The first Roy Morgan face-to-face poll of Tony Abbott’s Liberal leadership covers the last two weekends of polling, and it fails to replicate the encouraging results for Abbott in Morgan’s two earlier small-sample phone polls. Labor’s primary vote is up two points on Malcolm Turnbull’s last poll to 49 per cent, while the Coalition is up 0.5 per cent to 35.5 per cent. The Greens are down 1.5 per cent to 8 per cent. Labor’s lead on two-party preferred is up from 58.5-41.5 to 59-41.
Festive preselection action:
• Former Davis Cup tennis player John Alexander has won the Liberal preselection for Bennelong, having earlier tried and failed in Bradfield. Despite predictions of a close contest, the Sydney Morning Herald reported the Left-backed Alexander had an easy first round win over local business executive Mark Chan, scoring 67 votes in the ballot of 120 preselectors. As the Herald tells it, “the right split and the hard right deserted Mr Chan”, although VexNews notes the seat is “not a centre of factional operations for either camp”. The also-rans were businessman Steve Foley and financial services director Melanie Matthewson.
• Wanneroo mayor Jon Kelly has withdrawn his nomination for Labor preselection in the Perth northern suburbs federal seat of Cowan, after earlier being considered certain to get the gig. This comes in the wake of a Corruption and Crime Commission finding that Kelly had put himself at “risk” of misconduct through his relationship with Brian Burke. Burke presumably knew what he was doing when he subsequently endorsed Kelly, going on to say he had “sought my help on many occasions and I’ve always been available to assist him”. The West Australian reported the withdrawal was the product of a “mutual” decision reached after “a week of talks with Labor officials”, which included federal campaign committee chairman and Brand MP Gary Gray. Potential replacements named by The West are Dianne Guise and Judy Hughes, who respectively lost their local seats of Wanneroo and Kingsley at the state election last September. The ABC reports a decision is expected in mid-January.
• The Western Australian ALP has also confirmed Tim Hammond, Louise Durack and ECU history lecturer Bill Leadbetter as candidates for Swan, Stirling and Pearce.
• The NSW Liberals have selected incumbents Concetta Fierravanti-Wells and Bill Heffernan to head their Senate ticket, reversing the order from 2004. The Coalition agreement reserves the third position for the Nationals – I am not aware of any suggestion their candidate will be anyone other than incumbent Fiona Nash. Imre Salusinszky of The Australian reports Heffernan needed the backing of Tony Abbott to ward off challenges from David Miles, a public relations executive with Pfizer, and George Bilic, a Blacktown councillor.
• Phillip Coorey of the Sydney Morning Herald notes Left figurehead Anthony Albanese’s chutzpah in calling for the Macquarie preselection to be determined by rank-and-file party ballot, after the role he played in imposing numerous candidates elsewhere as a member of the party’s national executive. Albanese reportedly believes Left candidate Susan Templeman would win a local ballot, although the earlier mail was that the Right’s Adam Searle had the numbers and it was the Left who wanted national executive intervention.
• Final Liberal two-party margin from the Bradfield by-election: 14.8 per cent. From Higgins: 10.2 per cent. Respective turnouts were 81.51 per cent and 79.00 per cent, compared with 80.12 per cent at the Mayo by-election, 87.41 per cent in Lyne and 89.68 per cent in Gippsland. Question: if the results have been declared, why hasn’t the AEC published preference distributions?
• VexNews reports Saturday’s Liberal preselection for the Victorian state seat of Ripon was a clear win for the unsuccessful candidate from 2006, Vic Dunn, who my records tell me is “the local inspector at Maryborough”. Dunn reportedly scored 53 votes against 26 for Institute of Public Affairs agriculture policy expert and preselection perennial Louise Staley and four for local winery owner John van Beveren. Joe Helper holds the seat for Labor on a maergin of 4.3 per cent.
