The recruitment of Peter Beattie to run for Labor in the crucial marginal seat of Forde was without question yesterday’s play of the day. However, Beattie will be far from the only Labor newcomer should his bid succeed, the weeks before the election announcement having seen an avalanche of preselection action as Labor scrambled to cover an exodus of senior figures in safe seats. In turn:
Kingsford Smith: Peter Garrett will be succeeded as Labor’s candidate by Senator Matt Thistlethwaite, who had a 136-105 victory in a local ballot held last month over Tony Bowen, Randwick mayor and son of Hawke-era deputy prime minister Lionel Bowen. Thistlethwaite first aspired to the seat when previous member Laurie Brereton retired at the 2004 election, at which time he was vice-president of the state branch of the Australian Workers Union. However, he was frozen out by then leader Mark Latham’s insistence that the seat go to Garrett. Thistlethwaite went on to serve as the party’s state secretary and convenor of the Right faction from 2008 until he was eased out of both roles with the promise of a Senate berth in 2010, having ruffled feathers by backing then Premier Nathan Rees in his determination to choose his own cabinet (which Rees used to dump Right potentate Joe Tripodi, together with the now notorious Mineral and Forest Resources Minister Ian Macdonald) and throwing his support behind Environment Minister Frank Sartor to replace Rees as Premier rather than Kristina Keneally. His Senate seat was secured in relatively bloodless fashion when incumbent Michael Forshaw chose not to contest the 2010 election, although this resulted in Graeme Wedderburn, who has been Bob Carr’s chief-of-staff both as Premier and Foreign Minister, being denied the seat promised him when he was lured from the private sector to serve as chief-of-staff to Rees.
New South Wales Senate: Matt Thistlethwaite’s Senate vacancy will now go to his successor as state secretary, Sam Dastyari, who today hands over the reins in that position to the erstwhile assistant state secretary, Jamie Clements.
Charlton: Greg Combet’s successor in the Hunter region seat is his deputy chief of staff, former Australian Metal Workers Union official Pat Conroy, who easily won a local preselection ballot with 57 out of 90 votes. Conroy’s path was smoothed by the late withdrawal of Daniel Wallace, a Lake Macquarie councillor and Australian Manufacturing Workers Union organiser said to have had strong support locally. Wallace reportedly faced pressure from factional leaders concerned about his two convictions for assault. An earlier withdrawal had been Sonia Hornery, member for the corresponding state seat of Wallsend. The three unsuccessful candidates who saw out the process were Joshua Brown, a Muswellbrook Council policy officer and former staffer to Combet’s predecessor Kelly Hoare; Marcus Mariani, assistant director at the Department of Defence; and Chris Osborne, a local party activities. Mark Coultan of The Australian reported rumours that “key factional players• wanted the local preselection process to be overridden to impose the party’s assistant national secretary, Nick Martin, a Left faction member who unsuccessfully sought preselection for the ACT seat of Fraser before the 2010 election.
Rankin: In a rebuff to Kevin Rudd, the preselection to replace Craig Emerson was won by Jim Chalmers, former chief-of-staff to Wayne Swan, ahead of his favoured candidate Brett Raguse, who held Forde for Labor from 2007 to 2010. A ballot of local branch members reportedly ended in a 74-74 tie, which rendered decisive a 36-14 majority for Chalmers among the electoral college of union delegates which determined 50% of the final result. The preselection caused a split between the two main right unions, the Australian Workers Union having supported Chalmers and the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association backing Raguse, and also within the Left, with the Electrical Trades Union backing Raguse but the rest supporting Chalmers.
