The electorate of Fremantle covers Perth’s coastal southern suburbs from North Fremantle south to Henderson. It extends only a short distance eastwards along the southern bank of the Swan River to Bicton, Liberal-voting riverfront territory beyond being accommodated by Tangney, while going deep inland as far as Jandakot and Banjup further to the south. Liberal support is strongest along the riverfront, in the Jandakot/Banjup area, and in recently developed Port Coogee south of the city. The Greens polled between 25% and 30% in the Fremantle city booths in 2010, reflecting a strength of support that allowed Adele Carles to win the state seat for the party at a by-election in April 2009. However, their competitiveness in the federal seat is curtailed by the more traditionally working-class complexion of the suburbs further south.
The electorate of Fremantle has existed in name since federation, with the entirety of the Perth metropolitan area being divided between it and Perth until parliament was expanded in 1949. Only then did the port city and its surrounds sufficiently dominate the seat to allow Labor to secure its hold. John Curtin became the member in 1928 after unseating independent incumbent William Watson, who recovered it at the 1931 election as the candidate of the United Australia Party. Curtin was back for the long haul in 1934 and succeeded Jim Scullin as Labor leader the following year, although he survived in Fremantle by only 641 votes at the 1940 election.
After leading the country through the sharp end of the war years, Curtin became only the second prime minister to die in office in July 1945. Fremantle was retained for Labor at the ensuing by-election by Kim Beazley Senior and remained a home for high-profile Labor figures thereafter: Keating government Treasurer John Dawkins succeeded Beazley upon his retirement in 1977, and former Premier Carmen Lawrence in turn assumed the seat when Dawkins quit in 1994. Fremantle was the only WA seat left standing for Labor after the twin disasters of 1975 and 1977, but it was overtaken by Perth as Labor’s strongest seat in WA at the 2010 election, by which time the statewide tide to the Liberals had worn the margin in Fremantle down to 5.7%.
Fremantle has been held since Carmen Lawrence’s retirement in 2007 by Melissa Parke, a former United Nations human rights lawyer factionally aligned with the Left. Parke has thus far been overlooked for promotion, but made headlines over the past term after criticising the government’s “Malaysia solution” and decision to resume live cattle exports to Indonesia. As one report put it, Parke was “widely believed” to have voted for Kevin Rudd when he challenged for the leadership in February 2012.
Guytaur
Didn’t hear that.
Thanks for posting to me civily coz I’m despised here you know.
I feel a bit less stressed.
Cheerio. Going to start a 5 hour lamb roast for Mrs Rosemour and moi which we’ll have later with a frash raspberry relish and steamed kale with pistachio nuts and tahini dressing!
Yowsa!…..and a Devil’s Corner Pinot. (which incidently was Gough’s favortite wine back in 2003. Probably no wine for him these days.)
Stay well y’all.
Thanks again Guy!
[He has been horrid. I am starting to think that Abbott has not been looking so well lately, due to the fact that the chickens are now coming home to roost!!]
I think so too. But bugger the chickens. It’s more likely something like this –
Or maybe even this.
Socrates@57
A bit harsh on MYKI as I have been using it since it first became available and it works flawlessly for me with the exception of a card failure which may have been due to mechanical damage. So MYKI is working and will work even better as soon as the old Metcard is shut down and it’s associated junk equipment removed.
MYKI is also planned to operate not just in Melbourne, but also in regional centres.
I don’t know where you get your information from but I suggest you ignore the professional whingers.
The commercial arrangements are a different matter and there is a stench of corruption still hanging over them.
The ALP has belatedly discovered the importance of Public Transport and has drawn inspiration from Sydney commencing a program to remove level crossings back in the 1920s. Unfortunately, they see this as a long term program. It shouldn’t be. Too many opportunities have been missed in the past from a false sense of economy.
It is indeed strange how all the funding difficulties seem to evaporate if it is a new freeway being considered.
leone
LOL!!!
[The ALP have only delivered 4 surplus budgets in the last half century….no-one will be surprised if they do not deliver one next year.]
