NRMAelections2005

2005-11-08T21:45:00.000+11:00

The results!

Well the people have spoken (over 320,000 of you, more than twice as many as in recent elections) and have delivered a clear majority to the incumbents, The United Board.

Tuesday 8 November 2005: Members of NRMA Motoring & Services have voted in record numbers in this year’s Board election, NRMA General Counsel and Group Secretary, Helen Burgess said today.

Announcing the election result for the nine-member Board, Ms Burgess said a record 327,574 NRMA members had voted in the company’s full Board election - more than double the number who voted in previous Board elections.

The NRMA Board elections were conducted on a region-based voting system for the first time, with full-preferential voting. Each of the nine regions returned one Director.

Ms Burgess said the record vote was an important indicator of Member engagement.

“We knew from focus group research conducted before the election that NRMA members take their voting responsibilities seriously,” Ms Burgess said.

“However there has previously been some resistance to voting generally, with members turned off by table cloth-sized ballot papers and bulky voter packs.

“So we simplified the process and we developed some incentives as our way of saying ‘thank you’ to those members who traditionally take an interest in governance issues at election time and to encourage other members to do likewise.”

Ms Burgess declared the following candidates have been elected by Members in the respective regions:

Coghlan: Wendy Machin

Cox: Gary Punch

Hoddle: Michael Tynan

Howe: Richard Talbot

Keele: Kyle Loades

Mann: Alan Evans

Perry: Geoff Toovey

Simms: Dawn Fraser

Townsend: Graham Blight

“While appointed by a region, each Board Director will work for the benefit of the NRMA as a whole,” Ms Burgess said.

The final break-down is 6 from The United Board (Wendy Machin, Gary Punch, Michael Tynan, Alan Evans, Geoff Toovey, Graham Blight), 1 from Richard Talbert's team (Richard Talbert), 1 from Dawn Fraser's Team (Dawn Fraser) and 1 from the Hunter & Coast Motorist Group (Kyle Loades), who flew completely under my radar as he was never listed on the NRMA election site. It's easy to see what made him such a strong candidate: He founded Auto Advantage in 2000 and become President of the Hunter Business Chamber in October 2004. The Hunter Region, known as Keele in the NRMA elections, was also by far the closest-run, with the top four candidates finishing within 1,000 primary votes of each other.

The other reflection from the election, as in so many, is the importance of name recognition. While their teams failed to pick up a single additional region both Dawn Fraser and Richard Talbert were elected to the Board, as was the other ex-sports star in the content Geoff Toovey. Probably the highest-profile loser was former Mayer of Ku-ring-gai Council and wife of the former chief of police Adrienne Ryan.

If anyone has any reactions they'd like to share please do.

2005-11-04T00:39:00.000+11:00

Why voting matters, here and always

Only a few hours to go until voting closes, at 5pm today. Be sure to get yours in if you haven't already. This board election, more than most, hangs on some really massive fundamental issues about the identity and future of NRMA Motoring and Services.

In particular, should steps be taken to address what some see as the mistakes of the last few years and, specifically, the demutualisation of NRMA Insurance into an independent corporation, Australian Insurance Group (which still trades as NRMA Insurance). Several tickets and candidates, most notably Richard Talbot's and Dawn Fraser's tickets, are campaigning strongly for this direction. Both Richard and Dawn are longstanding opponents of any demutualisation and were prominent dissidents against plans to do so, both taking their fight into the courts (Dawn successfully and Richard ultimately unsuccessfully). The United Board is taking the opposite tact, promising continuity of the current direction.

The new voting system also favours independents, many of whom have strong ties to their local community and may be able to muster the numbers to allow them to represent it on the NRMA board. Some of them have more forward-looking policies than others but all agree on the need to better connect the NRMA with its members, to become a more grass-roots organisation.

I am hopeful that whatever the outcome the efforts of NRMA management to better promote the board elections and provide greater incentivisation in the form of a car and travel prizes will succeed in increasing the participation rates in this election. This would, I think, result in a more responsive, representative and, potentially, diverse board, hopefully able to work together to achieve positive outcomes on behalf of the membership.

There's certainly more that can, and should, be done however, if the NRMA truly wishes to become a more member-driven organisation. Most NRMA members no longer see themselves as members, no longer understand the concept of a mutual, but rather conceive of themselves as simply taking out insurance against breaking down, the usual fee-for-service arrangement. But the mutual is a very powerful and hopeful business model, an organisation devoted not to profit at any cost but to the overall well-being of its members and the services that best respond to their lives. Such notions seem out-of-date, perhaps even quaint, these days, in a society seemingly obsessed with the self, the individual, the obvious and easy over the nuanced and complicated and political leaders seemingly often content to encourage it further in that direction.

