Two further additions to the already voluminous Labor retirements list since my last preselection review:
• Greg Combet is calling it a day after two eventful terms as member for the Hunter region seat of Charlton. Mentioned as possible successors are Pat Conroy, whose background as a staffer to Combet, George Campbell and Anthony Albanese, and as an official with the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and CFMEU, is detailed in The Australian; Daniel Wallace, a local organiser with the AMWU; and Sonia Hornery, who represents the local area in the state parliament as member for Wallsend.
• Simon Crean is calling it a day after 23 years as member for the south-eastern Melbourne seat of Hotham. Michelle Grattan in The Conversation reports the seat is effectively reserved for the Right, with Bracks government adviser Rosemary Barker spruiking backing from factional figurehead Stephen Conroy as well as a base of support from the Australian Workers Union. Also mentioned is Geoff Lake, a Minter Ellison lawyer and former Australian Local Government Association who shares Crean’s association with the National Union Workers.
Another two vacancies have been resolved:
• David Feeney has emerged victorious in the contest to succeed Martin Ferguson in Batman, after defeating Left candidate Mary-Anne Thomas by 383 votes to 247 in the local party ballot on Sunday. The matter was to be settled the following evening when the state party’s public office selection committee to determine its 50% share of the overall vote, but Thomas rendered this a formality by withdrawing.
• Alannah MacTiernan, senior Gallop/Carpenter state government minister and more recently the mayor of Vincent, is now confirmed as Labor’s candidate to succeed Stephen Smith in Perth after two other mooted contenders – Tim Hammond, a barrister who ran unsuccessfully in Swan at the 2010 election, and Matthew Keogh, a lawyer with Freehills – chose not to nominate.
And some developments in two further preselection races:
• Tony Bowen, mayor of Randwick and son of Hawke era deputy prime minister Lionel Bowen, has emerged as a second candidate for the preselection to succeed Peter Garrett in Kingsford Smith. Bowen says he has nominated despite being told “in no uncertain terms” not to run by the state party’s head office, which is evidently very keen on the candidacy of Senator Matt Thistlethwaite.
• The preselection for Craig Emerson’s southern Brisbane seat of Rankin looms as a contest between Brett Raguse, who won the outer Brisbane seat of Forde in 2007 before joining Labor’s Queensland casualty list in 2010 (and who claims the support of Kevin Rudd), and Jim Chalmers, a former chief of staff to Wayne Swan.
The NSW intervention doesn’t do it so far – not when these blokes aren’t enthusiastic. All the office bearers and systems stay. From AFR:
“Asked if the changes would stop the rise to power of a figure like Mr Obeid, long-term internal critic Rodney Cavalier said: “The answer is they don’t.”
…
“In a telling silence, party elder and NSW senator John Faulkner declined to comment on the changes.”
[Ratsars
Posted Friday, July 5, 2013 at 8:34 am | PERMALINK
lizzie RE
Wow, ABC got something right at last?
David Kindon @dakindon 11m
@BreakfastNews re the home insulation program – The number of fires/100,000 installs PRE HIP was 47.3 and 13.9 during the Program.
Do you have a authoritative reference for that?]
Possum Pollytics shows the calculations to arrive at a short-term pre-HIP 47.3 fires per 100,000 versus post-HIP 13.9.
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/2011/04/24/the-csiro-gets-hip-to-debunking-media-hysteria/
Meguire Bob
Posted Friday, July 5, 2013 at 8:22 am | Permalink
The pro coalition media still hasnt change still needs to find propaganda to protect its man abbott
I notice morrison and J.Bishop were sprung lying about indonesia
——————————————————–
Is that they were caught again with another lie or still pushing ahead with the same lie??
zoomster
[…and then we have the rewriting of history by the Ruddistas on this site who somehow believe that Rudd’s removal was all about factions.]
I would’n’t call Piping Shrike a person in search of a messiah of either gender. Everything in the extract posted by Adrian accords with my own knowledge and analysis.
Of course it was factional in 2010; the split has really been about that all along – not who the leader is.
Mary Crooks, who wrote the full-page ad praising Julia Gillard, is on Faine right now. She said it cost about $100k to put it in today’s papers.
j.v.
and your own knowledge and analysis has shown dismal knowledge of the party in the past.
I’m glad to see, though, that you’re starting to recognise the NSW intervention for the sham it is.
If the ALP loses this year it can count itself very unlucky indeed: the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd Government will have exactly encompassed the second-biggest crash and world recession in history followed by the slowest, most difficult recovery, writes Alan Kohler.