The last half century conveniently drops out the Republican (Pres Eisenhower) war-induced-deficit triggered financial crisis of 1960-2 aka the Credit Squeeze as it does the huge 1960s commodities boom.
Also missing is the “inconvenient truth” of the number of years each party held power, and whether that era was all, or in part, boom and/or bust.
Dec 1962-72: 10 years of Lib-Country coalition: boom 60s, significant inflationary boom 71-2
Dec 72-75: 3 years ALP: Darwin cyclone, 1st Oil Crisis -> recession – a financial crisis Australia handled better than US (Republican Pres Nixon) and UK (Tory PM Heath)
Dec 75-5/3/83: 7y 3m Lib-Country: 2nd term – 2nd Oil Crisis/ Howard as Treasurer; 3rd term – last year drought -> Reagan (Republican) US recession; in real terms, worst Budget deficit ever in Oz History (Aug 82-March 83), highest interest rates in Oz history.
March 83-M 96: 13 ys ALP: 1st government in Oz history to retire national debt by paying off loans with highest interest; widespread Industry Restructuring; “Greed is Good” era ->2nd Wall Street Crash (1987 – Reagan GOP President); Gulf War & post-war recession 1991-3 (Bush GOP President); Clinton (Dem) President Inaug Jan 93; Oz economy: Keating 1992-5 highest per capita growth rate since 1960s (& higher than Howard Government’s) & lowest inflation since 1960s Ref Figure 1 & 3 http://inside.org.au/the-howard-impact/
March 1996- Nov 2007: 11+ years L-NP government: Asian financial crisis (1997-8); dotcom, 9/11, Asian Flu (2000-2002) crises; A$ crashes (>US50c) improving export earnings; 1st Mining Boom; rising inflation, rising interest rates
Nov 2007- (still in power Dec 2013): 5y ALP gov: GFC March 2008 – (continuing): Stats at ABS.
So: LC/NP in power c28 years; ALP in power c22 years. Do the maths on economic capability!
BTW, Worst Oz Economic Stats ever that Fraser/ Howard didn’t “win” – inc inflation at 22% – are claimed by the 1st Menzies Gov (Lib-CP).
NOTE: since Dec 1962 Australia’s economy has always fared worse under a US Republican Government – although a closer check of history of incumbent or recently retired US Pres shows the same pattern … all the way back to the 1890s.
There’s a really killer ad campaign for the government in these stats. Which are known by some but not by the great unwashed.
One to challenge the myth of coalition competence.
@jasonball88: Pride v prejudice: AFL shows flag http://t.co/c5lhCvtZ via @theage #AFLpride #winning
190
guytaur
[Ah thanks. For that people should have an admin and user account. Only use the Admin when making changes to settings.
Activate the log in screen for both accounts rather than just have it on.]
All true, and important, but not particularly relevant to this issue, which is that WDE doesn’t protect your data once you are logged in. Only protects it when the comp is off (or nobody has logged in yet).
rosemour
exactly what my dear disabled pensioner is doing with his leaflets – his latest was on why we ran up a debt during the GFC and why we’re now aiming for a surplus.
Which I’m sure he’s out letterboxing right now.
@leigh_howard: So Westboro BC is to picket the Newtown primary school. These people are the warts on the ass end of society. http://t.co/ZbK76PvN
Words fail.
Zoomster from last topic:
[So it’s interesting to note that twitter (by and large) is doing exactly that; passing around stories about individual acts of heroism amongst the victims, mourning the innocents, and demanding action to prevent it happening again.]
That’s my impression too. I must admit to choking up a litle when I saw that teacher speak of shutting the kids in a cupboard and telling them all that she loved them, on the basis that it might be the last thing they heard.
I’d love that woman in my workplace.
@vexnews: Elections for Liberal Party’s state exec have wiped party’s hard right from any NSW position of power http://t.co/LyIeuZQA #auspol #nswpol
billie@68
You obviously need stronger glasses. It is quite legible and there are also audible and light codes to indicate low balance.
Ummmm well maybe that is because it does not know what fare to deduct until you have completed your journey.
Fare is deducted when you touch off at completion of journey and it happens immediately.
