Iemma out

ABC Radio reports Morris Iemma has told a meeting of his faction that he will resign. He will be succeeded by Nathan Rees, who entered parliament barely 18 months ago as member for Toongabbie.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

244 comments on “Iemma out”

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  1. Barry @ 40

    I am not enrolled in Lakemba and …

    Any contributor to this noble blog would know how many boxes to number and …

    Have a pretty good idea of who will get their No. 1

  2. [The NSW unions are desperate to keep their head in the sand and insist on their government ignoring this reality.]

    Yeah, the unions, along with Barry O’Farrell.

    All he had to do was give the opposition members a conscience vote, and the privatisation would’ve gone through, which would’ve been the right thing to do for the state.

  3. O’Farrell is so dumb

    yeah we cannot leave the finance of NSW to Costa, Iemma and co. we have the last 12 years of nothing to show for it

    But Iemma was gone at the next election at the latest

    Now people might get fooled again that Labor had been reform like the last election under Iemma

  4. ESJ is pretty on the money.

    Costa, objectionable, rude, arrogant pig of a man that he is, is actually right. The NSW public sector unions need to be kicked.

    CityRail is a prime example, so many corruption hearings at ICAC keep finding the same thing, but nothing ever changes.

    The fact that the power base in the NSW ALP is Obeid / Tripodi speaks volumes. Both are/were useless ministers and (LEGAL SNIP – PB). Yet they are the ones who have the say as to who is Premier! The NSW ALP is in a sorry state and desperately need some time in the wilderness. The worry is that the Libs don’t seem to hold a lot of promise at this point either.

    Rees is a product of the machine. I’m not holding out much hope. His ministerial allocations will be interesting. If proven duds like Meagher and Greene keep important portfolios, we’ll know that he is hopelessly compromised from the start by the need to keep his backers happy.

  5. Totally unPC and all, but Lakemba will most likely stay labor – quite a big ethnic population there abouts. Don’t live there myself, but do my shoppiung there at times.

  6. [The fact that the power base in the NSW ALP is Obeid / Tripodi speaks volumes. Both are/were useless ministers and (LEGAL SNIP – PB). Yet they are the ones who have the say as to who is Premier!]

    Well to be fair, in this case they couldn’t agree, so now the Premier and Deputy Premier are both from the left.

  7. Good news for Barnett, the ALP brand is on the nose atm thanks Morris. When even Big Kim writes you off, the WA ALP must be on edge come Saturday night.

  8. Inner Westie {42} couldn’t be any worse than the constant testemonials and knees up the coalition have been dishing up to Howard,it’s been painful to watch their nostalgic kowtowing, at least this well give Rees and Tebbutt time to settle in and show their wares before an election, come to think of it O’Farrell would have been better off passing the legislation and keeping Iemma and his rabble in, he would have been a walk in at the next elextion, now it’s a completely new ball game.

  9. [O’Farrell is so dumb]

    Dovif,
    I agree with you on that point.

    Earlier this year, Mr O’Farrell was on ABC radio calling for water restrictions to be removed because the dam level was now 50%. He also opposed the building of the desalination plant. He was what he would do about the dam levels. His response was “it rained yesterday”.
    I could give plenty more examples but won’t.

    IMHO Barry O’Farrell’s own catchphrase will ensure he never become Premier of NSW – “it’s unacceptable”.
    Imagine the 2011 election campaign.
    ALP advertisement:
    picture of Barry O’Farrell
    voiceover: “this man wants to be Premier of NSW, hear what he has to say about it”
    show video shot of Barry O’Farrell saying “its unacceptable”.

    IMHO if the Libs want any chance of winning in 2011, they will dump O’Farrell about a year before the election.

  10. I can’t see anyone in WA caring about what happens in the “Eastern States”. No way does Iemma or Costa influence their vote, any more than Brumby or Bligh does…

  11. Gary Bruce (14)

    Agree with you about the need for NSW Labor to rid itself of the electricity privatisation policy.

    I’ve been scratching my head trying to work out why Iemma went for it so strongly in the first place and then the penny dropped. He was a desperate Premier in desperate straits and the $20 billion from the sale would have given him a lot of moola to try and buy his way out of trouble.

    In a way I hope I’m wrong, but with the benefit of hindsight that’s what it looks like to me. It’s hard not to be cynical where politicians are concerned.

