Preferences Give DLP Best Chance in 50 Years

Preferences for Upper House seats were announced by the Victorian Electoral Commission at 3.48 pm today, 12 November.

The preference arrangements for Western Victoria are extraordinarily favourable to the DLP. We have the highest possible preferences from the Country Alliance and Family First and effectively, People Power. We also have high preferences from the ALP. I have only ever previously described my chances of winning as a "reasonable possibility". Under the new system of proportional representation, the preferences announced today really boosts the chances for a DLP win in Western Victoria very considerably. Now, we really do have a very strong chance of winning the seat.

I would like to sincerely thank all the other parties who have preferenced so generously to the DLP. If elected I will make myself available to listen to their concerns.

The DLP is fielding a full team of five candidates for Western Victoria. I am supported on the ticket by Clare Power of Creswick, David Power of Belmont and Michael and Leanne Casanova of Ballarat.

The DLP is fielding candidates in every Upper House seat in Victoria, so every voter will vote for or against the DLP at this election.

Survivors of "failed" abortion need legal protection:

Victorian law should explicitly mandate medical assistance for babies born alive after "failed" abortions.

Two cases have been reported in Australia of babies being left to die following abortion procedures, including one in the Northern Territory which was the subject of a public inquest (see Aborted Girl Lived 80 Minutes, Sunday Telegraph, 14 November 1999 and The Death of Jessica Jane, Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun, 27 August 2004).

There is evidence that this happens much more frequently than it is reported. This is not so surprising, since there is no advocate for the fetus/baby in abortion procedures.

Surely babies born alive after undergoing abortion procedures are as entitled to respect and medical attention as anybody else. Members of the medical profession have a responsibility to such babies. Victorian law should make it explicit that physicians and nurses are legally obliged to do all they can to help a baby who is born alive, even after an "unsuccessful" abortion.

If I am elected to represent Western Victoria in the Upper House, I will work for legislation to mandate medical assistance for all babies born alive after 'unsuccessful' abortions. I think that many Victorians would be pleased to see both the ALP and the Liberal Party supporting this initiative.

The Stamp Duty Burden on Victorian First Home Buyers

The Victorian government now charges home buyers around $18,000 in stamp duty when purchasing an average house in Melbourne and close to that amount in provincial cities such as Geelong and Ballarat. What is less well known is that at the end of 2005 the state government also introduced a new "development tax" that works out to around $5,000 to $8,000 for houses in new estates. This amount is also now being passed onto new home buyers. These burdens form part of the reason why buying a home is becoming impossible for a growing number of Victorians.

The Democratic Labor Party has always placed a high priority on helping families to buy a home. Indeed, today’s help from the Commonwealth for first home buyers has evolved from earlier schemes initiated by the DLP decades ago.

In assisting a family to buy a home, governments help not only an individual but all members of a family - for life. Home ownership makes families less dependent on governments in the long term. It eliminates the need for the provision of rent assistance for example. By ending the need to pay rent, home ownership also increases resilience to economic downturns. A high rate of home ownership goes some way towards equalising the distribution of wealth. It gives all family members a sense of security and a feeling of sharing in the ownership of the country. This can only be beneficial to the long term health of our society.

Our taxation system gives huge benefits to investors (negative gearing and depreciation) but not to those struggling to buy a family home. The result is that a minority of people now own lots of properties while many families can no longer afford to buy even one.

The state government now depends on collecting huge sums in the form of stamp duty on real estate. This burden is heavy but probably manageable for those who are upgrading accommodation and have very likely benefited from capital appreciation. It is a different matter for those who are struggling to acquire a first home to simply put a secure roof over their children’s heads.

Of course it is easy for any candidate to argue against taxes. Voters are entitled to ask where the money for reducing stamp duty revenues is to come from. It would be also easy to answer that the state government should stop funding the painting of trees blue in parks for example, as it agreed to do quite recently. No doubt the expenditure on this kind of stupidity is a waste that should be stopped but it is also fairly minor in terms of total government spending. There is very serious money being misused however by the state government on advertising itself. The Bracks’ government is spending around $130 million on advertising per year, much of which is clearly intended to advantage the ALP. This expenditure should stop and the savings used to fund, among other things, cutting or eliminating stamp duty for first home buyers

If elected to represent Western Victoria in the Upper House I will propose and argue that there should be very significant stamp duty concessions for all first home buyers and that for families with children who are buying a first home, stamp duty should be entirely abolished.

MEDIA RELEASE: Self Broadcast Campaign - Australian First for DLP

Democratic Labor Party candidate, Peter Kavanagh, appears to be the first in Australia and among the first anywhere in the world to use YouTube as a campaign and communication tool in a state or national election. Mr Kavanagh has published the YouTube videos on his campaign blog.

