… with some God-fearing Good Friday news nuggets to tide you over until the pubs re-open.
• Senate polls have consistently proved themselves to be pointless endeavours, but let the record note that Roy Morgan has produced one from their last three months of surveys. This might be of at least some use if Morgan gave South Australian respondents a chance to indicate support for Nick Xenophon, but they presumably don’t because he is not up for re-election next time (unless there’s a double dissolution of course). Nonetheless, South Australia shows an “others” result of 19.5 per cent compared with 8 per cent nationally.
• The Tasmanian Liberals have preselected three candidates for the Hobart electorate of Denison for next year’s state election, after earlier delaying the process due to concerns about a “lack of high-profile talent”. The nominees are 70-year-old incumbent Michael Hodgman; lawyer Elise Archer, who polled a solid 3.2 per cent at the 2006 election; and Matt Stevenson, state president of the Young Liberals. No sign of contentious Hobart alderman Marti Zucco, but two positions remain to be filled.
• Yesterday’s Crikey Daily Mail had a piece by Malcolm Mackerras noting the looming by-election in New Zealand for Helen Clark’s seat of Mount Albert, and the absurdity of such a thing in a supposedly proportional representation system. If it loses, Labour will be deprived of one of the seats entitled to it by its national vote share at last November’s election. New Zealand’s mixed-member proportional system is modelled on Germany’s, but departs from it in that vacated constituency seats in Germany are filled by unelected candidates from the party’s national lists – which New Zealand was obviously loath to do as it would randomly match members to electorates with which they had no connection.
• Mackerras also notes that the May 12 election in the Canadian province of British Columbia will be held in conjunction with a second referendum seeking to replace its first-past-the-post single-member constituency system with “BC-STV” (British Columbia-Single Transferable Vote). I take this to be identical in every respect to Hare-Clark as it operates in Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory (complete with Robson rotation and optional preferential voting), except the number of members per region will range from two to seven. A referendum was also held at the previous election in 2005, but it received 57.7 per cent support while requiring 60 per cent to be binding. Get funky with the official website of British Columbians for BC-STV.
UPDATE (11/4/09): The West Australian carries a second Westpoll survey of 400 respondents on the May 16 daylight saving referendum, showing 47 per cent supporting and 51 per cent opposed compared with 42 per cent and 57 per cent at the poll last month. The West’s report says this means “community support for daylight saving has climbed steadily over the last month”, but I don’t need to tell you all what a load of bollocks that is. Taken together, the surveys suggest the proposal is most likely headed for defeat by the same narrow-ish margins as in 1975, 1984 and 1992.
Gus,
Nothing like stamping out right wing zealotry to get progress in motion 😉 ….. and Obama has guaranteed Florida to stay in the Dems column for years to come as
well 😀
You better get used to this sort of world for a while Glen. These sorts of paradigm shifts in thinking only come along every 20 years or so.
Juliem a lot of hispanics in Florida vote Republican because they DONT want to help Castros in Cuba.
What the world needs is a good dose of Thatcherism. 😉
Glen, in case you haven’t noticed, both Fidel and Raul are well past their useby date. Once both have passed on, the Cubans left in this world haven’t a succession plan to save themselves. Cuba is coming apart at the seams, albeit slowly and not quickly as did the Berlin wall and the USSR. I’m willing to wait for it and I suspect Obama is too ;-). Once these various factors (money, technology, etc.) start filtering into Cuban society, it will most definitely have the desired effects after the Castros are gone 😉
Given her fondness for “tough love” I wonder what the Baroness would do to the Australian Liberal Party right now if she was in charge? I’m sure she’d compliment their skill and electability 😉
Love the hypocrisy of Janet Albrechtsen claiming the Chief Justice’s personal opinions in the field of Land Rights might influence his professional behavior on the bench. I wonder if her personal political opinions influence her decisions as a member of the Board of the ABC?
Just askin’…
[
What the world needs is a good dose of Thatcherism.
]
Not going to happen mate 😀
No Maggie would kick most of them up the behind for what a joke they have become and rightfully so.
If only Julie Bishop could be such a person.
Glen at 1274: “i agree this is bulldust from Turnbull”
Has a great ring to it, doesnt it?
Can ANYONE explain WHY he has done this from the start of his leadership??? He’s squandered any chance of leading the party in the long term. Is he just thick? Is he being advised badly? Is he trying to protect himself from the right? Granted it was at a totally different part of the political cycle, but Rudd’s tactics of agreeing with some of the governments policies (the dreaded me-too), and having clear alternatives on big ticket items, worked really well. You cant just carp and oppose, because the public will rightly ask “what would YOU DO?”
