The 'get out the youth vote' campaign begins in earnest today with inserts into two of Sydney's big three weekly streetpress magazines, 3Dworld and The Brag, advertising the chance to win the car or holiday when you vote in the board election. Woop.
Meanwhile, there's been a bit of talk in the comments about the new voting system (and thank you everyone who has commented! That's what this is here for, keep 'em coming). I have a lot of sympathy for people's preference to vote for a whole board, not a single representative. I also understand however the idea that this allows people to better investigate those standing for their area rather than be confronted with 50+ candidates all vying for their attention.
To surmise:
Good aspects of the new system:
-easier to research candidates
-more informed choices?
-greater emphasis on team campaigning?
Bad aspects of the new system:
-confusion over regions/seats
-few choices, less democratic?
One aspect of the new system I'm unsure about is whether it makes it easier or harder for individual independents to get elected. I think perhaps with fewer candidates in a particular area, and being able to focus their campaigning on that area, benefits independents with a genuine supporter-base in their local communities. What do you think?
Here are the maps of the 9 regions across NSW, five within the Greater Sydney Metropolitan Area, three others for the coastal areas and the huge Townsend covering everything west of the Dividing Range.
Meanwhile, there's been a bit of talk in the comments about the new voting system (and thank you everyone who has commented! That's what this is here for, keep 'em coming). I have a lot of sympathy for people's preference to vote for a whole board, not a single representative. I also understand however the idea that this allows people to better investigate those standing for their area rather than be confronted with 50+ candidates all vying for their attention.
To surmise:
Good aspects of the new system:
-easier to research candidates
-more informed choices?
-greater emphasis on team campaigning?
Bad aspects of the new system:
-confusion over regions/seats
-few choices, less democratic?
One aspect of the new system I'm unsure about is whether it makes it easier or harder for individual independents to get elected. I think perhaps with fewer candidates in a particular area, and being able to focus their campaigning on that area, benefits independents with a genuine supporter-base in their local communities. What do you think?
Here are the maps of the 9 regions across NSW, five within the Greater Sydney Metropolitan Area, three others for the coastal areas and the huge Townsend covering everything west of the Dividing Range.
posted by Tom Dawkins @ 3:49 AM
3 Comments:
At 17 October, 2005,
Chris Elenor said…
Dear Col
You pose some questions about whether the old or the new voting system for the NRMA Board is better than the previous one.
Some observations-
With a single statewide electorate and two million potential voters it requires significant campaign resources and a strong brand name (or names) to make an impact on the the members. The previous one electorate system appears to have advantaged incumbent directors over the solo independant candidates unless they were celebrities. The NRMA has had a string of celebrated sports stars as Directors.
The new system with nine regional electorates reduces the number of voters candidates need to pitch too and provides an opportunity to inject regional and local issues into their policy positions and campaigns.
Chris Elenor
Candidate for Simms
At 18 October, 2005,
Tom Dawkins said…
Hi Chris,
I totally agree - that's the great advantage I see of the new system, that it gives independents with genuine support in their community a much greater chance of success. It'll be interesting to see the success of the independents vs the groups in this first election under this system.
Cheers,
Tom
At 27 October, 2005,
Anonymous said…
NRMA Election-"WHICH BOARD?"
I refer to"the United Board Website"
It’s worth looking at the facts. The United Board comprises 5 of the original 16 Board members on Ross Turnbull's "New Team"-Alan Evans Michael Tynan Geoff Toovey Laurie Maher and Graham Blight. They were appointed at the 2002 NRMA AGM after the removal of the then Board with the help of 75,000 Proxies personally held by Ross Turnbull.Ross Turnbull famously promised to Stop The Rot, present a united board and address financial issues.
Of the 16 Turnbull team members, Brownhill, Edwards, Savage, Smith and Waugh retired, Brett resigned and Judi Stack, Michael Hill resigned following press reports of board conflict.
The casual vacancies were filled by the remnants of the Turnbull team-Robert Hugh and Jan McClelland on 28th January 2005,Wendy Machin on 30th March 2005 and Gary Punch on 15th April 2005.
The complete United Board had only been in place since mid-April 2005.During the period since the board's appointment the company had two Presidents, three Deputy Presidents, two CEOs and one Acting CEO.
Any perusal of the 2004 Annual Report would show that most of the Financial issues the company faced were already addressed with the help of substantially higher membership fees, and the turnaround in the stock Market-it helps to have a lazy $800m, which was gifted to the Association on demutualisation.
The current President Alan Evans boasts in the 2005 Annual Report of sacking his Chairman, Mr Ross Turnbull but the United Board has consistently and some might think somewhat arrogantly refused to enlighten Members on the reasons Ross Turnbull was stood down as President in July 2004 and finally removed in January 2005.The United Board obviously does not consider transparent communication with members a high priority.
The "United Board" is a bit like the old chestnut-is it the same axe if the handle and blade have been replaced numerous times?
Max the Axe
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