• The Berwick Star reports that Lorraine Wreford, the newly elected mayor of Casey, refused to confirm or deny reports she lodged a nomination for Liberal preselection in the state seat of Mordialloc last Friday. Janice Munt holds the seat for Labor on a margin of 3.5 per cent.
• The Country Voice SA website reports that one of its regular contributors, former SA Nationals president Wilbur Klein, will be the party’s candidate for Flinders at the March state election. The seats was held by the party prior to 1993, when it was won by its now-retiring Liberal member Liz Penfold.
• On Tuesday, The West Australian provided further data from the 400-sample Westpoll survey discussed a few posts ago, this time on attitudes to an emissions trading scheme. Forty per cent wanted it adopted immediately, down from 46 per cent two months ago. However, there was also a fall in the number wanting the government to wait until other countries committed to targets, from 47 per cent to 43 per cent. The remainder “ favoured other options to cut emissions or did not know”.
• Paul Murray of The West Australian offers some interesting electoral history on the occasion of the passing of former Liberal-turned-independent state MP Ian Thompson:
Shortly after the State election in February 1977, allegations began to emerge from both sides of politics about dirty deeds in the seat of Kimberley. Liberal sitting member Alan Ridge beat Labor’s Ernie Bridge on preferences by just 93 votes. The Liberals were the first to strike, claiming Labor was manipulating Aboriginal voters, but the move backfired badly. A subsequent Court of Disputed Returns case turned up scathing evidence of a deliberate Liberal campaign to deny Aboriginals the vote using underhand tactics and the election result was declared void on November 7.
Returning officers in the Kimberley for years had allowed illiterate Aboriginals to use party how-to-vote cards as an indication of their voting intention. What became apparent later was that Labor had put hundreds of Aboriginal voters on the roll and generally mobilised the indigenous community. The Liberals flew a team of young lawyers up from Perth to act as scrutineers at polling booths, with a plan to stop illiterate voters. The Court government pressured the chief electoral officer to instruct returning officers in the Kimberley to challenge illiterate voters and not accept their how-to-vote cards.
The court case turned up a letter of thanks from Mr Ridge to a Liberal Party member, who stood as an independent, saying “a third name on the ballot paper created some confusion among the illiterate voters and there is no doubt in my mind that it played a major part in having me re-elected”. Mr Ridge’s letter said that unless the Electoral Act was changed to make it more difficult for illiterate Aboriginals to cast their votes, the Liberals would not be able to win the seat.
Two days after the court ordered a new election, premier Sir Charles introduced in the Legislative Assembly a Bill to do just that. How-to-vote cards could not be used, nor could an instruction of a vote for just one candidate. Labor went ballistic, saying no illiterate voter would meet the test.
What transpired over nine hours was one of the most bitter debates ever seen in the WA Parliament and the galvanising of a new breed of Labor head kickers – Mr Burke, Mal Bryce, Bob Pearce and Arthur Tonkin, who came to power six years later. On November 10, it became apparent that the government was in trouble when one of the four National Country Party members not in the coalition Cabinet, Hendy Cowan, said he opposed the Bill because it disenfranchised all illiterate voters. When it came to the vote, the four NCP members crossed the floor and the maverick Liberal member for Subiaco, Dr Tom Dadour, abstained. The numbers split 25-25.
From the Speaker’s chair, Ian Thompson calmly noted that the law said when a Court of Disputed Returns ordered a by-election it had to be held under the same conditions as the original poll. If the Government wanted to amend the Electoral Act, it should do so after the by-election.
“Therefore I give my casting vote with the ‘Noes’ and the Bill is defeated,” he said. Hansard unusually recorded applause.
Ron – #2037
You may understand my inability to comprehend your statement that Frank is right.
See post #2050. ” The Real Fielding is now on Twitter.”
I have gone to the Twitter. Fielding has been on there since at least 9 December 2009, some 2 weeks ago.