For the truly paranoid, you can have an anonymous card.
Not in my area of IT expertise and I would be interested in a comment from Musrum or Dario on this.
Wasn’t aware of this, but not surprised. Australia contributes mightily to the development of the Indian IT skills base while many of our IT workforce languishes, IT enrolments plummet and politicians pretend to be surprised.
Which company is that and what do you have against the Swiss? I think most contenders for that contract would be local arms of multi-nationals.
@beneltham: Abbott’s office claims the release was sent at 9.17am. But this ABC AM radio article quotes the release at 8.07am. http://t.co/EGdNIbCj
Lots of tweets on this by Mr Eltham. The sorties stuff we have heard before. This AM one is new to me though.
we all seem more positive today that this will be handled well by our gov.
do not understand the attitiude of those labor people here that do not want this going to the final end and reckoning
of those involved
i want watch any thing about the usa terrible terrible
because of the american attitude to these weapons
how many times have the rest of the world wondered why they dont at least make an attempt to change them
that was about the only legacy i can actuly remember of jwh
i still know exactly where i was and what i was doing when i first heard about PA
———————————————————
happy note just finished putting Suffolk puff on little granddaughters dress and ribbon embroidery roses on bodice, so cannot bear to think what christmas will be like for the parent in the u s,
dog keeps taking the ribbon so i have to give him attention
Sortius not sorties. Seems to be a habitual typo that I do not see in preview.
a dorian grey figure perhpas
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-14/dempster-corruption-allegations-at-the-heart-of-the-alp/4426510
[Eddie Obeid: power beyond the premier
By ABC’s Quentin Dempster
Updated Sat Dec 15, 2012 2:28pm AEDT
During the previous NSW Labor Government, the chain of power didn’t end with the premier. Quentin Dempster chronicles the history of New South Wales’s Independent Commission Against Corruption and investigates the allegations that go to the heart of Labor and the role of powerbroker Eddie Obeid over the past 40 years.]
Good article goes into some details about the ICAC process, expresses some scepticism about it all.
my say
It is very sad for those families in the US.
Btw you asked earlier re new media being part of the Press Gallery. I am not sure of the make up of the Canberra Press Gallery
Some good info and links here, it shoots down Samantha Maiden’s (and others) claim that Slipper was not cleared of the sexual harassment allegations.
[Ross Bowler @BowlerBarrister
Slipper satisfied the heavy onus on him @esseeeayeenn @lynlinking Court satisfied no merit in claims of Ashby (See paras [197] – [199])]
https://twitter.com/BowlerBarrister
@Mvetustissima: Thanks @Colvinius, online transcript refers to Abbott’s press release one hour before he now says that it was written http://t.co/INVwdmLF
yes i am very grateful to john howard having the gun laws tighten here in aust and dont beleive it was political
i think he was very sincere about it
yes i am very grateful to john howard having the gun laws tighten here in aust and dont beleive it was political
i think he was very sincere about it
guytaur
Abbott cant keep his story straight, because he is lying
victoria
i have no knowledge of journalists from the inderpendant or vex news or globial mail
ever going to a news conference
but why not, surley thats the next step they should take
and say outloud where they are from,
so people can here is other media not old media
victoria
Yes and now proven. Good attack to be mounted as to reasons why an inquiry is needed. Cuts the political bias and revenge theme away.
[beneltham Abbott’s office began drafting a media release about the Ashby court action before the story was published. How did Abbott’s office know?]
[It seems that a radio report by Adam Harvey was broadcast a full hour before documents were claimed to have been created by Abbott. #auspol]
Peter van Onselen @vanOnselenP
My column in today’s Sunday Telegraph….on just how grubby Australian politics got this year. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/the-election-year-looks-as-set-to-be-as-politically-grubby-as-2012-has-been/story-e6frezz0-1226537522236 … ]
Andrew Elder @awelder @vanOnselenP What role did you play in that? What did you do to alleviate it? ]
fiona – yesterday morning when I asked if you were driving back I was just going to post ‘have a safe trip’ when the phone rang. I thought you’d be on your way by the time I posted again so didn’t do it.
