Four people were injured Sunday afternoon at a Brooklyn subway stop in what started as officers’ attempts to apprehend a man accused of skipping the station turnstile.
“Defend the unions, defend the CFMEU. Demand your union stand in solidarity with the CFMEU. Join the workers’ campaign to defend their union.” Ten things workers need to know about the CFMEU — with words by Sarah Missen and illustrations by Sam Wallman.
Members of the public have overpowered a man after he allegedly fired a shot following a car crash in Melbourne's north-east.
Is it really just about 'rubbish and rates' or are pro-Israel campaigners plotting against the Greens in Sydney's looming council elections?
You can find the sizzle in your area here: https://democracysausage.org/nsw_local_government_elections_2024/m/
there might be multiple candidates from each party as well
That's true, but I don't think multiple candidates would have any effect, in the contrived scenario above, on the result of either a by-election or the appointment of a runner-up.
If you modify it so that each candidate is instead a party ticket of two candidates (and assume people vote according to the party ticket), the result in the elections (original and one-seat by-election) would just be 1. BLUE, 2. RED, 3. GREEN, 4. BLUE, 5. RED, 6. GREEN. So the original election would still result in one BLUE, one RED, and the one-seat by-election would still result in two BLUE. And appointing the next runner-up would still be GREEN - I think!
I say 'I think' because I'm guessing they determine the next runner-up just by the final place results, in which case, yes, GREEN gets it. However, if they actually do a re-count of the ballots, except immediately excluding the resigning councillor - RED candidate #1 - then all of that candidates' preferences would flow to RED candidate #2 (again, this assumes that people voted according to the party tickets). The will of the voters - on that day, had RED candidate #1 been struck off the ballot - would be expressed, and the result would be exactly as proportional (in terms of party preference) as it was originally.
I'm guessing they don't do another count, though, because that would take time and money, and the option of appointing the next runner-up seems intended to be the no-spend, no-fuss option.
As an aside, if the process for a vacancy was running another count of the original ballots, it'd mean each ticket would probably want to run at least one more candidate than they expect to win, so that they'd have a backup candidate for preferences to flow to in the new count.
That'd look a little weird if your ticket expects to win all the seats in an electorate, because you'd be running more candidates than seats available. In Ipswich, because there's only two seats per ward, it's not out of the question that one ticket could realistically expect to win all seats (because they'd only need ~66% of the vote). In that situation it'd make sense to run a third candidate - one more than the seats available - in case their #1 or #2 candidate ends up vacating their seat before the next election.
They should probably have a by-election for both seats to be balanced
I think many would argue that kicking out a councillor and making them re-run, through no fault of theirs, is unfair. It forces councillors, who might be independents with limited resources (money, time, volunteers), to spend those resources on a whole extra election, when other councillors don't have to.
It also gives parties an even greater advantage over independents than usual. Parties can, for example, use all their volunteers from the other wards, or even neighboring council areas, to campaign in one single ward, instead of having to spread them across all councils and wards as they must when there is a full local government election on. This is actually an issue with by-elections in general, but it'd be more egregious if you were actually kicking out an independent, who was elected at a general local government election, for no fault of their own.
I think maybe it's so self-consciously cringe it's actually based? Payman has quite a lot of good will banked with me, though, so I may be biased.
Calling an election or referendum a waste of money is to be against democracy.
Thing is, arguably, having a by-election is also kind of undemocratic. Ipswich council has mixed member electorates, so the first and second place candidates are elected, resulting in a more proportional result than single-member electorates. If they run a by-election, though, there's only one seat to fill, so the result could end up being less proportional (and more proportional means more democratic - in many people's thinking, anyway).
I'll give an illustrative example...
Say the original election results are (let's pretend preferential voting doesn't exist, or I guess that GREEN party preferences split exactly equally for BLUE and RED):
1st - 34% - BLUE party candidate
2nd - 33% - RED party candidate
3rd - 31% - GREEN party candidate
The result is that the ward is represented by one BLUE party councillor and one RED party councillor.
Now, if the RED party councillor resigns, in the by-election, if people vote exactly the same way as in the original election, the result is that the ward will be represented by two BLUE party councillors. That'd mean in this (very contrived) example, 34% of the vote would give BLUE 100% of the seats.
I can see why you'd argue that appointing the runner up (the GREEN candidate) also isn't democratic, but in this (very contrived) example, doing that would mean that 34% of the (primary) vote gives the BLUE party 50% of the seats, and the 31% of the vote gives the GREEN party 50% of the seats. So things would end up more proportional.
Like I say, though, that example is contrived to show that result. If we were to say that GREEN party voters strongly preference the RED party, then the RED party would win the by-election, and then the result would be almost exactly as proportional. If GREEN party voters strongly preference BLUE, though, then again, we're back at two BLUE councillors.
My point is that, depending on the situation, having a by-election for one seat in a two seat electorate may result in a less proportional/democratic result than simply appointing the runner-up.
That said, I think council elections tend to be less dominated by the bigger parties, with a lot more independents, and less of predictable, party-lines voting. So maybe that affects the likelihood of either option resulting in a more or less proportional outcome...
a liquid irritant, some of which has been identified as acid
'Acid' hardly narrows it down... Often the cops will say it's 'acid' when people throw rancid butter bottles, which obviously are designed to stink, not maim. They're trying to bullshit the public into believing that protestors are trying to give cops chemical burns. Meanwhile, the cops are using capsicum spray, tear gas and rubber bullets.