    For those who think privatising electricity is such a good thing, we now have a situation in Victoria where those living in less well off suburbs are paying higher rates for their electricity than those living in the richest suburbs – the explanation from the power companies being that it costs more to deliver the electricity to the poorer suburbs. This is a classic example of why we need governments firmly in control of essential services.

  12. Darn – I hadn’t heard that.

    Wonder if ti’s in any way justifiable economically (it’s reprehensible morally).

    Two possibilities come to mind:

    1. More vandalism makes infratructure more expensive to maintian.

    2. Poor people default on thier bills more. Hence they need to pay more to cover the higher chance they won’t pay at all. (That’s similar to the way interest rates work – and one of the unfairiest things in economics).

  13. Anyone who thinks this will have any bearing on the WA election is stretching credibility. Why would anyone thinking of voting Labor in WA look at NSW and think,”Well I won’t be voting for them now.” Big stretch in logic there.

  14. I suspect there are a few here that are worried this clean out may just save the government. I wouldn’t put my house on it but possible none the less if all of the ducks fall into line.

  15. I’d be packing my bags if I was a Sydnersider and quitting the state. The government is the worst in Australia in living memory and the Opposition is stacked with deadwood. They better bring in some stars through the Ryde and Pt Macquarie by-elections, but one wouldn’t bet on it. O’Farrell’s nonsense re the electricity privatisation was all about politics and nothing about good government, his foolishness went against the very grain of what oppositions are for: to hold governments to account and ensure better decisions are made.

    Fixed elections are a tragedy. The honourable thing to do would be for the whole lot to resign on mass and trigger some sort of election.

  16. re: blackburnpseph @ #49

    I’ve checked the results from 2007.
    Informal finished 3rd with 4.2% of the vote; out polling The Greens, CDP (Fred Nile’s Group), Unity Party, Democrats and an independent Communist Labour League candidate. The Liberal vote was 3 times the informal vote.
    Given that the Liberals weren’t able to keep ahead of informal in all booths, than it is quite feasible that informal would finish second in a by-election.
    IMHO a margin of 66.5% between Labor and informal is not close.

  17. If the Libs were smart, they’d focus their attention on winning Ryde and not run a candidate at all in Lakemba.

    That way, all of their protest votes should flow through to the Greens (which would have a shot of picking up Lakemba in the circumstances…)

  18. There are local council elections in New South wales within a couple of weeks right? i assume that would have influenced the timing of this? I wonder if this will shelter them from a very poor result.

  19. I do not get why the ALP should dump the electricity privatisation policy

    This ALP government had squandered its surplus and do not have enough money to build electricity generators in the state.

    All the other state had sold their electricity generators

    We had the same arguments when Qantas, Telstra etc was privatised, and the public is better for it.

    The only reason would be under privatisation, union jobs might go. If that is the only reason against the policy, it just shows that unions runs the NSW ALP

  20. Phil,

    “3- And for the record I think that Keneally is a great local member and minister and you’re the first person I’ve heard say to the contrary. Why the angst?”

    Make me the second. In my dealings with her office, I found them to be lazy and disinterested. I will neither deal with her nor vote for her again. But having a 30% margin will do that sort of thing to a politician.
    Maybe I should have told her I was a Catholic. That is about the only thing that seems to get her interest. That and Hillsong.

  21. Can anyone from NSW answer this please.

    During Iemmas resignation speech he spoke about reforming public transport and the need for the “metros” which he was trying to introduce. He also indicated that they represent a break away from the current system. Exactly what are these “metros” and how are they different?

  22. Ahhh Darn, that’s the big question!!!

    They seem to be more of a an underground tram system, from what I infer.

    I.e running smaller trains more frequently.

    But I’ve wondered the same thing myself.

  23. Exactly what are these “metros” and how are they different?

    There is a North-West Metro planned (actually more than planned, well into the design phase) running from the CBD to Epping and then onto Rouse Hill in the west of Sydney.

    I know a real lot about it because the tunnel between Epping and Cherrybrook runs 38 metres under the end of my (very short) street in Beecroft. But I won’t bore you with details.

    The basic idea is to provide a rapid transit service with small trains every few minutes, no timetables and a 40 minute journey from end to end.

    It’s a huge project.

    At present it is styled a “Metro”, but until May this year was to be a heavy-rail line, with standard suburban trains running along it.