Seems as though Steve had a great time in Copenhagen explaining an engineer’s viewpoint on the GG conspiracy! 😉
[# just got booted out of the conference center… hopefully they won’t block me from entering tomorrow 7:27 PM Dec 16th from web ]
[# interesting day at COP15. Stood outside 4 hrs in a freezing queue trying 2 get in. Got told no. Now on the way back in after getting a yes 4:13 AM Dec 17th from web ]
[# Abbott makes a good point. Y doesn’t Rudd come out & explain the failure of Copenhagen instead of hiding 6:15 PM Dec 21st from web ]
http://twitter.com/senatorsteve
[Just finished talks at the UN, heading back to Cyprus. I’m really quite impressed they have internet]
http://twitter.com/alexanderdowner
Yes it’s the real one
I know little about Twitter, but seriously the wisdom of pollies and ex-pollies who use it must be questioned. Is there a space limit on the amount of each “tweet”? That Downer comment could have been referring to internet in Nambu, UN or Cyprus. Whatever, it makes him look like a goose. He has 2 following (whatever that means) and 168 followers (whatever that means). Whatever, it seems a waste of time. Further is it appropriate for an Envoy to be “tweeting” inane details of his doings?
This is interesting. I cannot recall seeing this on the Oz website before and yet it is dated December 19th!
Hopefully we might be seeing an improvement in reporting from the ABC in the new year! They might even cut out the regurgitated partisan opinion from various News Ltd sites and authors.
I certainly am not happy to see ABC employees writing opinion pieces regularly for the Australian Newspaper. It does not help the ABC’s insistence that it operates under its guidelines as an independent, impartial public broadcaster and disseminator of news!
[ABC journalists have been warned by management not to express personal opinions on ABC websites, a week after the public broadcaster launched its commentary website The Drum.
ABC News director Kate Torney emailed staff this week warning them to be clear about the difference between news and opinion, after Media Watch host Jonathan Holmes revealed a schism among ABC journalists and the director of editorial policies, Paul Chadwick. “You will not be asked to write material based on personal opinions, and it is important anything you write for The Drum does not undermine the integrity of your work as a journalist,” Torney wrote.
ABC journalists, including The 7.30 Report’s Chris Uhlmann and Lateline’s host Leigh Sales, have been articulating strong opinions in various media, including on social media site Twitter.
Last week Media Watch host Holmes wrote he was “gobsmacked” by the strength of Uhlmann’s opinions.
In an email obtained by The Weekend Australian, Torney responded to a story in this paper that revealed ABC journalists were anxious about the absence of clear direction from senior management about its expectations for the site, which marked a radical departure from traditional ABC reporting.]
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/abc-journalists-warned-not-to-express-opinions-on-the-drum-website/story-e6frg6nf-1225811889233
It seems a bit strange that I mentioned the AWB earlier and up it pops with some very unhappy farmers & shareholders giving it a bit of stick!
I bet many of them would liked to have seen a proper inquiry into the wheat for weapons saga!
[WHEAT growers have slammed the board and management of AWB Ltd for turning their backs on the farmers the company was originally intended to serve.
In a demonstration outside the company’s Melbourne headquarters before its annual meeting, third-generation wheat farmer and shareholder Mark Dwyer compared the company’s $460 million capital raising earlier this year, which shifted majority control of the company from growers to institutions, to the Iraqi oil for food scandal.
“I don’t see the difference between what went on in Iraq and the kickbacks they’ve just made to institutional shareholders by selling shares at $1 when the price was $1.25,” he said.
AWB was in 2005 discovered to have paid almost $300m to Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi government under cover of a UN humanitarian program, a scandal that in July 2008 led the federal government to strip the company of its “single desk” monopoly on bulk wheat exports.
Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.
