Harry’s reasons

Harry Jenkins has ended the parliamentary year with a surprise, announcing he will resign as Speaker today:

In a statement to Parliament, Speaker Jenkins said he’d divorced himself from party political matters in order to carry out his duties in a non-partisan manner. “In this era of minority government I have progressively become frustrated at this stricture,” he said. “My desire is to be able to participate in policy and parliamentary debate, and this would be incompatible with continuing in the role of Speaker.”

Which is no huge deal if that’s all there is to it. But with the rift between Deputy Speaker Peter Slipper and his party widening of late – the LNP is presently considering disciplinary action against him – the suspicion exists that the government has reached an arrangement with him. If so, the return of Jenkins to the floor would enable the government to win confidence motions 76-73 rather than 75-74. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Events are moving quicker than my iPad typing speed. Phillip Coorey of the Sydney Morning Herald reports:

The Liberal MP, Peter Slipper, is likely to become the next Speaker of the House of Representatives after Labor’s Harry Jenkins resigned this morning, shocking the Parliament on its final sitting day for 2011. Labor MPs will be asked to approve Mr Slipper’s nomination at a special caucus meeting scheduled for 10am.

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.

1,458 comments on “Harry’s reasons”

Comments Page 28 of 30
1 … 27 28 29 30

  2. [I’m not really sure what people expected Abbott to do to interfere in what was a local dispute over pre-selection.]

    Howard used to do it all the time. The difference between Howard and Abbott though is that Howard commanded an authority Abbott simply doesn’t have.

  3. Thinking about the push for Brough’s pre-selection in Fisher, and then surrounds like Longman…

    More broadly, have the parties settled on their pre-selected candidates now (either formally or informally) and started, well not campaigning, but profile building?

    With 25 seats on less than 3% margin (15 Noalition; 10 ALP + independents), every vote counts as they say.

  4. [NBN was probably the one they really wanted to stop, and that might explain the urgency with which they’ve been trying to unseat the ALP. That’s the one with the potential to hurt Murdoch the most, at least.]

    Yes, exactly, spot on. News Ltd, not content with 70 per cent of media in this country, wanted the lot.

  5. confessions @ 1338

    OPT:

    It’s pure self indulgence on the part of those parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. I have the same issues with people who don’t vaccinate their dogs/cats.

    It is worse than that. It is a form of child abuse that exposes children to risk of illness or death as well as exposing others. It should be dealt with by the criminal law.

  8. For what it’s worth………….

    Here in the Wild West, the Speaker thing has barely rated a mention in the local rag being subsumed by the fires in the South-West of WA.

    It has hardly raised a ripple.

    Local talk-back Liberal mouth-piece Paul Murray on 6PR Red Neck radio, bemoaned yesterday about such things as “ethics” and ” the dignity of the house” etc, pushing the “squalid deal” theme.

    He knows this is all they have.

    As we know from long experience the conservatives fall back on words such as “convention” and “agreed practice” when it suits them or they have lost an issue.

    For those of us who lived through the dismissal of 1975 we know exactly how much “parliamentary convention” means to the tories.

    We learnt then, as if we needed reminding, that conservatives will, metaphorically, eat their own children to get into and stay in power.

    More recently this had morphed to “selling one’s arse” to become PM, but the sentiment is exactly the same.

    I predict that within a week or two, this issue will be on the paper that wraps of the fish and chips.

    Long may the conservatives be in anguish in opposition. It is where there talent and outlook are best utilized.

  9. I wonder why a “clever” man like Howard couldn’t see it coming. Just a few days earlier he was in Slipper’s seat. Instead of denigrating Slipper, it seems to me that he should’ve been more observant of the overall political landscape.

  12. [Scringler
    Posted Friday, November 25, 2011 at 11:05 am | Permalink
    It was confirmed this morning that Abbott and Bishop did in fact try to strike a deal with Oakeshott.

    Has Oakeshott been asked if this is true?]
    Read for yourself:
    [Mr Oakeshott told The Age last night he never sought the position yesterday but confirmed he was heavily lobbied by the Coalition and fellow independent Tasmanian Andrew Wilkie.
    Mr Oakeshott said Mr Wilkie was in his ear all morning saying ”do it, do it”, concerned the changed dynamics of the Parliament would impact on promised gambling reforms.
    Advertisement: Story continues below
    Mr Oakeshott spoke to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott during a frantic morning when he was mostly in the chamber and was assured of Coalition backing in a contest with rogue Liberal Peter Slipper.
    But despite the offer of support, the Coalition refused to nominate Mr Oakeshott to the Speaker’s chair, having already publicly insisted a government member should fill the job.
    Another maverick MP, West Australian National Tony Crook, was instead willing to nominate Mr Oakeshott in a bid to stymie Mr Slipper taking the role.
    But Mr Oakeshott said he was not confident of the Coalition’s motives and suffered a case of ”once bitten, twice shy” after similar negotiations broke down last year when he expressed interest in taking the chair. Liberal deputy leader Julie Bishop – who spoke to The Age last night to confirm the sequence of events – had approached Mr Crook on the floor of the chamber after the surprise resignation of Harry Jenkins.
    Ms Bishop asked Mr Crook, who sits on the crossbenches, to inquire if any of the three independent MPs were willing to take the Speaker’s job. The message came back that Mr Oakeshott was willing provided there was agreement for parliamentary reforms, including the independence of the Speaker.
    Mr Abbott then rang Mr Oakeshott and agreed the Coalition would give him its backing.]

    Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/oakeshott-falls-just-short-of-the-big-chair-20111124-1nxbh.html#ixzz1efowzV6v

  13. [Agreed, confessions. It’s not just a “personal” decision. There is the concept of herd immunity, which means that their decision not to vaccinate has repercussions for the wider community.]

    Someone made the comment earlier (and I got sidetracked by the phone and forgot to comment at the time, so apologies for forgetting who) that these children get all the benefits associated with the community having herd immunity without having to take the risk that everyone else has in order to establish that herd immunity in the first place (obviously, they worded it more elegantly than that).

    When I read that it reminded me of the arguments about union membership. Some people want to retain the right to slag off unions and refuse to take out membership whilst also accepting the benefits that other people’s union fees have ensured they can also get.

  14. kakuru:

    According to a vaccine expert quoted in the local paper recently, the biggest risk for disease transmission is when adults pass it onto infants who are too young to be vaccinated. He says this is why adults should get the booster series as well.

    But he also says that outbreaks of the kind we’ve experienced are more likely to occur in areas where vaccine rates are low. There just isn’t any excuse for not vaccinating your children.

  15. bemused:

    I’m not so keen on criminality being attached to non vaccination. I don’t think that’s the way to resolve these things.

  16. gigi

    [I wonder why a “clever” man like Howard couldn’t see it coming. Just a few days earlier he was in Slipper’s seat. Instead of denigrating Slipper, it seems to me that he should’ve been more observant of the overall political landscape.]
    I read somewhere that the Libs were pretty brassed off with Slipper last week for snubbing the visiting rodent .

  17. 1351 – confessions

    I think your response to Dave is spot on. Abbott has a very small positive influence outweighed by a massive negative influnce. His failure to reassure Slipper shows just how ineffective he has become.

  19. http://richard-di-natale.greensmps.org.au/content/media-release/pokies-reform-still-on-track-greens

    [Pokies reform still on track: Greens
    Posted on 25. Nov, 2011 by RichardDiNatale in Media Release, Gambling

    Greens’ spokesperson for gambling, Senator Richard Di Natale, said today that the likelihood of pokies reform has firmed with an extra vote for the government on the floor of the house.]

    Have a look. They are hoping for the $1 limit to be the final option.

  20. DavidWH

    [If a member wants to turn on his party then there’s not much his party can do about it.]

    OTOH, when the Party, inc members of it (in this case Alex Somlyay and Mal Brough) conduct high-profile open factional wafare (against LNP guidelines) to unseat Slipper and install Brough, to whom Somlyay has been a mentor, then they can hardly blame their victim for salvaging what he can from his last political term. In Slipper’s case, that was the Deputy Speaker’s position.

    When Somlyay, the branch and the ever-dysfunctional L section of the LNP turned on him very recently, and threatened not only to disendorse him but to kick him out of the Party, why wouldn’t he take anything offered to get a bit of revenge – and Q’s Libs are as addicted to revenge as they are to factional warfare.

    Your party, and a colleague, shaft you very publicly to give your seat to the colleague’s voter-rejected exMP mate, you deserve everything that’s coming to us.

    Nor is Slipper the only Q LNP member who can no longer hack the hierarchy’s and other members’ behaviour. How many state MLAs have walked since Election09? Four?

  21. Albanese is the Labor go to person when you want to spin it like it isn’t. He is the person in Labor who I would be least likely to take at his word. Generally you have to listen to what he isn’t saying if you want to know the truth.

    In relation to Slipper there is no doubt he was not going to be pre-selected as there is a strong move to replace him. It was only a matter of when it happened. That’s the way the party works and Abbott had virtually no chance of stopping that.

  22. confessions

    [bemused:

    I’m not so keen on criminality being attached to non vaccination. I don’t think that’s the way to resolve these things.]
    I would make an exception for several of the anti vaccine campaigners. Some of their claims are truly outrageous. Illness and death caused by people believing some of their more outlandish claims should at least offer some sue their arse off possibilities.

  23. The LNP need to answer these two questions:

    – How much dirt, of a criminal or unethical nature, on their own MPs are they sitting on, as ammo to use for blackmail/revenge?

    – Why have they not alerted proper authorities about any of these wrongdoings?

    Don’t care about the embarrassing secrets, btw, just the criminal/unethical ones. Although using anything for blackmail purposes is illegal.

  24. confessions @ 1364

    bemused:

    I’m not so keen on criminality being attached to non vaccination. I don’t think that’s the way to resolve these things.

    Then you are less outraged than what I am.

