Bullet train party claim 'least annoying' tag

The L-that’s-not-in-government won my competition for “most annoying party” by managing to stuff 6 (six!) pieces of promotional material into my “No Junk Mail”-marked mailbox today. It was an impressive effort.

If their policies impressed, I could forgive them… oh well.

Deref said :

There are lots of things I’d love.

I’d love a bullet train running to all capital cities in Australia. I’d love a six-lane autostrada-type no-limits road to run the length of national route 1 (as well as through Canberra). I’d love a comprehensive tram system providing fast, free travel across the whole of Canberra. I’d love international flights to all major centres from Canberra airport.

But no-one with any foot placed firmly in reality believes for one second that those things are going to happen any time soon. Not only don’t we have the population to support them, if we did have that kind of population (more than the US) we’d look like India, in the dying of thirst and starvation sense.

I think the good people of the Bullet Train brigade (and the Trams for Canberra brigade) are probably genuinely nice, well-intentioned people – this thread is certainly an indication that they are. But they’re so monumentally out of touch with reality that I can’t conceive of what they’d actually do if they won any seats. So many studies have proved just how impractical this proposal is, yet I’ve seen nothing from the group offering any substantive refutation of the data or the analyses. (Absence of evidence isn’t, of course, evidence of absence. If there is such a refutation I’d be keen to read it.)

Politics is, as someone said, the art of the possible. These things aren’t in that category yet.

Well you can read this for a start, Phase 1 of the 20 million dollar two year study that was released earlier this year. Phase 2 is due out toward the end of the year. No where in the study does it say that Australia is not yet ready for this piece of infrastructure. The rest will be decided by politicians and ultimately voters.

http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/rail/trains/high_speed/index.aspx

That said – they are good ads… 🙂

c_c said :

Interesting but I still wonder who’s funding them. I think you’ll find this is a front for something, probably Canberra Airport judging by the fonts.

There are a LOT of similarities between their advertising and that of the Airport, methinks…
They should remember that “in kind” donations also have to be declared.

Masquara said :

Straw poll of one: tradie who just came to do some work on my house said he is voting Bullet Train!

But not before he copped an anti-labor rant of biblical proportions I`ll bet.

There are lots of things I’d love.

I’d love a bullet train running to all capital cities in Australia. I’d love a six-lane autostrada-type no-limits road to run the length of national route 1 (as well as through Canberra). I’d love a comprehensive tram system providing fast, free travel across the whole of Canberra. I’d love international flights to all major centres from Canberra airport.

But no-one with any foot placed firmly in reality believes for one second that those things are going to happen any time soon. Not only don’t we have the population to support them, if we did have that kind of population (more than the US) we’d look like India, in the dying of thirst and starvation sense.

I think the good people of the Bullet Train brigade (and the Trams for Canberra brigade) are probably genuinely nice, well-intentioned people – this thread is certainly an indication that they are. But they’re so monumentally out of touch with reality that I can’t conceive of what they’d actually do if they won any seats. So many studies have proved just how impractical this proposal is, yet I’ve seen nothing from the group offering any substantive refutation of the data or the analyses. (Absence of evidence isn’t, of course, evidence of absence. If there is such a refutation I’d be keen to read it.)

Politics is, as someone said, the art of the possible. These things aren’t in that category yet.

pirate_taco said :

They’ve definitely got a good marketer on board.
Spinning doing and spending very little on campaigning into a positive is a smooth move.

Pirate Party ACT is also doing very little of the above, but that is more due to having few resources to do so.
At the very least we wouldn’t go overboard on the road side signs like the majors are doing, even if we had the resources to do so.

I’ve been having a conversation on twitter about the Bullet Trainers, in particular about what they stand for other than high speed rail [1].
I also sat next to bullet trainer Chris Bucknell this morning while he chatted to Ross Solly on ABC 666 at Central Cafe (you can even see me in the photo posted to their facebook page [2])
What I took away from this was that they don’t have any policies on anything other high speed rail because they don’t expect to be elected.

I think it’s great that they are raising the profile of this issue, but I can’t see how we could get anything done on it from here.
Perhaps they should make a tilt for the Senate next election and get it onto the federal government agenda?

I also note that a lot of candidates installed high speed rail as part of their Lego build, so there is a lot of support for the idea.

Glen Takkenberg
Pirate Party ACT for Ginninderra

1. https://twitter.com/pirate_taco/status/257387199836864512
2. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=388432447892168&set=a.186389491429799.41976.184459528289462&type=1

I should point out that I instruct my volunteers to not place material in people’s letterboxes if it says “No Junk Mail” and the like, and that’s not due to a lack of resources. In fact, the resources spent on letterboxing a suburb like Aranda where I suspect the majority of letterboxes are marked in that way is in one sense grossly inefficient, because for every person you annoy you may well end up increasing your name recognition with another two or so. I still practise that method out of respect.

I guess what I’m saying is that we don’t know what motivates them to not campaign in certain ways. All power to them for getting out there and pushing for what they care about.

pirate_taco said :

They’ve definitely got a good marketer on board.

Tim Bohn, 2B Advertising & Design to be specific.

pirate_taco said :

They’ve definitely got a good marketer on board.
Spinning doing and spending very little on campaigning into a positive is a smooth move.

