MARK ALDRIDGE

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY ATTACK DEMOCRACY WITH A SLEDGE HAMMER

If you have ever wondered why parliament no long listens to you, it is because they do not have to, it was only when your vote had power they feared you.

Leaks from inside parliament explain why, the state governments on both sides of the duopoly intend to bring in laws presently being trialed around the country, association and protest based laws, to undermine our most basic freedoms and liberties.

During the state 2010 election campaign, tens of thousands off ballot papers simply went missing and a number approaching 100,000 names went missing of the electoral rolls.

Labor dressed up as another party and handed out dodgy how to vote slips, they intercepted postal ballot applications and personal mail addressed to the opposition, along with a host of other abhorrent practices.

These and many more extremely important issues are not being addressed, rather the Labor party used their right to amend voting legislation to further undermine our voting rights and with them our right to a free and informed vote.

A video overview of the nasty practices employed during the 2010 election process was exposed in December 2013, which resulted in raids on my property to take my computer, thinking I would lack the evidence to continue to expose this corruption of the corner stone of our society (our democratic process). attached above

Please click on the underlined links on this article, if you’re right to vote is as important to you as it is to me, your right to a free and informed vote is just as important as any Australians right to put forward their candidacy.

Interesting to note here that parliament had closed until after the election to ensure there were no avenues for the people to address this issue, even if the media decided to expose them.

If one person misses out on their vote it is a travesty, if over 100,000 miss out, it is not a bloody valid election. And it gets worse, read the latest federal amendments, and shed a tear, because the word elector has been removed from the federal legislation, guess why?

The changes implemented to the Electoral Act 1985, upon proclamation, will be:

1. Amendment to Section 4 – Interpretation

The definition of voting ticket square has been altered to remove ‘candidate or group’ and replace with ‘group of candidates’.

This alteration restricts the lodging of voting tickets for Legislative Council candidates to groups of candidates (2 or more), thereby eliminating the lodging of voting tickets by individual candidates (either party or independent).

Therefore, individual candidates will not be afforded a voting ticket square.

2. Amendment to Section 53A – Nomination of single candidate

The nomination of candidates (not nominated by a registered political party as a multiple nomination under Section 53) must be supported by a nomination paper that is signed by at least:

· in the case of a House of Assembly candidate – 20 electors for the relevant district; or

· in the case of a Legislative Council candidate – 250 electors for the relevant district (whole of the state).

A new subsection (3a) also stipulates that where 2 or more candidates in a Legislative Council election apply under Section 58 to have their names grouped together on the ballot paper, they cannot rely upon the signature of an elector, as a nominator, if that elector has also supported, as a nominator, any other candidate in the election, whether within the same group or for any other candidate.

The elector cannot be counted for either of the candidates as part of their 250 requirement. Therefore, while the new provision generally applies to groups of 2 or more candidates, it can have an effect on an individual candidate by invalidating an elector as a nominator for them.

The reliance on any given elector, as a nominator for multiple separate individual candidates is acceptable and will not invalidate any nomination. 

Therefore, 6 individual candidates could rely on a single collection of 250 electors, as nominators.

The requirement for 250 electors as nominators is for each candidate, therefore, a group of 3 candidates will require 750 nominators, 4 will require 1,000 nominators, etc.

3. Amendment of Section 59 – Printing of Legislative Council ballot papers

This alteration provides for the listing of candidates in groups to be ordered so that registered political party groups appear before the groups who are not endorsed by a registered political party and then followed by individual (un-grouped) candidates.

The new provision also provides for the order of the endorsed registered political party groups to be drawn by lot, across the paper from the left, and then followed across the paper by groups not endorsed by a registered political party, also drawn by lot.

4. Amendment of Section 62 – Printing of descriptive information on ballot papers

Reduces from five (5) to three (3) the number of additional words that can be printed following the word ‘Independent’. This will be for both House of Assembly and Legislative Council candidates that are not endorsed by a registered political party.

5. Amendment of Section 63 – Voting tickets

Inserts a new subsection (a1 ) that prescribes the entitlement for lodging voting tickets so that any candidate for the House of Assembly may lodge a voting ticket, but restricting the lodging of voting tickets for the Legislative Council to groups of candidates.

Alters subsection (1) to define that a group of candidates is entitled under the new subsection (a1) and restricts individual candidates from lodging voting tickets by altering subsection (5).

The nomination deposit for unendorsed candidates (either grouped or un-grouped), while discussed during the parliamentary debate, is to be set by regulation. 

Those regulations are yet to be tabled.

From the information above, both House of Assembly and Legislative Council candidates will require additional nominators (20 for a HA district, 250 for the LC district – whole of state). The regulated nomination deposit is refundable should a candidate (or group) receive 4% of the formal first preference votes cast in any election or the candidate be elected.

Ballot papers are prescribed forms and will be unchanged, except for the fact that individual Legislative Council candidates will not have a voting ticket square.

The effect of the new laws, detailed above, should provide the relevant information in respect of your intending candidacy or others you support.

The Electoral Commission of SA will provide information on voting for both the House of Assembly and the Legislative Council as part of the comprehensive media campaign implemented in the lead-up to the 2014 State election.

There is now also a massive change in the costs of nomination, where it was once $450, it will now be $3000, so to get a box above the line, a group of at least 2 candidates will be needed, making the cost $6,000.

These costs also will affect any minor parties ability to participate in the election, and are designed solely to empower the 2 major parties, who BOTH backed these amendments.

For this reason alone, neither deserves your support, but you have no free choice, the system forces you to preference them, and the goes as far as ensuring your vote counts for them, by way of the 2 party designed counting.

On that note action before the election is very important, because under law (again written by them) a general election is not able to be invalidated, regardless of the counting or the conduct.

I am sure they will try and silence me, but they cannot silence every Australian, so please for the sake of democracy and our rights and liberties, share this article and start debating this issue with your friends and family.

Just before the 2010 election, laws were again introduced by the Labor party (Michael Atkinson) that intended to make it illegal to speak on line about the election, without putting up your full name and address, in an attempt to intimidate every South Australian, this is not acceptable.

If you support my right to be a candidate, I will need your help, the very fact I spent months in the court of disputed returns fighting for your right to an honest election in 2010, at my own expense, ensures any support you give me will be to empower democracy.

Evidence, affidavits totally over 1000, and the electoral commissions affidavits are available to back up every statement I have made here

Mark Aldridge

Independent candidate and national spokesperson for the Australian Alliance.

I donate my time to others, I run and self fund a native wildlife sanctuary, I help people in need out of my own pocket, I donate 2 days a week to run "Farm Direct" community markets, to help the community and our struggling primary producers.

I have stood in court fighting for your right to a free and informed vote, I travel all over the country demanding the rights of our children, I hold rallies in support of our children and our animals, and I have never once asked for financial support, but to run at this election, I do need your help.

My bank account details are ; Mark M Aldridge Commonwealth bank Salisbury BSB 065122 ACC 10326657 My email for PayPal donations is [email protected]

I can cover my costs as I always have, but not the $6,000 just to have an inferior spot on the ballot paper :(