Related Coverage
* Grain trader plummets Herald Sun, 10 Feb 2009
* AWB fends off a third lawsuit The Australian, 1 Oct 2008
* Growers get choice on export Herald Sun, 11 Sep 2008
* AWB granted wheat export licence Daily Telegraph, 11 Sep 2008
* AWB to end dual class structure Adelaide Now, 3 Sep 2008
End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
Grower Jock Munro said that, in losing the single desk, growers had also lost a range of crucial services previously supplied by AWB, which had functioned as a buyer of last resort and allowed growers to borrow against the value of their future harvest.
Now, rather than sell their wheat into a national pool, growers were holding on to their grain in hopes of getting better prices, and in the process incurring storage costs and risking further price falls.
“A company that we once owned and built up over 60 years is now a basket case,” he said.
Farmers were being made to pay for the mistakes of the AWB directors and management in Iraq, he said. “The only losers have been growers.” He said growers had lost an estimated $1bn because AWB no longer hedged wheat prices, while the lack of co-ordinated marketing meant Australian wheat had lost market share to Canada, where a single desk export monopoly was still in place.]
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/angry-farmers-lash-out-at-awb-failures/story-e6frg8zx-1225813303869
re ARK TRIBE
Some posts were made about the Ark Tribe trial. Discussion of the question whether the law under which Mr Tribe has been charged is an appropriate law seems to have stalled because people do not know enough about it. I knew nothing of it either, but as it seemed like an interesting topic for discussion, I set out to inform myself. I am happy to share what information I was able to access. I am not saying the information is correct, merely setting out what I have been able to ascertain from web based sources. As I am not a god-botherer and do not participate in the pagan festival activities over the summer break, I have had time to do this – which others might not have available to them.
Factual background (much of this is plagiarised from sources – general references at the foot of this post).
Ark Tribe, aged 47, worked as a rigger on a construction site at South Australia’s Flinders University in May 2008 when an industrial dispute arose due to safety issues.
Workers at the construction site had raised occupation heath and safety issues with the contractor, Hindmarsh Constructions: plant equipment being operated by unlicensed workers; scaffolds with improper access; no evacuation plan and a lack of overhead protection, change rooms, decent amenities and clean drinking water.
For several weeks, the workers’ concerns were ignored. The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) tried to gain access to the site but were obstructed. On May 31, management locked workers out of the site for “safety reasons”.
In response, workers signed a petition calling for a safety committee and for the union to be involved. Management refused to accept the petition.
At the CFMEU’s request, the state government watchdog, SafeWork SA, visited the site. Subsequently, two prohibition notices were issued against Hindmarsh Constructions. Management fixed the safety problems and work resumed.
The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) then sought to question site workers in relation to the meeting workers held regarding safety issues.
Tribe was requested to attend a ABCC hearing. He refused.
Tribe has been charged with refusing to attend the ABCC hearing. His trial is set down for June 2010 in the Adelaide Magistrates Court. He is represented by Michael Abbott QC.
The law:
The applicable Act is the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act, 2005.
Section 52 (1) says:
If the ABC Commissioner believes on reasonable grounds that a
person:
(a) has information or documents relevant to an investigation; or
(b) is capable of giving evidence that is relevant to an
investigation;
the ABC Commissioner may, by written notice given to the person,
require the person:
…….
(e) to attend before the ABC Commissioner, or an assistant, at the time and place specified in the notice, and answer questions relevant to the investigation.
By section 52(4) the ABC Commissioner may require the answers to be given on oath.
By section 52(6) a person commits an offence if the person fails to to attend to answer questions at the time and place specified in the notice or to answer questions relevant to the investigation while attending. The penalty for an offence is 6 months imprisonment.