Hotham: Simon Crean will be succeeded as Labor candidate in Hotham by Geoff Lake, a Minter Ellison lawyer and former Municipal Association of Victoria president who shares Crean’s association with the National Union Workers. Lake won the preselection ahead of Rosemary Barker, a disability worker with the Office of the Public Advocate, winning firstly the local party ballot 252-117 and then the public office selection committee vote 41-22 (with each accounting for 50% of the final total). Lake’s win was partly down to a split between Right potentates Bill Shorten and Stephen Conroy, who had long been the pillars of a “stability pact” with the Socialist Left from which the NUW had been frozen out. Tensions between Shorten and Conroy emerged during the preselection to replace Nicola Roxon in Gellibrand, in which Conroy failed to support the Shorten-backed Kimberley Kitching, and inflamed considerably when Shorten decisively defected to the Kevin Rudd camp. The Left pleaded that the split made adherence to the stability pact a practical impossibility and abstained from the vote. John Ferguson of The Australian reports that a further layer of complexity was added by the fact that Lake and Barker had respectively had success in courting support from the local Cambodian and Vietnamese communities, in the former case with help from state Clayton MP Hong Lim.
Lalor: The candidate Julia Gillard backed to succeed her in her western Melbourne electorate, Moonee Ponds Primary School principal Joanne Ryan, emerged an easy winner after her stronger opponents fell by the wayside prior to the vote. The Australian reported that factional and gender balance considerations meant the seat was always likely to go to a woman from the Right, early contenders in that mould including Kimberley Kitching and Lisa Clutterham, who respectively had the support of erstwhile allies Bill Shorten and Stephen Conroy. Clutterham withdrew after a disastrous radio interview with the ABC’s Jon Faine, in which she appeared stumped as to how to finesse her obvious lack of connection to the electorate, while Kitching pulled out and threw her support behind Ryan. Kitching had reportedly won support to seek the number three position on the Senate ticket instead, but here too she ended up falling short (more on which below). Yet another withdrawal was Sandra Willis, the daughter of Keating government Treasurer Ralph Willis. Facing only low-key opposition from two local party members, Andrew Crook of Crikey reported that Ryan ended up securing 74 votes out of 88 in the local party ballot and all but one of the 100 votes from the public office seleection committee.
Victorian Senate: The number three candidate on Labor’s Victorian Senate ticket will be Mehmet Tillem, Turkish-born electorate officer to Senator Stephen Conroy, who won 37 votes from the public office selection committee to 25 for the aforementioned Kimberley Kitching, a former Melbourne City councillor, current Health Services Union No. 1 branch acting general manager, and the wife of controversial former VexNews blogger Andrew Landeryou. The result was another rebuff for Kitching and her backer Bill Shorten following unsuccessful tilts at the Gellibrand and Lalor preselections. As had been the case in Hotham, the Socialist Left abstained from the vote on the grounds that the Shorten-Conroy split meant the Right had failed to fill its end of the “stability pact” bargain. Tillem will at the very least serve out the remainder of Feeney’s Senate term, which expires in the middle of next year, although his prospects for extending his tenure beyond that by winning a third Senate seat for Labor at the election appear slim (hence Feeney’s determination to abandon the spot for a move to the lower house).
we could ask him or just keep tweeting jones
can u imagine the abc lot allowing that
Rosemour or Less
Are you drunk?
Please stop with the deliberately repeated posts.
bbp – Poor Harold!
A better thought than the very much more likely.
Psephos
[Yes but Rudd surrendered all these arguments by admitting responsibility and apologising. It’s too late to walk that back now]
Darn right. Utter stupidity. It hit me at the time because I had just had to do an occupational health and safety course which included much study of the legislation. Read that and the Coalition’s sacred small business’ involved in the deaths were bang to rights when it came to responsibility.
blackburnpseph
Posted Friday, August 9, 2013 at 7:15 pm | Permalink
AA
Drive safely and enjoy your dinner.
———————————————————-
roast pork belly…all that healthy crackle….yum….
well it s great that mr Watson is coming at this time
mmm
we will soon find out notice he has not given a date
good on him I wouldn’t tell them either
DARN
2 k means thousand had to as that question my self some time ago I thought it was kilometres but is money
[ROSEMOUR]
Is this person a Lib supporter posing as a incessant Labor concern troll? Not that I read its posts anymore.