I’m so glad you’re safe. You thinking about how kind others were says a lot about you. You are one brave cookie.
Joe6p is right about Christmas driving. We have to brave the highway to get anywhere and it is crazy over the holiday period. My heart is always in my mouth and it absolutely pounds every time one of our kids/grandkids gets on the road to drive here. It is the one drawback in living rurally.
BTW Joe6p – you are a fantastic boss to keep the blokes safe over Christmas/New Year. Hope they and their families appreciate it.
My father was a church elder, a Sunday school teacher and the mildest of mild men.
He had a pistol, which he kept securely locked in a safe at all times, only bringing it out when he was going to the rifle range.
He got drunk. Once.
My mother told me to find the car keys and hide them, so he didn’t drive off. (I was his favorite, so she thought I was safest).
I found them in the ignition. I didn’t know much about cars (I was 15) so I was having a bit of trouble working out how to get them out.
Dad came out of the house, pointed his pistol at me and told me to leave them alone or he’d shoot.
I had no doubt that he meant it.
He was a lovely man. He adored me. But alcohol utterly utterly changed him.
He would have passed almost any character test you put before him – unless he was drunk at the time.
(Don’t get too worried about me; I lack a basic sense of danger, so I wasn’t afraid. And I knew it wasn’t my ‘real’ Dad threatening me. It’s just a cautionary tale…)
If proof were ever needed that Tony Abbott can’t lie straight in bed: http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2012/s3482606.htm
I also note from the transcript of that AM episode, that Uncle Arthur Sinodinos was on hand for an interview and up to speed on the issue.
CanJoh has such nice minions.
[SENIOR staff in the Premier’s Department tried to scrap a rule that guarantees automatic priority use of official government aircraft for emergency flights such as carrying transplant organs……….The amendments suggested by senior staff included changing the guidelines to switch the emphasis from emergency and other community needs to meeting the travel commitments of the Premier, Governor and ministers. ]
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/captain-campbell-baulks-at-bid-to-hijack-donor-flights/story-e6freoof-1226537581334
“@McNultyDean: Coalition whip Warren Entsch admits he knew about plan to get slipper before story broke. Big story on pg 29 of the Sunday mail. Pass it on.”
BH,
Not brave, just very thankful! Also, I must emphasise that the traffic was light and far from crazy – thank goodness, otherwise there might have been real trouble and not just for me.
Zoomster,
[It’s just a cautionary tale…]
You were one brave girl, and are one brave lady.
Morning Bludgers Fiona – good to hear that you are ok after your fright. It’s a dreadful drive IMO: I’ve always felt that I could do it in a day (or even on a Friday afternoon and evening when I used to live in Canberra). But it’s a long, long way and these days when I have to do it, I tend to thing “bugger the expense” and break for the night somewhere along the way. Especially if I have children in the car with me.
Sorry about the length of what I’ve written below, but perhaps some of you might find it intersting.
Interesting debate earlier about Americans and guns. The interesting writer to read on this is the now sadly deceased Joe Bageant: some of his stuff is online or can be found in a couple of terrific books.
Bageant, who grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia, writes about a prevailing Scottish mentality (often via Ulster) in the former smallholding areas of the old south (and in parts of the north and mid-west too).
This view of the world, which we all find quite endearing in modern Scottish people, views kings, presidents, legislatures and government agencies (including the police) as institutions that can all collectively F- off and leave the poor subsistence farmer alone to provide for his wife and children by growing stuff and hunting!!
In the heyday of smallholder farming in the US up to WWII, the family gun collection was as important (or even more important) than the horse or, later, the motor vehicle. Horses and motor vehicles could be shared with neighbours, but a man needed a gun to hunt and provide protein for his family and, most importantly, to defend them from criminals and other varmints that might descend upon them (including from nearby families with whom his family was sporadically at war across generations).
