Federal preselection season is in full swing, at least in some parts of the country. Three big Victorian Liberal contests are coming to the boil following the departure of sitting members in safe seats, while one Labor-held seat has produced a substantial challenge against a sitting member. The action in New South Wales and Queensland is in stasis pending redistributions which will be finalised early next year, although some preliminary jockeying has been under way. Things seem fairly quiet in South Australia and Western Australia, the latter situation prompting a spray at the Liberals from Peter van Onselen in The Australian, who complains about the apparent security of tenure for the state party’s bloated retinue of ageing backbenchers (only the relatively youthful Dennis Jensen in Tangney faces a challenge). Beyond that, there’s one item of news to report from Tasmania.
• The Age reports Victorian Liberal deputy director Daniel Tehan has resigned his position to contest preselection for Wannon, to be vacated at the next election by David Hawker. Tehan is the son of the late Marie Tehan, who was among other things Health Minister in the Kennett government. His confirmed opponents will include Louise Staley, former state party vice-president and Institute of Public Affairs agriculture policy expert; Rod Nockles, Howard government adviser and runner-up in the recent preselection for the less desirable prospect of Corangamite; Elizabeth Matuschka, a University of Ballarat administrator who ran unsuccessfully in Ballarat at the 2004 federal election and for Ballarat City Council last November; Matt Makin, a Corangamite councillor; Katrina Rainsford, a Southern Grampians councillor; and Hugh Koch, whom the Warrnambool Standard tells us is a Southern Grampians tourism manager. David McKenzie of the Weekly Times reports that former Victorian Farmers Federation president Simon Ramsay, recently unsuccessful in bids for Corangamite and a position on the board of the National Farmers Federation, has decided against nominating and will instead seek a state upper house berth in Western Victoria. Andrew Landeryou at VexNews has also named as possibilities “complicated Costello loyalist” Georgie Crozier and former police sergeant and anti-corruption crusader Simon Illingworth. UPDATE: The Age says the closure of nominations has produced 10 candidates, which includes “company director Stephen Mitchell”.
• Nicholas McGowan, former adviser to state Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu, has put his hand up to succeed the outgoing Chris Pearce as the Liberal candidate for Aston. Also in the field are two Knox City councillors, Sue McMillan and Darren Pearce (respectively representing Dobson and Taylor wards). McMillan earlier stood for preselection in both Ferntree Gully and Monbulk ahead of the 2006 state election. The Knox Leader reports that former mayor Emanuele Cicciello “has been tipped to run but is remaining tight-lipped”. On July 1, the Herald Sun reported that names “yet to be confirmed” included “former Howard government adviser Alan Tudge and lawyer John Pesutto, who performed well in the recent Kooyong preselection battle”, but VexNews reports the latter assertion is “not correct”.
• Rick Wallace of The Australian reports that the preselection contest for Higgins is “being fought out between Kelly O’Dwyer, a former senior adviser to Mr Costello, and Institute of Public Affairs director Tim Wilson”, who respectively have the backing of the Kroger and Baillieu factions. Definitely out of the running are Institute of Public Affairs executive director John Roskam, Crosby Textor consultant Jason Aldworth and former state party director Julian Sheezel, which Andrew Landeryou at VexNews credits to gentle persuasion from Michael Kroger in support of O’Dwyer. No word lately on Tom Elliott, hedge fund manager and son of John.
• With Mal Brough frozen out of the running in Higgins and Aston, Andrew Landeryou at VexNews relates he is “apparently looking or waiting to be drafted”, which might yet occur when Fran Bailey vacates McEwen at the election after next (assuming she can hang on to her 27-vote margin).