Section 53(1) says:
A person is not excused from giving information, producing a
document, or answering a question, under section 52 on the ground
that to do so:
(a) would contravene any other law; or
(b) might tend to incriminate the person or otherwise expose the
person to a penalty or other liability; or
(c) would be otherwise contrary to the public interest.
see:
1. http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/797/41038
2. http://www.rightsonsite.org.au/file.php?file=/arkinfo.html
3. http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/building-workers-vow-to-support-tribe-20091218-l1ru.html
4. http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,,26498532-2682,00.html
5. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/18/2775921.htm?section=justin
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofB0TKkNPmM
George Monbiot agrees with Ron: the USA are responsible for Copenhagen failing:
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/us-is-culprit-for-copenhagen-failure-but-shifts-blame-to-china-20091222-lbny.html
I mostly agree; I just think people shoudl be careful not to oversimplify this. There are a few guilty parties, but the US is the biggest of them.
Socrates – #2058
I agree people should be careful not to oversimplify this…but I’m puzzled by the use of the word ‘failure’ to describe the talks.
Surely China and the US are entitled to not sign up to ‘an accord’ or ‘an agreement’ if they are not in accord and not in agreement.
What is wrong with two different nations having two different views regarding the environmental cost of development?
Mr Squiggle
The stated pre-conference objective of Copenhagen was to achieve a global legal agreement on climate change. It failed. If states such as the USA turned up with a different objective (stopping it) they succeeded. But they should have been more honest about that, rather than waste people’s time by saying they wanted to negotiate. That only damages relationships with other countries.
Of course states can take whatever position they like, but if that harms other states the latter might rationally seek to take action against them. Recognising that reality, I have said several times recently that Kyoto was flawed and it would be better for those committed to action to do so, and tariff/lock out other states until they join in. More like the gradually epanding WTO model than the UN model. IMO the UN can’t fix this. It is too structurally flawed.
The American has reported a Newspoll survey on consumer confidence but still no 2PP result announced… a second non-publication of the political result in two months. Interesting.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/three-rate-rises-hit-voters-hopes-of-better-standard-of-living-next-year/story-e6frg6nf-1225813294534
I guess Santa didn’t bring Uncle Rupert the poll present he was hoping for. He can’t have been nice. Santa is no fool, Rupert.
Socrates – the coponhagen conference has had a huge beneficial impact in that it raised the level of awareness and enqury into gloabal warming around the world.
i for one, have started to read and absorb more information about global warming than before.
I didn’t however notice any mission statement or objective for Copenhagen that stated a specific objective of legal agreements.
I’m keen to read more, do you have a link for the stated objectives?
[Workers at the construction site had raised occupation heath and safety issues with the contractor, Hindmarsh Constructions]
[For several weeks, the workers’ concerns were ignored. The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) tried to gain access to the site but were obstructed. On May 31, management locked workers out of the site for “safety reasons”]
[At the CFMEU’s request, the state government watchdog, SafeWork SA, visited the site. Subsequently, two prohibition notices were issued against Hindmarsh Constructions. Management fixed the safety problems and work resumed]
Thanks for the summary PY
Some of the other reports in the media do not give the full story, leaving the impression it is just ratbag unions trying to muscle a defenceless employer.
The sooner they make directors personally liable for OHS issues the better and why are not the directors being called before the commission for ignoring the safety of people.
2058
Socrates
Here is a bloke that says Monbiot has got it wrong, so who can you believe?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/22/copenhagen-climate-change-mark-lynas
[The American has reported a Newspoll survey on consumer confidence but still no 2PP result announced… a second non-publication of the political result in two months.]
When is Possum going to take it out of Pollytrack? Newspoll is dead to me.
[Just finished talks at the UN, heading back to Cyprus]
Has the giggling twit twittered whether he considers Cyprus a busted arse country.
James Hansen says he is glad it all failed.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/22/leading_climate_scientist_james_hansen_on
The MSM loves a simple message. Copehagen either had to be a failure or triumph. No room for nuance. The failure to get a binding agreement was disappointing but certainly expected. China and the US coming into the tent as it were was a very significant achievement.
