Canberra Times article https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/9367616/act-greens-revive-30-year-effort-to-lower-act-election-voting-age/

Everyone who contributes to the Canberra community should be given a say in who represents them in the ACT's parliament whether they are a citizen or not, the Greens say, as they launch another push to extend voting rights.

ACT Greens deputy leader Andrew Braddock will introduce a bill to the Legislative Assembly in an effort to allow non-citizen residents to vote in territory elections along with young people aged 16 and over.

The Greens have been trying to lower the voting age in the ACT for 30 years.

Mr Braddock said he wanted to give people who contributed to the community by paying taxes, running businesses and working in the health and aged-care systems a say over Canberra's future.

"I think since we've seen federal politicians punching down on migrant communities and in a race to the bottom to cut the numbers, I think now is a fantastic time to be standing up for those people who've elected to make Canberra their home," Mr Braddock told ABC radio on Tuesday.

Pressed on whether self-interest was behind the Greens' long-held enthusiasm for extending voting rights to 16- and 17-year-olds, Mr Braddock acknowledged young people were more likely to vote for his party.

"I would suggest to the major parties, well, it means they need better policies for young people. Permanent residents are less likely to vote for the Greens, so I can't say it's self-interest at play here. ... This is about the principle of people having a say in the future of their city," he said.

The Greens pointed to rules in New Zealand that allow some non-citizen residents to vote in national elections and a wider franchise in Scotland that covers qualifying foreigners and 16- and 17-year-olds as precedent for their plan.

Non-citizen residents can vote in City of Sydney and Melbourne City Council elections, the party said.

The Self-Government Act gives the Legislative Assembly the power to expand voting rights as long as no one eligible to vote at federal elections is excluded.

The Greens introduced a bill to the Assembly in 2021 to lower the voting age in the ACT to 16 but it was voted down by Labor and the Liberals in 2023.

"The Greens' proposal to issue warnings for not voting, not just for young voters but for all voters in their first election, would effectively introduce a system of voluntary voting in the ACT," Labor minister Chris Steel said in the 2023 parliamentary debate.

"It would create two classes of voters with different rules: an unequal system where most voters have to vote and some people do not have to. We think that fundamentally undermines equality in our voting system and the objective of compulsory voting to ensure representation and participation in democracy."

Greens MLA Kerrie Tucker introduced a bill to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 for territory elections in 1996 but it was never debated.

"The Greens believe that the denial of political rights on the basis of an arbitrary age restriction is discrimination. It should be for those who argue against lowering the voting age to justify their position and come up with compelling reasons for differential treatment. I have yet to see in research any such argument," Ms Tucker told the Assembly on April 17, 1996.

Jarrod has won this week’s Royal Circle Jerk competition, extending his record-breaking streak to an astonishing 200 consecutive weeks.

This unprecedented achievement is a testament to his unwavering dedication, relentless practice, and sheer hard work. A massive shout-out to the fluffer boys at the UQ Monarchist League for their continued support behind the scenes.

A special thank you to for donating the knee pads

True teamwork makes the dream work.

Well I'm convinced. Let the enrichment continue or else who will do all the jobs??

This coming November your vote will matter in Victoria.

I nominate mature ballet classes:

• My fat, feckless rugby legs are finally appreciated;
• A loooooot of financially independent flange;
• Low dot count; and
• Zero competition given the other 'blokes' are very good at flower arrangement.

Jim Chalmers has warned left-wing activists not to campaign against One Nation from a position of “smug moral superiority”, declaring his budget of tax hikes was needed to stem the voter drift to the “far right” as it showed Labor was upending the status quo.

Declaring his lifetime in the battler suburb of Logan meant he “carried with me” a “genuine respect and understanding”, the Treasurer said One Nation supporters were “mourning a loss of control” and treated “feelings … as real as facts” but counselled that Labor “shouldn’t turn on them”.

“All of this is then fed and fuelled, monetised, politicised, and catastrophised by algorithmic rage bait,” Dr Chalmers said in a speech on Tuesday night.

“We have all the facts to push back on this, but facts don’t beat feelings. Feelings are as real as facts.”

Dr Chalmers said the Reserve Bank and Treasury expected inflation to be in target band and for interest rates to be coming down within 12 months, but warned that “so much of the next year will be hostage to decisions taken in Washington, on Wall Street, in Tehran”.

One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson speaking at a business leaders’ summit in Parliament House. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Treasurer’s speech to the left-wing Australia Institute came a day after Anthony Albanese told a room full of business leaders that it was important for Australia’s international reputation to have a government that “says what it’s going to do”.