Pirate Party ACT is also doing very little of the above, but that is more due to having few resources to do so.
At the very least we wouldn’t go overboard on the road side signs like the majors are doing, even if we had the resources to do so.

I’ve been having a conversation on twitter about the Bullet Trainers, in particular about what they stand for other than high speed rail [1].
I also sat next to bullet trainer Chris Bucknell this morning while he chatted to Ross Solly on ABC 666 at Central Cafe (you can even see me in the photo posted to their facebook page [2])
What I took away from this was that they don’t have any policies on anything other high speed rail because they don’t expect to be elected.

I think it’s great that they are raising the profile of this issue, but I can’t see how we could get anything done on it from here.
Perhaps they should make a tilt for the Senate next election and get it onto the federal government agenda?

I also note that a lot of candidates installed high speed rail as part of their Lego build, so there is a lot of support for the idea.

Glen Takkenberg
Pirate Party ACT for Ginninderra

1. https://twitter.com/pirate_taco/status/257387199836864512
2. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=388432447892168&set=a.186389491429799.41976.184459528289462&type=1

They managed to register as party for the election at least. So theres that.

drfelonious said :

They already got my vote as I have done a pre poll vote. This approach confirms my view that I did the right thing. They aren’t Labor Liberal or Green and their single issue is one worth voting for – more than enough to get me over the line.

I’ve pre-polled too and was aghast at the lack of choice.

No way was I going for the bullet train people as it’s a federal issue.

grmsn said :

Shame though haven’t released any other information like what will happen if one of them actually a seat. Who they are going to partner with .. etc etc .. you know all that basic info which helps people make an informed decision.

——-

c_c said :

Interesting but I still wonder who’s funding them. I think you’ll find this is a front for something, probably Canberra Airport judging by the fonts.

——-

Mysteryman said :

While I appreciate their efforts to avoid annoying everyone, I do wonder how effective a local group would be in getting NSW and VIC (and the federal government) on board with their plan. Canberra is essentially a stop off on the proposed high-speed rail network. Voting for them on that basis alone seems a bit foolish, considering MLAs need to spend the vast majority of their time on local issues, not federal/interstate ones.

——-
AFAIK they’re self-funded unaffiliated independents, and are very serious about making a bullet train happen all along the east coast with Canberra-Sydney being just the start. Last week they announced the start of the Bullet Train for NSW branch and they’re aiming to go Federal!

Have a look on their facebook site for more info; ask them a question if you want and I reckon you’ll get a good straight answer pretty quick:

http://www.facebook.com/BulletTrainforCanberra

Straw poll of one: tradie who just came to do some work on my house said he is voting Bullet Train!

They’ve definitely got a good marketer on board.
Spinning doing and spending very little on campaigning into a positive is a smooth move.

Pirate Party ACT is also doing very little of the above, but that is more due to having few resources to do so.
At the very least we wouldn’t go overboard on the road side signs like the majors are doing, even if we had the resources to do so.

I’ve been having a conversation on twitter about the Bullet Trainers, in particular about what they stand for other than high speed rail [1].
I also sat next to bullet trainer Chris Bucknell this morning while he chatted to Ross Solly on ABC 666 at Central Cafe (you can even see me in the photo posted to their facebook page [2])
What I took away from this was that they don’t have any policies on anything other high speed rail because they don’t expect to be elected.

I think it’s great that they are raising the profile of this issue, but I can’t see how we could get anything done on it from here.
Perhaps they should make a tilt for the Senate next election and get it onto the federal government agenda?

I also note that a lot of candidates installed high speed rail as part of their Lego build, so there is a lot of support for the idea.

Glen Takkenberg
Pirate Party ACT for Ginninderra

1. https://twitter.com/pirate_taco/status/257387199836864512
2. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=388432447892168&set=a.186389491429799.41976.184459528289462&type=1

While I appreciate their efforts to avoid annoying everyone, I do wonder how effective a local group would be in getting NSW and VIC (and the federal government) on board with their plan. Canberra is essentially a stop off on the proposed high-speed rail network. Voting for them on that basis alone seems a bit foolish, considering MLAs need to spend the vast majority of their time on local issues, not federal/interstate ones.

grmsn said :

Shame though haven’t released any other information like what will happen if one of them actually a seat. Who they are going to partner with .. etc etc .. you know all that basic info which helps people make an informed decision.

you want voters’ decisions to be informed now? sacre bleu!

Interesting but I still wonder who’s funding them. I think you’ll find this is a front for something, probably Canberra Airport judging by the fonts.

They already got my vote as I have done a pre poll vote. This approach confirms my view that I did the right thing. They aren’t Labor Liberal or Green and their single issue is one worth voting for – more than enough to get me over the line.

They have my vote and i voted for the Bullet Train station to be at the Chisholm Tavern in the win an iPAD comp.

Shame though haven’t released any other information like what will happen if one of them actually a seat. Who they are going to partner with .. etc etc .. you know all that basic info which helps people make an informed decision.

I’ll be voting for them – not just for this, but because their issue is a good one. No, I’m not affiliated with them/their family/friends/dog – but I am sick of having to fly to Sydney all the time – waste of money, bad for the environment, and those bug smashers are horribly uncomfortable for the long-legged. The major parties should have taken this line years ago.

virgil99 said :

Fantastic. Just got my vote.

+1

Fantastic. Just got my vote.