[With “big swinging dicks” everwhere in the Liberal Party, do we now get to call Costello the Big C?]
I cant help it, i cant help it, i cant help it.
[Pair caught having sex while speeding at 133kmh – A Norwegian man faces a heavy fine and a driving ban after police caught him having sex with his girlfriend while speeding on a motorway.
Police say the 28-year-old man and 22-year-old woman were caught in the act by traffic police on a highway 40 kilometres west of Oslo late on Easter Sunday.
Officers clocked the couple’s silver Mazda 323 racing at 133kmh in a 100kmh zone, veering from one side to the other.
They say he couldn’t see much because her back was in the way. The man’s licence has been suspended and further punishment will be decided next week. ]
http://www.smh.com.au/world/pair-caught-having-sex-while-speeding-at-133kmh-20090414-a526.html
Those in the Liberal Party are just pretenders, yes, pretenders. This guy is the real McCoy, the real BSD!!!! No wonder Turnbull cannot see forward because those BSDs’ back were in Turnbull’s way. Not to mention the Big Costello’s.
BB, I actually enjoy reading Janet now that she has gone from a barely relevant government cheerleader to totally irrelevant opposition cheerleader. Love to see that anger, hatred and resentment shining through. When is her stint on the ABC board over??
Andrew 1309,
answer?
EGO …. he is the only one within the Libs who can compete with Costello and have a reasonable shot at beating him in that department …..
[Can ANYONE explain WHY he has done this from the start of his leadership???]
Easy. Because if he puts out policies, whose does he put out? His own semi-moderate policies, or hard-right policies of the unelectable, living in the past Liberal Party?
He can’t stomach putting out the latter, and the former will see him lose more support in the party.
[I actually enjoy reading Janet now that she has gone from a barely relevant government cheerleader to totally irrelevant opposition cheerleader. Love to see that anger, hatred and resentment shining through.]
Yes, one can almost feed and be sustained from the anger and emotion emitted from the likes of Albrechtson, Bolt, Ackerman…
Albrectsen might run for the Libs in the next election. Good replacement for Bronwyn Bishop.
[Yes, one can almost feed and be sustained from the anger and emotion emitted from the likes of Albrechtson, Bolt, Ackerman…]
I feel their pain, long may it last
😉
I wonder if i will be as bitter as you when Greg Hunt wins in 2016.
[I wonder if i will be as bitter as you when Greg Hunt wins in 2016.]
A decade of Labor in power hey?
Well at least you’re more realistic than some.
Bolt: Rudd’s a one-term wonder.
LOL!
[Albrectsen might run for the Libs in the next election. Good replacement for Bronwyn Bishop.]
Hair and all
😉
len,
[
Glen
Posted Tuesday, April 14, 2009 at 1:39 pm | Permalink
I wonder if i will be as bitter as you when Greg Hunt wins in 2016.
]
You ought to do stand up comedy 😀 …….
glen
Believe or not I reckon someone like fiona nash will end up running the combined union of rabble remnants or CURR for short.
Of course by then,2016, it will be labor V green
🙂
Glen, clearly you don’t mean the 2016 federal election. So I assume its the 2016 Olympics.
Has Greg Hunt entered the 30m backflip?
[Has Greg Hunt entered the 30m backflip?]
No his entire team does that.
Malcopops: I support the pensioner stimulus! Oh wait, no I don’t!
The Greens will never run the country from the lower house and neither will they gain representation there enough to decide who forms government and for that i can rest easy.
An ALP govt is bad enough but one that relies on the Greens to form govt god help us all.
Glen
If we had to have a Liberal PM, I’d be happy if it was Greg Hunt.
GG
Albrechtsen is just the kind of screaming nutter that the Liberals need to alienate another 30% of the remaining 35% who still vote for them. She’s got some serious issues regarding the judiciary. She’s quite unbalanced.
[The Greens will never run the country from the lower house and neither will they gain representation there enough to decide who forms government and for that i can rest easy.]
never say never in politics, Glen
It’s hubristic
lol
Diogenes,
She’s the best and brightest they’ve got!
The Maori seats have a history of being treated differently to other seats.
The were a token four from 1867 until 1976 when Maori were given a choice of electoral rolls and the number was to be floated at that time but there had been a change of government the number was fixed a 4 again until 1996 when MMP came in.
Secret ballot was introduced for the general seats in 1870 but in the Maori seats in 1938 and they did not get electoral rolls until 1948-9.
More Maori seats may have changed results such as 1969 and 1981.
[The Greens will never run the country from the lower house and neither will they gain representation there enough to decide who forms government and for that i can rest easy.]