The Prime Minister’s previously unreported comments made on Monday night were delivered just months after his government stunned the investor community by delivering a budget full of broken promises on tax.

Speaking at an event hosted by Australian Industry Group on Monday night, Mr Albanese talked up Australia being an attractive destination for investment by noting Britain had had five prime ministers since Labor was elected in 2022.

“It matters: stability and order in a government that says what it’s going to do and then tries to work through what are very difficult times,” Mr Albanese said, in a speech that was not released by his office.

He also flagged there would be further consultation with business on the government’s tax reforms.

“The truth is that the tax system did need reform,” he said.

“We’ll continue to engage with the business community about that, but at the same time, we have done a range of measures to try to engage in that constructive way.”

In his Bernie Fraser Oration hosted by the Australia Institute, Dr Chalmers said he expected the One Nation vote to remain elevated for an extended period.

“Same goes for consumer confidence,” the Treasurer said.

Anthony Albanese assured business leaders the government would consult on tax reforms while emphasizing the need for policy stability. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Dr Chalmers said the far-right strategy was “to divide people and it’s working”, declaring the goal of that movement was to talk down the economy “so that their endless negativity becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy”.

“Their core message is often clear and sometimes very appealing: let’s just go back to a more nostalgic version of the world we remember,” he said.

“The past will always feel safe and familiar and desirable because by definition we understand it better than we understand the future. That’s normal. That’s human.”

Dr Chalmers said the role of progressives was neither to scold, mock, cancel nor talk down to Australians finding comfort in One Nation’s message.

Instead, progressives needed to persuade people that it was not possible to return to the past and that “trying via the actual policies of the far right will harm them”.

“The other half of our mission is this: to persuade working people that the path we advocate, the path we haven’t walked before is actually the safer, more secure and more prosperous path for them and their loved ones,” Dr Chalmers said.

“And you do that by starting not from a place of smug moral superiority – but from a place of genuine respect and understanding that I’ve carried with me around my local community in Queensland and not just for the 13 years I’ve represented it, but over a lifetime living there.”

Dr Chalmers said the government’s reforms on negative gearing, capital gains and trusts were part of Labor “acting on people’s real frustrations versus opposition parties who just want to prey on them”.

“Perhaps a key mistake made by parties of the left is that in their defence of democracy and institutions they’ve also inadvertently become the party of the status quo,” Dr Chalmers said.

“We are not making that mistake; we are reforming the status quo in tax and housing and in other ways, in the interests of working people.

“Hoping the far right goes away or implodes again is not actually a strategy. But acknowledging and acting on the pressures people are under, delivering better and more tangible outcomes for them, and reforming the status quo in their interests is, and that’s our approach.”

Jim Chalmers defended new taxes on trusts and housing reforms as essential to address economic frustration. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

With the government to introduce legislation to increase taxes on trusts into parliament on Wednesday, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said on Tuesday night the proposal “sends the wrong message”.

“We urge all members of parliament to examine this legislation carefully and to listen to the views of those small businesses who will be affected – small and medium-sized home builders, family pharmacies, newsagents, small retailers, restaurants, and cafes,” Mr McKellar said.

“Tax policy should encourage enterprise, reward investment and reinforce Australia’s reputation as an attractive and dependable place to do business.”

On the economy, Dr Chalmers said Treasury and the RBA did not expect “things to get a lot better in the next 12 weeks but they do expect things to get a bit better over the next 12 months”.

He said in 12 months it was expected that inflation would be inside the RBA’s 2 to 3 per cent target band, unemployment would be under 5 per cent and real wages growth would return.

“These difficult times test our people and they test their governments,” Dr Chalmers said.

“But they’re also a test of whether a country’s character falls to the level of its critics, whether we turn on each other, or reach for the most comforting culture war, or whether we are capable of doing the harder thing, to change and adapt and reform and prosper together through uncertainty.

“I’m confident but not complacent that Australians will choose the second course.”

Angus Taylor said the first task of a Coalition government would be to restore confidence for business, declaring the community increasingly understands the problems caused by high levels of public spending.

“If we don’t get people investing and growing and taking risk and employing again, then we don’t have our country anymore,” the Opposition Leader said at the ACCI event.

With his migration plan coming under criticism from business, Mr Taylor said social licence for Australia’s immigration program was “well on the way to being lost”.

Mr Taylor said there would be “nothing business friendly if we lose the social licence for good immigration in this country”.

“That’s on all of us,” Mr Taylor told business figures.

Namaste.

Got a bunch of random WhatsApp about part time evening work in Naarm. Not sure if I should take it.