Bordered to the north by the Murray River, the electorate of Indi covers an area of northern Victoria including Wangaratta, Benalla and the border town of Wodonga. It produced one of the biggest boilovers of the 2013 election with the defeat of cabinet minister-in-waiting Sophie Mirabella at the hands of conservative independent Cathy McGowan, whose win marked the first time since 1931 that the seat was not in the hands of one of the main coalition parties. Indi has existed without interruption since federation and only ever won by Labor in 1910, 1914, 1928 (when Labor’s Paul Jones was elected unopposed after Country Party incumbent Robert Cook forgot to nominate) and 1929, from which time it shifted decisively to the conservatives. It was thereafter fought over between the Country Party and the Liberal Party (together with its predecessor the United Australia Party), the member from 1937 to 1949 being Country Party titan John “Black Jack” McEwen, who moved to the new seat of Murray with the expansion of parliament in 1949. The Nationals last held the seat in 1977, when their incumbent Mac Holten was defeated by Liberal candidate Ewen Cameron on Labor preferences. The Nationals contested in 2001 when Cameron’s successor Lou Lieberman retired, but managed only 12.3%.
The new Liberal member in 2001 was Sophie Panopoulos, a barrister and Australians for Constititutional Monarchy activist. Panopoulos married in 2006 and assumed her husband’s surname of Mirabella. Mirabella became noted for her aggressive parliamentary style, and was promoted to shadow cabinet in the innovation, industry, science and research portfolio when Tony Abbott became leader in December 2009. McGowan’s challenge to Mirabella arose out of a local activist group called Voice for Indi, which initially declared itself set on “improving the political process in the electorate” rather than mounting an electoral challenge. The group says it resolved to field a candidate after Mirabella gave their concerns short shrift, informing them that the real concerns of her constituents aligned with her party leader’s oft-repeated soundbites.
The candidate nominated by Voice for Indi was Cathy McGowan, a rural affairs consultant and former regional councillor for the Victorian Farmers Federation who had once worked for Liberal member Ewen Cameron. With McGowan to rally behind, the organisation proved adept at fund-raising and use of social media, and it soon became apparent that it was succeeding in tapping into a perception that Mirabella was a Melburnian careerist with an insufficient connection to the local area. McGowan’s profile was further lifted when retiring New England independent Tony Windsor told the ABC’s Insiders program that the “nasty” Mirabella was the person he would least miss in politics, and that McGowan was an “excellent independent” whose campaign he might lend support.
Also lending McGowan support was Ken Jasper, who served Wangaratta and surrounding areas in state parliament for 34 years, retiring as member for Murray Valley at the 2010 election. McGowan appeared to benefit from friction between the coalition parties spilling over from the contest for Mallee, which the Liberals were seeking to win upon the retirement of Nationals member John Forrest. Reports indicated that local Nationals had been quietly told they would not face disciplinary action if they lent support to McGowan.
McGowan went on to prevail after polling 31.2% to Mirabella’s 44.7%, which was down from 51.8% in 2010. This left McGowan well clear of the Labor candidate on 11.6%, down from 28.2%, and she was narrowly able to close the primary vote gap after picking up 79% of Labor and minor party preferences.
NB: Hat tip to Ben Raue at The Tally Room, whose Google Earth maps I’m using for the electoral boundaries displayed in the map above. Raue does tremendous work on his blog and deserves donations. Note also that you can get a slightly bigger image of the above map by clicking on it.
Its not up on Wiki yet…….they don’t make geeks like they used to….
guytaur
Clean air is clearly not a fundamental need as we are living longer than ever without it.
Could it be that Craig Thomson’s replacement in Dobell, Liberal Karen McNamara has learnt from mentor Artie the “art of the bagman”?
[The electorate offices of NSW MPs Darren Webber and Chris Spence were raided by the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Friday. Mr Webber is the member for Wyong and Mr Spence for The Entrance.
The raids are believed to be linked to revelations by Fairfax Media last year that two staff members of state Energy Minister Chris Hartcher, who holds the central coast seat of Terrigal, had been referred to election funding authorities by the Liberal Party.
The Liberals alleged the pair -policy adviser Tim Koelma and Mr Hartcher’s electorate officer Ray Carter – had breached election funding laws shortly before the 2011 election. Ms McNamara was Mr Webber’s campaign manager for the 2011 campaign.