Just imagine if a Green was elected in the seat of Melbourne (completely possible) and held the balance of power in a hung parliament!
[She’s the best and brightest they’ve got!]
I was afraid of that…
Bob1234,
The Greens should change their name to “The Gunners”.
Every election we hear the Greens are “gunner” win a seat and it never happens.
This is because the electorate is made up of “druthers” They’d druther vote for common sense and stability.
[Paraguay leader admits love-child – The ex-bishop admitted having an affair with a woman 30 years his junior
Paraguay’s President Fernando Lugo has admitted he is the father of a child who was conceived when he was still a Roman Catholic bishop.
Mr Lugo, who took office last August, made a televised address accepting paternity of the one-year-old boy. He admitted having an intimate relationship with 26-year-old Viviana Carrillo, the child’s mother.
Mr Lugo had received permission from the Pope to leave the priesthood and run for political office. ]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7996983.stm
God made him do it, so it’s alright then.
GG, enough already, we know you hate the Greens. Move on.
The Greens need to find a new leader soon too watch the factions come out there lol!
[The Greens need to find a new leader soon too watch the factions come out there lol!]
I like Bob.
Bob is too old.
You need to appeal to people who actually vote Greens the younger generation.
[You need to appeal to people who actually vote Greens the younger generation.]
Well that only leaves two choices – first termers Ludlum or Hanson-Young.
LOL
Who is the Greens deputy leader atm? Is he/she viable as an option to succeed Brown down the track a bit?
[You need to appeal to people who actually vote Greens the younger generation]
As a member of the younger generation who occasionally votes Green, I can say that Bob is alright with me.
NSW MLC Lee Rhiannon hopes to enter the breach by moving to the Senate at the next election, but she’s no certainty of winning a seat (and IIRC correctly, she’s not even a sure thing for preselection). Failing that, I would have thought Christine Milne had seniority.
The best way for Greens to win HoR seats is to run second to the L-NP then get in on ALP preferences.
It would be very difficult for them to win any seat with L-NP preferences.
Christine Milne is deputy leader.
Even if Lee Rhiannon wins a Senate seat she’s certainly no shoe-in for leader, or even deputy leader.
[The best way for Greens to win HoR seats is to run second to the L-NP then get in on ALP preferences.]
Maybe from some perspectives that’s an ideal outcome, but it’s pretty clear the best chances are in Labor seats.
Also I don’t think leadership is really a big issue for The Greens in the sense that most people vote for “The Greens”, not Bob Brown, whereas when voting for Labor or Liberal people vote for Kevin Rudd of Malcolm Turnbull or whoever.
1343:
Sorry, I misread what you said. Same thing as me.
[The best way for Greens to win HoR seats is to run second to the L-NP then get in on ALP preferences.
It would be very difficult for them to win any seat with L-NP preferences]
Look at Melbourne. ALP 54% v Green. ALP came first, Green second, Liberal third.
[Maybe from some perspectives that’s an ideal outcome, but it’s pretty clear the best chances are in Labor seats.]
For this to happen the Greens would need to be ahead by a fair margin on primaries. The ALP would, in my opinion, get more preferences from the L-NP than the Greens.
[Also I don’t think leadership is really a big issue for The Greens in the sense that most people vote for “The Greens”, not Bob Brown, whereas when voting for Labor or Liberal people vote for Kevin Rudd of Malcolm Turnbull or whoever.]
Agreed.
Pegasus @ 1045
[After reading all the posts about PR, I have reached a view, one that I did not hold before coming to this debate.
In particular, JV and HM – your intelligent and reasoned points together with your rebuttals of those who disagree with you have convinced me of your case. I am awed by your fortitude and stamina in the face of overwhelming odds.]
Why thank you Pegasus, that’s very gratifying indeed. 🙂
Catching up on the last day or so’s posts. Those among the big party faithful frightened of PR appear to have at last acknowledged the basic equity of the concept, and have been reduced to either:
a) declaring that it is right and proper that supporters of smaller groups should be disenfranchised – that is, continue to be under-represented in parliament (which is a shamefully indefensible position for any alleged supporter of democracy to adopt), or
b) attempting to quibble about the difficulties of implementing a system that would result in direct PR. (Glad to see that was dispensed with pretty quickly – it’d hard to complicate something so direct and simple as PR)
Hi there Flaneur, how’s things up your way?
[For this to happen the Greens would need to be ahead by a fair margin on primaries. The ALP would, in my opinion, get more preferences from the L-NP than the Greens.]
The Liberals ran dead and preferenced the Greens in Melbourne.