Australian Cyclists Party Launched!

[The 2nd Womble]

Who, me? Never.

[celeste boy]

You do know Omar that the ACP is simply serving to further fracture advocacy for cyclists in Australia don't you? Maybe if you recruit a certain board chairman and rename yourselves Mark Texas And The Banditos you can get this thing back on track.
Oh and use more orange. Everyone respects orange.

My week:
* Reports of record number of cycling deaths in NSW
* Reports that the Sydney - Newcastle Ride is having more problems
* 2 near misses from car + truck passing me within 1 metre
* Letter to the SMH from guy on the Northern Beaches who is forced to drive slowly because there is a bike rider ahead
* Letter to the Illawarra Mercury regarding difficulty parking your car during the Sydney to the Gong ride
* 2 riders in my group who opt out if the ride goes on the road at any stage
* Female riders who are terrified in traffic.

Seems to me we are in desperate need of advocacy and the ACP looks like the goods. You are not going to please everyone and every rider's pet agenda can't be no. 1. I joined.

CB

[biker jk]

You do know Omar that the ACP is simply serving to further fracture advocacy for cyclists in Australia don't you? Maybe if you recruit a certain board chairman and rename yourselves Mark Texas And The Banditos you can get this thing back on track.
Oh and use more orange. Everyone respects orange.

My week:
* Reports of record number of cycling deaths in NSW
* Reports that the Sydney - Newcastle Ride is having more problems
* 2 near misses from car + truck passing me within 1 metre
* Letter to the SMH from guy on the Northern Beaches who is forced to drive slowly because there is a bike rider ahead
* Letter to the Illawarra Mercury regarding difficulty parking your car during the Sydney to the Gong ride
* 2 riders in my group who opt out if the ride goes on the road at any stage
* Female riders who are terrified in traffic.

Seems to me we are in desperate need of advocacy and the ACP looks like the goods. You are not going to please everyone and every rider's pet agenda can't be no. 1. I joined.

CB

Yes I joined the ACP as well having long ago come to the conclusion that the state based cycling organisations are impotent with respect to proper advocacy and that the only way for cyclists to be treated fairly is via the ballot box.

[outnabike]

You do know Omar that the ACP is simply serving to further fracture advocacy for cyclists in Australia don't you? Maybe if you recruit a certain board chairman and rename yourselves Mark Texas And The Banditos you can get this thing back on track.
Oh and use more orange. Everyone respects orange.

I reckon that everyone can air an opinion, but how about giving this a fair go? We need all the say we can get and if starting this party does that, how can it be a bad thing? Total negativity wont get the job done. There will be many hurdles to jump in such a venture and haranguing the folks up front is not helpful to cycling per-sea.

Party deals are inevitable and that is why we need the leaders to intercede on the part of the cyclists. It is not possible that every punch be telegraphed to please the disenchanted knockers.What have we to lose any way? The present parties certainly will not worry about a small unrepresented group; and if you have this great axe to grind settle it at a ballot box.

Even if the plight of the cyclist is brought to the attention of parliament and small concessions are granted, we will have a voice.
If in the end a few of the miner parties get their heads together, that shouldn't be a problem. These small parties are in the same boat as us, just wanting to have a say.

I don't want to pick on any one but just saying, that a forum of cyclists should be maybe backing this party that wants to represent cyclists. Sorry I offend you, it's not the intention.

[AUbicycles]

Thanks for the recent comments - I am likewise surprised at the energy and enthusiasm to challenge ideas, concepts, initiatives in contrast with support given and am curious at the persistence in continuing to challenge long after any further value is being added.

[Omar@Go-Alliance]

Our thanks to the many of you who are supporting us by joining or through supportive words and wishes. If the nay-sayers and fear mongers won out each time a new idea came up we may well have never left the comfort of our caves.

Like many of you, I ran out of other options that I felt could have an impact worthy of our collective efforts. This approach may not work, but then again it may. I can't imagine we would be worse off if it doesn't - we have brought together a lot of cyclists of all ages, interests and localities for the very first time as a united force for improved conditions on our roads. Our Facebook and Twitter pages are testament to a broad base of support and following - even from overseas.

Though we are barely 6 weeks old, have spent less than $2k, and count on a handful of volunteers; we now look to be able to qualify as a party in two states and nearly ready to contest in several upcoming federal contests if we choose to.

If the ACP does have a positive impact, it will be because so many of you thought this was worth backing rather than writing-off.

If we didn't try we would never know.

[biker jk]

Not a good look but the ACP has asked for NSW members to complete the NSW Electoral Commission form again. I was asked to do so even though I correctly filled it in and emailed it to ACP. Of the reasons listed below mine is likely the last.