Advertisement
Fairfax Media can reveal that during her preselection interview for Dobell, Ms McNamara said that as campaign manager she had raised up to $100,000 for Mr Webber’s campaign.]
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/karen-mcnamara-dragged-into-controversy-about-political-donations-20130923-2u9kh.html#ixzz2fihZGXSR
I have been waiting for someone to argue we need to change all the fire extinguishers in the world since there is already too much carbon dioxide….
Diog
Good luck with that argument with smoking in your medical field
[An Immigration Department employee will be sacked this Friday for tweeting comments critical of immigration detention, its management and the Federal Government.
Michaela Banerji works in the communications team of the Immigration Department and says she learned to use Twitter and Facebook as part of her job.
Using the handle @LaLegale, she would often tweet comments critical of the government’s asylum seeker policy.]
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-23/canberra-public-servant-loses-court-bid-to-keep-working/4976022?section=act
Silly person. Working in the dept’s communications unit you’d think she’d be aware of comms protocol.
Questions:
1. Who is counting the ALP Leadership ballot papers?? Factional heavies?
2. Who is providing electoral scrutiny of the results? Factional warlords?
3. Who is sending out the ALP ballot papers? Union Bosses?
Without the AEC running it, it could turn into a joke.
954
Both the water and fire retardant powder fire extinguishers do not use CO2.
“@senthorun: We remunerate those working on “economic productivity” while forcing those working on climate sustainability into redundancy. UGH. #Lateline”
Good night
Also fires are so often likely to emit more CO2 than the extinguishers that put them out that it is probably a net reduction in CO2.
Mod Lib, fire extinguishers are a CO2 storage mechanism ;).
[What stops the ALP Leadership ballot being fraudulently rigged?]
Explain how it could feasibly be rigged without somebody blowing the whistle.
This is where all the loony conspiracy theories fail. They don’t explain how they’d manage to pull off a large scale operation without anybody outside knowing about it.
guytaur
There is a difference between lower levels being beneficial to health and saying lower or zero levels are fundamental to life.
One statement is correct; the other isn’t.
I have been waiting for someone to argue we need to change all the fire extinguishers in the world since there is already too much carbon dioxide….
Come on, you’re smarter than that. I never took you for a troll.
DN
We just need more fire extinguishers!
You don’t need to engage in a massive vote rigging exercise when you are a Union heavy. You just tell your Union members how they are going to vote.
Given you have to put your name on your vote as they are mailed in, you better not vote any other way, eh????? :devil:
The more fire extinguishers there are, the less CO2 there is floating around free in the atmosphere.
Greg Hunt lying – saying the Coalition is committed to the emission reduction target.
“Clean air” is a bit of a meaningless concept. Clean of what? Too much oxygen can be dangerous (explosive). Our bodies have the ability to cope with some degree of concentration of various harmful ases or particulates in the air. Coal ust is pretty dangerous for example, but not every miner dies of it. Same with smokers, though fifty percent of hem die erly.
[They don’t explain how they’d manage to pull off a large scale operation without anybody outside knowing about it.]
That’s easy. Just expand the number of people involved in the “fraud” to some arbitrarily and absurdly large number. It works for the Grumpy True Disbelievers re: AGW. 🙂
For air to be defined “clean” it has to be weightless :devil:
Clean as in “not like China” :P. All you picky picky people.
ML
And colourless and odourless. 😉
Dio, no more nice sunsets?
[This is where all the loony conspiracy theories fail. They don’t explain how they’d manage to pull off a large scale operation without anybody outside knowing about it.]
Well Eddie Obeid and Michael Williamson and his mates seem to have run some little enterprises on the side, you tell us.
[Given you have to put your name on your vote as they are mailed in, you better not vote any other way, eh?????]
Actually ML, every union postal ballot i have been involved in, you mark the paper and put it in an envelope. Then you put that in another envelope with you name on it.
The envelope with the ballot in it comes out and is put in a pile and your name is checked off.
Later, that pile of envelopes is opened and the ballots (now anonymous, but known valid) are counted.
Mod Lib
My name is on the envelope when I send in my postal vote for the Federal/State/Council elections.
Your comment is meaningless mischief making.
No more blue skies?
Anyway, our air is cleaner than it was during the industrial revolution :P.
