Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party (AMEP)

[Jeep'ers]

Originally Posted by Double Diff

MAybe we should invite those MP to go wheeling with a group and see that we are not a group of hooligans that is out to destroy nature.

Hahaha love that flag best one ever i remember when they changed to the new one.....too bad it's illegal now to fly that flag in an old certain country of ours!!

[quints]

Originally Posted by WhiteMeat

Off topic, but I thought I read somewhere that there were to be no politics discussed... ? (Happy to be corrected on this)

On topic - the shooters in NSW have found that even though people will say that they will support on voting day, the other, more significant issues affecting their lives (IR, etc) will sway their vote from the smaller parties which is when the preference deals come in and really screw over the smaller guys. As a shooter that has seen mass rallying cries for voting day, etc, don't get your hopes up too high people...

(Thought about all this a little last night . . . )

Spot on, White Meat. Even One Nation voters (remember them?) had terrible voting discipline. They might have put a 1 next to the ONP candidates name, but their preferences would then be split evenly between Labor and non-Labor candidates. Not what one might have anticipated given ONP's policy platform.

What I reckon you'll see with AMEP is an intersection point of broad agreement among enthusiasts on those state / territory issues. Issues like those around VSB 14 / the National Code of Practice / Road Safety / Licencing / Special Registration and so on. But, the sport is a very broad church and draws its devotees from the full diversity of society (this I know from my 40-plus years involvement in it. I've competed with blokes who were uni students and blokes who owned coal mines, and everyone inbetween, all in the same event), with widely varying political socialistion among them. With that, will come widely varying ideological, philosophical and political standpoints.

So, in those federal policy areas -- immigration, IR, welfare, social issues, Indigenous affairs, foreign affairs, defence, economics and so on and so on -- you're going to get a plurality of quite distinct views. To take Gianni's point for a moment: "We all have jobs". Well, do we? And are those jobs the same? The type and nature of one's employment is a very strong socialising affect. My nephew is an apprentice fitter and turner. One of my mates is an IT guru. Another works in education policy. Others have front-line military service. We can't agree on a bar to meet at, much less agree how we'd mould policy around 457 visas. But, we're all motoring enthusiasts.

I agree that there's a vacuum out there in terms of representing motoring enthusiast's common interests. But, accepting the issues to be largely jurisdictional makes me wonder if a better approach than a political party (and all the added burden that comes with that) isn't to establish a national association, with a single focus, with branches in all the states and territories. Then, those branches could seek to have, as their members, the various motoring clubs in their states. Each club could have a delegate to the state branch of the broader association, who brings to the table the interests of their club's members. The states each develop their wish lists, which the national body distills into an overall advocacy position that gets taken to the feds (on, say, the National Code of Practice).

I mean . . . late last week the Australian Government released a Consultation Paper on the Motor Vehicle Standards Act (Cth) 1989. That Paper essentially signals the prospect for a review of that legislation and regulation; which legislation and regulation feeds directly into other areas like the National Code of Practice and the ADRs. So . . . who's representing 'our' interests in that discussion? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Who here knew that review was underway?

A dedicated National Association that can claim legitimacy through having specialist, first-hand knowledge and experience and that can also -- hand on heart -- say, "We represent the interests of X hundred car clubs around Australia and those club's X thousand members" would be in a position to engage in that discussion and be heard. But, that association doesn't exist.

Yet.

Yes, you gotta start somewhere. But, what are the outcomes that are being sought? Answer that and then move to the next question. What mechanism can best achieve that? My view? It isn't another minor political party that'll never get beyond being classified as 'other' after the counting of the ballot is done.

Again . . . just sayin'

[midsonm]

G'Day fellow Jeepers,

My name is Matt Midson and I am one of two, Vice-Chairman, of the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party Central Executive and I am also on the Queensland Federal/State Council. The reason I was elected to these positions was to represent the Four Wheel Driving community within the Party.

First of all, I really appreciate the interest you guys have taken in our new Political party and hopefully the admins will not mind me answering some of your questions.