• This weekend sees the local ALP preselection ballot take place for the safe Labor Melbourne seat of Calwell. Incumbent Maria Vamvakinou, a stalwart of Kim Carr’s sub-faction of the Left, faces a challenge from Andy Richards, Geelong councillor and official with the Left faction Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (metalworkers’ division). The ballot accounts for half the overall vote, the other half being determined by the party’s Public Office Selection Committee. According to Rick Wallace of The Australian, Richards could secure support from the Right faction National Union of Workers and Health Services Union – collectively known as the “Ambition Faction” – which forged alliances with the AMWU after being excluded from a “stability pact” between the Kim Carr Left and Bill Shorten and Stephen Conroy of the Right. Should this transpire, moves to heal the rift between the rival Right groupings could miscarry. Wallace reports that Richards also has support from “local Turks aligned with ALP identity and local councillor Burhan Yigit”. If support for Richards holds firm, Wallace says the decisive factors will be “local Kurds and a local Lebanese numbers man, Mohamad Abbouche”. As Andrew Landeryou of VexNews tells it, the former might be inclined to back Richards because they are angry that Kim Carr has failed to support Moreland councillor Enver Erdogan in the state preselection for Brunswick. Landeryou says the Ambition Faction is hopeful of securing as much as 60 per cent of the vote for Richards, but the Carr camp is “confident they’ll be able to snaffle at least 20 per cent of the vote back from pesky ethnic warlords who are pledged to support Richards”. UPDATE: See below.
• Nick Butterly of The West Australian says that while Dennis Jensen’s chances of surviving Saturday’s Liberal preselection ballot in Tangney have been boosted by the support of Malcolm Turnbull and “Perth business heavyweights”, Liberal insiders say he “still faces defeat in this Saturday’s ballot because of local concerns about his fundraising efforts and performance in Federal Parliament”. It is not stated which of his two opponents is considered the more formidable: Alcoa government relations manager Libby Lyons, or Toyota Finance executive Glenn Piggott. UPDATE: See below.
• The Launceston Examiner reports that the frontrunner for Liberal preselection in Bass, Brigadier Andrew Nikolic, has withdrawn citing family and work issues. The nomination is now likely to go to Steve Titmus, a former television newsreader.
• The Australian’s Strewth column is advised by a Liberal source that there is “absolutely no truth” to rumours Melanie Howard might contest preselection for Bennelong. Earlier reports suggested approaches to former state MPs Kerry Chikarovski and Andrew Tink had been rebuffed. Also mentioned a while back was former rugby union international Brett Papworth.
UPDATE (18/7/09): Via Frank Calabrese, we learn that ABC TV news in Perth reports that Glenn Piggott has defeated Dennis Jensen in the Tangney preselection vote. Remembering of course that Jensen also lost before the last election, only to have the result overturned on the intervention of John Howard. Meanwhile, Andrew Landeryou reports that Andy Richards has pulled out of the Calwell preselection, so there should be no problems now for Maria Vamvakinou – notwithstanding earlier reports that one Manfried Kriechbaum had also nominated as part of a campaign of mischief-making by state Keilor MP George Seitz.
No Dunstan meremly halted the construction of the MATS freeways. He still kept the land, adn part of it was used to build the O-Bahn in. But John Bannon, he of SA State Bank collapse fame, sold off all the land in each corridor in the 1980s. It means in future that widening South Road will cost a fortune in resumptions. Bannon must surely go down as one of our most economically incompetent premiers.
[Bannon must surely go down as one of our most economically incompetent premiers.]
The state bank wasn’t his fault, it was the fault of the board of directors.
Bannon did pretty well apart from MATS.
[Mr Rann congratulated former veterinarian Duncan McFetridge on his appointment as (S.A. Opposition) health spokesman, saying he once saved his daughter’s axolotl.]
Who says the Australian polity is any less exciting than Italy’s, or France’s? 🙂
Socrates @ 960
Prove it!
In fact, it’s rhetorical bunkum!
While I can’t find current Qld PHS doctors’ salaries (most are “commercial in confidence”), I did find this from the 2005 highly-contested salary negotiations – enough to “do the maths”:
http://statements.cabinet.qld.gov.au/MMS/StatementDisplaySingle.aspx?id=43445
Note 1: This was not accepted; doctors, especially specialists, walked out – marking the real beginning of QLD’s shortage of hospital specialists in some cities (one reason Beattie increased his vote at the 2005 election). The final settlement was higher than proposed.)
