The senate have approved the stimulus package by a margin of 30 votes to 28 (which means that 12 less senators voted on this version of the package than last night’s version of the package) after Senator Nick Xenophon managed to hold the package to ransom with a $900 million assistance package for the Murray-Darling basin.
The House of Representatives will pass the amended stimulus package shortly (probably around 4:30pm based on the House of Reps website). Update: Now passed end update
I still have a few issues with the package as it stands, however overall I support it as a once-off stimulus package. Hopefully it will achieve its goals, and we will be able to scrub the debt it causes in a quick and swift manner.
Samuel
February 13th, 2009 at 02:17pm
It’s a landslide. Members of the Canberra Raiders Sports Club have approved the acquisition of the West Belconnen Leagues Club by a margin of 1069 to 70, with 26 further invalid votes .
Members of West Belconnen have also approved the acquisition by 2525 votes to 93, with another 30 votes being invalid.
Update: Numbers were originally attributed to members of the wrong clubs. This has now been corrected, and I apologise for any confusion that this may have caused. End Update
On that basis, I must have spoken with at least 15% of the people who voted “no”. Most of the people who I spoke to who voted “no” said that they did so for the same reason as me, the $4 million debt belonging to West Belconnen, and the fact that they aren’t even close to being the dominant club in the area. Most of the people who I spoke to who voted “yes” said that they did so because they received a voting form in the mail with clear instructions to vote “yes”.
I hope that the majority of people who voted “yes” are not well represented by the people I spoke to, and I hope that the people in charge of the Raiders Sports Club know what they’re doing, because it’s going to take a lot of work to turn West Belconnen around.
Good luck none-the-less.
Samuel
February 13th, 2009 at 02:02pm