Re: Newspoll. The OO will decide which polls will be published and circumstances in which they are
Another failed analysis by Greg Sheridan as he failed to understand the Chinese history and historical perspectives:
[Don’t look to Beijing for global leadership – The befuddled Australians who spruik a role of global leadership for China fail to recognise how utterly domestic the focus of its leadership is. Western statesmen dealing with China find the Chinese engagement with global issues very shallow and Chinese positions very inflexible, traits we’ve just witnessed in Copenhagen.]
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/dont-look-to-beijing-for-global-leadership/story-e6frg6zo-1225813287831
China throughout its 3000 years old history, never wanted or sought with the so called global leadership. Even at its height as of a powerful dynasty , eg: The Tang or Ming Dynasty, it never embarked on any imperial adventure. All it ever wanted to do was to protect its own historical boundaries, provide stability to its social system and feed its own people.
The three truly global powers/empires of history: The Mongol, The British and the USA, in each case China has been the victim. Even today as an emerging super global power, it is still learning what it means and how to wear that mantle comfortably.
[Here is a bloke that says Monbiot has got it wrong, so who can you believe?]
Gaff, Mark Lynas is a consultant or advisor to the Maldives delegation. It is interesting the loudest mouths at COP15 were those advising the smaller nations, such as Tuvalu, Sudan etc.
When you are a “consultant”, you can say or do anything you like and like all consultants they are very good at teaching you how to suck egg. They are parasites.
Finns
The WWF analysis contains at least two factual errors, I believe.
(1) there was not a general agreement at Copenhagen. There was no ‘consensus’ which is the formal term for a general agreement.
(2) there was definitely not an agreement by 192 countries on 2 degrees.
[TheTaipanhunter (15 hours ago) – Great Finn,s Whats the song title? Seasons Greetings To you & your,s. PB Lurker.Too old to post.R.]
Taipanhunter – The song is the old Scottish folk song: Wild Mountain Thyme. This version is sung by Ronan Keating which i quite like. You should post and what age has got anything to do with it. Cheers.
[Ronan Keating’s Wild Mountain Thyme
Oh the Summer time is coming, And the trees are sweetly blooming
And the wild mountain thyme, Goes around the blooming heather.
Will ye go lassie go….. And we’ll all go together
To pull wild mountain thyme, All around the purple heather
Will ye go lassie go
I will build my love a bower, Near yon pure and crystal fountain
Yes and on it I will lay, All the flowers of the mountain
Will ye go lassie go……
If my true love wont have me, I will surely find another
To pull wild mountain thyme, All around the purple heather
Will ye go lassie go…..]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTEzDK5-44Y
Is Copenhagen Accord a failure or a success? The answer to that, I would have thought, lies in the following question:
‘Will it fix the problem?’
Ron,
Frank wasn’t under attack.
I was having aconversation with Gusface and he plowed in trying to demonstrate why the filter was bad. Apparently for him the way you tell if something is good or not is by observing the way they try and sell their platform. He judges things by the performance of their PR and advertising campaigns. I tried to explain to him this was a poor method; the link he gave to a description of some of the methods used by anti-filter people actually commented very clearly that the filter was bound to fail. For some reason, though, because I was showing him that his method was flawed he decided that was more proof the filter is good… Weird.
So, nothing to do with WA politics.
Finns
It seems to me that the two most common misapprehensions that non-Chinese have of china are:
1. the view that China’s governance is monolithic command and control
2. the view that China is socially, politically and economically stable.
Since the Chinese leadership now that neither of these is absolutely true, of course their first focus would be internal rather than external. Makes sense to me.
stuff it. now=know
Scorpio @ 2055: That article refers to a post by Jonathon Holmes that was at the Drum last week. In it he referred to the ABC’s journalistic charter (whatever it’s called) in criticising ABC journalists who are straying into the realm of opinion that cannot be substantiated – a breach of their code.