Q. 1 So if 4% per year pay increase left a junior doctor (ie, the bottom of the scale) c$15,800 a year better off in the third year, what was the annual salary in 2005? And in 2008?
Q 2. And if a 4% pa pay increase left a staff specialist c$43,000 a year better off in the third year, what was the annual salary in 2005.” And in 2008?
Note 2: the doctors ended up with better increases
Note 3: Salaries do not include extras like Professional Development allowances, holiday loading, LSL etc
Note 4: “comparability between the salary packages of Queensland public hospital doctors and their interstate counterparts.”
Qs 4 Now, Diogenes, what were the relevant tram & train drivers wages for both the bottom of the scales & the top in 2008?
That info should be much easier to find!
e-medical records are a great idea. But they should be limited to facts. Drs visited, tests performed and results, drugs prescribed.
Doctors comments are theirs to make and should be treated as private.
The 3 Docs I regularly see have all the pathology test results online. They have no idea what drugs each of them has prescribed.
The days of writing letters has gone, do it online.
The State Bank was the fault of a range of people including Bannon, who was Treasurer as well as Premier (an unwise combination in itself). The State Bank inquiry was a complete white wash. The SA State Bank was subject to Commonwealth banking rules, so shoudl have been properly audited and loan risks known. SA Treasury guaranteed the loans, so as a minimum, they shoudl have checked them before agreeing to go guarantor. I would say the following should all have faced sacking, possibly charges over it:
Bannon as Treasurer
Head of treasury dept
Treasury auditors/financial risk assessors
Bank directors
Bank auditors
The suggestion that it was all due to Tim Marcus Clark is obviously a lie to preotect the other guilty parti4es from prosecution. In Wa they sent the premier to jail over WA Inc. In SA they sent one executive back to Victoria.
The other thing I find amazing in SA is that nobody asks where the money dissappeared to. Many recipients gained massively from not being pursued for it.
Bannon guaranteed the state was broke for a decade. I say again he was a disaster.
OzPol
You’re getting your Cynic/Sceptic philosophers mixed up. I haven’t said anything about Qld Health or train drivers. That was Socrates.
What do you want to know about doctors salaries?
OzPol Tragic
I stand by those words. I was not including private consultants and specialist doctors in the public system because they are not public servants. But most of the public servants would be on under $100K. Doctors starting in public hospitals work very long hours for well under $100K.
Average engineers in the public system in SA and Qld would be on around $80K, with no overtime. Look up Qld PS pay rates for PO2, PO3 and PO4 scales. Those on more would be employed as managers, not as engineers.
The average for a train driver is higher – $85K starting in QLD plus bonuses for over time. Many train drivers take home $100K with bonuses. Those in private mining rail work take home much more. I think that is just ridiculous for what is a low skilled job.
If you disagree, what do you think the typical pay of a train driver is?? Include total income, not just base pay.
bob1234 @ 955 posted:
… “if repeated statewide” mid 2012, or whenever Bligh feels like it. This is QLD. No inconvenient Upper House; no fixed terms. And Qld Oppositions, esp National-Liberal, are notoriously fond of factional warfare.
BTW: What were polls’ results just before & after Bligh called the 2009 election? (They’ll be on Possum’s site) Who won? By how many seats? (Ditto)
[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tony_Abbott&oldid=303063010
Once in a while there’s some amusing vandalism on wikipedia]
I knew it, the eyes give it away.
[No, I think they are under orders from Rupert Murdoch to slander Rudd and the Labor government every chance they get.]
Well, the faking of the email to make it look genuine was the most egregious example I have seen for a while. Their mock-up was addressed to “Godwin Grant” (just in case some slow thinkers didn’t get the punch line).