    As for people like that dreadful woman from the Australian Vaccination Network, Meryl Dorey, I cannot think of a bad enough fate for her.

  25. Denis Atkins has been writing pretty balanced articles for the Govt. lately. I particularly like the ending to his piece today

    [For Gillard, this is a game changer – it gives her that crucial extra vote and changes perceptions about the threat of an imminent election – something that has undermined the Prime Minister’s authority and her standing.

    It also means some pressure on the wheeling and dealing is removed – which will be welcomed by ministers and add to the appearance of control.

    For Abbott, it is bad end to what’s been a good year – something that was apparent in the overblown bluster needed to hide the hurt and anger at losing a number on the floor.]
    http://www.couriermail.com.au/ipad/hard-to-find-hard-evidence-of-a-deal/story-fn6ck51p-1226205367599

  27. Committee hearings, I think.

    I saw a report that Alan Joyce has declined a nice invitation to re-appear. Given ALP-Green reaction to Qantas’s grounding, he should expect a not-so-nice summons to appear.

  28. [He is the person in Labor who I would be least likely to take at his word.]
    Oh, so Albo is a liar. Your proof of this is? Anything from the past even will do.

  29. [In relation to Slipper there is no doubt he was not going to be pre-selected as there is a strong move to replace him. It was only a matter of when it happened. That’s the way the party works and Abbott had virtually no chance of stopping that.
    ]

    Dave

    With what was at stake Abbott and his front bench should have insisted that moves to sack Slipper (Hockey has said this morning that was about to happen anyway – was Hockey lying?) be faulted there and then. The Libs can’t have it both ways – either Slipper was about to be sacked or Abbott should have exerted his influence to retain him. Which was it? They can’t credibly maintain that both actions were happening simultaneously.

  31. Gary for starters saying Abbott always says no is spin based on the fact the Coalition has supported 87% of the legislation passed by the government.

  33. Tom I don’t agree Abbott should interfere in local members selecting their candidates. I know it is done all the time however I disagree with it strongly. Real democracy is about local people electing their local member. Once the faceless men get involved it weakens the democratic process. It’s one of the shortcomings about party politics.

  34. DavidWH: Abbott always SAYS no. And he does.

    The fact that, ultimately, he supports legislation in the parliament (or is not there for the final vote, or slept through it or whatever) means nothing other than he is a Grade-A hypocrite.

    It remains that in his public utterances either outside of QT or outside of Parliament altogether – the sort your average Joe Punter is likely to see on the news – he always says no. It is almost a knee-jerk reaction to everything the government says or does.

    That is not spin, that is fact; easily verifiable.

  35. [I’m not really sure what people expected Abbott to do to interfere in what was a local dispute over pre-selection]

    Especially since Brough was a good mate on Intervention and dancing to Noel Pearson’s tunes. Brough is one sure vote for ‘killing’ Q’s Wild River legislation.

  36. [Gary for starters saying Abbott always says no is spin based on the fact the Coalition has supported 87% of the legislation passed by the government.]
    On the very important legislation Abbott hasn’t said ‘yes’ once. So is ‘spin’ lying or just exaggeration?

  37. […the Coalition has supported 87% of the legislation passed by the government.]

    Obviously they are happy with the job that the Gillard Government doing so there would be no need for anybody to vote for the opposition at the next election.

  39. So the confirmation of the details of the sequence of events from yesterday morning definitively proves that Hockey lied through his teeth in denying that the LOTO had offered Rob Oakeshott the Speaker’s job.

    http://www.theage.com.au/national/oakeshott-falls-just-short-of-the-big-chair-20111124-1nxbh.html#ixzz1efowzV6v

    I won’t be holding my breath for the fearless seekers after truth in the Press Gallery to be asking Mr Hockey a few questions about his statements, but what possible excuse can Joe give to get himself out from under the steaming pile of shit he just poured on his own head?

  41. Gary the Opposition is there to oppose the legislation they don’t support particularly when they have a valid belief the government doesn’t have a mandate to introduce the legislation. Regardless of whether you call it spin, exaggeration or a lie it has the effect of deceiving people.

  44. [Gary the Opposition is there to oppose the legislation they don’t support particularly when they have a valid belief the government doesn’t have a mandate to introduce the legislation. Regardless of whether you call it spin, exaggeration or a lie it has the effect of deceiving people.]
    If you applied such strict rules to all politicians you wouldn’t trust any of them or vote for any of them. I’m assuming you vote for one side or the other.

  45. [He is the person in Labor who I would be least likely to take at his word]

    But then, David, you do take Opposition members at their word and spin their spin. ‘Nuff said.

  46. Gary I am in no doubt that our politicians use spin to deceive us all the time and that neither side is any better or worse than the other when it comes to using political spin. You don’t have a choice you either vote for one of the other or waste your vote.

  50. [You don’t have a choice you either vote for one of the other or waste your vote.]
    So all you are doing David is choosing your poison, like we all are. It just has to come down to bias then which cup of poison you choose to feast on.

Comments are closed.

Comments Page 28 of 30
1 … 27 28 29 30