Coasters urged to think local - Devonport City Council

It’s time to be countedIT SEEMS to be an amazingpower — being able tovote.Especially when living in amarginal electorate such asBraddon.What with recent hospitalcrises, development fundinggrabs, and widespread IRdisputes, it seems as if ourregion is some dearly soughtitem at an auction, where thepunters refuse to back down.Many readers areunderstandably sick of being apawn in this political tug ofwar, but there are also thosewhose spirits have not beentainted by this bureaucraticnightmare — especially whenour vote will be surged withsuch purpose.Hopefully by the time thisarticle goes to print, theAustralian federal electionwould have been called, and forthe first time, I like many otheryoung Australians will beeligible to vote.However, due to recentchanges made to theCommonwealth Electoral Act ithas become increasinglydifficult for young people tohave their say in how theywant their country to be run.Before the changes, you had afull week after theannouncement of the electionto enrol.Now the electoral rolls willclose at 8pm on the day theelection writs are issued,denying hundreds of thousandsof people the right to enrol.In addition, enrolled voterswho have moved residences,married, divorced or changednames since 2004 will have onlythree days after PrimeMinister John Howard calls theelection to change their details.These laws directly affectyoung people who movearound a lot, or are enrollingfor the first time.Evidence of this was seen inthe 2004 federal election where(according to the AustralianElectoral Commission) 423,000people changed details on theelectoral and 78,000 peopleenrolled for the first time.In addition prisoners havehad their right to voteremoved, and the homeless willfind it harder to vote with newidentification requirements.With such harsh restrictions,you don’t have to be a brainsurgeon to recognise why it isso important (now more thanever) to make your vote count.Historically, just one vote hasmade a difference on manyoccasions.For a bit of trivia one votechanged France from aMonarchy to a Republic in1875.One vote decided thatAmericans would speakEnglish rather than German in1776 and just two votes in 1993won Sydney the right to stagethe 2000 Olympic Games.Even so, I find it particularlydifficult to see how every singlevote can make a difference.Perhaps it’s because I knowthat there are plenty of people(young and old) who couldn’tcare less about politics and willcast their donkey vote thisyear, just like they do at everyother election — whatever!Forgive my optimism but Ithink voters can achieve morethan that, especially forBraddon.So for those young people, (ifit’s not too late) ensure thatyou are properly enrolled.And enjoy having your sayfor the very first time.Henry Horsefall and the Sporto Elite band members (from left) MattJames, Simon Dougan and Oliver Plapp, all 17, of Devonport, finishedsecond in the TasMusic Rock Challenge college section.Busy year for Henry Horsefall trioTHREE-piece group Henry Horsefalland the Sporto Elite has had a busyyear.With numerous pub gigs filling themember’s busy schedules, they managedto squeeze in a show at theTasMusic Rock Challenge and finishedrunners-up in the college section.There are several gigs already pencilledin to keep the group busy for thenext couple of months, plus the threemembers were trying to write music.‘‘Whenever we’re not in school we’rein band practice,’’ lead singer Matt‘‘Henry’’ James said.‘‘The last four months have been allthings go.’’The three Don College students willsoon be performing at the BatmanFalkner in Launceston.Henry said he was sure this would bethe highlight of their career because itwas such a good venue.Describing the band’s sound proveddifficult for Henry.‘‘It’s a bit hard to classify a genre —it’s a lot of things put in a blender theresult is this strange sound we callourselves,’’ he said.He likened the band’s sound to a mixof the energy of Shihad, the guitars ofThe Living End, the bass from theRed Hot Chilli Peppers, the drumsfrom Rage Against the Machine andthe singing was a combination ofKisschasy and Metallica.Henry wrote most of the lyrics for thegroup but the music was a joint effortwith Simon Dougan, on drums, andOliver Plapp, on bass.He said the songs were open tointerpretation by the audience.— SARAH NICOL Devonport Times October 2007 Page 13