This problem exists not simply in relation to a sense of membership in a mutual or understanding and appreciating the role of non-profit-driven organisations but in our very relationship with the state and government of Australia. Just as the many members of the NRMA no longer see themselves as members at all, so many Australians no longer see themselves as represented or included in our political processes, in the act of citizenship, in the public policy and cultural debates that affect them. A nation too should be owned by its members, its citizens, and one that is not, where some voices dominate and others are lost or ignored all-together, is one that has lost its way.

Just as if the NRMA wants its members to feel included and represented it's not enough to simply encourage greater levels of voting come board election time, admirable and important as this is, but rather is a matter of building a culture of participation that is year-around and constant, so too is a functioning democracy not simply about voting but rather about occupying public space, participating in public debates, having your say, telling your story, having a chance to affect your world.

Beyond the election the NRMA should look at ongoing strategies to communicate with and include their membership. I wish them luck, along with all the candidates in this election.

Cheers,

Tom

2005-11-02T01:09:00.000+11:00

I note to my surprise that the NRMA has lined up with Clubs NSW to oppose increases in poker machine tax. I'm uncomfortable about the government being addicted to pokie tax money as well, but probably not for the reasons given by the NRMA. "Ultimately the poker tax does ensure the sustainability of clubs in the community and really clubs are an extended family in today's community." said CEO Tony Stuart last week. Is it just me, or is the family metaphor slightly troubling given the extent of gambling and problem gaming in Australia, home to 21% of the world's poker machines.

Here are some statistics, from Volume 153 of Issues in Society, entitled Gambling in Australia:

• The 13 casinos operating in Australia during the year recorded an operating profit of $452 million, which represented an operating profit margin of 15.1%. In 1998-1999 the industry's operating profit was $93 million and the profit margin 3.4%. The total income of casinos was $3,038 million, of which $2,397 million was from gambling income. Takings from gaming tables ($1,438 million) and takings from poker/gaming machines ($938 million) both increased by 8% since 1998-1999. (p.4)

• According to a Productivity Commission report (1999), Australia had nearly 180,000 poker machines; 21% of all the gambling machines in the world. (p.6)

• The Productivity Commission report also finds 2.3% of adult Australians have significant gambling problems, losing more than $12,000 each a year. (p.6)

• The Productivity Commission's own surveys found that 42% of problem gamblers had gone without food as a result of their habit. More than 90% considered themselves depressed as a result of their gambling; 37% had considered suicide, while 11.2% had attempted to kill themselves. (p.6)

• About 52% of problem gamblers said they had borrowed money and not paid it back, 36% said they had sold property to raise money to bet and 43% said they sometimes went without food to pay for their addiction. One in four suffered divorce or separation and one in 10 had attempted suicide. (p.8)

• The study presented the controversial estimate that the social cost of betting was between $1 billion and $5 billion a year, but it found that the overall economic benefit to society was between $150 million and $5.2 billion. (p.8)

• About 82% of adult Australians gamble, the highest rate in the world. 40% gamble at least once a week. (p.8)

• Two million Australians feel the social and financial impact of problem gambling. (p.8)

• These are some of the reasons why people gamble too much: excitement and positive feeling of self worth; a way to feel successful; an outlet for anger; an outlet for rebelliousness; social acceptance; escape from painful feelings; an outlet for competitiveness; using gambling as a way to solve money problems (which is often caused by earlier gambling). (p.17)

• The Salvation Army estimates Australia's homeless number at about 130,000 - a 25,000 increase on the 1996 census figure, and attributed partly to the growth in gambling. (p.23)

• More than 40% of 14-year-old Victorian school children had gambled in the last year, a recent survey of Victorian school children has found. (p.39)

Given some of the social issues caused, or exacerbated, by gambling, and poker machines in particular, it seems reasonable to tax them to help address those problems, just as we do with tobacco. And I think an industry which pulls in tens of thousands of dollars a year/machine just for letting them sit there can afford it. This also seems like quite a political decision to make with a board election on and the possibility of a change of board composition and leadership.

Besides which, what sort of family sits near-silently alongside one-another staring at a screen? Why it almost sounds like family's who watch TV over dinner!