Locals who saw the door from a small plane plummet towards a Far South Coast beach, landing just metres from a fisherman, say it was "a crazy situation to witness".
> In short: > > Surfers say they feared they were about to "witness something pretty horrible" as the door from a plane fell towards South Broulee Beach last week. > > The door landed in coastal scrub 20 metres from a fisherman, with the pilot telling airport staff its "latch was not secured properly". > > What's next? > > The Australian Transport Safety Bureau says it will not conduct an investigation as it would be "unlikely to yield any new safety lessons".
I don't think Israel makes wheelie bins, but yeah, procurement is certainly an area councillors can take action in. Another is council investments.
The City of Sydney is currently undertaking an audit of their suppliers and investments: https://archive.is/J5aMS
I think it's also the role of councillors to be a voice for their communities and to lobby higher levels of government, especially when state and federal governments have failed to take any practical action.
There's a list of action pledges on that website that the campaign is asking candidates to respond to, which contain some details and reasons:
CEASEFIRE ADVOCACY - To support an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza/Palestine, and advocate for all levels of government to apply pressure on Israel to achieve this.
INTERNATIONAL LAW & OBLIGATIONS - To support the United Nations, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the International Criminal Court (ICC), and to agree that, under international law and our obligations to prevent genocide, we should not send weapons to a state plausibly committing genocide, and to vote in support of a weapons embargo to Israel should you get the opportunity.
CEASEFIRE MOTION - To call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza (Palestine), including through a council motion to prevent further loss of life.
DIVESTMENT FROM APARTHEID ISRAEL - To support a motion and vote for full disclosure and divestment of Council's financial ties to Israel in the context of its illegal occupation and apartheid, and military assault on Gaza.
SUPPORT FOR PALESTINIAN REFUGEES - To support and vote for motions that concern the provision of Council funds, resources and programs to assist Palestinians in our community who have been forced from their homelands (for example counseling, housing, food relief, English language classes, and cultural immersion support).
SISTER CITY RELATIONSHIPS - To create sister city relationships with Gaza, including through forming symbolic and practical links with civic organisations that are helping to rebuild Gaza's infrastructure and society.
Archive link for those who don't want to give Murdoch the clicks: https://web.archive.org/web/20240906110110/https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/bollards-installed-in-melbourne-cbd-as-tens-of-thousands-antiwar-protesters-plan-blockade/news-story/6f0e9636a9d0d9f1f18369431f8ecf2c
He has a neurological condition, spasmodic dysphonia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spasmodic_dysphonia)
A 22-year-old woman charged over her involvement in blocking coal trains in the Hunter Valley is "relieved" after successfully appealing against her jail sentence.
> In short: > > Laura Davy was sentenced to three months in jail for her involvement in coal protests that blocked trains from reaching the Port of Newcastle. > > She lodged an appeal and was granted bail. > > What's next? > > The appeal was upheld on the condition Davy does not re-offend.
Australians lead the world when it comes to gambling. But the only area of gaming and gambling where we appear to be lacking is in the area of legislation and oversight.
Tens of thousands of tradies across the country have marched in protest against the federal government's decision to put the construction arm of the CFMEU under administration.
Some stickers here in support of the CFMEU: https://garagepressdistro.bigcartel.com/
I'm thinking it's probably just that the Privacy Commission is under-resourced, so they figured they may as well let regulators in other countries do some of the work for now.
A history of the violent clash between Australian sailors and police after officers attempted to arrest a sailor dressed as a woman.
> On Sunday August 23rd 1851 a hard fought riot broke out in Sydney. Whilst such disturbances were common place at the time this particular riot is interesting in that it was sparked by the arrest of a sailor for wearing women's clothing, was led by military men and involved attacks on a number of police watch-houses. Despite police and newspaper reports of the incidents being confused and often contradictory the riot tells us much about attitudes of Sydney's population towards cross dressing, police and the law.
Indigenous Australians have prized native stingless bee honey for food and medicine for tens of thousands of years. Now, consumers can buy it legally at the steep price of $500/kg.
> Until late last month, beekeepers who sold the rare native honey, which retails for up to $500 per kilogram, were operating in a grey area and did not have the law on their side.
> On July 22, it finally gained Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) approval. > > "Originally our honey didn't meet the current standard that was written for honey bee honey. It was more watery, the pH was different," committee chair Dean Haley said.
Not that I'm inclined to defend the Coalition, but I suspected that the ratio was due to them being in opposition, and the historical record would seem to indicate that's a large factor: https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/DisorderlyConduct#_Toc468869261
Non-government members, including crossbenchers, account for 92.8 per cent of all instances of disciplinary actions from 1901 to the end of the 44th Parliament in 2016—irrespective of whether Labor or the Coalition has been in Opposition (see Table 11).
For charity, though so 🤷♀️
'Multi-Account Containers': https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers
With it, you can open tabs in different 'containers', which have their own set of cookies, etc.. So, for example, you can be logged into two accounts for the same website, just in different containers, or keep all your shopping accounts in one container (and set those sites to always open in that container) to reduce tracking and targeting.
- Tab-organisation features (e.g. stacking, trees)
- Synchronised history - so you can find something you were looking at on your phone on your desktop or vice-versa
- Containers (Firefox) are great
- Full-page screenshot (Firefox) is very handy