Psephos is right: the Murdoch papers are rags, pure and simple. No amount of “brilliance” by declaration will save them. As long as the likes of Milne and Akerman (I might add: Kerr – where is Christian lately? – and lately Jennifer Hewitt are coming close) are employed by them, and allowed to write what they do, in the way they do, Murdoch’s publications have zero standing as anything at all approaching reportage of the truth. It really must irk Megalogenis (for one, a pretty lonely one too) to think that while he tries to write good stories, based on fact, the bulk of his colleagues just make stuff up. They write the first thing that comes into their heads and get it published. What a lurk!
[It’s hard not to sympathise with the Indian and Chinese view.]
Diog, it’s OK. The Indians and Chinese are there to serve the needs and wants of the West. That’s what they are there for. It’s their own fault that they embraced the Karma of Hindu and Buddhism. It is their Karma that China will be the factory of the World and India the Service Centre.
Just throw them few bowls full of rice and plates of Roti Chennai, a little bit of freedom ala Singapore, then they all will be a little happy vegemite paddling up the Ganges and the Yangtze.
👿
[The poll found a 9 per cent swing against the Government in the five seats surveyed, a result that would decimate Labor if repeated statewide.]
I got surveyed in that poll. It was commissioned by the ETU and virtually every question focussed on responses to the proposed sell off of Government assets.
It was much different to the traditional poll because many of the questions linked your feelings about a particular privatisation to your voting intention.
IMHO it was somewhat of a crock, designed to put pressure on Bligh regarding the privatisation and slanted to give the ETU leverage to pressure Bligh.
I do not think it would be any benefit in giving people an accurate gauge as to how people in those electorates (or the rest of the State) will actually vote at the next election.
The questions were slanted to give a particular outcome and if it were to be marked as an impartial poll to accurately give voter intention, it would only score 2 out of 10 in my estimation.
[I got surveyed in that poll. It was commissioned by the ETU and virtually every question focussed on responses to the proposed sell off of Government assets.
It was much different to the traditional poll because many of the questions linked your feelings about a particular privatisation to your voting intention.
IMHO it was somewhat of a crock, designed to put pressure on Bligh regarding the privatisation and slanted to give the ETU leverage to pressure Bligh.
I do not think it would be any benefit in giving people an accurate gauge as to how people in those electorates (or the rest of the State) will actually vote at the next election.
The questions were slanted to give a particular outcome and if it were to be marked as an impartial poll to accurately give voter intention, it would only score 2 out of 10 in my estimation.]
Exactly, but it suit Bob’s purposes fine as was an example to bash Labor – heck he’d even post a poll taken amongst the Ku Klux Klan, as long as it attacked the ALP 🙂
[(I might add: Kerr – where is Christian lately?]
Unfortunately, here!!!
http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/houserules/index.php/theaustralian/comments/how_can_we_praise_mps
[I got surveyed in that poll. It was commissioned by the ETU and virtually every question focussed on responses to the proposed sell off of Government assets.]
Did they ask voting intention before the other questions?
Socrates @ 1008 posted:
Nor did I. As the article says, the Enterprise Agreement covered
, not “private consultants”, or the specialist doctors who work part-time in hospitals (both private & public, under “adjunct agreements”, I think but am not sure), are usually also part-time academics & spend part of their time in private practice.
From babyhood, I’ve had several close family members & friends (& friends’ kids) who are specialists (or still getting there) from FT Public Hospital-based to full-time private, several of them involved in major research, and try to choose specialists (& GP) from the researchers. I don’t remember any of them complaining that train drivers got more – esp as “The Rellies” included them & carpenters, fitters & turners, teachers, police officers, accountants etc etc … all the joys etc of generations of large families (inc a blo#dy good crap detector).
If you want me to believe you, show me the figures which prove that train drivers at the bottom & top of the scales are paid better that doctors at the bottom & top of the scales.
If it hasn’t already been reported here. the Australian says the latest Essential poll has it 56 -44 2pp to Labor.
Essential 56-44
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25808866-36418,00.html
So they only report it when it moves to the Libs? ffs
[So they only report it when it moves to the Libs? ffs]
Actually the article is about the Recession part of Essential, and with just a passing reference to the actual 2PP.