"The use of YouTube for the first time in a political campaign in Australia signals the opening of a new channel of communication in political debate. For decades small parties have complained they did not have the money to access media. Tools like YouTube and weblogs make getting messages across to a large audience much easier," Peter Kavanagh said.

"There is an enormous amount of political video material on YouTube, mostly relating to American politics; however, it all appears to have originally been designed for broadcast on television. It's advertising, or just snippets of television programming. There are a couple of American politicians, already elected, who have used YouTube to publish video campaign material on their websites. I don't believe any other politicians or candidates have done this in Australia yet."

"I haven't made any attempt to show-off video-making expertise, because it will be plain to everyone that I don't have any. But I should say that the videos cost the Democratic Labor Party nothing to make, and nothing to publish. That is, in itself, an interesting thing to think about."

"Major political parties in Victoria will be spending many millions of dollars on carefully crafted messages. The rest of us will just have to use our imaginations and the free media. For smaller parties, this technology provides opportunities. For major parties this technology presents dangers - their candidates will come under pressure to speak for themselves. This is precisely what the spin doctors employed by major parties do not want."

“This DLP initiative is the first small step in a process with the potential to revolutionise election campaigns throughout Australia,” Mr Kavanagh claimed.

MEDIA RELEASE: "Empower Local Communities"

Peter Kavanagh, the DLP Candidate for Western Victoria has called for a comprehensive, long term decentralisation policy based on the empowerment of local communities.

"Devolving power to the lowest level of government that can efficiently decide an issue is essential if people are to decide issues that affect them most directly. This is a long held, fundamental principle of the Democratic Labor Party," Mr Kavanagh said.

"Victoria currently lacks a comprehensive strategy for decentralisation. The ALP government's idea of encouraging industry and services around the state is merely hauled out whenever it wants to shore up support in marginal seats outside Melbourne," Mr Kavanagh said.

"At the same time, decisions are being taken at a State level that should be made by the people who are actually affected by the decision - locals."

"In Victoria at present the opposite is happening. The State government is vetoing developments against the wishes of local communities and allowing developments which are opposed by a majority of local people. Two examples happened in Geelong recently. Less than a year ago, sexually explicit entertainment at the 'Alley Cat Gentlemen's Club', a strip club, was approved by VCAT against the objections of the Geelong Council and large numbers of Geelong residents who were concerned, among other things, about the effects of this venue on local school children. Similar developments have been allowed in other parts of Victoria despite the objections of local people."

"In the middle of this year the State government vetoed the development of a Direct Factory Outlet in Greater Geelong, 'surprising the Town Hall'. This disappointed many Geelong people. Whether or not the development should have gone ahead is not the point. The point is that this is properly a matter for the people of Geelong, not the State government," Mr Kavanagh said.

"Moving the TAC to Geelong shows that the present State government's idea of decentralisation is to spend huge amounts of taxpayer's money in marginal seats with no improvement to services. This is not real decentralisation. The DLP was a prime mover behind the effective decentralisation plans of previous decades. A return of the DLP to Parliament, which is possible with the introduction of proportional representation this year, would see genuine decentralisation policy back on state and national agendas."

"Australia needs long term, coherent decentralisation strategies based on efficiently directing the future growth of government departments outside capital cities, providing government services to regional areas together with tax incentives and the recreation of a government sponsored development bank to encourage population and economic growth outside our large cities. Just as important, we also need to empower local communities to decide local issues for themselves," Mr Kavanagh said.

FOR FUTHER COMMENT CONTACT PETER KAVANAGH ON TELEPHONE m. 0413 847 413

MEDIA RELEASE: Compulsory detox and rehab are the answer, says DLP candidate

Compulsory detoxification and rehabilitation, along the lines of the model adopted in Sweden, is the answer to Victoria's burgeoning youth drug problem, says Peter Kavanagh, DLP candidate in the 2006 State Elections.

"We need strategies that are both compassionate and effective. Drug usage should remain illegal. Users, who are not trafficking, however, should be sentenced, not to jail, but to treatment. Can we do better for addicts than helping or even forcing them to get effective treatment?"

"One of the biggest problems for families and for young people with addictions to methamphetamines ("Ice"), heroin or other drugs, is that they don't have the resources and the knowledge to manage the detoxification and rehabilitation process. The existing law also leaves families legally powerless", Peter Kavanagh said.

"Some institutions, most notably those run by the Salvation Army, are doing good work but there are presently bureaucratic obstacles to treatment and insufficient resources. It will be expensive to establish the infrastructure needed to adequately support detox and rehab services but this is what we need to do," Mr Kavanagh said.

