Election results AMEP's Ricky Muir elected in senate discussion

[blacky05]

So after most of the votes have been counted, it seems the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party's Victorian candidate Ricky Muir is likely elected to the senate thanks to 0.5% first preference votes and a whole bunch of elaborate preferences deals.

I'm interested to see what everyone's opinions on this matter are.

My personal opinion is that Ricky Muir is more of an image of the stereotype that we want to get away from than a good representative of the car enthusiasts in our country. For him to have a position in the senate is a sign of the poor state our politics is in and will be unlikely to have any real benefits to the car enthusiasts of this country as most of the problems we face are at a state level.

Anyway, that's just my opinion. I also vote Greens so I doubt I'm a "typical" car enthusiast but I'm interested to see what everyone else thinks...

[Fury-S12]

from what google returns and more importantly his facebook page says, he seems more like a bad thing for car enthusiasts then a good thing.

[inmans12]

It's only a few silly things the media has drummed up. Obviously he has alot to learn but I dont think thats a bad thing, think we need more people from blue collar background!

[gadget1382]

[discussion]


This last election has got me more riled than any other election to date. I am a swinging voter and I've given 1 to Libs, 1 to Labor and 1 to Greens to date...


Abott did not get my vote - despite my parents and inlaws being likely to be better off under Libs, myself and my wife would be better off under Labor.


On personality, neither had my vote. I had to base my vote on more than one policy too with a growing family.


Abott's party's short sightedness in "Getting Aus into the Black" is going to be at the expense of jobs, industry and the environment. The infrastructure that they are planning on doing, is not required, but to "keep the building industry alive" at the target 20% inflation.


Rudd is in all accounts a control freak and the party bickering was definitely a sticking point. He needed to go, so that the party can re-form and cement their views and policies.


As for AMEP... they did get my senate vote.


Why, you may ask... there are more than a few reasons. See here >>>>----> http://www.australianmotoringenthusiastparty.org.au/policies


 


But here's a summary...


We need unified road laws.


We need stricter licencing... and despite my years of driving, when I was 18 I don't think I should have passed. Yet I did, as did many mate's. Unfortunately, not always through faults of their own, they are not all alive today.


They offer a viable alternative environmental insite. Greens want to keep the forrests for the flora and fauna. AMEP want's to keep it so people can use it and appreciate it.


We need Police and the public to be on the same page. This is not always the case and ever presently displayed at legal family friendly meets without anyone doing anything wrong.


We need stricter laws for unroadworthy cars, not customised cars.


We need loser laws for petty infringements and harsher ones. No one should EVER feel the need to run from the cops to endanger others lives and their own.


They feel the best education possible for children is a must. I don't want my children to be laughed at when they travel.


Similarly for health.


 


I did not expect them to get in, and like mentioned earlier, it is policy that I was looking at, not the individual.


 


Now that other important fact is, they got into the senate. I knew this before I cast my vote. I did not want Liberals to get the senate vote, to just pass every policy they wanted, nor did I want Labor to, to just block everything decent that the Lib's pushed through. I did not want any more power to also go to the Greens, who I still mutter certain words under my breath about, when dealing with bush fire season and the serious safety issues associated with it.


 


AMEP are not in a position to MAKE the rules, they are however in a position to pass or reject the policies put forward by the lower house. It does not give them a great amount of power, but it is a hell of a lot more, than having none at all.


 


The sceptic in me also realised that Murdock (media mogul) is set to benifit largely from a Liberal government. Being paid to not report on any "boats" is an interesting theory. So it benefit's him greatly to smear Ricky's name as much as possible.


Note the change in the last few weeks and also how much his name is mentioned in the last week... practically nothing mentioned, but what is, is saying he may just be the "breath of fresh air" the government needs to be in touch with the general populous. As opposed to stuck up accountants and law buffs who are in it for the $$ and less about improving the nation and serving it's people. 

[Fury-S12]

In in the same boat gadget, lib gov benefited my dad, due to being in bed with the miners, but labour far outweighed that in benefits for myself and basically everyone I knew!

I really think media played a huge part in the out come off this one, most outlets had written Kevin off from day one, all you heard was 'soon to be prime minister Abbott' rather then an unbiased intro, Murdoch played a huge part, a way to huge part, and the ahole kevin side was everywhere (not saying I know it's not true, just over reported), I'm all for free media but I have a feeling this one would have gone down way different if the media were truely unbiased

[blacky05]

Gadget, I agree with almost everything you said and basically think AMEP would be better off with someone like you, who knows how to speak and write properly rather than what I have seen of Ricky so far. I don't mind the idea of AMEP having a say and sharing a different opinion on certain topics but I really think they could be doing a few things better/smarter.

If AMEP opposed the greens due to their stance on bushfires as you mentioned, then fair enough. But opposing the greens when AMEP are essentially advocates for keeping forestry/public land to be used for recreation rather than mines/industry seems like a waste. With a little politics I'm sure they could influence the greens to change their stance for more protected forests with more relaxed/smarter recreational ruels as the real threat is industry/development, not recreation. I'll use Fraser Island as the perfect example of this!

Anyway, I suppose they will spend the next few months ironing out their policies and it's unfair to judge them as they never really planned to get into the senate in the first place. I'm also glad that this election could prove to be a wake up call for our lackluster main political parties.

[gadget1382]

I have to agree. If the views were not as extreem, I'm sure the Greens would get more votes.


 


I'm sure over the coming months there will be a lot of work going on behind the scene's. I would be certainly interested to see exactly what influance and views they put forward.


 


Maybe I should consider politics... hmmmm :p