As 2020 stumbles to a welcome end, at least two of the nation’s Electoral Commissions are springing into action with both Queensland and the ACT facing elections in October and Western Australia due in March next year.
But a mid-life dilemma appears to be sneaking up on the election industry with the age-long reference to people who cast votes as ‘voters’, looking to be losing its popular popularity.
Announcing that postal votes were now available in Queensland, the Electoral Commission Queensland (ECQ) said “electors could apply for a postal vote on the ECQ website.”
Could ‘electors’ be the new ‘voters’ PS-ssst! wonders? Not necessarily!
At the same time Queensland went for the elector, the Australian Electoral Commission was advising “Voters living with a disability….:’; the NSW Electoral Commission was saying “Voters in New South Wales are required to vote at three levels of government elections”; and the WA Electoral Commission offered “Ballot papers are informal if they….do not make the voter’s intention clear”.
But that doesn’t mean Queensland doesn’t have friends.
The Victorian Electoral Commission refers to a “register of electors ”; the Electoral Commission SA deals with “some electors unable to make it to a polling booth”; and the most politically central of them all, Elections ACT defines both Elector and Voter as “A person entitled to vote at an election”.
And while we’re scratching our heads over which is which, PS-sssst! comes up with the unsolicited impertinent imposition that since the voter/elector only has to appear in the polling booth to have her/his name ticked off and can go home without voting for anyone, the most correct title might be ‘attendee’!
Heading for the line
A circular visit around the super-competitive States of NSW and Queensland now in playful pursuit of reportable story headlines worthy of being bestowed with PS-sssst’s much fought over ‘Headline Of the Week Leadership Award’, ululately abbreviated as the HOWLA!
First contender for the cherished commendation is NSW who produced a wise and witty headline introducing the State’s National Parks and Wildlife Service urging equestrians in the Tweed Byron area to stay on designated riding tracks to help preserve the local environment.
Their entry for this week’s award: “NPWS asks Tweed Byron riders to quit horsing around and stick to designated trails”.
How roany!
Second competitioner is Queensland’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries whose project officers launched a four week campaign in the tropical community of Kuranda to help eradicate an imported insect pest currently sparking tension in the area.
And the Department’s finalist-making headline?: “Help short-circuit electric ants in Kuranda”.
Ka-Boom!
As always, excellence above and beyond the call for brilliance is standard for the PS, so in this case the judges were unable to separate either State’s superbness and therefore declared that the first ever double HOOLA HOWLA be presented.
Congratulations to each State!
Pin Heads!
We all know that when someone tells us that a certain action is “the last thing they would do” they’re not saying they won’t do it, they’re simply saying it’s last on their list of the things they would do.
PS-sssst! wonders whether the same logic could apply to what seems to be a very strong and active move by law enforcement.
NSW Police recently muscled up their crackdown on the organisers of non-COVID-kosher events by extending the $1,000 Penalty Infringement Notices (PINs) they impose on the organisers to PIN every person taking part in the event as well.
While this power play unmistakably reveals that the police are not impressed at having to deal with potentially deadly events to save the stupid from themselves as well as protect their potential innocent victims, PS-sssst! wonders if the new PIN-per-head might not come to be seen as merely the price of breaking the law and accepted as another necessary cost of production.
If it costs us each a grand, we’ll pay it!
Even if it’s the last thing they think about, they might still think about it!
Dog not gone
To Rama Gaind’s fabulous freebie giveaway again this week in which she puts three free DVDs up for grabs for anyone who reads her ‘Pick of the Flicks’ or Book reviews in PS News and goes on to join her as a winner.
To be the said winner, this week’s readers needed only to read Rama’s review of the fanciful family comedy about the 12-year-old boy who could Think Like A Dog then tell her who provided the voice of Henry!
The answer was Todd Stashwick and the first correct entrants to escape with their entries from the PS News Barrel of Booty were Natalie R from the Federal Department of Social Services, Andrew G from the Federal Court of Australia, and Riitta L from Services Australia.
For another chance to win give your luck an airing on her current DVD The Last Wave at this PS News link and the other DVD Black Water: Abyss at this link.
Numbers up!
And finally, another chapter in the great PS News subscription relay with four States reaching new records for the year, passing on the record readership baton for another month.
Congratulations all round to NSW which recorded its 2020 record of 20,623 signed-up readers at the end of August; to WA for reaching a new level for the year by hitting 13,849; Tasmania for skipping past 12,000 for the first time this year and landing on 12,039; and South Australia for its 2020-high of 9,621.
Well done everyone! It’s this kind of support that makes coming to work on PS News a pleasure.
Keep up the good work? You always do!!!
What else can we say but “Thanks!”.
Thanks!
Till next week…..
