The AEC also plays a leading role in electoral education and industrial voting (votes on industrial action).
The AEC began in 1902, as a part of the Department of Home Affairs. In 1973, it became the Australian Electoral Office. In February 1984 it became the Australian Electoral Commission.
The AEC is run by a Chairman who is a Judge, or a retired Judge, of the Federal Court, the Electoral Commissioner and a non-judicial member who is usually the Australian Statistician). The Electoral Commissioner has the powers of a Secretary of a Department under the "Public Service Act 1999" and the "Financial Management and Accountability Act 1998". The Chairperson and the third, non-judicial member both hold their offices on a part-time basis.
The AEC has a National Office in Canberra and State Offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.
Each federal electorate has a Divisional Returning Officer responsible for the House of Representatives elections within their division. Each State also has an Australian Electoral Officer responsible for the Senate elections.
The AEC's major duties are to run federal elections, by-elections and referendums. Election Rolls must always be up-to-date. The AEC must also follow up people who do not vote. After the election the AEC provides detailed election results. The AEC is answerable to the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters of the Parliament of Australia. It reports to Parliament on how elections were carried out and the success of the elections in general.
National Labor Party
The National Labor Party was an Australian political party which only existed for three months. It was started by Prime Minister Billy Hughes in November 1916. Hughes had taken over as leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Prime Minister when Andrew Fisher resigned in 1915. Hughes formed the new party after he was forced out of the ALP a month after conscription was rejected by the people in the 1916 vote. Hughes still wanted conscription for World War I.
On 15 September 1916 the Labor Party in New South Wales forced Hughes from the Labor Party. On 14 November 1916, Hughes and 24 other Labor members walked out of a meeting of the Labor members of parliament. The remaining 43 members said they did not want Hughes to continue as their leader. Hughes and his followers formed a minority Government with support from the Commonwealth Liberal Party (CLP) led by Joseph Cook. They said the Australian Labor Party was no longer nationalist. They wanted a new party that would be both socially radical and nationalist.
The National Labor Party had to depend on support from the Commonwealth Liberal Party to govern. In 1917 the two groups joined to form a new party, the Nationalist Party of Australia, with Hughes as leader.
The National Labor Party was never a proper political party. It did not have any organisational structure. It did get support from some trade union officials and Labor Party branches, particularly in Western Australia and Tasmania.
The National Labor Party in Western Australia started off as two separate groups. One group was the Labor Solidarity Committee based in Perth. The other was National Labor based on the goldfields. The two joined in April-May 1917, led by former Premier John Scaddan. After he lost his seat in Parliament the party turned to Federal Senators Patrick Lynch, Hugh de Largie and George Pearce for leadership and guidance. Unlike the federal party, it did not join with the CLP and kept its own identity. It worked with the Nationalist Party as partners.
The party won six of 50 Assembly seats in the Western Australian state elections of 1917 and 1921. It also held three of 30 Council seats during this period. However, in 1924 elections they won only one seat in the Assembly and two in the Council. Later that year they were taken over by the Nationalists.
Fracking
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is forcing fractures in a rock layer, by fluid that is put under pressure. Although it can happen naturally, it is now used as a method to force oil and natural gas from shale.
Some hydraulic fractures form naturally: certain dykes are examples. This lets gas and petroleum from source rocks get to reservoir rocks. The first use of hydraulic fracturing to extract substances from rock was in 1947.
The modern fracturing technique, called 'horizontal slickwater fracturing', was first used in 1998. It made the extraction of shale gas economically practical. The energy from the injection of a highly pressurized fluid creates new channels in the rock. This increases the extraction rates and recovery of hydrocarbons, which are used for fuel. In 2010 it was estimated that 60% of all new oil and gas wells worldwide were being hydraulically fractured. As of the year 2012, 2.5 million hydraulic fracturing actions have been done on oil and gas wells worldwide, more than one million of them in the United States.
The supporters of hydraulic fracturing point to the economic benefits from the vast amounts of previously out-of-reach hydrocarbons.
Opponents of fracking point to potentially harmful environmental effects. These include contamination of ground water, risks to air quality, the migration of gases and hydraulic fracturing chemicals to the surface, surface contamination from spills and flowback, and the health effects of these. For these reasons hydraulic fracturing has come under examination. Some countries are suspending or banning it.
In 2013, some of those countries, including the United Kingdom, lifted their bans. Now they have regulations instead of outright prohibition. Fracking can greatly increase the UK gas reserves.
Deana Carter
Deana Carter (born January 4, 1966) is an American country music singer. She began her career in 1994. In 1996, she had successful singles including "Strawberry Wine" and "How Do I Get There". Carter was born in Nashville, Tennessee.
Gabriele d'Annunzio
Gabriele d'Annunzio (Pescara 12 March 1863 - Gardone Riviera 1 March 1938) was an Italian writer, poet, journalist and playwright. He was nicknamed "Il Vate" (The Poet) and "Il Profeta" (The Prophet) and he was associated with the Decadent movement.
Kathy Mattea
Kathleen "Kathy" Mattea (born June 21, 1959, West Virginia) is an American Celtic recording artist and country musician. She had multiple strong-charting singles. Some of them are "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" and "Where've You Been". Her career began in 1983.
Hiroshi Miyamura
Hiroshi H. Miyamura (born October 6, 1925), also known as Hershey Miyamura, was a United States Army soldier. He received the Medal of Honor because of his actions in the Korean War.
Miyamura was born in Gallup, New Mexico to Japanese immigrant parents. He is a "Nisei", which means that he is a second generation Japanese-American.
Miyamura joined the US Army in January 1945.
Miyamura volunteered to be part of the all-"Nisei" 100th Infantry Battalion. This army unit was mostly made up of Japanese Americans from Hawaii and the mainland.
After the end of World War II, he became part of the U.S. Army Reserve. He was called to active duty in the Korean War. He was a prisoner of war for 28 months.
Miyamura's Medal of Honor recognized his conduct in fighting in Korea in 1951. He fought in close quarters combat; and he stayed behind to provide covering fire while his unit withdrew.
The words of Miyamura's citation explain: