Barton has covered Kogarah and surrounding areas on the north shore of the Georges River since its creation in 1922, currently extending north through Rockdale to Earlwood and Kingsgrove. Past members for Barton include Herbert “Doc” Evatt, who won the seat from the United Australia Party in 1940 and held it until 1958, when he moved to Hunter after close shaves in 1951 (when World War II hero Nancy Wake, running for the Liberals, came within 243 votes of victory) and 1955 (when Evatt prevailed by 226 votes). The seat nonetheless stayed with Labor until the 1966 disaster, subsequently changing hands along with government in 1975 and 1983. Gary Punch held the seat for generally narrow margins in the 1980s, but put enough fat on the margin in 1993 that his successor Robert McClelland survived the 1996 landslide.
A member of the NSW Right, McClelland held a series of senior portfolios after entering the shadow ministry in 1998 and served as Attorney-General since the election of the Rudd government. McClelland emerged as an important part of the Kevin Rudd camp during Julia Gillard’s prime ministership, an association going back to Rudd’s ascendancy over Kim Beazley in December 2006. An oblique reference by McClelland to the AWU affair in June 2012 was invoked as validating the subsequent blizzard of media interest in the matter, and was generally seen as a deliberate effort to undermine her. He had been dropped from the ministry after Rudd’s failed leadership bid the previous February, which followed two months from his demotion to emergency management and housing.
McClelland announced in January 2013 that he would bow out at the election, causing concern to Labor that the NSW government might seek to precipitate a by-election by offering him a position on the state’s Industrial Relations Commission. Reports in mid-2011 suggested McClelland was being advised to step aside to avoid a preselection stoush. It was thought the seat might provide an entry for former Premier Morris Iemma, who told the media he would not be interested if it involved “backstabbing friends”. The Iemma for Barton idea was again raised in October 2012 by Bob Carr, who speculating on the possibility that McClelland might decide to retire. When that duly came to pass in January 2013, Iemma did not emerge as a starter for the seat, encouraging the conclusion that he was not fancying Labor’s electoral prospects.
Labor will instead take the field with Steve McMahon, chief executive of the NSW Trainers Association (as in thoroughbred horses) and former mayor of Hurstville. McMahon won a local preselection ballot with 128 preselection votes against 101 for Shane O’Brien, Rockdale mayor and NSW Public Service Association assistant secretary, a former adviser to Tony Burke. McMahon reportedly had backing from Morris Iemma and state upper house MP Shaoquett Moselmane, key to votes from the Lebanese Muslim community, leading O’Brien to complain that his own support had come instead from “free-thinking individuals”. O’Brien’s opponents accused him of being a sore loser who had himself had courted the Macedonian and Greek vote. Moselmane had himself been a nominee early in the process but he quickly withdrew, amid suggestions he was merely seeking leverage to shore up his position on the upper house ticket.
The Liberal candidate is Nick Varvaris, accountant and mayor of Kogarah.
Socrates @ 48
IMOO,I get the feeling that Crean is still a trifled miffed that the PM didn’t “walk” in favour of the Rude Undesirable Despotic Dictator on the day of the vote that never happened!
Harry Larsen @berkeleyboy
Barnaby Joyce, future deputy PM says #NBN is a white elephant & trade with China, our biggest trading partner, should be banned! He’s nuts..
11:52 PM – 12 Apr 13
Can someone translate Turnbull for me? (No rudeness pls 😆 )
Malcolm Turnbull @TurnbullMalcolm 5m
@KRuddMP not correctOur plan will improve your area’s bband speeds by taking it from adsl to vdsl – most wd have 50 megs – 25 is the minimum
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/national/16629205/joyce-attacked-over-china-trade-questions/
========================================================
and this person could be your deputy pm
imagine if we did not trade with china.
[The Finnigans
Posted Saturday, April 13, 2013 at 7:45 am | Permalink
MOAR & MOAR are coming out to call Howard’s lies about Iraq War & now the lying about lying about the Iraq War – http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/former-pm-does-himself-no-credit-with-iraq-war-figleaf-20130412-2hqto.html#ixzz2QHuTmjS4]
After reading this it is hard to understand why Psephos still insists there is no evidence to show that Howard lied over WMD. How much more proof does anyone need?
victoria @ 52
“Barnaby Joyce, future deputy PM says #NBN is a white elephant & trade with China, our biggest trading partner, should be banned! He’s nuts..”
11:52 PM – 12 Apr 13
victoria,Barnaby has been inhaling too many cowpats.
this is I think where the great tweet came from .
that Victoria posted.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/national/16629205/joyce-attacked-over-china-trade-questions/
grassmower
what a great addition you are here
great to see we need more bods like you
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bwcr0IedooGmQjR2UFM2SEpuNW8/view?sle=true
grass mower you may enjoy this I thought it was worth reposting from last night
thank you lizzie
‘Scool, Dan. You can use my Real Name if you like.
Dave
[You probably have read, ‘First to Damascus’]
I haven’t read it but have now added it my ‘to do’. Thanks.
I’m about as ignorant on the WW1 period as I am on any other period!
I blame the Gillard Gov’ment gold plated NBN roll out for this.
http://www.news.com.au/world-news/huge-landslide-shuts-kennecott-utah-coppers-bingham-canyon-mine/story-fndir2ev-1226619124124
Crean hartcher relevance deprivation front page.
Okay Simon we get it – you’re th wrecker can you just STFU
[Labor’s NBN also requires 60,000 street cabinets, but they are shorter and about half the width of the cabinets required under the Coalition plan. Unlike the Coalition’s cabinets, Labor’s do not require]
power.http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/nbn-street-cabinets-hideous-20130411-2hoka.html
Morning Bludgers – I thought Labor’s NBN only required a few hundred cabinets. Is this bloke right that Conroy needs 60,000?
The cabinets are small. They are so small that there is a version of them that can be buried underground, much as a Telstra pit is underground nowadays.
Cabinets will always be bigger under a Coalition government.
Dio I see that Pyne left Nelson Mandela off his list. He probably agrees with Howard and Thatcher that Mandela was a terrorist.
Geoff Gallop on ABC24 is fabulous.
Why don’t we hear more from ex Labor MPs like him instead of the odious Richo?
“” The truth is labor can win, but it would require a massive meltdown by the LNP to happen really soon.””
Don’t worry, Abbott will do a Hewson or Latham p
[Morning Bludgers – I thought Labor’s NBN only required a few hundred cabinets. Is this bloke right that Conroy needs 60,000?]
In short, yes.
Divide the number of premises to connect by 200 and you get the number of FDH cabinets required.
http://www.nbnco.com.au/blog/why-the-nbn-is-like-an-onion.html
[Finally, within each FSAM, there are Fibre Distribution Hubs (FDHs), which are cabinets about 1m high on the nature strip beside footpaths and which connect directly to around 200 premises. Individual fibre-optic cables run from the FDH cabinet to each premise through the pipes currently used for phone cables.]
Thanks BB – but will 60,000 be the number. I read somewhere else that it was only hundreds but can’t find the link now.
Crean’s ravings left me scratching my head.
It seems as if he’s gone troppo. Hankering for the old days of Hawke-Keating, telling Gillard she’s not doing enough on NDIS and Gonski, no vision for the future etc. etc.
He wants another Acord.
Difference is that then, in the 80s, a much larger percentage of the workforce was unionized, and could be broadly controlled and committed to consensus by its leadership.
Much smaller percentage today, ironically partly as a result of Hawke-Keating.
Crean is becoming the Mad Uncle of Labor and someone ought to say it out loud before he does any more damage.
The number of cabinets is somewhere on the NBN web site.
This site has more info about the implementation of the NBN:
http://nbnexplained.org/wordpress/what-will-it-deliver/implementation-overview/
[Crean is becoming the Mad Uncle of Labor and someone ought to say it out loud before he does any more damage.]
Seems that way. The talk of him being Father of the Party has gone to his head. Anyway fathers usually look after their family, not try to destroy it from within.
I thought Latham might have gone a bit far in his article this week but seems he didn’t go far enough. Hawkie should haul Crean into line. 1982-96 was a different beast – no Opposition to speak of, no 24/7 media cycle and Murdoch was not set against the Govt. for most of that time.
Thanks Mithrandir – will check it out now.
Guess who all the marginal seat holders want in their electorates for the upcoming election?
You may have to hold your noses.
Crean is becoming the Mad Uncle of Labor and someone ought to say it out loud before he does any more damage.
Bushfire Bill put that on Twitter it has really been a retweeting hit good on you
About 60,000 cabinets that look like stretched refrigerators will be installed on footpaths under the Coalition’s national broadband network, bringing criticism from urban designers.
But opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull said he had learned from the ”British experience” where Londoners complained about bulky green cabinets blighting their neighbourhoods.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/government-it/nbn-street-cabinets-hideous-20130411-2hoka.html#ixzz2QIdd3Y8h
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nervous-peace-so-kevin-rudd-can-campaign/story-e6freuy9-1226619422213
Nervous peace so Kevin Rudd can campaign
SIMON BENSON
The Daily Telegraph
April 13, 2013 12:00AM
LABOR Party bosses have sanctioned the return of Kevin Rudd to help with the party’s re-election campaign in a deal which will see the former PM traverse the country on flying visits to marginal seats.
Two weeks after the aborted leadership coup, a peace deal is believed to have been struck between the Labor Party national secretariat and Mr Rudd in a recognition by the party that Mr Rudd’s popularity could be a key weapon in helping save marginal seats.
BH
[Dio I see that Pyne left Nelson Mandela off his list. He probably agrees with Howard and Thatcher that Mandela was a terrorist.]
Yes, that was one of the difference I noticed. Pyne had Woodrow Wilson, Hirohito, the Queen and two Popes as well when Butler left them out.
[Guess who all the marginal seat holders want in their electorates for the upcoming election?]
If it means THLV is actually working FOR the interests of the Labor govt instead of against its interests, then why should people have hold their noses?
This is nothing less than what Labor members like me have been demanding all along.
[LABOR Party bosses have sanctioned the return of Kevin Rudd to help with the party’s re-election campaign in a deal which will see the former PM traverse the country on flying visits to marginal seats.
]
I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures but that looks very risky to me. I can see Rudd campaigning in Qld but travelling the country in presidential campaign style is quite another thing.
Dio:
Given there will be a by-election in Griffith post election, I wonder if this is a kind of farewell tour for him? 😀
Dio I think Butler could have included the Queen. I’m not a monarchist even tho I should be with my family ancestry, but I think Liz2 has been a steadying influence within the Commonwealth and beyond.
She had a bad patch with the way Diana was used as fodder but all in all the Queen has been a figure of importance for 60 years.
I think the craziness over Crean this morning is overblown.
The dynamics behind the split in the ALP (between those who want to embrace the base and those who want to embrace the middle) have been set in stone since at least mid 2011. The only difference now is that the genie was let out of the bottle with the call for the spill and the ministerial resignations.
Had this little fella appear over the road yesterday.
Awww, such a cute little fella there, unlike it’s much bigger power hungry battery wasting FTTN counterpart –
Notice the No of batteries the FTTN will require!.
When is Black Caviar going to race against some actual horses, instead of clothe-horses?
Sorry, someone had to say it.
Excepting the English race, of course.
[I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures ]
Diog,it’s no MOAR desperate than you trying to pretend you’re not a Tree Surgeon but a lowly Vet. I pity the animals
Batteries, did someone say batteries? In cabinets in the street? So when Mr or Ms ‘I need a new battery for the old Holden’ need a new battery for the old Holden…
F v F.
Popcorn.
The Finnigins is winning so far.
MTBW@76
Julia Gillard? 👿
I man F vs D.
victoria@79
Oh that’s nice!
They engage Rudd to do all the heavy lifting in the campaign because the PM is incapable of doing it.
[The dynamics behind the split in the ALP (between those who want to embrace the base and those who want to embrace the middle)]
Looks more like a generational change to me. You’ve got the old guard has-beens whose power and authority has been usurped, and their sense of entitlement dismissed in favour of a new generation. Of course the old brigade are pushing back against it all – nobody likes to admit their time and their glory days are behind them.
FACTs #NBN Vs #Fraudband:
1. $37.5B Vs $30B
2. 100Mbps Vs 25Mbps
3. Last 100y Vs 10y
4. Last mile $0 Vs $5K
5. This http://twitpic.com/ciwycs/full
BH@84
My views on the Queen have shifted remarkably in her favour since I read how she showed her displeasure at Margaret Thatcher during the miners strikes by not offering her a chair during their regular meetings.
We may have a bit of a lefty Monarch! 😀
Flipper Boy
The advantage of me graduating from tree surgeon to vet is that I am now licensed to perform that frontal lobotomy on you that your wife has been asking me about.
Diog, my wife gets my frontal lobotomy free of charge. last time i check she was in ecstasy 😛
Diogenes@98
Presumably you could also euthanize. 👿