2005-11-01T23:41:00.000+11:00

Well we're into the final week of voting now and I have to say, this board election business if pretty tough for the amateur psephologists amongst us - no opinion polls, no figures on number of votes cast so far, or which division they're from, no tips from unnamed "insiders".

If I had to guess I'd suggest that the tickets will do best despite the new system favouring independents. After years of board disunity and fighting the members may opt for a more harmoneous united ticket. But which one? It will depend primarily on whether people value primarily the promise of stablity offered by the incumbents The United Board. A protest vote could split between the other three tickets, although I believe it would be more likely to favour Dawn Fraser's Motorist Team and Richard Talbot Motorist Action Group over Members Voice for their greater name-recognition and slicker presentation.

Okay so that wasn't really much of a guess at all.

Does anyone care to make a prediction?

And remember to vote before 5pm November 4 - this Friday!

2005-10-27T10:19:00.000+10:00

While not specifically about the NRMA Board Elections I wanted to draw your attention to a report just released by NRMA Insurance that 1 in 5 Australians regularly fail to use a seat-belt:

Women are significantly more likely to wear seat belts, with 89 per cent claiming to always wear them, compared with only 76 per cent of men. The survey, conducted by Woolcott Research for NRMA Insurance, found 18 per cent of the 1000 respondents said they didn't always wear a seat belt.
The figure increased to 37 per cent among young people aged 16 to 24.

Excuses given for not buckling up included having just undergone surgery, could not be bothered, finding them uncomfortable, being on private property or forgetting

I really can't understand how anyone could fail to use a seat-belt. I mean, come on people, it's dead-easy to do and pretty handy in a crash. I'd just feel like a fool if I couldn't be bothered belting up and ended up severly injured as a result. And I certainly couldn't express to you here how I feel about parents who don't ensure that their kids are strapped in.

So that's my public service announcement for the day.

2005-10-25T23:12:00.000+10:00

Dawn Fraser's Parking battle

As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald's Spike back-cover column last week, Dawn Fraser has recently been accused of securing a disabled parking spot inappropriately.

The swimming great was attacked in the tabloid press yesterday because she has a disabled spot outside her home. The Daily Telegraph said neighbours said she "used her profile as a national treasure" to secure the place.

Apparently the spot was approved nine years ago, raising suspicions that the timing of the revelation might be Board Election-related. Furthermore, she was "advised by her doctor to apply" for the spot.

Kinda sounds like your typically well-researched Telegraph story doesn't it? Friend of political game-players of all stripes.

In an interesting post-script to this incident, tie-ing it into our recent exploration of the policies of the candidates and groups relating to petrol prices, Dawn was supposedly kept inside her home by the scrum of media outside, preventing her from attending a press conference where she was to announce her policy platform to get the NRMA into petrol retailing. Members would receive a four cents/litre discount from a network of NRMA-affiliated independent petrol stations (independents make up 60% of the petrol stations in NSW, according to Dawn's Team's website). There's much more to it, with these stations effectively becoming NRMA member centre's with a range of services and discounts.

2005-10-18T18:53:00.000+10:00

Just a short note to announce that the NRMA Board Elections Get Out The Youth Vote Campaign (or NRMABEGOTYVC for short) has widened to include youth-focused community radio stations FBi FM94.5 and 2SER FM107.3 and youth culture websites InTheMix, FasterLouder and Vibewire. If you ended up here as a result of the ads running in any of those places, yay, welcome :)

2005-10-11T22:23:00.000+10:00

The issues :: Petrol prices (part II - The Independents)

The premise: That all candidates have the same policies on petrol prices (ie. that they should go down, by all means necessary).

The challenge: to visit every candidates website and uncover the truth.

The results:

Part I covering the groups is below and unveiles exclusively the vaguely-worded diversity of the main board election tickets. Are their independent challenges more plainly-spoken?

Charles Matthews – Candidate for Simms Region:

Gets right to the point: "Encourage NRMA Board to have discussions with Prime Minister seeking GST in fuel to be abolished."

Duncan Marshall - Candidate for Mann Region:

Nothing on petrol prices, but a passing reference to "sustainable transport" - a hint of a deeper understanding of the issue of resource use than simply the price at the pump? We can only wonder. He is, I note, a professional Road Safety Officer.

Filomena Marijan - Candidate for Cox Region:

No mention of petrol prices, but she does want you to give her a go!

Bernard Grinburg - Candidate for Cohlan Region:

No mention.

Christine Golz - Candidate for Cox Region:

No mention.

