Petrie covers a narrow strip of Brisbane’s northern suburbs from Carseldine north to Burpengary. This includes three distinct areas: at the centre, the Redcliffe Peninsula; further north along the coast, Deception Bay and the developing suburb of North Lakes; and, on the southern side of Pine River which separates the Moreton Bay local government area from Brisbane, the suburbs of Bracken Ridge, Fitzgibbon and Carseldine. The redistribution before the 2010 election added the Deception Bay area (previously in Longman) and transferred coastal suburbs at the southern end to Lilley, which boosted the Labor margin by 2.1%.
The electorate was created with the enlargement of parliament in 1949 and held consistently by the Liberals until 1983, barring a surprise defeat in 1961. It again changed hands from Labor to Liberal in 1984 and back again in 1987. Gary Johns held the seat for Labor for the next three terms, until the Queensland Labor wipeout of 1996 powered a 9.8% swing to Liberal candidate Teresa Gambaro. Gambaro’s margin was reduced to 0.8% when the elastic snapped back to Labor by 7.5% in 1998, but she was strengthened by successive swings of 2.7% in 2001 and 4.4% in 2004. Gambaro had a 7.9% buffer going into the 2007 election, but it was not enough to save her from a 9.5% swing to Labor’s Yvette D’Ath, who had previously been an official with the Right faction Australian Workers Union. Gambaro was back at the 2010 election, when she unseated Labor’s Arch Bevis in Brisbane.
A Liberal National Party preselection last weekend was won by Luke Howarth, managing director of Sandgate Pest Control and a past candidate for the state seat of Sandgate (which is actually located over the boundary in Lilley). Howarth prevailed out of a preselection field of 10, of whom the presumed front-runner had been John Connolly, former Wallabies coach and unsuccessful state candidate for Nicklin, who had the endorsement of John Howard.
[BB #170
I’m not a Shorten man either.
The next leader may not even be in the Parliament at the moment. 😉 ]
Shorten seems… distracted… somehow, as if his heart’s not in it. He doesn’t give the impression of living and breathing politics like the glorious Julia.
Mr Shorten has done excellent work on disability policies. That is the sort of rubber-hits-the-road stuff that I like from a prime minister.
Anyone interested there is an excellent free app for iPhones & iPads for Aussie Olympic schedule and results. Just search for Australian Olympics.
I’m not a fan of Bill Shorten either. He reminds me of a sad sack. PMs need verve.
Topic of the moment with State tories sacking people left right and centre.
Charts of change in the number US Federal Employees during the first term of recent Presidents –
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/07/spot-the-socialists/
Yep – not a Shorten for PM supporter either. He has lots of qualities but the “X” factor is missing for me.
But then I was a Big Kimbo fan and shows how poor my picking ability is.
I did not think Peacock or Snedden had it years ago either. Same applies to Hewson.
Strangely, I suppose, one looks for that vague notion of “gravitas” or as it used to be described in that old BBC programme Rumpole – “bottom”.
I thought Rudd had it and I think Smith may have it.
Abbott certainly does not while I think Turnbull does.
Whether this gets them any closer to anything I have not a clue.
My prediction is that future Labor leadership will be based in the Southern States (Vic, SA & Tas) and the Coalition leaders the North (NSW & QLD) and WA
C@tmomma
That is an awful story and I trust your Mum is well.
I had wonderful care in the public system which was where the ambos took me. I am thinking that dropping out of the private industry model may be the way to go. I will wait till after I see the second specialist on Wed to decide.
Bushfire Bill@201,
I am constantly amazed how JGPM is on top of every brief related to every new policy which is wheeled out. Ask her a question and she always has the answer at her fingertips. Scarily good!
Correct. Agree with you also.
[But then I was a Big Kimbo fan and shows how poor my picking ability is.]
He was a case of great suitability, bad electability. A good candidate needs both.
Where the feck did the 120 Su-30s come from bw? Your bum? 😛
MTBW
We have hospital insurance (no extras) purely because we took it out when there was an advantage to income tax. Now that we are both pensioners, I was considering dropping it, but as we live well out of city centre and the nearest public hospitals are over stressed, and OH has been having a lot of illness, I haven’t cancelled – and as I wrote earlier, the public hosp did claim the benefit (twice).
However, my mother has never had any med insurance and chooses to pay full when she needs to – she’s probably come out ahead overall. One specialist went to a lot of trouble to fit her in as a ‘free’ patient when she had a cancer operation.
My only problem with all this is an ethical one. If all ‘healthy’ people use the public service it gets overloaded.
MTBW,
Mum’s fine. This was a decade or so ago. 🙂
Another story relates to my late husband who has Leukaemia. Our GP sent him to one of the State’s top specialists. She was so nice she bulk-billed all his visits. Another friend of ours also was diagnosed with Leukaemia at about the same time. He was very wealthy and Private Health Insurance.
