David , that’s generally the case up here as well, and I’d love people to send
personal letters. But how many will?
Dave, up here electorates are so small that MLA’s know many of their
constituents personally. They certainly know me - I helped formulate CLP
indigenous policy before the last election, at the request of Adam Giles, now
Chief Minister. And a close friend was for a short time, president of the CLP.
Their chances of re-election are on the line, now that Allison Anderson and two
others have joined PUP. They stand to lose the rural vote, and there are at
least eighty people in our electorate jumping up and down about this right now.
Plus Aboriginal people in a nearby settlement are not happy either.
Plus with so many visiting birders signing the petition, visitor numbers in
Kakadu and Uluru still dropping, and our Tourism Minister under siege at the
moment (I won’t go into details here), I think they’d be silly to ignore it.
And if they do, I’ve a few more cards to play.
Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow
PO Box 71
Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841
PhD candidate
Vice-chair Wildlife Tourism Australia
On 8 May 2014, at 11:04 am, Dave Torr <> wrote:
> I agree - and that was in the old days when a petition was the result of
> hard work standing outside shopping centres etc and where there was a
> reasonable chance that at least some of the names were accurate!
> Now a politician would have no idea if the petitioners were even "local" to
> the area (or even if they were real people!) - and whilst of course anyone
> is entitled to have a view on a subject even if they don't live in the area
> a politician usually responds only if they feel that their chance of
> re-election may be affected!
>
>
> On 8 May 2014 11:12, david robertson <> wrote:
>
>> The problem with petitions is that although they create a feel-good
>> feeling,
>> they don't work. I remember the late Don Chip, who was then the leader of
>> the Democrats, describing what happened to petitions. They are wheeled in
>> to Parliament just before the start of Parliamentary business for the day.
>> The MPs are studying the order of business and chatting to each other. A
>> MP moves that permission be granted to receive the petition. Permission is
>> granted.
>>
>> They are then wheeled away to the basement and never heard of again. 'But
>> I
>> tell you, if any politician receives 50 individual letters (not form ones),
>> he will be in my office next morning, saying "You must do something about
>> X.
>> There's a groundswell out there.."
>>
>> The solution is obvious.
>>
>> David Robertson
>>
>> Adelaide
>>
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