Subsistence farming in the US is virtually finished nowadays, and the descendants of the subsistence farmers moved into the burgeoning cities of the south, south-west, mid-west and California. But the subsistence farmer mentality remains. Its key tenets include: all aspects of government (with the exception of the military, in which it is an honour to serve) are only out to interfere in your life and do you harm. It is the duty of a man (it’s a pretty macho culture still) must work himself to a point of exhaustion to support his family: if he can’t find a job or gets too sick to work, that’s his fault not that of society at large. The most he should expect in that situation is charitable help from his neighbours: he should not go looking for help from the government. This sort of thinking underpins, among other things, the hatred for Obama’s health care plan among an element of the population that, all things considered, was more likely than not to benefit from it.
In this mental universe, protection of oneself and one’s family remains one’s own responsiblity, not that of the government or the police force. So you’ve gotta have a lot of guns with which to deal with those lowlifes and pesky varmints (especially of the African-American variety). Guns are still needed for hunting as well: declining employment opportunities for the unskilled and the lousy social welfare system in the US mean that large numbers of poor whites in rural areas and small towns still hunt for their food.
It’s easy to scoff at all of this. Despite the continuing efforts of Australian politicians and government officials for the best part of 200 years, we never managed to create a large group of rural smallholders. The population of Australia has always been too small to support such an industry: even such small farming has taken place in the wheat-belt and in irrigated areas across the Murray Basin has been predominantly for export (wheat, dried fruits, etc.) Most farming in Australia has always been a big business, and those sorts of farmers don’t feel an emotional attachment to their weapons: to them, a gun is just another piece of farming equipment.
The economic conditions that created the US gun culture have largely gone. Right now, we have the gun industry fuelling it and fanning it as much as they can. But it will eventually fade away: probably in a few decades.
I’m afraid that, until that fading away of the old smallholder culture occurs, nobody is going to be able to do anything much about it: no matter how many kindergarten children are massacred. It seems to me that a lot of US politicians are literally too frightened to act. If they do anything, they know that sooner or later some lunatic gun owner will take a shot at them or their families, or their pets.
The political balance is slowly shifting. Once, a lot of rusted-on Democrats were gun lovers. But this group has gradually drifted across to the Republican side. This will help in the longer term, because I believe it will ultimately be the right of politics who can do something about guns (as John Howard did in Australia, and as also happened for a while in the US in the wake of the Reagan shooting in the early 1980s).
I wish I could be more optimistic about this issue, but it has almost seemed to me that the hardest thing in the world to change is the way people perceive themselves. For the American men who love guns, telling them they have to give up their guns is like telling them that they are going to be prevented from being good husbands and fathers to their kids. It looks crazy to us, but there it is.
BH
Thanks for that. I had a very bad experience with one of my drivers over a holiday period years ago and i never wish to go through that again. They work hard and are good to me over the year so they deserve to spend Xmas with their families without them worrying about work.
I do the runs that absolutely have to get done so all works out. Though my wife thinks I,m a hypocrite for driving over the holidays.
So all that sleuthing and analysing of meta data and conversion of old files and the whole time there was a simple transcript of a radio program just sitting there with the evidence. Abbott lied.
In a segment at 8.07 a.m. we have this remark –
[ELIZABETH JACKSON: The Federal Opposition has called for the Prime Minister to stand down the Parliamentary Speaker Peter Slipper after allegations today that he sexually harassed a young male staffer and misused taxpayer-funded Cabcharges.
In a statement issues this morning the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, said it was “incumbent on the Prime Minister to require him to stand aside until the matters were concluded before the courts”.]
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2012/s3482606.htm
Clearly the Abbott press release was issued well before 8a.m. that morning.
http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=827045
[Entsch admission extraordinary- Albanese
Updated: 11:32, Sunday December 16, 2012
An admission by coalition whip Warren Entsch that he knew about the allegations of sexual harassment against MP Peter Slipper before the news broke raises further questions about the coalition’s involvement, Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese says.]
[ If drivers don’t have to slow down for towns, many are tempted to skip necessary rest breaks (here I am referring specifically to non-professional drivers). The police and towies are already observing an increase in nasty high-speed private m/v accidents on the newly-opened bypasses of Tarcutta and Woomargama.]
fiona – when we first came here 32 years ago, the trip took 5 hours from Sydney. As the highway improved a little the trip took 4 hours but this area was the scene of most of the accidents.
It seems that 4 hours is the horror time for drivers who refuse to stop every 2 hours.
Each time the highway was further improved the accidents moved up the road but always to the 4 hour mark.
We are now 3 hours from Sydney and rarely see a fatal accident but the 4-5 hour mark is still the horror area.
[Clearly the Abbott press release was issued well before 8a.m. that morning.]
AM actually airs at 7am on RN Breakfast. So the coalition ‘statement’ must’ve been issued before then.
guytaur
I read a bit further in that article you linked and found this –
[Abbott’s memoir may be knockout
OPPOSITION leader Tony Abbott obviously remembers his time as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford fondly, judging by his recollections in a speech at the university on Friday.
After arriving at the university in 1981, Mr Abbott went on to become the successful heavyweight in the annual varsity boxing match. After knocking out his opponent in just 45 seconds, he was snidely told: “What could you expect when we import gorillas from the colonies?”]
confessions
Better and better.
http://tinyurl.com/bsh2kd8 (click google link – must read)
[Labor seizes on Slipper case revelation
by: Lanai Vasek
From: The Australian
December 16, 2012 10:27AM
LABOR is waiting for legal advice before it decides whether to call an inquiry into the sexual harassment case against former speaker Peter Slipper, amid revelations chief Coalition whip Warren Entsch knew about the allegations before they emerged in the media.
Leader of the House Anthony Albanese said it was extraordinary that Mr Entsch was aware of the harassment allegations by James Ashby before they appeared in the press.
…………..
Mr Entsch’s confirmation comes after it emerged time stamps on the press release from Mr Abbott’s office about the case were dated at 11pm, the night prior to the story’s appearance in the media.
The Opposition Leader’s office has said there was a problem with the computer the press release was generated on and the statement was not drawn up until Saturday morning when the matter was revealed in News Limited tabloids.]
leone@237 Well of course Abbott’s press release was issued earlier!! The interesting thing about all of this is why Abbott chose to lie about it. It is quite commonplace for one side of politics to be tipped off by journalists about a story about the other side that is about to break. Abbott just could have said vaguely that some journo or other tipped off his staff about it the night before. It would have been almost impossible to disprove such a statement.
Instead, he and his office chose to come up with the good old “blame the IT” excuse. What a lousy piece of thinking: even if was true, not many people are going to believe it.
Of course, one strongly suspects that the truth is that many on the Liberal side of politics (not necessarily Abbott himself) had known about it for weeks and weeks. They are nervous about this coming out, and hence the lie about the IT. Perhaps they feel they’ve gotten away with it for now. We’ll see.
joe6p – I appreciate your treatment even more because we, originally from SA, used to travel back every year for Christmas while parents were alive. We did this for 15 years.
Each Christmas Eve we saw a big truck accident and my first thoughts were always that some family was going to be home on tenterhooks waiting for that driver.
I give trucks every bit of room they need on the highway. I need their goods delivered intact and they need to get home safely.
Altho I do admit to swearing and cussing like a navvy every time one of the sillier sods tailgated me down the highway while I was driving home from the office.
leone
[After knocking out his opponent in just 45 seconds, he was snidely told: “What could you expect when we import gorillas from the colonies?”]
Silly toff chap .A gorilla is an ape not a :monkey: .
meha baba:
Abbott’s office can’t say they were tipped off the night before because Abbott has specifically said he wasn’t aware of the allegations until they were made public the next morning.
meher baba
That is precisely the point. Why did Abbott feel the need to lie? He said that the first he and his coalition MPs knew about the claim was reading the papers on Saturday morning. He obviously knew well before Saturday, and hence his attempt at pleading ignorance.
[We’ve had a PM accuse an Opposition Leader of being a misogynist, which before dictionaries began changing the definition of the word meant a hatred of women.]
Unmitigated bullshit from Peter van Onselen so he can attack P.M. as being ‘just as bad’. His prescriptivist Dictionary meaning of ‘misogyny’ had shifted well before Gillard speech and she never actually called a misogynist, directly, anyway.