PEOPLE WHO PREFERENCE MAKE THEIR VOTES COUNT Comment By Tim

Howard

By MARGARET DEKKER

The legendary North Star Holiday Resort on the Tweed Coast has added even more solar power to its charge, adding 208 gleaming panels to park infrastructure, totalling 324 panels now servicing the 10-hectare resort – all helped from above.

It takes the expression ‘sun-loving’ to a new meaning at the 52-yearold caravan park and resort, with solar dedicated to powering North Star’s “greediest power munchers” including the water park and super slides, plus new accommodation range.

“In August 2021 local business Hardy Solar commenced Stage 2 of North Star’s renewable energy program. In addition to the existing solar-powered units that charge up the administration building 116) we have now installed a massive 92kw system to power the front section of North Star, including our Tuscany Villas and Coastal Cottages,” Lisa Collier, Marketing Manager at North Star

Holiday Resort told The Northern Rivers Times.

Four 20kW inverters complete the system, adding to a growing list of environmental and sustainability credentials and savings, as Jackson Hardy from Hardy Electrical and Solar explained.

“For the Holiday Units for example, average daily production is 367.5 kWh and annual solar production is 134,147 kWh,” he said.

For the mammoth task, it was an admirable case of all local hands on-deck in both design and installation. Hardy Solar and Electrical has long operated out of Cudgen-Kingscliff, working with Hastings Point electrician, Gary Thorpe.

“Over the years we have worked all over Australia installing solar systems. We came together about 7 years ago and decided that because we live in such a beautiful area of Australia that this is where we want to be working. We put all our focus on the local community and businesses and have created a strong local rapport,” Jackson Hardy of Hardy Solar and

Electrical said.

“This was an enjoyable project, with great results. Working together with likeminded locals such as Susan and Kay from the North Star has reminded us just how important supporting local customers, businesses and community organisations is.”

With soaring power prices showing no sign of easing, Jackson Hardy said more commercial businesses are considering solar, particularly as most of their usage is during the day.

“When the sun is up, they will always show a great reduction in consumption and huge savings. We carefully design the system based on the usage pattern of the premises, for now and into the future, Jackson Hardy of Hardy Electrical and Solar said.

North Star Holiday is indeed vast, living proof of the adage; ‘you gotta make hay – or power –while the sun shines ..’

“This latest move has greatly reduced our reliance on purchased power and we couldn’t be happier about that,”

Lisa Collier of North

Making your vote count on Saturday means more than just putting a number in a box.

In contrast to Federal elections where voters must number all boxes on the ballot paper, NSW voting laws require just one box to be numbered to constitute a valid vote.

This is known as optional preferential voting and on the face of it, offers people the option to give a single vote to their candidate without the worry of where their preferences will go.

This is a concern for some pundits as it means the optional preferential method could become a de facto first past the post system, defeating the aims of the preferential voting system.

First past the post voting appeals to many people, who like the simplicity of the winner-take-all approach. It’s used in the UK, United States, Canada and India.

But it has drawbacks as the winner can be elected without achieving a majority of available votes.

In this scenario it would be possible for a party to win office with more than half the vote against it, but split among multiple candidates.

Some candidates in Clarence have expressed a concern that people who have become disenchanted with the government might cast a so-called protest vote for a minor party or independent candidate and vote 1 for that candidate and not number other boxes.

Should Clarence follow the usual pattern, the Nationals candidate would be ahead on primary votes after the first count.

If that candidate wins 50% plus 1 of the primary vote, it’s all over, but if not, then the distribution of preferences begins.

It is here the protest voters’ intentions could backfire.

Failing to indicate preferences means that ballot paper exhausts after the primary count.

In a distribution of preferences every vote exhausted at the primary stage is virtually a vote for the leader.

It’s not just me saying this. This is what Antony Green, election analyst from the ABC, says about optional preferential voting: “Under optional preferential voting, the winning candidate must receive a majority of the votes remaining in the count, that is the formal vote minus exhausted preferences. The winning post is lowered with each exhausted preference making it easier for the leading candidate to win by making it harder for the second placed candidate to catch and pass the leader.” https://antonygreen. com.au/

To be perfectly clear there is nothing wrong with voting for just one candidate.

But for voters who want the vote count to reflect of the feeling of the electorate, number more than one box to match how you rate the candidates.

By MARGARET DEKKER

It’s down to the wire after months on the hustings for local candidates.

In what’s being generally described as a ‘lacklustre’ 2023 state election campaign, The Northern Rivers Times got the final pitch from some candidates in the Ballina and Tweed electorates ahead of election day this Saturday, March 25.