I am offering the author of ‘Suspicious preferencing in the Senate race’, David Lovejoy, a $10,000 wager. I bet that Hemp and Stop CSG ‘above the line’ preferences in the NSW Senate election can never ‘finish up on the pile of gun-worshipping cretins’ the Shooters and Fishers Party in the NSW (or in any other state) Senate election, unless both the Greens’ No 1 and the ALP’s No 3 candidates have already been elected or excluded.
If you are not willing to accept this wager then your only honourable course of action is to retract your misleading and wilful slurs on HEMP and Stop CSG.
Also David, be sure to start voting early yourself on 7 August. You are going to be spending a long time, and spoiling a lot of ballot papers, trying to put the Hunters and Fishers Party last out of 110. There is no such political party registered in Australia.
Graham Askey, Secretary, HEMP Party
David Lovejoy responds:
It is not necessary for the HEMP party (or Stop CSG or WikiLeaks) to place the Shooters and Fishers above the Greens on their preference list for an upset to occur. If the votes on their pile when it is eliminated go to another right-wing party that does preference the Shooters and Fishers before the Greens, the damage will be done. A preference miscalculation gave Steve Fielding of the abominable Family First Party a seat in 2004 with less than two per cent of the primary vote.
See the Echo’s full election coverage on the page Election 2013
David, how soon after both HEMP’s and Stop CSG’s preferences inevitably land on the Greens pile (unless they’ve already been elected) can I expect your cheque? Do you mean parties like ‘Senator on Line’, ‘Wikileaks’ and ‘Sex’? They really have put the ‘Shooters and Fishers’ before the Greens but rather oddly feature on Greens own preference list before the Labor Party at 43. Maybe voting 1 Greens could turn out be a damaging miscalculation?
Graham Askey
It’s not just preference distribution that’s the problem with “single issue” groups. Why haven’t the Hemp Party & Drug Law Reform party merged or formed an alliance with The Greens instead of taking all important first preference votes from the only party that actually supports drug law reform.
Unfortunately it’s been a little difficult for Greens to champion the smoking of hemp, when Govts worldwide are adopting the fiercest ‘anti-tobacco” campaigns making smokers social pariahs.
Strategically the medicinal use arguement has been the first step – to decriminalise – and it’s happening all over the world – but not here in Australia….
If you want real change, get over the petty squabbles and work as a united force, shabby preference deals is certainly not helping the cause.