He singled out Chris Uhlmann’s ABC article that essentially called the PM (wtte) a hypocrite and cry baby, with no evidence other than his own opinion to back up his statement. Holmes had a go at the Australian for picking up Ulhmann’s article and running with it as though it was fact. Holmes capped off his article by wondering what the Australian’s attitude might be had it been an ABC journalist referring to John Howard in such terms, noting that neither Rudd’s office nor the Australian much bothered about these unsubstantiated things being said about Rudd, much less the other News Ltd outlets.
Holmes original post at the Drum.
[the view that China is socially, politically and economically stable.]
BW, the Chinese word for Dynasty means “Tide”. So the Chinese know like the tide, the dynasty comes and goes. There is nothing they can do about that.
The only thing they can do is to prolong peace and stability for its people so the people can have some “heavenly peace” (That where Tiananmen comes from The Gate of Heavenly Peace) before the next tide rolls in. That is why they are absolutely paranoid about any external interference that would disturb the stability.
Finns
I didn’t know those interesting facts. I have been following with great interest Falun Gong which I believe is really a possible symptom of the tide turning. The Chinese leadership certainly accord it an attention out of all proportion to its real power.
We are swimming in the same sea.
confessions
Interesting.
Just as well Captain Bowe does not insist on analysis as per Mr Chadwick’s rules. This string would be about 200 posts long…
In relation to country reps, Ian Fry did receive very handsome and fulsome public support from the leader of Tuvalu.
Bottom line, in the absence of power and in the face of extinction, all Tuvalu could do was squeak. Fry was their nominated squeaker. Fry did what he was expected to do and did it particularly well.
[Peter Young
Posted Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 10:57 pm | Permalink
….
membership numbers of the big political parties has been declining for several decades
…]
Your memory serves you well.
Politics seems to attract the petty as well as the great who change the country. You have to take the good with the bad, that’s life.
The Finnigans,
Nice clip!
And a grand X-mas to you and yours and every other Pollbludger from Scorpio, Mrs Scorpio and all the little scorpions up here in central Queensland!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTEzDK5-44Y
I think the Mark Lynas story sounds more likely to be the truth. China through a surfeit of caution have sabotaged the talks. Presumably they believe they are acting in their self-interest, but on this one they have made a huge miscalculation as the developed countries won’t forget China’s intransigence in a hurry. I can’t see that they will be getting any more Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) money, for example, and they won’t be getting technological assistance to work on mitigating climate change unless they offer more concessions.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/22/copenhagen-climate-change-mark-lynas
[The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) then sought to question site workers in relation to the meeting workers held regarding safety issues.]
Thanks Peter for the info. It brings more unanswered questions to mind however.
What is the purpose of the ABCC’s inquiry? What could Tribe disclose that would be detrimental to the union? Shouldn’t the union have held the meeting?
[ confessions
Posted Thursday, December 24, 2009 at 9:04 am | Permalink
Scorpio @ 2055: That article refers to a post by Jonathon Holmes that was at the Drum last week.]
Yeah, Con! I read it and all the comments.
I would like to think that I had some input into that as I had sent a number of e-mails to Jonathon about the very thing he wrote about in that Drum piece.
They included the e-mail I sent to the ABC, Tony Jones, Steve Conroy, the Broadcasting tribunal and the ABC General Manager in relation to Lateline.
It seems as though it stirred up a bit of a hornet’s nest as I have had a couple of responses from the ABC and Conroy’s office forwarded my concerns (and theirs I presume) to the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and I received a lengthy response from the Assistant Secretary, National, Community & Radio Broadcasting in relation to my concerns.
Tony Jones certainly picked up his act quite dramatically soon after my e-mail blitz, so it shows that ordinary people are not totally powerless in effecting change and organisations like the ABC realise that they “aren’t” a law unto themselves and that concerned taxpayers deserve better than what is sometimes dished up.
scorpio: That’s pretty impressive, and good on you for taking a stand. Whenever I write to the ABC my emails disappear into the ether with no reply, so it is nice to hear that they do in fact listen to viewers. 🙂
I should add that my emails have all been about Insiders, so maybe it’s just that program which doesn’t listen or respond.