Poroti 739 – on the racist bus …it has inspired some inspired photoshopping …I posted this earlier this week …
http://futiledemocracy.wordpress.com/2013/07/29/trolling-racist-van/
[How do lacklustre candidates like Jaymes Diaz so consistently get pre-selected by the NSW branch of the Liberal Party? Former Party insider Father Kevin Lee answers this question by showing us the seedy underbelly of the NSW Libs, including the parts played by Bill Heffernan, Tony Abbott, the faceless men and women and the influential Catholic cult — Opus Dei.]
http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/politics/the-seedy-side-of-the-nsw-liberal-party/
Thanks My Say
Do you know who or what Centre put the 2k on?
661
1934pc
[ “”If the Libs think having JWH visible is a bonus they are now in panic mode.””
After the Iraq expose on Monday they will be!.]
Please, please, O Political Gods, make it so.
Howard, Abbott, and Murdoch, all being taken down in one election, would be sweet beyond words.
Iraq expose on Monday? What the Hades are you talking about?
Nite all, busy day tomorrow, aim is to letter box drop an entire division in a day with volunteers.
I just wish people would stop saying they scroll by other PBers comments, I normally when I am on read all the comments at least I know what the PBer is thinking :devil:
will someone please remove all the rhetorical booby traps and moralising trip wires that the opposition (the great oz illiberals) have set up all around this country … intra border protection of their own right to rule … a free country without the weight of almost 20 years of mosquito infested civil society
miranda your back. Abbott busy rehersing his line. what will he talk about the gospel truth? remember he aint no tech head. Lib HQ must be sweating. problem is he will be wound up so tightly the words will barely come out. he will wish he was staring out that aircraft window. must be regretting malcolm was not installed.
Time to flip and fly. See ya’ on the other side.
mari
Africa meets Scotland in Edinburgh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSmsCnPirPY
[Plus laying the blame where it belonged: with shonky installers who put profit ahead of compliance and worker safety.]
Absolutely- wasnt the government just funding the program? Do we ask governemtns to take responsibility for the screwups of other tender winners? No.
I feel very sorry for the families affected – but thats why we should be pursuing those reponsible for the negligent practices, not turning it into a political football.
Abbott’s such a douche – this reminds me of Bernie Banton all over again.
Hello Bludgers,
My very occasional posts are election related, so please don’t shoot me for my long absence.
I travel by cab every day and would like to share what I consider interesting feedback after week one of asking drivers about their patrons and views on the campaign.
There is no appetite for a change of govt. There is no visceral desire to vote the govt out, despite some media campaigning for it. The visceral dislike was for PM Gillard and it has already washed out the system. People are not desperate to vote in a Coalition govt (ie to vote Labor out) and the fact Abbott is so disliked is a big reason not to change.
There is no sense of ‘it’s time’ no matter how much some in he media want it to be. If there’s no ‘it’s time’ why would voters vote for someone they dislike when alone in he voting booth?
Hi POROTI
I was wondering where “my fixes” had gone! Thank you off to have lunch now with some of the extended family so will look
when I come back
[And a State Government electrical safety manager acknowledged his department knew the risks of metal staples but did not issue a warning until after the first death.]
Right. So nothing to do with the Federal government.
Troski 821
Thank you what you say is backed up by my brother in law who drives taxis part time
Mari. Hello. I keep missing you. I post but too late, I fear.
Come back. As I said, Australia needs YOU!
[ Right. So nothing to do with the Federal government. ]
But … but … but … Rudd apologized for it!
Troyski.
Encouraging.
Thankee.
Thomas
[Is this person a Lib supporter posing as a incessant Labor concern troll? Not that I read its posts anymore.]
Believe it or not, Rosemour is a (very) disillusioned and defeatist Labor supporter. Don’t you know? The Labor campaign is diabolical and Tony has already been sworn in.