"In Sweden, police are empowered to take urine or blood samples from those suspected of drug problems. Police and parents are able to request Court orders mandating detoxification and rehabilitation. With other measures, the result is that now around 3 percent of teenagers use illicit drugs per year. The equivalent Australian figure is 28 percent. Compulsory detoxification and rehabilitation in Sweden appears to have been very successful. We should learn from what they've achieved and at least try to develop our own version of this response."

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See also Dramatic changes to drugs strategy needed, below, for more detailed proposals.

MEDIA RELEASE: ALP dodging late term abortion debate

The Victorian ALP is preparing to reverse the four decades old restrictions on abortion by permitting abortion of a pregnancy at any time and for any reason provided it is performed by a medical practitioner. The changes, proposed in 2005 by the Victorian ALP, will permit abortions up to very late stages of pregnancy.

Fearing a voter backlash, the Premier Mr Steve Bracks has made a pact with members of his own party, giving "iron clad assurances" that the ALP's policy will be implemented, while he tells the media and public that he "has not made up his mind" or that he has no intention of introducing these laws "in 2006".

Mr Peter Kavanagh, Upper House candidate for Western Victoria in the coming State elections, said “The letter of Victoria's current abortion law allows abortion only in cases of threat to the life or health of the mother (the Menhennitt ruling of 1969). The community retains strong reservations about late term abortions. If re-elected, the Victorian government will abolish the Menhennitt restrictions and allow abortion at any stage for any reason.”

In 2005 the Victorian ALP voted to remove all remaining, if nominal, protections for the unborn in Victoria. The existing ALP platform states: "Labor will amend section 65 of the Crimes Act to provide that no abortion be criminal when performed by a legally qualified medical practitioner at the request of the woman concerned". In May this year the ALP state conference voted overwhelmingly and explicitly against proposed amendments to retain any restrictions on late term abortions and even on 'partial birth abortions'.

“Partial birth abortion, actually a form of infanticide, is usually performed late in the second trimester or later. It involves turning a baby around inside the womb and, when it is born, except for the head, killing it, most often by inserting scissors into the brain. If the head were to be born first, the rest of the baby would emerge quickly, not giving enough time to kill it before birth is complete. There is evidence that this procedure is excruciatingly painful to the baby,” Mr Kavanagh said.

“In spite of constitutional restrictions on anti-abortion laws in the US, partial birth abortion was made illegal throughout the US in 2003 at any stage. The ALP's policy will allow partial birth abortions, even up to the time of natural birth,” Mr Kavanagh said.

“I know that there are lots of different views about this, but I think Victorians would want to see candidates questioned about this issue before they were elected. I don’t believe we’ve reached a stage in the debate where people no longer care that healthy, late term pregnancies could be aborted in what I think most people would call infanticide,” Mr Kavanagh said.

FOR COMMENT CONTACT PETER KAVANAGH ON TELEPHONE m. 0413 847 413

MEDIA RELEASE: DLP chooses candidate for Western Victoria in 2006

A barrister-turned-secondary-school-teacher will be the Democratic Labor Party's candidate in Western Victoria for the state elections in 2006.

John Mulholland, Secretary of the DLP, said he believed the party had a good chance of winning at least one of the Upper House seats in the Victorian Parliament in the 2006 elections.

"Peter Kavanagh has been preselected as the candidate for Western Victoria in the 2006 state elections. Peter is the DLP's spokesperson on rural and regional affairs. He's a tremendous candidate and I think he has a very good chance of winning a seat in the Upper House in 2006," Mr Mulholland said.

The Upper House electorate of Western Victoria stretches from the outer Melbourne suburbs of Melton and parts of Werribee and Lara to the South Australian border. It includes the cities and towns of the Bellarine Peninsula, Geelong, Ballarat, Warrnambool, Portland, Colac, Horsham, Hamilton, Ararat, Avoca and Port Fairy.

"If you live in this part of Victoria you will have the opportunity to vote for Peter Kavanagh at next year’s state election," Mr Mulholland said.

"Upper House elections in Victoria will be conducted under a system of proportional representation for the first time. Candidates will be required to obtain one sixth of the vote--with no preferences--to win, or, with preferences, a candidate may win a seat with fewer, perhaps far fewer, votes."

"At the last Senate election the DLP outvoted the Australian Democrats and Family First--which won a seat on preferences. The DLP accomplished this with almost no money and no publicity."

"In the Upper House elections in 2006, winning a seat is a realistic possibility. Voters should remember that under our preferential system of voting they do not 'waste' their vote even if the candidate who gets your first preference does not win," Mr Mulholland said.

Peter Kavanagh is a secondary school teacher of languages, and has worked as a barrister and university lecturer.

FOR COMMENT CONTACT PETER KAVANAGH ON TELEPHONE m. 0413 847 413