Our application has been submitted to the AEC before the deadline and with the required amount of members. It is currently in the process of being reviewed by the AEC. Our party is not quite two weeks old yet. We are in the process of becoming established. As a Party we are a group of hardworking average Australians, with day jobs and families. We understand the shared passion that comes from using Motor vehicles as a form of personal expression and the family and community bonds this provides. I am sure I don't need to explain how this works to fellow Jeepers, you guys already know this.

Now a bit about myself and why I have become involved. I for one would rather not go near politics, but feel I have to in order to preserve the lifestyle I enjoy. I have been working with Four Wheel Drive Queensland for nearly three years now. I have seen the good work these teams of volunteers have been doing at club level as well as at a State and National level, however there are those who think that we have not been doing enough. I for one have wanted to do more for the Four Wheel Driving community in general, not just the Four Wheel Drive clubs we represent but have been limited to the resources we have available. Sometimes it can be a bit of a thankless task when things don’t happen as quickly as outside observers would like.

After following the issues in relation to vehicle modification and "anti-hoon" laws here in Queensland, and being quite vocal at the association about these issues. I could see an opportunity to have our issues represented within a community that would accept us as we have a lot in common with our Street cousins. In seeing this opportunity, I decided it was time for me to put up or shut up.

I am concerned that over recent years a lot of personal freedoms have become eroded by extreme policy agendas from both sides of politics. I am also concerned that my kids will not be able to enjoy the Four Wheeling, Camping and other recreational pursuits that I enjoy today as they will either have nowhere to go, or the restrictions placed upon those activities will make it impractical to participate in. I believe that our activities need to be environmentally sustainable and responsible, but I am very strongly against extreme environmental policy. There needs to be a realistic balance to the policy making decision in this country. I have seen this extreme type of policy making hold my home state of Tasmania to ransom over the years in relation to the Forestry industry.

I believe that the Four Wheel Drive community needs to unite over our common political issues, something I think we find it hard to do at times. In teaming up with other motoring enthusiasts we become a much larger voice to be heard and have a much greater chance of affecting change. Giving us something new to get behind and allow us to leave past differences aside.

I would like to get into the policy side of things with you, however at this time it would be inappropriate for me to say things about party policy when in fact the party has not had the chance to review and agree on all of those matters yet. Suffice to say that we do understand that if we want to be taken seriously and have any real chance of being elected in to the Senate we need to be more that a one policy party. I will personally be pushing for the party to take a position that we are a balanced, sensible, common sense party who are there not to run every aspect of the country, rather try to be a party that seeks to prevent extremist legislation and try work to try to undo some of the extreme legislation the has affected our personal freedoms in the past. Whilst it is the shared passion around our recreation choices and the threats to that family lifestyle that has united us. We bring our combined experiences and diversity from different walks of life to the party which I hope will also be reflected in the policy positions we adopt when reviewing the legislation presented by the Government of the day.

The website will be launched shortly. We are also in the process of forming state councils around the country and are looking to run senate candidates in each State/Territory.

If you would like to know more or would like to become more involved, please either PM me or ask questions on our Facebook page. If you don't like what we are trying to do, what we stand for or feel we are doing it wrong please feel free to hit me up with that as well.

Again, thank-you for taking an interest in what we are doing. I do apologies if I rambled a bit, it is late and I really wanted to reply to you guys as soon as I found out about this thread. Especially as these are questions from the people whose issues I wish to represent.

Cheers,
Matt

[midsonm]

Originally Posted by quints

But, accepting the issues to be largely jurisdictional makes me wonder if a better approach than a political party (and all the added burden that comes with that) isn't to establish a national association, with a single focus, with branches in all the states and territories. Then, those branches could seek to have, as their members, the various motoring clubs in their states. Each club could have a delegate to the state branch of the broader association, who brings to the table the interests of their club's members. The states each develop their wish lists, which the national body distills into an overall advocacy position that gets taken to the feds (on, say, the National Code of Practice)

Quite right, that Association exists today and has been having success in NSW and more recently formed here in Queensland. The Australian Confederation of Motor Clubs. Four Wheel Drive Queensland is a member of the Queensland branch. Likewise Four Wheel Drive NSW and ACT are members of the founding branch of ACMC in NSW.