    Originally it was only going to run from Epping to Rouse Hill and was supposed to join up with the new and built, but as yet non-operational ,Chatswood-Epping rail link. A brand new station complex has been built at Epping to facilitate the extra traffic, East-West and North-South.

    Now that it’s a Metro however, the trains and tunnel sizes will be completely incompatible. So, if you want to travel from the North-West to Chatswood you’ll have to disembark at Epping, go up (or maybe down) a set of escalators and transfer from Metro to heavy-rail (and vice-versa, of course).

    The length of track has also been increased, with the connection from Epping into the CBD.

    Total cost estimated at $15 billion and counting. Time to completion: 2017 for fully operational.

    I just wish they weren’t going to flatten two acres of the virgin bush near us for an ugly concrete surface ventilation/egress complex, and that Hornsby Council actually gave a damn about it.

  24. Garry Bruce

    You know better than that, there is the labor conference and the backbencher revote

    The Liberals were stupid, but the ALP through the Labor (Union) Convention scuttled it. Iemma did his best to hold on but could not

  25. 88 dovif – come off it, Labor presented the Libs with their policy and they squibbed it. 60 members Labor members out of 71 voted in favour – a large majority. How many Libs voted for it? NONE.

  26. Darn,
    A Metro is an invisible train that runs on invisible lines through invisible tunnels. It is similar in nature to the invisible Parramatta to Epping train line, the invisible M2-F3 freeway link, the invisible Waterfall to General Holmes Drive F6 link and the invisible Concord to Anzac Bridge M4 link. All of these are projects that have been touted and abandoned by the soon to be invisible Morris Iemma. There are lots of other invisible bits of divided highway up and down the Pacific Highway but some of these are (very) slowly becoming visible.

    And I didn’t realise that Bushfire Bill was a NIMBY.

  27. [Anyone know how old she is.]

    She did grade 3 in 1978. So therefore she would have been born in either 1969 or 1970.

    No web site I looked at would give her age or date of birth.

    Funny that there never seems to be a problem with giving the age or birth date for males.

  28. Just to put everything into perspective.

    I work at Parramatta. I told my (Gen Y age 21) secretary that “Morris Iemma has just resigned”.

    She said “Who is Morris Iemma?”

    I said “He is the Premier”

    She said “Oh, I don’t follow any of that sort of stuff”

  29. ESJ 48

    I agree; very similar to my own view. NSW public finances have been in a mess for years. Only the Olympics and then a boom property taxes and mining royalties hid the unpleasant truth. When you consider that the state government has also spent bugger all on infrastrucutre (mostly privately funded toll roads) and has huge liabilities, you really have to ask where does the money go? All voters and taxpayers are the losers from this sad situation.

  30. 94 Stephen – Tell Iemma that. He supplied the figures. He must have been talking about caucas. Whatever they were the figures he gave.

  31. re Darn @ #83
    [Exactly what are these “metros” and how are they different?]

    Darn,
    Here is an explanation.
    Metro rail is a high frequency service that uses a dedicated line. The services run at a defined frequency, e.g., every 3 minutes.
    Traditional railway services have shared lines with junctions. The services operate on a lower frequency and have timetables.
    A metro rail network uses a number of these dedicated lines.

    The metro proposed for Sydney uses automated trains.
    Over the last 15 years, metro rail services have been installed in many European and Asian cities.

    The proposal for Sydney commences with a service between the North West Suburbs and the City. This is currently in the planning stages.
    There is a plan (maybe vapourware) to extend the North West metro to the South Eastern Suburbs (Malabar) at a later date.
    The Federal Government has allocated some money to help fund an investigation into a Metro between Parramatta and the City. This one also has the possibility of being extended under the Harbour to Chatswood and then to Dee Why (Northern Beaches).

    Here is the NSW Government’s metro website. It still has a picture of the Ex Premier.
    http://www.sydlink.com.au/site/page.cfm
    Wikipedia has info about quite a few metro railways around the world.
    Here is the master page
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro

  32. And I didn’t realise that Bushfire Bill was a NIMBY.

    It’s not actually my back yard. It’s one of the last stands of turpentine forest left in Sydney (13ha) and doesn’t need to be pulled down, except to save a few million in tunnelling costs. When there is a perfectly reasonable alternative route under the line of the M2 Motorway, I’m a NIMBY.

    And besides, hands up anyone who’s happy to see $200,000 off the value of their property, just so Morris Iemma can win a few votes in a marginal seat 4 electorates away.

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