My brain-cell seems to recall that the Auditor General’s report into the Grech-Abetz affair is due tomorrow. 🙂
OzPol
There is a difference between what an intern (just out of Med school) and a fully qualified consultant would earn.
In SA, an intern earns base pay of $57,000 a year (based on a 38 hour week).
A senior consultant at the top level earns $97,000 a year.
With an on-call allowance, professional development, salary sacrificing etc you could add 50% to that.
A consultant could add up to 60% by billing private patients who went to public hospitals.
SA has the worst-paid doctors in Australia. Queensland pays probably 20% more than that.
998 and 999
Most of the corridors for the MATS had and still have rail corridors which could be better utilised and so don`t need new corridors. The O-Bahn should have been built as light rail or heavy rail (heavy rail does`n need such wide strips anyway). Had the LCL not been in power then the Adelaide and Port Adelaide tram systems may have been connected along Port Road and the Trams may have been upgraded instead of scrapped and Adelaide would have higher PT usage. The sale of much of the MATS land was a good thing which stopped Adelaide getting a lot of freeways.
Diog, the Celeb No: 1’s halo is slipping. Cyclone Hillary needs to prop him up real soon:
[ WASHINGTON – FOR the first time since taking office, US President Barack Obama’s job approval rating has dropped below the 60-per cent threshold as Americans expressed doubts about his handling of the economy, the deficit and health care, a new opinion poll showed on Monday.
The ABC News/Washington Post survey showed Mr Obama’s job approval rating fell to 59 per cent, down 10 points from its springtime peak.
Slightly more than half of Americans, 52 per cent, now approve of his work on the economy, down eight points from its peak, according to the poll.]
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_405558.html
😀
[Diog, the Celeb No: 1’s halo is slipping. Cyclone Hillary needs to prop him up real soon:]
Let me guess… ‘the honmeymoon is over’ 😀
Finns
I think we reached Peak Obama quite some time ago. I noticed Bolta make a very uncharitable remark a few days ago when he said Hillary was Obama’s lapdog in the same way the Smith is Rudd’s gopher.
1008
There is alot of knowledge to driving a train that is not needed anywhere else. Signalling, speed limits, operational of a train, etc. There is also a lot of early, late and weekend driving to do (explaining the overtime).
Diog, i saw that Carla Bruni did a passable version of “Blowing in The Wind” at the Mandela Concert in NY.That should keep Sarkozy at 60+.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za_7_RbHKPQ
i think Michelle should start practising her version of “We shall not be moved” just in case.
Not to mention Therese did her bit for the Ruddster.
What has Mrs. D done for you lately?
[There is alot of knowledge to driving a train that is not needed anywhere else. Signalling, speed limits, operational of a train, etc.]
Oh come on. They have tracks to go along and there’s about four controls.
Is it harder than driving a car?
How can you justify $85,000 a year for something it takes about a week to learn? Nurses train for 3 years, work terrible hours in bad conditions and get $50,000.
[Did they ask voting intention before the other questions]
No. Basically they asked if the Govt sold such and suck an asset would you be more likely or less likely to vote for the Govt.
A great many of the questions were “leading” type and very black or white. No shedes of grey and committed you often to go in a certain direction that didn’t fit.
ie you could have reservations about a sale but not be against it or for it without further information. Also it may not have changed your vote either way but was linked in a “leading” manner to voting intention and wouldn’t necessarily give an accurate intention linked to the question.
A very poor survey as I mentioned, to get a pre-determined result for the commissioning agency, the ETU which wants to put pressure on Bligh.
[Did they ask voting intention before the other questions]
They did ask how you voted at the last election early in the survey though!
1030
I believe that it takes 68 weeks to train a Melbourne suburban train driver.
Nurses are underpaid. No argument there.
Not only do nurses get crap wages, their skills are undervalued. We need a system of Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants.
With the rise of chronic disease probably half of the consultations these people get do not require seeing a doctor.
[Is it harder than driving a car?]
