Reform
Jersey is holding a public meeting this Thursday evening in the Town Hall at
7.30 p.m. to discuss the implications for democracy in the island of the Chief
Minister’s Proposition P33 creating a system of “ministerial responsibility”.
For Reform
Jersey, P33 is simply a further concentration of power in the hands of a narrow
and unrepresentative elite, in an Assembly that is already dangerously out of
touch and unrepresentative.
It follows
on from the earlier attempt to push the gerrymander of Option B through the
States, having high-jacked the Electoral Commission and then sought to
legitimate their chosen scheme with a Referendum that saw an abysmal 26%
turnout. With long overdue electoral reform sabotaged, the forthcoming first
general election once again leaves the electorate without policy choice or
ability to structure the Assembly. High voter abstention will continue.
There are a
number of proposed amendments to P33, none more audacious than that of the
Treasury Minister, Senator Philip Ozouf, calling for salary increases for
Ministers, ending existing egalitarian principles of remuneration and replacing
it with a system of patronage, to the detriment of back benchers.
Reform
Jersey will have members speaking and an invited guest with firsthand
experience of the measures currently in place to prevent a concentration of
power in the hands of a Chief Minister.
In this
video interview recorded by Voiceforchildren, Reform Jersey members Deputy Sam
Mezec and I, set out the reasons for calling the meeting.
My criticism of the proposals is here:
ReplyDeletehttp://tonymusings.blogspot.com/2014/04/presidential-politics.html
Mr Le Cornu,
ReplyDeleteAt the rally at the Town Hall, it was brought up about compulsory voting in Australia and this was also used as a point for an argument to bring in compulsory voting here.
As a former left-wing candidate in Australia and having spent a lifetime in politics individually and also with my father, and grand father's on both sides and great grandfather on one who was the second Australian born Governor General, and one grandfather a former Federal Minister, I can assure this that to say Australia has compulsory voting to further an objective here is misleading.
People misconstrue (intentionally or otherwise) the Commonwealth Electoral Act that was updated in 1921. Effectively one Chief Justice (Sir Garfield Barwick) sais that the interpretation of the law was that it brought in compulsory voting, however he was overruled 4 to 1, and also the AEC (Australian Electoral Commission) has stated publicly over decades that there is no compulsion to vote.
The correct interpretation of the law is based on registering on the electoral roll - it is not interpreted as compulsory voting in Australia.
Whilst I share your political philosophy, I will publicly outline the misleading nature of such comments if they continue. The specific reason for contacting you on this blog is I have kept a copy as evidence that you have been made aware and now if continued it won't be "unintentionally" misleading.
Regards