![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The ALP is about to embark in an election for a new leader, which includes a 50% weighting from rank-and-file party members. Some people are not happy with the new rules. Apparently a couple of people dobbed me in to the ABC's Lateline to talk about the new system, which of course I advocated empowerment of members, which should be available on their "vodcast" very soon. It is interesting fact of democratic political theory that people seem to prefer a populist and representative democracy for people in positions of power, but accept a deliberative and participatory method for policy. To be sure, there must be some feedback between the two (e.g., representative should be delegates and advocates of the policy), but a major problem within the ALP at the moment is the "party within a party" model of binding caucuses, which means as a whole the body suffers.
Apropos this, increasingly it is becoming evident that the LNP's Coaliton victory last Saturday was not due to their policies, but rather due to the inability of the ALP to manage itself. A young university student initiated a petition appealing to the Coalition to adopt a fibre-to-the-premises rather than fibre-to-the-node. The new minister is doing his master's bidding (i.e., Rupert Murdoch) and has made it clear that he won't be swayed. Likewise climate researchers and technologists are appealing to the Coalition not to axe the loans scheme in the Green Energy Bank; but again, the new minister has said he won't be swayed, perhaps part of the process of having a climate skeptic indicating interest in becoming science minister. Perhaps people are beginning to learn that they really did mean to implement all those crazies ideas that they said that they would.
Completely on a tangent, have had a couple of very enjoyable gaming sessions recently including another episode of Eclipse Phase last night, and Space 1889 last Sunday. Neglected to mention that the week previous ran a GURPS modern horror scenario, which was full of some fairly factual backstory mistakes (no smilodon or neanderthal in Africa, Sudan does not share a border with Liberia), and has a bit of a Scooby-Doo ending, all of which can - and should be - dropped, in favour of keeping the core story - a vampiric sabre-toothed tiger arises again! In news of the games store, now up to an estimate ten percent of planned stock, adding the D&D Rules Cyclopedia, and some Mage : The Ascension and Vampire : The Masquerade items. Next planned review for RPG.net is an obscure classic, Lords of Creation.
Apropos this, increasingly it is becoming evident that the LNP's Coaliton victory last Saturday was not due to their policies, but rather due to the inability of the ALP to manage itself. A young university student initiated a petition appealing to the Coalition to adopt a fibre-to-the-premises rather than fibre-to-the-node. The new minister is doing his master's bidding (i.e., Rupert Murdoch) and has made it clear that he won't be swayed. Likewise climate researchers and technologists are appealing to the Coalition not to axe the loans scheme in the Green Energy Bank; but again, the new minister has said he won't be swayed, perhaps part of the process of having a climate skeptic indicating interest in becoming science minister. Perhaps people are beginning to learn that they really did mean to implement all those crazies ideas that they said that they would.
Completely on a tangent, have had a couple of very enjoyable gaming sessions recently including another episode of Eclipse Phase last night, and Space 1889 last Sunday. Neglected to mention that the week previous ran a GURPS modern horror scenario, which was full of some fairly factual backstory mistakes (no smilodon or neanderthal in Africa, Sudan does not share a border with Liberia), and has a bit of a Scooby-Doo ending, all of which can - and should be - dropped, in favour of keeping the core story - a vampiric sabre-toothed tiger arises again! In news of the games store, now up to an estimate ten percent of planned stock, adding the D&D Rules Cyclopedia, and some Mage : The Ascension and Vampire : The Masquerade items. Next planned review for RPG.net is an obscure classic, Lords of Creation.