Blood on Kevin Rudd’s hands. This never happened at Nauru, the “humane” lefties fail once again.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/asylum-seeker-dies-on-merak-boat-20091224-ldpm.html
[One of almost 250 Sri Lankan asylum seekers who have spent the past 11 weeks refusing to leave their boat in Indonesia has died after allegedly being denied medical help.
The 29-year-old Tamil died late last night after falling ill several days ago.
The Tamil’s spokesman, Sanjeev “Alex” Kuhendrarajah, said the man had been vomiting blood for two days but authorities ignored his pleas to be taken to hospital until after he had a seizure on Wednesday night.]
Truthy this issue is biting. look at the polls, they’re plummeting!!
Great to see mediawatch putting Toolman under the microscope. He is appalling
[And a grand X-mas to you and yours and every other Pollbludger from Scorpio, Mrs Scorpio and all the little scorpions up here in central Queensland!]
Scorp, you sting like a scorpion and float like a dolphin :kiss:
[Truthy this issue is biting. look at the polls, they’re plummeting!!]
Workchoices was also highly popular in 2005 and 2006 because Howards numbers weren’t budging with Beazley in power.
Stop the rot thanks. Rudd is a popular leader no doubt, and the opposition are a bit of a shambles.. but every poll in the country says what I have been saying for ages now and that is people are pieved off about what Rudd has done to Australia’s border protection.
There has been a 1500% increase in boatpeople since Rudd went soft touch at the end of last year. 1500%!!! You can’t sweep those numbers under the rug buddy, this is a monumental stuff up and the lefties are reeling. The excuses are getting larger, the spin more frequent but at the end of the day your lot are responsible for every death, sinking, explosion, hijack, threats and bad behaviour of everyone of these people who come here via illegal channels. Rudd and Labor have encouraged illegal boatpeople activity by CHOICE and must now take responsibility for the CONSEQUENCES.
A good article today from The Australian about the current situation on Christmas Island:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/ministers-bring-farce-to-the-fore/story-e6frg6zo-1225813308264
#2086
[ What is the purpose of the ABCC’s inquiry? What could Tribe disclose that would be detrimental to the union? ]
I don’t know. I don’t think the Union knows. I think the reason the legal team have issued the subpoenas is to find that out. Interestingly, the ABBC have so far failed to answer the subpoena as I understand news reports. Ultimately, I don’t think answers to these questions provide much in the way of assisting in the basic philosophic question, namely are star chamber type procedures good in an industrial relations setting and further, should any Australian be subjected to star chamber type procdures. Indeed I don’t think any of the facts assist greatly in answering those basic questions.
[ Shouldn’t the union have held the meeting? ]
I don’t really understand your question. As I understand it a meeting was held to discuss safety issues. If you are asking me whether that was a morally right thing to do, the answer is yes. Whether it was a full meeting of workers or a meeting of a couple of workers chatting down the pub, it is “moral” to discuss safety issues. Once again I fail to see how a decision on this, assists in providing an answer to the question: Is the law (section 52) a good one, especially as a breach carries a jail term?
Toothy, i am glad you are safely back from your sea patrol. But obviously, you are doing a lousy job if:
[There has been a 1500% increase in boatpeople since Rudd went soft touch at the end of last year. 1500%!!! ]
Have you been patrolling the last 6 months on a leaky boat?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2Q-ymDBaK0
fredn
[ Politics seems to attract the petty as well as the great who change the country. You have to take the good with the bad, that’s life. ]
I didn’t expect to see such a capital “C” conservative attitude expressed here.
[Workchoices was also highly popular in 2005 and 2006 because Howards numbers weren’t budging with Beazley in power.]
The Coalition vote was on a clear decline from March 2005 see here:
http://possumcomitatus.wordpress.com/2007/10/16/the-long-view/
Truthy + boaties = Porky + Heiner