Cruise petition at three-quarter mark
(CNS): The Elections Office has verified around 75% of the petition calling for a people’s referendum on the cruise berthing project. By Saturday afternoon the signatures of 3,958 people were confirmed, leaving just over 1,300 verified signatures needed to trigger the national vote. Following last week’s press conference, the premier indicated that the petition would not be challenged in the court if the numbers are reached but he would be seeking to hold the ballot as soon as possible.
Calling the poll quickly will put pressure on the activists behind the campaign for the referendum, who will be switching the campaign towards the actual vote and the question.
The activists are now urging everyone who is eligible to vote but who has not yet registered to do so as soon as possible to ensure that they will be able to vote in this crucial ballot, which will have significant implications for the environment and the economy.
The Elections Office has taken less than six weeks to get to the three-quarter mark, and while the last thousand is likely to be the hardest, the verification could easily be completed by the end of this month.
See the figures, on the Elections Office website. Also find out how to verify your signature or register to vote
Government has confirmed that, although they selected the Verdant Isle group and two cruise lines as the preferred bidder last month, which in the end was the only bid that met the qualification criteria, no deal will be signed before 1 October to give the Elections Office time to confirm that all 5,292 signatures needed for the vote are those of registered voters.
But the government is likely to fight hard to ensure the poll question favours the port and is likely to outspend campaigners against the project, which many people believe has still not been justified by the government. Many questions remain over the $230 million project, from the price estimation to the jobs that will be created. The devastating impact on the marine environment and the challenges ahead for the engineering and construction period are also major causes of concern.
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Category: Politics
Public holiday coming bobo lol! I’m in favour once the environment study has been approved that the pillars would be place in areas that doesn’t impact the reef & it’s deep enough that boat motors don’t stir up the bottom killing the reef or the fish. After all it’s our future! I’m not in tourism industry nor do I own anything that would benefit me from tourism industry etc! Bracka.
What was the most telling about this situation was the Premier on the radio eluding that a portion of the voters weren’t real or didn’t ‘really’ know what they were signing. While that could be true, sounds like McLaughlin is trembling in fear for who will be upset once this port contract collapses.
Watch my words/ The referendum will be CRUSHED at the ballot box. Most people who signed had no clue what they were really signing for and EVEN STILL even if everyone does vote it will still not meet the 50% margin.
Lets hurry and verify the last few! We have to trigger our national vote, so we can hurry amd get the port started.
Pollsters better find out who is left and drive them to the Election Office. That last few may be hard to get.
I have held of registering to vote because there is no one really worth voting for in my tiny district…and of course jury. But this is definitely worth registering.
excellent..as a native we need stop this …preserve natural environment.. i surprised i dont hear guy harvey being more vocal against this????
Guy Harvey!? The man has his work plastered on the bow of these monstrous ships and sells his crappy T-shirts to the passengers when they arrive in port!
He’s also in bed with Dart so will never question their unsustainable development practices.
Still waiting for that list of 900 jobs.
Finally a government department that is 1. competent 2. fair and impartial 3. actually doing the job they were designed for. My hats off to the people at the elections office, bravo. You are all to be commended before CIG comes down on you all for being too efficient.