Guess which specialist he went to? 🙂
Of course that should have been ‘had Leukaemia’. Sigh. 🙂
Dave # 175, Brian Howe might be getting on a bit but I think he’d make a fine PM!
Paul Howe(s)
Good call CM. The election he lost was a hard one to bear. He would have made a good PM I thought – despite Costello claiming he had no ticker – which of course, proved to be one of life’s ironies in that Costello did not have the balls, let alone the ticker, to challenge when he should have.
I suspect the Libs might just have won with Costello in 2007 but by then they were blinded by the so-called invincibility of Howard.
One hopes they are on track to make exactly the same mistake again with Abbott.
I will lay a small wager that if and when JG leaves the Labor leadership her successor is likely to be a male from the South East part of Oz.
lizzie @ 213
The major irritant to me are those that go to Emergency with nothing more than a headache or other minor issue that most would just take care of at home.
I would add to that those that call an ambulance when it is totally unnecessary. They should cop a bill to reward their stupidity.
the blue light indicates a joke was intended, Dave
@Fran Barlow 198
I recently had a discussion with someone from Mexico about what they think of the drug wars going on.
His arguments were reasonable – locking people up over possessing drugs had the result of putting a person who was simply addicted to narcotics into close contact with professional hardcore criminals that would most likely change their lives and help to turn them into hardcore criminals as well, and would have a bad effect on the rest of society when they’re released.
While I do think that narcotics abuse is terrible, I also have troubles thinking that maybe the legal system here may be overreacting to it.
On the other hand, my grandmother was a nurse, and she also told me that she had to treat people who were in drug-induced comas and other side effects. Her opinion is that if they stay illegal, then most of society would also stay away from them.
I have a hard time trying to come to terms with a solution to this problem.
Why the agro against Shorten?
He did the hard yards, behind the scenes, to get an NDIS on the political radar. Without him I doubt anyone would know what it is.
If Australian voters managed to vote in Howie four times, I’m sure they could manage to vote in Shorten.
ruawake @ 222
I didn’t comment earlier, but his mother-in-law is a major impediment in the short term.
Beyond that, issues of character and trust arise.
I acknowledge his ability.
Newmanmust hate Anna Bligh for measuring Hospital benchmarks.
Nearly 20% reduction in elective surgery due to Newman.
rua
I agree. I reckon if the disability sector wasn’t so hard up for cash, they would commission of statue of Shorten.
And what the smurf is this ‘gravitas’, ‘verve’, ‘x-factor’ or other bulldust that PMs are supposed to have these days?
What is this, MasterPoliticalChefGotTalentHomeReno?
MM – I had and have no problem with your post.
Just corrected my mis-spelling 🙂
rua
Not against the man at all, but you know we all have gut reactions – and mine – and obviously others here – are not impressed with Shorten.
That does not mean he could not be and should not be PM.
However, I would have thought his real time is about a term or two away yet.
His family connections will, of course, be again subject to scrutiny but in say 6 years this will not matter.
Of the younger brigade he seems okay but I am sure there are others with the baton in their knapsack who have not declared.
See, if I were to make a choice between say Smith and Shorten I would go for Smith. Not that Shorten is no good, just that I think Smith would be better.
I think Smith has “gravitas”.
Well I’m going to do the Canberra ten kg fun run with my mates to fund raise money. We are going to do it in full firefighting gear and boots.
Donations can be made at http://www.everydayhero.com.au/marcus_kershaw_8
rua
From my point of view he does not do humble well. He cannot take any criticism either. He is full of himself and does not impress.
The London streets look an absolute picture in the cycling road race.
rummell
Good on you! I might just use that link you provided.
MTBW
Glad you’re getting looked after.
I wouldn’t expect anything else with our health system
But to think Casablanca is worth re-watching, regardless of the definition,
is beyond the pale.
It wasn’t that good.
In fact, it was pretty stupid by today;s standards.
Talk about living in the past.
Puff, if you can’t recognise it, you don’t believe it exists.
Just like fairy dust – some are sprinkled with it, while others are not.
In and old fashioned sense, those who are willing to be lead, quite often recognise in a leader qualities they do not have themselves.
Once it used to be called the “Great Man Theory” of history which has largely been discredited but, there are many who still believe there is an intrinsic attribute called “leadership”.
I do not necessarily subscribe to the science of this myself, but I sense there are some people who are used to leading, others to be lead and those who are lead recognise why they are being lead – and give consent – to such a person.
Well done Rummel,
I tweeted that link.
Katy has her priorities right:
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/nongovt-schools-get-broadband-promise-20120727-23082.html
ABC TV News just reporting India looking at introducing plain paper packaging for cancer sticks. They have a Million cancer related deaths per year.
Also the Poms & Kiwi’s doing the same.
Bloody Australian Labor again.