"You filled out a different generic form that was originally on our site
You signed up online but didn't realise that was not enough
You sent the correct NSW form, but the form was not completely filled out, was typed in, was not readable or had errors in it
Our dog ate it ".

[Omar@Go-Alliance]

Not a good look but the ACP has asked for NSW members to complete the NSW Electoral Commission form again. I was asked to do so even though I correctly filled it in and emailed it to ACP. Of the reasons listed below mine is likely the last.

"You filled out a different generic form that was originally on our site
You signed up online but didn't realise that was not enough
You sent the correct NSW form, but the form was not completely filled out, was typed in, was not readable or had errors in it
Our dog ate it ".

Okay, please us cut some slack - a good number of folks really did not fill out the form and cross-checking the various databases we have to manage to match those of NSW is not an easy matter I can assure you... a few (about a dozen) forms were in fact received with the appropriate information but also got our reminder note and we have since let them know. Some who did send a form or had unintelligible writing, forgot to sign, had mismatching postal codes and cities, put their work address or otherwise did not match what was in the electoral roll as they may have moved.

We have even had to let the EC know that they have the wrong DOB or address on a number of occasions. We have spent many hours in the AEC's office trying to track down some of the mistakes to save the member from being rejected. In addition, some members post their forms, others email them and we print them and match them to those who also sign up through our web site or one of our many event appearances. Some include email contacts others don't.

To compound matters, we aren't told why the EC system refuses the information when we enter it, just that there is a problem. Also, some people typed in the form fields and the NSW EC won't accept those that are not hand-written! We have over 900 now in our NSW database but 200 have errors of some sort that we are following up by phone or email. Without 750 error-free validated memberships we don't make it.

So, a dozen errors on our part after all of that is not a good look? Hmmm... please feel free to volunteer to help us do better. Nevertheless, be assured that we will dock the pay of our hard working volunteers... and the dog will go to bed hungry. (yes, just kidding)

We are closing in on our targets but I just ask you to keep perspective that we are trying to do in just 8 weeks what many new parties take years to accomplish. We are indeed trying our best and I hope you and others will forgive the occasional hiccup and still urge us onwards.

[Omar@Go-Alliance]

I can see you are a man for detail... perhaps you want to manage our database?

[AUbicycles]

I didn't get a letter... A+ for my report card.

[The 2nd Womble]

I can see you are a man for detail... perhaps you want to manage our database?

Rofl

[Omar@Go-Alliance]

In just 12 weeks we have registered over 1,000 members in NSW and are preparing to submit our application next week to be registered as a party for the next NSW elections in 2015. The reason we need to submit now is that there is a one-year moratorium for new party registrations and all members must be contacted and verified prior.

We also plan to submit to the Australian Electoral Commission next week so that we are prepared to run in any upcoming federal elections including by-elections and re-runs.

If you were considering joining this would be a great time to do so and be a founding member of the Australian Cyclists Party! Who knows, we might even issue a commemorative jersey to those who were on board when we submitted...

Those of you in NSW who have joined online, please don't forget to send us the NSW Electoral Commission form that must also be filled in by hand and signed. Memberships without this are disqualified by the EC. Form and details on our http://www.icycleivote.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; homepage.

[Omar@Go-Alliance]

Yesterday we filed with the NSW Electoral Commission and today we sent our application to the AEC!

[The 2nd Womble]

Fingers crossed.

[Scarfy96]

Great news Omar, hope it all goes smoothly.

I must admit I am very impressed with your early policy options and happy to be on board from day 1!

[AUbicycles]

Thread Edited - At request, off topic discussion removed.

[rebilda]

I am a little conserned...

I recieved a letter from the Electoral Commission yesterday (23.12.13), dated 20 December,2013. The letter, personally addressed to me, is declaring that the Aust Cyclists Party has applied for registration, and that the legislation requires that "this application be accompanied by evidence that the party has at least 750 members who are enrolled as electors in New South Wales"

The letter goes on the achknowlege that I have signed a membership form for the ACP, and that I need to complete the included, additional form, from the Electoral Commission, and have it back to them by 8 January, 2014, in order for the application for the ACP to be considered for registration.

Is it just me? or is the timing of this a little obscure??

How many of the proposed ACP members, who may also have been contacted by the electoral commission, are going to be away on holidays over the Christmas period??

Could this actually de-rail the whole Party registration, with the electoral commission?

[Scarfy96]

You should have got an email from the ACP last week about this. I did.

Basically the NSW EC needs to verify that it is a valid membership form - NSW is the only state that does this.