Chris Elenor - Candidate for Simms Region:

Doesn't mention petrol prices per se, but supports improved public transport and a commitment by the NRMA to play more of a role in slowing the rate of climate change (and one of the best ways to do that is to use less petrol).

So there you have it. Many are unknown quantities on this issue but those that do make a public statement are clearly divided on the topic. Some even seem to be taking quite daring stands in a Motorists Association, but I think they do so in light of an evolving global situation that requires some new thinking.

2005-10-11T03:49:00.000+10:00

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.

2005-10-10T23:20:00.000+10:00

The issues :: Petrol prices

Several of the comments to this blog have expressed frustration at the lack of differentiation between candidates to the board. I decided to investigate this claim, starting with the issue of petrol prices which was identified as an example of a lack of diversity amongst board candidates.

Here's a quick overview:

First the groups (those tickets with candidates in multiple regions):

The United Board (the current office-holders):

Don't speak specifically of petrol prices, apart from the general pledge "To fight for a fair go from those who provide services to NRMA members such as petrol companies, insurance companies, repairers, dealers and vehicle manufacturers and suppliers."

MAG ("Richard Talbert's Motorist Action Group"):

Does not appear to have a specific policy on petrol, but does have a policy on cyclists, and an admirable desire to "represent all road users", not just drivers.

Dawn Fraser's NRMA Board Team (The imaginatively named team of, you guessed it, Dawn Fraser):

Don't appear to fussed by the GST on fuel, so long as it's "solely committed to new funding for road works."

Members Voice:

Do have a specific policy on keeping petrol prices down, promising to"Keep fuel prices down."

I'd say there is some diversity there, more than I expected to find so far.

I'll cover the independents tomorrow.

2005-10-06T18:51:00.000+10:00

Apologies for the lack of updates this week, I've been sick, along with almost every second person in Sydney seemingly. If you're an NRMA member you should check out all the candidate websites. There's some well-known names there, including Dawn Fraser and former Anti-Demutualisation Board Member Richard Talbot.

The NRMA has been in the news a fair bit of late, which only shows how significant a position board membership is in influencing debate around motorists' issues. Having recently been vocal around the issue of petrol prices and the fuel levy the NRMA is now campaigning for an upgrade of the national highway system. This $1 million campaign includes billboards along major accident hot spots and a new website FixOurBloodyRoads.com. The Dawn Fraser team has been travelling the Pacific Highway hammering this issue.

2005-09-30T11:59:00.000+10:00

Hi! Welcome to the NRMA Elections 2005 blog. This blog is designed to keep you up-to-date with happenings and information related to the NRMA Motoring and Services 2005 Board Elections. With 2 million potential voters this is the largest non-parliamentary election held in Australia. Or, at least, it could be, but in recent times only a fraction of this membership of voted. This blog and the advertising campaign around the election is designed to help encourage more members to participate.

This, I guess, is where I come in. The NRMA approached me about helping them get the word out about voting to their younger members. Younger members vote in much lower numbers than the older members. Equally, members in the city vote much less than rural members (for whom cars play a more important role in their lives and who appreciate more the NRMAs advocacy role in addition to the road side service). My interests and background is in trying to engage younger people more in political decision-making processes. It was this passion that led me to found Vibewire Youth Services Inc. in 2000, a non-profit organisation which seeks to engage and empower younger Australians (under 30) through media and arts platforms for self-expression. Last year we ran a ground-breaking project called electionTracker, which sent four young reporters, or Trackers, out on the Federal election campaign trail with John Howard and Mark Latham, reporting back twice-daily to the electionTracker website and providing updates and reports to a network of 8 partner radio stations nationally. Vibewire also runs the Vibewire.net youth media and expression portal, the Reelife Short Film Festival and a range of other projects.

When the NRMA asked me to help them with a get-out-the-vote drive for the Board Elections I was very happy to be involved. Yes, they're paying me, but for me it's also a chance to continue exploring the key question: how do you activate people to be involved in decision-making processes. I hope we can explore this question a bit here while also providing a regularly-updated guide to this important election, including who the candidates are, what they're promising and any related news. I'll alert you to updated in the candidate websites and any public events I hear about.

If you're a member and want to vote go to www.mynrma.com.au/2005elections - voting online is easy and you could win a pretty damn nifty car for your efforts (a Subaru Liberty 2.5i worth over $43,000). You'll need your pin number which was sent to you with your ballot form.

If you have any news to share please drop me a line or feel free to publish a comment.

Cheers!

Tom