Von Kirsdarke @162
[I have Strabismus (6th Nerve palsy type), which has no known cure at the moment. I was told by my optometrist that an operation using stem cells might be able to cure it in the future.]
My sympathy…Strabismus can be very annoying. I also have it but have no idea what type. I have only just started looking into it so would be interested if you have any links to online info.
bemused
[The major irritant to me are those that go to Emergency with nothing more than a headache or other minor issue that most would just take care of at home.
I would add to that those that call an ambulance when it is totally unnecessary. They should cop a bill to reward their stupidity.]
I couldn’t agree with you more.
Unfortunately, with doctors restricting their surgery hours, and there being a shortage of doctors, people have had to resort to hospitals.
However, I think the extra funding for ‘medical centres’ may help here.
The other side of this (and here I’m showing my age and experience!) is that many people have lost the old skills of looking after themselves – the old ‘feed a cold, starve a fever sort of stuff’. Now everyone seems to want an antibiotic for most unsuitable things. Could rave on for a long time, but won’t 🙂
@238
I found that the Wikipedia page on Strabismus is really helpful in regards to what causes it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strabismus
MTBW
IMHO you are asking the wrong questions.
1) The older you get the greater the probability of break down of all body parts.
2) Waiting in the queue for “elective” surgery is no joke.
Suggest you ask some doctor to list you the most common 10 elective surgeries. As a medico he might know that. Then ask yourself which of those conditions you would be happy to live with in pain while your number in the elective queue comes up.
You might also ask the same doctor how often he accesses the public healthcare service and how often he accesses healthcare using “different” channels. Judge his answers by his actions, not his words.
The very last person I would seek advice from re health insurance is a doctor. The vast majority of them and their family go to a doctor of their choice (friend, colleague, someone in wider medical network) and rarely to a public hospital/doctor so their personal experience in paying for health care is minimal/different to the public’s.
And very few doctors have a clue about how their brethren in other surgeries, practices or specialties charge.
I have had 9 ops since 1999 all in a private hospital and 7 of them by the same excellent surgeon. My insurance covers all her costs. At times she uses various anaesthetists and in a general conversation recently she was surprised to learn that the one she chooses to use when possible, charges very highly and insurance never covers it.
I have had friends and rels wait many months in pain for “elective” surgery ….. Eyes, hips, knees, psychiatrists, stents, etc. Just this year my brother had to wait 6 months to see a specialist and have a tumor on his lips diagnosed. I have direct knowledge of friends / relatives waiting months for all the services I have listed.
I am an aficionado of Socrates, who said “if you have questions about training horses, ask a horse trainer, not a horse rider”.
Bemused at 224
Normally I read your posts and get a laugh as others rightly (but in vain) try to instil some common sense in you.
But your post at 224 is real shite.
Seriously, it’s about time you blokes stepped up to the plate.
You’re either with us, or agin us.
Stop with your bullshit swmbos, your lip-service.
If your personal experience tells you women are weak, so be it.
Say it out loud.
The women who post on here aren’t your swmbos
We have experience, we have led households, we do know what we’re talking about.
Some try to coddle, some don’t.
If you want to take refuge in those who think you should still be treated as “mummy’s boys” then keep posting the way you do.
If, on the other hand, you want to be treated as equals, then start sticking up for principles, like “all men should be treated equally”, rather than the pathetic let’s treat the fairer sex differently.
That doesn’t mean you can’t protect us, it means you care about us more if you tell the truth.
FCS, we’re big girls now. We can take it.
[Boerwar
Posted Saturday, July 28, 2012 at 6:45 pm | Permalink
…
The Greens are going to have to massage their policy measures significantly to meet at least one of them: ‘A balanced budget over the business cycle’.]
Whatever.
Bemused ought to take solice as far as the Gillard support blindness and delusion they group at this place are as worst as it gets and nowhere near representative of the population, who are nowhere near as stupid.
preview use is recommended.
fredn
I think you just proved Boer’s point…
Partial blackout here- probably branch blown off & hit power lines (strong SW gusts). Disconnected TVs, fridge etc. Eerie half-light. 4 Hrs laptop battery left.
Off to see what my fave “Occupy (often live streaming)/ music (lots) / Scandinavian & German & other cop shows (with English sub-titles) You Tube uploader Jaded Music Fan has that I haven’t seen. Has the Swedish Wallander + The Bridge (Swedish/ Danish police thriller, with BBC Eng sub-titles – good).
@ http://www.youtube.com/user/JadedMusicFan if you’re interested.
Recommended for days in bed with nasty viruses!
Just for the record, who do we blame or praise if our Olympic team does crap/well?
Lundy is Sports minister now, but Arbib and Kate Ellis have been as well.
I think the kudos should go to Kate if we do well and we dump on Arbib if it all goes to sh!t and we lose badly to the Poms.
Is that fair?
psyclaw @ 242
I agree 100% with you on this one.