems to have little problem with Covid..the mind ponders ???

62 thousand deaths is “little problem with Covid”?

[El Pinguino]

Am I the only one having a deja vu moment all over again in Oz ?

[Alan Mighty]

A guide to safe cruising ports of call:-

[GILow]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Am I the only one having a deja vu moment all over again in Oz ?

Which bit?

I’ve had my head down working for a few days. I just looked up and it all seems to have gone totally pear shaped around the country.

The most déjà vu bit to my mind is the stunning silence from the PM.