You can view our question list for all candidates here.
—–
Democrats Candidate for Farrer, Stephen Bingle, responded :
Dear Press
Here is some informtion below.
Stephen Bingle was Lithgow born. Moved to Sydney when his father was posted there by his work.
Moved to Melbourne in the early 1980s, and then back up to Sydney in 2004 as his father needed caring for. In order to understand his father’s condition, he attempted a Certificate 111 in Aged Care.
He had worked voluntary and in paid employment in Aged Care facilities
When his father was in a nursing home a wonderful RAO at Illawong’s Sir
Thomas Mitchell Aged Care Facility in conjunction with another WW2 veteran
was able to illicit the information that his father was involved at the mopping
up operations at Cowra. When his cellulites improves, he hopes to gain
employment again in this sector may be as a RAO.
Stephen Bingle was the last public officer of the Very Fast Train Working Group that opposed the VFT going via Goongerah and the forests of East Gippsland. He had extensive contacts with land owners around Albury and its surrounds.
He in Albury also witnessed for various groups contracts that small Victorian business people and Victorian companies wished to be made under NSW law because of the special provisions that occurred in NSW contract law.
He also worked voluntary for the Victorian Division of the Party when the office manager needed assistance and followed the office manager and did likewise for Senator John Siddons. Senator Siddons was the founder of Sidchrome.
He holds five academic qualifications and was granted the medal that the Army Reservists recently gained. He served with three units including the NSW’s Bushmen’s Rifles.
Authorised by Stephen Bingle, Australian Democrat candidate for the Seat of Farrer. 173 Slade Road, Bexley North, NSW, 2207. 03/ 9543 5980. Printed by Stephen Bingle at Office Works, Clayton Road, Clayton, Victoria, 3168.
Meta-facepalm!
This has nothing to do with what Stephen Bingle has written but:
I’ve read most of the questionnaires on here. I’ve read most of the press releases. Hell, I’ve followed most of the links. bothkindsofpolitics is potentially the best electoral resource operating in Australia at the moment. Don’t shit on it by being so rude to candidates you don’t agree with, even if they’re so obviously stupid that they shouldn’t be allowed to vote, let alone stand for parliament.
I agree, the creators of the site need to try be as impartial in the comments section as they are when they do the official posts because otherwise the politicians will realise the bias on the website and not bother replying to your requests for questionnares, etc. Make another account and post comments anonymously from there, guys. I appreciate all the effort you’re going to and would like to see the site take off.
Karellen, many have tried to educate the boys on this issue, but they are bigger than that “)
Comments are comments. They’re opinion. We are entirely impartial with what we print and how we print it.
It would be patently obvious before long who we were, even if we had separate names for the comments, and it would be dishonest – which I think would be worse, generally.
Candidates get more from this site than pretty much any other site I know of, and they know it. That’s why Mark’s still here, why we still get press releases from the LDP, Climate Sceptics etc. Because for all the shit that we give them, we still mess with their message less than anyone else.
There will always be some people who get their knickers in a twist about being disagreed with, but we have only ever operated on a level playing field with everyone in the comments section. If certain people want to take offence at legitimate criticism, sucks to be them. We’re not here to coddle fragile egos.
Finally, and most importantly, this is our site. It’s a hobby. We do it in our spare time because we enjoy it. It’s a part of us, so changing it to suit some perceived notion of what a politics site should be would be pointless. Part of the reason we set this site up is because the sites that are how they ‘should’ be are mediocre.
BKoP is what it is.
I think you guys are doing a pretty decent job. Of course you’re entitled to express your own opinion on your own site, I don’t agree with some of it… but isn’t that why we have these big competitions every three years?
I certainly enjoy reading your site and, if I didn’t have a campaign to run and a full-time job to try and hang on to, I’d probably spend a bit more time putting my 2c worth in.
Keep up the good work.
You want the creators of the site to express their political opinion under psuedonyms, to give the site more of a guise of impartiality?
Would you prefer that your comments go into moderation to make sure a well-defined narrative is kept in place too?
People send it, we print it. It doesn’t get much more impartial than that. Where else are people getting their press releases shown outside of their own websites and/or social network?
If people can’t deal with someone disagreeing with them, they probably shouldn’t be running for public office.
As for this Bingle guy, he deserves a massive facepalm. That mess above was his response to the questionnaire for god’s sake.
Oh yeah this Bingle guy deserved the facepalm for sure. And headlines like “Abbott defends sexist, homophobic, racist candidate (not self, this time)” (while hilarious and true) are hardly impartial. I happen to agree with you guys on almost all your opinions but I can definitely see how candidates would be unwilling to post on a site where they’re going to be torn to shred by its creators. And if the awful candidates stop sending their stuff here then really you’re just shooting yourself in the foot. How will people find out just how racist/homophobic/generally stupid the candidates are? Everybody loses. Look at it this way, there’s a reason the Greens, the Secular Party, the Sex Party, etc. don’t go and give talks in conservative churches. It’s because putting yourself out there in a very hostile environment is not only no fun, but could actively hurt your cause. I agree with you guys that the candidates should send in all their press releases either way, but if some of them see it in the way I have just described then it’s not a victory for you (or us). The lack of information available means we all lose.
First: Bingle’s response here is asinine. No doubt.
Second: Of course it’s your site, and you can run it as you see fit. If you want to shit on the people who are providing you with material, then so be it. I still think this undercuts your potential efficiency as a clearinghouse, regardless of how impartial you are in posting material.
Third: I enjoy your comments. I like seeing idiots getting mauled for their stupid ideas. The above complaint had nothing to do with being offended by what you’ve said and everything to do with the way the site presents to outsiders. That kind of comes back to the second point though; it’s your site and you can make it present any way you want. Your bat, your ball etc.
I should add:
I’m not for a minute suggesting that all you do is attack candidates you don’t agree with. Many of the comments on here show that you guys have a much better idea of what you’re talking about than the candidates, and are probably better suited to office than they are.
Case in point
Hi Guys,
Thanks for taking the time to give your feedback, I actually do appreciate it.
I get what you’re all saying and I can definitely acknowledge the concerns about some of the… less mainstream… candidates not responding in future.
A lot of why I comment is to get conversation rolling. It is much easier to join a discussion than it is to start one in many cases, and as the site is still very much in its fledgling stages, I feel that sometimes things need a little coaxing. It is obviously not difficult to discern my or Chris’ political leanings, and often just stating that we believe in them is enough to start a debate.
It is my great hope that soon I’ll just be able to skim the comments on any thread and be able to internally say “Someone has covered the thing I wanted to raise about this article” and leave it at that.
About the headlines for external articles; We do try and keep them relevant. We hope that people will try and engage others in discussion about the topic by using an eye-catching or humourous headline. It’s our hope that in the future, others will be able to submit external articles and headlines to the site too, and we’ll be able to focus on getting candidate interviews, responses, and posting analysis. Press releases and candidate statements will continue to be presented on the site in the manner they are presented to us.
We’re taking the baby-steps before we try walking, so bear with us as we negotiate these teething issues. =)