The Sensible Centre

[wayneL]

https://sensiblecentre.org.au/

I came across this party (dunno if it's registered yet) on tw@tter (they followed me because of my sensibly centrist posts I guess )

I was trying to avoid politics on twitter but they seem to keep posting sensible stuff.

Anyway, for your perusal and discussion

 

[SirRumpole]

Server IP address not found.

 

[wayneL]

Server IP address not found.

Okay try now Horace

 

[SirRumpole]

Got it. What did you do ?

 

[wayneL]

Got it. What did you do ?

I got rid of the www and put in the http thingy.

 

[Knobby22]

Great idea, has my support. Need to find out who the Civil Society Australia are.

Since Xenophon left, there is only the remains of his party called the Central Alliance left. It would be good if they worked together.
Democrats were pretty centrist before Natasha Party Destroyer got hold of them.

They will need a good leader to catch the public imagination though.

If you have a central party, the government can achieve things and yet be moderated by the that party. We don't want future gridlock for decades as has occurred elsewhere as increasingly partisan influences destroy the middle ground and the middle class.

Thanks Wayne.

 

[qldfrog]

Just wondering if any centrist party has a chance with the current polarisation of society, they will be called far right unless adopting a Green LGBT extremist left platform..

 

[Knobby22]

Just wondering if any centrist party has a chance with the current polarisation of society, they will be called far right unless adopting a Green LGBT extremist left platform..

And far right if they disagree with anything the other way.
People want a party to govern but sometimes don't want to give them free rein.(or is it reign?). Theses parties give the opportunity for normally Labor or Liberal voters to give the other party a go with constraints. I read that fully 1/3 of Aussie voters swing. I know I do. The extremists make a lot of noise but there aren't that many of them in reality.

The extremists are anti civil society e.g. the far left and far right won't load the Covid app despite all the good it does for society. The centrists will. You can bet at those demonstrations at the weekend that very few people had loaded the app despite all the risks they were taking and that includes the guy with all lives matter sign as well as those stupid girls abusing the police.

 

[qldfrog]

You assume above that people in general are not gullible for the outraged news feed they receive.
I noted in the above that your example of a far right was a guy with an all lives matter sign....
Just think about that..
(in all due respect @Knobby22, you are a valuable and respectable interlocutor)

 

[chiff]

Yes,my member is from the Centre Alliance-Rebekah Sharkie.Each piece of legislation is considered on its merits etc.It was good to have a positive choice when Georgina Downer,straight out of the Rinehart IPA was the opposing candidate.Of course there are some things that I do not concur with the Centre Alliance with,but I have to consider whether it is because of my own bias .Overall it is good to have another choice,if only to oppose the excesses of the major parties.

 

[SirRumpole]

I hope the sensible centre discards all the PC rubbish and looks at the merits of the arguments, not people's feigned "outrage".

 

[Knobby22]

You assume above that people in general are not gullible for the outraged news feed they receive.
I noted in the above that your example of a far right was a guy with an all lives matter sign....
Just think about that..
(in all due respect @Knobby22, you are a valuable and respectable interlocutor)

Just pointing out both extremists to make a point about the covid app. If it had of been a right wing rally and some Antifa turned up I would have made the same point. Both of them would not have the app.

 

[PZ.]

The biggest difference between left and right in my view will be industrial relations.

After all, most people work, right ?

So far they haven't stated their policy but balancing the safety net and flexibility with a goal to economic recovery will define where any aspirant group sits in the political landscape in an environment of shifting goalposts

PS.. I like their twitter url... https://twitter.com/Progressive_Con

lol

 

[qldfrog]

Just pointing out both extremists to make a point about the covid app. If it had of been a right wing rally and some Antifa turned up I would have made the same point. Both of them would not have the app.

just pointing that in 2020 stating that "all lives matter", equality in front of race, not "positive" discrimination is seen as far right..

 

[qldfrog]

but good thread

 

[basilio]

Very, very detailed policy statements from what seems to be a fledgling new party.

It isn't of course. It has its roots in the Aussie Battlers Party and I suspect a number of others.
I can see some strong DLP policies represented in the statements.
There are policy proposals that would be welcomed (just as a start...) by One Nation.
The Australian Democrats would have very supportive of a number of initiatives.
Perhaps a cat herding exercise ?

I can see a point to the proposition. I suspect however it will be a lightning rod for largely One Nation and ex DLP voters.

But who knows ? One excellent outcome might be opening up political discussion on a number of policy areas and forcing the current political parties to review their policies.

 

[basilio]

Just to highlight who is going to be encouraged/allowed to be preselected for this new party.
The Criteria for Candidates

We invite nominations from community leaders who:

......f. are not current or recent members of Liberal, National, Labor or Green parties.

..........................................................................
The Steering Committee is an eclectic group. I recognise Vern Hughes as the Convenor.
https://sensiblecentre.org.au/committee/

 

[basilio]

This is the (current) killer statement from "The Sensible Centre ". (I sincerely hope it is swiftly reviewed and seriously cannot understand how the current Steering Committe/Convenor have come to such a view)

We support

1. Establishing the role of a member of parliament as one of service to the community, and not a career, by replacing the existing salary, pension, superannuation, allowances and retirement benefits of MPs with a simple Living Allowance pegged to the median income in Australia ($55,432 in 2018), adjusted annually for increases and decreases in the median income figure. The Living Allowance of $55,432 would be a fixed amount, without additional remuneration for leadership or ministerial roles. Its purpose is to discourage career politicians and encourage limited terms of service from citizens who want to contribute to civil society and the common good.

Superannuation benefits would be set at the standard citizen rate (9.5%) not the current special politician rate of 15.4%.

 

[basilio]

Check out this
https://www.aussiebattlerparty.com.au/

 

[basilio]

Vern Hughes, the Convenor of Sensible Centre, has a long career in developing social enterprise and community participation programs. You can check out his Civil Society project below.
(Lots of very pretty pictures of smiling, attractive, diverse people. I think they come from stock picture libraries...)

I would support many of the principles behind this work. I have to say they have an impressive range of projects they are working on.
On a practical level I have my reservations..
https://www.civilsociety.org.au/
https://www.civilsociety.org.au/newpage