As I noted in a previous post about the Greens’ campaign, residents of Brisbane Central vote in a by-election tomorrow called as a result of Peter Beattie’s retirement from the Queensland Parliament. I’ve had a fair few bits of propaganda in my mailbox from both Labor’s Grace Grace and the Greens’ Anne Boccabella. But, even though a campaign such as this tends to focus much more on local issues than a state wide or a commonwealth election, the basics of the campaign process are similar. There are few opportunities to meet the candidates, and fewer for citizens to put them under pressure with probing questions - which may relate to issues the parties have not chosen to highlight (and perhaps don’t want to highlight). The New Farm Neighbourhood Centre organised a Politics in the Pub session at the Brunswick Hotel on Tuesday night which did provide such opportunities. But most in attendance were friends, family and supporters of the candidates.
Gone are the days when candidates would address lively public meetings full of engaged citizens, and press coverage of the campaign is sketchy at best. While the potential of video and YouTube to capture “Macaca moments” and unforced errors is something that’s been widely discussed, it also has a much more informative and democratising potential through citizen journalism, something already seen in the federal election campaign with Youdecide2007. So, as a modest contribution to that process, I’m posting videos of the addresses by Grace Grace and Anne Boccabella, and segments of the questions from the audience which I captured on Tuesday night and which I’ve uploaded to Google video. My hope is that this will allow aspects of Tuesday night’s proceedings to reach a wider audience than those who were present, and with any luck, perhaps there’s also the potential for undecided Brisbane Central voters to use this as part of their decision making process.
Elsewhere: The Poll Bludger on the by-election.
Update: The Poll Bludger is live blogging the results.
Labor’s Grace Grace speaks:
The Greens’ Anne Boccabella speaks:
Questions:
Will check out the videos when I get home.
Grace comes across as reading from a script; Anne sounds much more as if she knows what she’s talking about. It’s a pity we had no significant content from the other candidates.
Great work, Mark. I couldn’t make it there on Tuesday so this is the next best thing.
Grace Grace looks like a bundle of energy and I reckon she will be fast-tracked to a cabinet position within a year of election.
I understand that ALP candidates/representatives have to protect themselves by saying “I don’t know the specifics of the law” or “I’m not the official spokesperson for this issue” whenever they are about to say something but it just makes them sound like they’re unwilling to make a real, personal statement on the issue. Claire Moore did this at the QCC’s event and it made her sound like she was just quoting ALP policy verbatim. Ms Grace will likely be elected as a Labor candidate rather than on her own merits (even though she does have many merits) but there are some of us still in the body politic who would like to know the personal beliefs, passions and opinions of the candidates.
I don’t think any of the independents or One Nation would’ve won anyone over that night. Family First certainly didn’t impress anyone by not turning up.
Very impressed with Grace acknowledging the traditional owners at the beginning of her speech. Take note John Howard, it is common practice for Labor people to do so.
The fact that Grace has been resident in the electorate for her whole life and been an enthusiastic contributor to the area will mean that she has a thorough understanding of the needs of the residents there.
Brisbane Central will be well served by such a competent and capable representative and should be envied for their good fortune, that Grace saw fit to move over to the political arena.
It’s much more common for Greens speakers to do it the Labor in my experience, but if Grace was the opening speaker and she did an acknowledgement, I don’t think every speaker following had to make a separate acknowledgement.
Ms Grace is undoubtedly a competent and capable woman, but that’s not the same as being a good representative. Anne Boccabella has runs on the board as a community representative and the Greens are the *only* party presenting an alternative vision for the future of Brisbane and Queensland. I’m sure Ms Grace has lived in the electorate since childhood, but I’ve never heard her mentioned as an active member of any community groups. Was she even active in her local ALP branch?
This by-election is a choice between ‘more of the same’ from the Labor Party or a small step on the path towards a bright Green future for Brisbane and Qld. Anne Boccabella will be a breath of fresh air for the people of Brisbane Central and the Qld Parliament. (but I would say that wouldn’t I ;^)
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Sam, I’ve just added the video of your question. Took an age to upload them all and it wasn’t finished when I went out this arvo.
Dunno about that Darryl. Arch Bevis did at the last Politics in the Pub.
Perhaps you should have a listen to what she said about that in the speech!
Thanks for this, although really I don’t think the visuals are clear enough to be much use - presumably audio only would be easier to upload.
For what it is worth here are my tips (at a distance of almost 2000km)
Labor 55%
Greens 25%
Family First 10%
Others combined 10%
If the Greens can break 30% I think it will indicate that people are starting to weary of Rudd’s desire to become Howard.
Update: The Poll Bludger is live blogging the results.