The incoming Australian Government will inherit the best economic conditions for a generation: the lowest ever interest rates, a falling exchange rate and a recovering global economy, led by the United States.
The pink batts thing is a dead political issue.
In the West today a small article headed “Coroner condemns batts haste……….” says it all.
The significant line is… “It was the haste etc etc……….” which resulted, from a long line of those involved in the sad deaths of four people.
It is interesting in early news today that one set of lawyers were looking to the Commonwealth and the State of Queensland to cough up compensation but “due to the fact that the contractors and sub-contractors are no longer in business, many of them gone broke” (and what does this say about them?)….and that there would be very little hope of compensation in any event.
This legal vulture was talking in terms of ex gratia payments instead. He opined that “the life of a 16 year old is not worth much” – meaning, of course, in terms of expected compensation.
The legal group for some of the other families are actually hoping to get compensation from a firm, that while it has gone broke, has insurance and therefore they were aiming at some $350K I think he said.
Apart from the “blood on your hands” screech from Lady McBeth, Bishop J, and attempts as “gotchas” here from Rudd deniers here, where else can this go now?
Rudd has apologised to the families – correctly. He has not apologised for the scheme – correctly.
Morning all.
Nice to see that Grand Admiral Rudd has apologized to all Labor matelots for mistakenly whipping Lt Garrett on the pink batts gratings.
Well, then, the thoroughly decent Garrett is just more human wreckage in the wake of the SS Ruddtanic ver 2.0.
Mike Carlton @MikeCarlton01 2 Jul
@jagungal1 The Oz is now a propaganda rag . The same opinions, wall to wall. Sad to see thatPaul Kelly has drunk the Kool Aid..
just figured it out???
As I said yesterday, Rudd was wrong to apologise and should have restricted himself to offering his and the Govts condolences to the families.
Every year, thousands of patients are killed or harmed in the health system. Should the Govt accept direct responsibility for that and apologise for funding a health system? This is absurd.
Wake up Kev!
For once I would like to see someone quote an article they don’t agree with and say how insightful, courageous, etc they think it is despite that they disagree with its conclusion :P.
zoomster
My analysis and preferred outcome for the sake of the party has come to pass. ‘Insiders’ such as yourself and Psephos were left clutching at air, spinning.
And the spin continues:
[If the government’s going to apologise for every death that occurs on a project where government money is involved, that’s going to be a full time job for the rest of eternity.]
Your analogy of road funding is a false one. By contrast the insulation program was a rushed scheme to get money into the economy as short-term stimulus. The speed of the rollout outstripped the relevant industry’s capacity to perform the sudden huge increase in the volume of work with proper OH & S safeguards.
So utterly different to ongoing longstanding funding of roads.
Of course, as Ken Henry says, the getting of the money out there quickly is what saved the economy.
[14
adrian
Best summary of the reason’s for Gillard’s demise I’ve read so far, from the Piping Shrike]
This is ridiculous.
This is another coroner’s report that demonstrates that reform of the coronial acts is well overdue.
These petty law lordlings are compltely unaccountable.
j.v.
even pseph and I acknowledged that a Rudd return was perfectly possible. We just didn’t think it was advisable.
Gillard didn’t demise. She was demised by Rudd.
j.v.
What evidence do you have that the industry was pushed into bypassing OH&S standards/training?
Regarding the insulation deaths, I agree with Bemused and others. rudd should have expressed sympathy, but not apologised, and not on behalf of the government. There is no evidence the Federal government did anything wrong, and Coroners have been wrong before.
The HIP deaths occurred in states that had disbanded their Public Works Department.
Piping shrike is an irrelevant bore: like many here, had it in for Julia from the start.
DisplayName
[What evidence do you have that the industry was pushed into bypassing OH&S standards/training?]
I didn’t say anyone ‘pushed’.
Peter Garrett does bear some responsibility.
Even if Rudd was a micro-manager who couldn’t make a decision, and that Garrett couldn’t get to see him, on an issue as important as deaths Garrett should have acted on principle and announced an immediate suspension of the program after the second death, at least.
That he would have incurred the wrath of Rudd for making a unilateral decision, the saving of two further lives would have mitigated such a principled stand.
And would have drawn Rudd’s attention to it and perhaps the realisation that his ministers really did need to consult with him on very important matters.
Morning all.
Seems we’re back to the days of not standing for anything. But when you pursue Whatever It Takes, invariably courage is usurped for popular expedience.
zoomster@56
So what do you suggest that is achievable in the short term before the election?
I am expecting more to follow if ALP wins the election.