A bit like driving a car that can be two kilo meters long weighing thousands of tons and worth many millions of dollars. Or driving a car a few hundred feet long with 3 or 4 hundred passengers depending on you to get them safely to their destination.
Also in many cases on the one lane with traffic going in both directions and only occasional passing lanes which need careful co-ordination so as to avoid having a head on which can often have horrific consequences.
Especially when carrying passengers or hazardous substances like fuel, gas, explosives or chemicals. The number of rules and regulations that they operate under would make the average person’s head spin as well a having that level of responsibility on your mind all the time.
It’s not much fun when you clean up a car or truck at a crossing either or when someone decides to jump in front of you to end it all. Some drivers never recover from such incidences!
[Not only do nurses get crap wages, their skills are undervalued. We need a system of Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants.]
Which will never happen unless the Militant AMA relax their opposition to them.
Saw Spiers with Essential Research bloke this pm talking about the poll.
Spiers looking very glum at results for Kev’s handling of the Stern Hu affair. I think it was 62% said that we should respect business laws of other countries, e.g. keep out of it Kev.
It was oviously not the answer Spiers was looking for because his face was down on his boots especially when they panned to a break. Very glum Spiers – very smiley me.
Train driver pay/ salary scales:
http://www.acpeople.com.au/cat/Train-Drivers_7315xj.htm
Then there’s this post from a South Australian train controller(Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:27 am)
Note, these rates for mature drivers, not the lowest on the scale.
http://www.railpage.com.au/f-p1065158.htm
So, all up, with OT etc, a mature city train driver earned $65K pa before the GFC; ie less than the award for a recently-graduated doctor at the bottom of the scale –nothing like what a mature doctor near the top of the non-specialist scale can earn!
Private mining companies in remote areas (figs for states where private companies run the trains) can pay around $150Kpa (with no info on hours worked or conditions) for experienced long-haul drivers.
The 2005 proposed QLD government award quoted above also includes additional remote area allowances:
so, all up, the figures quoted show that a mature-age remote area train driver earns – at best – about as much as a junior doctor in a remote area.
IOW, your claim that:
is simply rhetorical hyperbole which is demonstrably not true when “The average train driver[‘s]” wages are compared to proposed 2005 salary scales for a full time “doctor in the public system”.
NOTE: Psephos is not allowed to watch the cricket tonight. Whenever he watches we lose.
[Not only do nurses get crap wages, their skills are undervalued. We need a system of Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants.
Which will never happen unless the Militant AMA relax their opposition to them.]
Agreed.
scorpio
Perhaps my comment should have been;
Is it harder than driving a bus?
ETU poll update. WIN TV ran with it pretty strongly in our local news and is running a phone in poll on the same thing. Looks like the LNP are trying to hitch onto it hoping to get a bit of a lift out of it.
My local Labor pollie is supposedly going to get a 10% hit out of it. HA ha. He is on over 70% primary and if he loses half a dozen votes out the privatisation issue I would be very surprised.
It will all be forgotten by the next election anyhow. There will be a dozen or more issues arise between now and then. What a wank!!!
Also, Marn Ferguson in town. Got a good run on WIN. Quite surprised really. He came across very relaxed and on top of the issue he was promoting. The LNP will be dirty that WIN gave him a run.
I don’t watch the cricket – I don’t own a TV. I listen on the BBC.
A message to Rudi Koertzen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGDQ85Dg-ss
New thread.
[Is it harder than driving a bus?]
Yes. It used to take years and a number of exams to qualify as a train driver and even then you started at a low grade and were restricted to shunting etc for a good while before you graduated up to passenger or goods trains.
I had to complete 500 hours and do an exam just to drive the little sugar cane locos many years ago. A dill put in charge of even one of these can do an awful lot of damage. In some respects they are harder to drive than the big ones.
ie. The only brakes are on the loco, no brakes on the wagons unless you have a radio controlled brake van and they are quite complicated and tricky to cor-ordinate with the loco braking especially in hilly country.