Timing I agree sucks and if I don't get mine in the mail today I am away till mid January. I swapped emails with Omar and he said that the final cut off was actually in Feb but they give an earlier cut off to try and get people to return them quickly. Yes I agree it may impact their numbers because of the timing over Christmas but they had to be in now by NSW regulations to be ready for the next election otherwise they wouldn't be able to stand for the next election .....

[Aushiker]

I am a little conserned...

I recieved a letter from the Electoral Commission yesterday (23.12.13), dated 20 December,2013. The letter, personally addressed to me, is declaring that the Aust Cyclists Party has applied for registration, and that the legislation requires that "this application be accompanied by evidence that the party has at least 750 members who are enrolled as electors in New South Wales"

The letter goes on the achknowlege that I have signed a membership form for the ACP, and that I need to complete the included, additional form, from the Electoral Commission, and have it back to them by 8 January, 2014, in order for the application for the ACP to be considered for registration.

Is it just me? or is the timing of this a little obscure??

How many of the proposed ACP members, who may also have been contacted by the electoral commission, are going to be away on holidays over the Christmas period??

Could this actually de-rail the whole Party registration, with the electoral commission?

Did you send in the form as requested as part of your registration at the Australian Cyclists Party website? If you didn't then this would most likely be the standard response from the AEC with the standard response time frame.

Andrew

[Scarfy96]

Here is part of the email I got from ACP on December 20:

NSW - Members (over 1,000 total, 830 with forms received) please note:
Beginning next week the NSW EC will be sending membership verification letters – it is essential that members respond to this letter by January 8th. In order to qualify as a party, the EC will need to receive 750 affirmative responses.
Beginning soon, the AEC will also be calling or emailing a sampling of members to also verify that we meet their minimum requirements. Again, it is very important that you respond to these calls or emails.
NSW members, if you have not done so, please sign and return (email attachment or post) the official NSW EC form found on the home page of http://www.icycleivote.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for your membership to count. Registering online is not enough in NSW and we are still short about 100 of these forms from members.

To which I replied with:

Great news BUT, you have picked the worst time of the year for this to happen. Like lots of people I will be away on holidays with my family and my snail mail will be on hold for the first few weeks of January.

If the NSW EC mail me anything I wont even get it until about the 16th of January or something so chance of me replying by the 8th is zero.

Can I be pro-active and do anything from this end? If not then sorry but Christmas through to the first couple of weeks of January I suspect you will find a massive % of people will be away on holidays and wont be able to reply to anything mailed to them.

to which ACP came back with:

We went as fast as we could to get the numbers but we were never going to avoid the holidays. Unfortunately the NSW EC is particularly pedantic with written forms and mailings… the AEC and other states operate by email and phone and only do samplings.

Still, the NSW EC will keep trying with repeat mailings right up until the very final deadline at the end of February so hopefully you and others can be reached by then?

[rebilda]

I am a little conserned...

I recieved a letter from the Electoral Commission yesterday (23.12.13), dated 20 December,2013. The letter, personally addressed to me, is declaring that the Aust Cyclists Party has applied for registration, and that the legislation requires that "this application be accompanied by evidence that the party has at least 750 members who are enrolled as electors in New South Wales"

The letter goes on the achknowlege that I have signed a membership form for the ACP, and that I need to complete the included, additional form, from the Electoral Commission, and have it back to them by 8 January, 2014, in order for the application for the ACP to be considered for registration.

Is it just me? or is the timing of this a little obscure??

How many of the proposed ACP members, who may also have been contacted by the electoral commission, are going to be away on holidays over the Christmas period??

Could this actually de-rail the whole Party registration, with the electoral commission?

Did you send in the form as requested as part of your registration at the Australian Cyclists Party website? If you didn't then this would most likely be the standard response from the AEC with the standard response time frame.

Andrew

Yep!

I did complete the form, correctly, and completely.

The form that the Electoral Commission has sent me is to verify that I .....exist??

Anyway, I have completed their form and sent it back today

[Scarfy96]

I did complete the form, correctly, and completely.

The form that the Electoral Commission has sent me is to verify that I .....exist??

Has nothing to do with filling out the form correctly and completely - other than if you didn't you wouldn't be getting this letter from the NSW EC:

From the ACP.

NSW EC will be sending membership verification letters

Fortunately mine arrived today so filled out and will be mailed off today as well.

[Omar@Go-Alliance]

Big news coming tomorrow folks...

[trailgumby]

Good to see the team at the SHB steps Tuesday morning, getting folks to join.

The wallies at the EC lost my first response letter. Wasn't impressed.

[Scarfy96]

Big news coming tomorrow folks...

That would be today then .....