GG
P Shrike an ‘irrelevant bore’? That’s rich.
Washington’s cherry tree has nothing on Rudd’s human scalp.
In late breaking news, Prime Minister Rudd has apologized to all Labor supporters for nearly destroy the Labor Government during the last election and also for spending three years destroying the Labor Government in order to destroy a Labor Prime Minister.
‘I set the Labor House on fire so that occupants would come running to me to save the furniture,’ admitted Rudd. ‘I used my Rudd Ratpack, ‘The Australian’, assorted vile shock jocks, and a considerable amount of misogyny as accelerants,’ he added.
As a result of Rudd’s candid admissionts, and subsequent Federal reformist intervention in the affairs of the Federal Party, it has been decided that henceforth no firefighters will be eligible for pre-selection and no self-proclaimed messiahs will be allowed to run for leadership positions.
Sarah Roberts
Posted Friday, July 5, 2013 at 9:35 am | Permalink
Peter Garrett does bear some responsibility.
Even if Rudd was a micro-manager who couldn’t make a decision, and that Garrett couldn’t get to see him, on an issue as important as deaths Garrett should have acted on principle and announced an immediate suspension of the program after the second death, at least.
That he would have incurred the wrath of Rudd for making a unilateral decision, the saving of two further lives would have mitigated such a principled stand.
And would have drawn Rudd’s attention to it and perhaps the realisation that his ministers really did need to consult with him on very important matters.
———————————————————
here we go with the “shoulda coulda woulda” review in hindsight
And this is the inevitable result:
[Matthew Fuller died after being electrocuted while working on the Federal Government’s home insulation program and, after a Queensland coroner found there was inadequate training of workers, his parents, Kevin and Christine, say they haven’t had an appropriate apology over their loss.]
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-04/parents-say-pm-didnt-apologise-for-their-sons/4800578
Boerwar@65
And as I said yesterday, most coroners lack the capacity to track a bleeding elephant through snow.
I made a submission and gave evidence to the Vic Parliamentary Law Reform Committee’s Inquiry into the Coroners’ Act a few years ago. Some minor changes were made but not enough.
In Egypt they used the Army to destroy democracy. In Australia we used Rudd and News Ltd: cheaper and more efficient.
bemused
It is nice to see that we can agree on something.
Boerwar@81
I agree with any of your posts that are rational and not hate driven.
Unfortunately they are relatively rare.
boerwar
we agree on nothing. you are like an english public school prat whom everyone like to tease and whip. noone takes your feigned moralising and fairplay seriously. you are an emissary of abbot and sound like him more and more. there’s no news like good news and you have no news
There is, of course, a main message to the pink batts death: ‘Big government is bad; small government is good.’
The very well-hidden subtext is that workplace deaths can more efficiently and effectively be left to the private sector and to the market.
And what are the stats for that? Not juxtaposed with the pink batts issues? How suprisement.
[A women’s rights group has accused Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of treachery for his treatment of predecessor Julia Gillard.
The Victorian Women’s Trust has placed full-page advertisements in a number of Australian newspapers praising Ms Gillard’s achievements and slamming both Labor and the Liberal parties for their actions over the past three years.
The statement says Mr Rudd orchestrated a treacherous “seek-and-destroy” mission against Ms Gillard, while Tony Abbott made opportunistic appeals to people’s prejudices.]
…
[It says the mainstream media failed to engage in dispassionate reporting and it accuses seasoned reporters of becoming players in an aggressive campaign of sexist and chauvinistic abuse.]
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-05/women27s-rights-group-accuses-kevin-rudd-of-treachery/4800964
Hard to disagree with the group.
memo: june 2010 was destruction of australian democracy day. and news ltd played no role in that – didn’t even guess it. get your facts right young man (and lady)
Boerwar
Posted Friday, July 5, 2013 at 9:41 am | PERMALINK
In Egypt they used the Army to destroy democracy. In Australia we used Rudd and News Ltd: cheaper and more efficient.
j.v. it’s implied by what you said.
You talk about the industry’s “capacity” and how it was “outstripped”. They were rushed by the government’s “speed”. Not by their own choice? They didn’t have time to build their capacity? So it must have been by external forces. Hence pushed.
It’s like this, if you say place a pot of money out there for me to do some work, I can do the work as fast or as slowly, taking as few or as many precautions as I like. I can build capacity as I like. If you force me to work fast, then my work may be shoddy. On the other hand, I may choose to work fast myself in order to get more from the pot of money faster. Which of the last two is it? Is the outstripping of capacity tied to my own greed or to my employer’s unreasonableness?
geoffrey, geoffrey
‘we agree on nothing. you are like an english public school prat whom everyone like to tease and whip. noone takes your feigned moralising and fairplay seriously. you are an emissary of abbot and sound like him more and more. there’s no news like good news and you have no news’
Please, please, more kindness; more gentleness.