And by the way, the constant appearance of JW Howard on the campign trail are very cheering.
That means only one thing: its close. They wouldnt be tapping him on the shoulder, and getting him to dust off the earhorn otherwise.
So Rudd did, Player One.
Duhhhh!
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/09/greens-biggest-losers-poll
The poll, taken on Thursday night, shows the Greens candidate Hall Greenland on just 22% of the primary vote, losing 4 percentage points compared with his 2010 result, when he came in second and reduced deputy prime minister Anthony Albanese’s margin to 4.2%
The poll of 966 voters shows Greenland coming third, well behind the Liberal Cedric Spencer on 28% and Albanese on 47%.
Of those polled 28% said the economy was the most important issue to them, 28% nominated leadership, 20% education, 14% asylum and 10% the carbon tax.
In a campaign in which both Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott are now trying to present their messages as “positive”, 49% of Grayndler voters thought Rudd had the most “positive” pitch, 27% nominated Abbott and only 24% Milne.
And a massive 57% of those polled said they most trusted Labor to manage the economy, with 35% saying they trusted the Liberals and only 8% trusting the Greens
—
Labor doing well on Economy.
[Absolutely- wasnt the government just funding the program? Do we ask governemtns to take responsibility for the screwups of other tender winners? No. ]
Yes but Rudd admitted responsibility, so this is all academic. Why do you think Garrett walked when Rudd was disinterred?
Crikey Whitely
Quck one before I go out, yes I am missing our conversations early morning for you and late at night forme. BUT will be home at the end of the month all ready to do “my duty” 😀
Thanks Troyski – that is a good bit of qualitative data indeed. The taxi test is much underrated.
Elevated to Brett status, Mari.
Rosemour’s right about one thing though – the ALP ad campaing isnt exactly setting the world ablaze.
What are they waiting for?
Grey.
Are you lurking at all? I owe you a prize.
The Coalition’s advertising has also been mild in tone so far. Presumably the heavy guns are coming out at the end of the campaign.
CW,
$10 to Rick Sarre in Sturt. 🙂
@William
What do you think of the polling I posted before?
lefty e
[ the ALP ad campaign isn’t exactly setting the world ablaze.]
And the Coal’s campaign has them storming the Bastille ?
[What are they waiting for?]
$10?
I’ve never heard of the pollster, so I hesitate to read anything in it. It sounds about right though.
Factual error in that Guardian piece: Hall Greenland was not the 2010 Greens candidate in Grayndler, Sam Byrne was.
Lady Miranda Ann Caulfeild Ackermann-Boltt.
Perhaps she may lay claim. Born to rule. Serfdom. Doubt that I may be influenced by her claims to infame.
Wiki.
This family website is intended as a point of reference for the collection and sharing of information about the Caulfeild family, of Anglo-Irish descent, who became Barons, Viscounts and Earls Charlemont in the Peerage of Ireland, and also Barons Charlemont in the Peerage of England, probably originating from the Calfhill family of Coedigo near Oswestry, Shropshire, England and being first heard of in Oxfordshire, England in the mid 16th Century.
This extensive family grew to command influence in Ireland, and spread to many parts of the world including Canada and Australia.
http://www.caulfeild.co.uk/
Sample size for that Grayndler poll is massive.
Lonergan are another robo-pollster. I’ve seen some other stuff they’ve done, internal and external. I wouldn’t accuse their polling of being harsh on the Greens so I suspect this poll is pretty accurate.
[Rosemour’s right about one thing though – the ALP ad campaing isnt exactly setting the world ablaze.]
Spare a thought for those of us who are not exposed to Labor adverts at all, only Liberal ads.
zoidlord
labor doing well on everything
What’s the point wasting your ad money in the first week?
There are 4 weeks to go.
Most people don’t engage until the last couple of weeks.
But one thing has emerged this week: Abbott is a lying grub.
Yeah that’s what got me stomped for that type of pollster that I never heard off.