Not sure if you remember about 18 months - 2 years ago, Hunty posted a whole lot of videos about vehicle modifications. ACMC was one of the key organisations behind that event from what I understand and has been working with the transport body in NSW ever since.

Bodies like this can't really become political. Whilst AMEP is in no way part of the Four Wheel Drive Associations or ACMC, we obviously are working towards common goals at different levels of Government using the tools available to our various organisations.

Cheers,

Matt

[jeep112]

Richo that's why the libs get my vote in house of reps (happy for the gays to get married though)
And shooters & fishers in the senate.
I couldn't give a flipping toss about Ricers doing skids in the street.
Regaining access to national parks is a major concern of mine and the s&f party are doing great in nsw, we can't afford to split votes amongs the minor party's....
At this stage we should be sticking with the shooters and fishers and pressuring them to get us back in national parks to!
It will be a cold day in hell before labor get a vote from me, after the damage they have done in 16 years (nsw) and since 07 in canberra

[midsonm]

Originally Posted by jeep112

I couldn't give a flipping toss about Ricers doing skids in the street.

Neither do I, but here is the problem. You have just made the common assumption that a Motoring Enthusiast is irresponsible and wants to do that type of behavior where it is unsafe to do so. This is where we are attempting to promote Unity and Respect, not just within the Motoring Enthusiast community but as part of the larger society we are all part of.

There are those in the community who do not care for us Four Wheel Drivers going out and ripping up the bush, cutting new tracks and damaging the waterways. At least that is why they think we do, thanks to these generalisations and steriotypes perpetuated by extremest political parties and sensationalised media, when in fact it is the minority that does the wrong thing.

Across all disciplines of the motoring enthusiast culture you have the socially irresponsible and selfish minority that manage to ruin it for the rest of us. We would argue that these are not true enthusiasts, even though they might claim to be. If they were they would be seeking to protect their passion and lifestyle and not destroy it with their actions.

In fact you see this in just about every level of society today. This is something we are working hard to try to change as United and Respectful Motoring Enthusiasts to begin with. I am expecting that you will see these core values reflected in the policy positions we take on legislation being presented by the Government of the day, should we gain the necessary level of respect and trust of the Australian people before the next election so that we may have some representation and influence in the Senate.

I noticed in an earlier post, the observation on how as a motoring enthusiast culture we have a broad diversity background in society. It is my opinion that this diversity makes us stronger. Whilst it may not be a 100% mirror image of the diversity in Australia today, I would hope that it is close enough to ensure that the policy positions the Party would take would seek to find that balance and middle ground we are looking for. After all iti is the majority view of the Party that we will represent, rather than being driven by a big business, trade unions or an extreme green agenda. This also give us the opportunity to work with these traditional political influences in a more consultative way seeking outcomes for the broad spectrum of Australian families that make up our political party.

One thing we are very much against are sections of our community being bullied by larger political parties and tabloid media in order to promote their own selfish interests. This is what has happened to us and this is why we have decided to unite. Might not have been the best branding decision if we want to be seen as more than a one policy party, but we need to pay respect to the reason why we decided to unite as a family.

Again these are my personal views as no official position has been taken by the party at this stage, but it does give you some insight into how I would like to work with the party to see it evolve.

Happy to take any questions, but out of respect for Ausjeep, unless the mods and admins are happy for this thread to continue here, please either PM me or feel free to ask your questions on our Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/AustralianM...nthusiastParty

Cheers,

Matt

[Escapable]

Originally Posted by quints

Has the party got its registration with the AEC? Might struggle with that name, as there's already an Australian Motorists Party registered (see: www.amp.org.au)
.

Why is this a political forum anyway ??.. do the pollies drive JEEPs ....?
Have they ever heard of them..? (do they get them repaired for free??)

As for the AMP part .. it is an ACT party ... NOT FEDERAL ...... not even in the federal election.

The AMEP .. not on the AEC list and possibly just a QLD party (no website either) .. again nothing offered, especially when transport is a state issue anyway.