Are we not as one now that Labor has given the Steering Wheel of State to Humility Kevvie, and the Ruddstermobile has hit the Road to Eternal Power?
[you are like an english public school prat whom everyone like to tease and whip. noone takes your feigned moralising and fairplay seriously. you are an emissary of abbot and sound like him more and more. ]
This is simply absurd. Boerwar is far more erudite and articulate than Abbott. However, for what it’s worth, you write like Barnaby Joyce speaks.
Lizzie 45
Thanks for the link. Please assure me that nobody in Labor would be stupid enough to put Kitching in as a candidate just to get more women in parliament. Never mind her HSU role, what about her past bankruptcy, and millions in Melbourne uni student union money still missing after her husband’s time as president? She would be a gift to the opposition for all the union bashing “nothing has changed” lines.
[Her husband, Andrew Landeryou, fled overseas in December just days before he was due in court to explain his role in the collapse of the Melbourne University Student Union. He allegedly moved $1 million out of Australia before fleeing. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Yesterday Ms Kitching lost possession of her two-storey $1.8 million Parkville mansion when the Victorian Supreme Court ordered that Mr Lew could take control of it to partly recoup his debt. After selling the property to repay $608,000 to the Bank of Adelaide, Mr Lew’s companies will take the balance and Ms Kitching will have nothing.]
Link for article quoted at 90
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Former-city-councillor-files-for-bankruptcy/2005/04/19/1113854199489.html
bemused
NOTHING has to be achieved before the election. If NSW branch is so dire that it does, shut it down now.
What can be done before the election is that a plan be outlined of what will be done regardless. Certainly some actions – the appointment of an independent panel to administer NSW affairs, for example, and the setting up of a review board to consult with members and come up with recommendations – could be started now.
If you are going to introduce measures NOW, they need to be meaningful.
How does banning property developers (loopy in itself) from preselection change NSW NOW? Will it see Federal candidates disendorsed? Will it lead to a mass walk out of property developers from the ranks of the Labor party, hence ending corruption overnight? Will it stop shonky deals being done by MPs who are property developers? (and if there are any MPs who are, why are they exempt from the ruling?)
I’m fairly confident in saying the answer to all of those questions is ‘no’…so it’s a pointless piece of flourishing.
We move on to disendorsing MPs who have been FOUND GUILTY (not accused of, or being investigated for) corruption.
Does that remove anyone who is in power now? Does it guarantee that no MP in the future will engage in corrupt behaviour?
Again, no.
NSW desperately needs reform. Real reform. It doesn’t need fig leafs, pretence or flourishing.
Either the situation is urgent and needs to be dealt with now – in which case, the measures adopted should be ones which would have immediate impact – or it isn’t, and an orderly process which will lead to real long term reform can be introduced.
Neither of those things are happening.
confessions
The crying shame of that is that women were forced to pay for it to be placed in ‘The Australian’. Where were the men?
Cheat and lie, destabilize, corrupt democracy and ‘The Australia’n is happy to pay you to write stuff.
Tell the truth and you have to pay.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/05/indigenous-australian-oxford-students-university?CMP=twt_gu
Aboriginal Rhodes Scholars.
Socrates @ 90
Is that the Vexnews Andrew Landeryou?
Always a lot of comment about the “pink batts”. All aimed at the Government and trying to make cheap political points.
The businesses who failed to provide proper training, ignored OHS laws and failed to adhere to the Bulding Code are the only ones to blame.
Boerwar
Yes, the same one.
Boerwar:
Very true. The media is still run by men I guess.
[Labor federal election campaigners are increasingly confident of reclaiming their one-time heartland seat of Melbourne as it becomes clear the Liberal Party intends to preference the ALP ahead of the Greens’ only House of Representative MDP, Adam Bandt.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/labor-push-on-to-reclaim-melbourne-20130704-2pev3.html#ixzz2Y7m8W41a ]
zoomster@92
Oh great! And have no structure in place to run an election campaign.
You used to have me fooled with your supposed knowledge and wisdom on campaigning and ALP matters. No more.
I will be as kind as I can be and assume it is your pain medication affecting your judgement.
Perhaps you should take a break until after your operation.
Speaking of which… I hope it is soon and all goes well.