DN
They are still allowing us to have volcanic activity so there should be some scattering. Evidently sunsets were spectacular after Krakatoa and other huge eruptions.
AA
That envelope goes to the AEC, which only Clive Palmer does not trust.
A vote going to the ALP with your name on it better have the person you were told to vote for on it…..or else! :devil:
….well, at least that is the potential threat in all of this if there is no independent agency counting the votes blindly.
Dio, enough particulate matter from volcanoes and we can cool down the earth too! How thoughtful.
imacca
I was wondering how they did it. That sounds like a good solution.
Greg Hunt banging on about Pink Batts. Plus more lies about being committed to emission reduction. No credible authority thinks Direct action will work, especially now that it,s been capped. Sending people into the bush with a song in their hearts to pant trees won’t cut it. Crab walking from Kyoto 2. Greg hunt – Minister for Lies. The denial it’s lobby has captured the Liberals. He didn’t mention Direct Action by name. Funny, there,s nothing in that plan that ruffles the feathers of the Fossil Fuel industry. It,s only tax payers’ money and they earn their profits in tax havens.
Sean, until you provide some actual proof there is some vote rigging going on, I am not going to continue this argument.
I have no interest in staying up all night discussing unsubstantiated (and, frankly, borderline defamatory) conspiracy theories.
The Coaltition are a pack of Frauds.
They have conned the public to give them thier vote, yet, they are on the wrong side of history. Just watch QandA to see what I mean
They have no ideas and will get quickly found out.
One term for Tonka Boy Tony, thats if he lasts that long
DN:
You might think I am crazy, but I was wondering whether the odd volcanoes (like the one in Iceland) that have gone off in recent years might be one of the things responsible for the lower than expected temperature rises over the last 15 years or so…
In this case, it doesn’t even matter whether Direct Action will work or not because Abbott has said whatever they reach with the funds allocated is where they stop. If he wants to spin that as commitment … well whatever.
e.g. article
imacca:
Fair enough, If the second envelope is not opened at the same time as the original outer envelope and nobody is having a steam bath during all of this, that might be OK.
Is that ALP ballots or Union ballots or are they all done the same way?
My prediction is this:
1. Albanese will win the ALP Leadership based on membership vote, despite a majority of the caucus being for Shorten
2. Albanese won’t go well in the polls.. Shorten will sit back and wait until about 1 year before the election
3. Shorten will declare the Rudd Rulz null and void because the caucus have voted with him to scrap them. He also declares that he is now the new leader because he is all about doing “whats best for the party” wank wank.
4. The GHOST of Kevin Rudd makes an appearance and whiteants his leadership every day up to the election 🙂 God I love Rudd, he’s the Gift that keeps giving
[Yesiree Bob
Posted Monday, September 23, 2013 at 11:14 pm | PERMALINK
The Coaltition are a pack of Frauds.
They have conned the public to give them thier vote,]
Denial
There is a good (balanced) article by Ross Gittins evaluating Labor in office here.
[They say history is written by the victors, and already the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd government’s many critics are busy reshaping our memory of the recent past. But, though Labor’s performance was poor in many respects, they shouldn’t lay it on too thick.
Those who claim Labor Party governance led to ”chaos” should look up the meaning of the word, while those who repeat Tony Abbott’s claim that this was ”the worst government ever” are too young to remember the Whitlam era.
What is true is that Labor’s latest incarnation was far inferior to the 13-year Hawke-Keating government. In just the term of the Howard government, Labor seemed to lose its race memory of how to govern.
Rather than blame all its troubles on the three years of Rudd-Gillard infighting, or keep telling itself its policies were good, Labor needs to reflect deeply on why its execution of policy fell so far short of the Hawke-Keating example.
…
Labor’s problem was that its appetite for increased spending on worthy causes knew no bounds but it lacked the courage to ask the electorate to pay more to cover this expansion.
We’ll see how much more courageous Abbott and Hockey prove to be.
http://www.theage.com.au/business/no-need-to-magnify-labors-failings-20130922-2u7wj.html#ixzz2filvLUgQ
I thought Rudd-Gillard started well in office, did the GFC very well, but then lost its way. Reforms like NDIS were good policy, but sorting out how they would be paid for was not well done. Long term issues like funding infrastructure remain problems. So I give Labor a B for policy (ETS and NDIS good, squibbed on economic reform and gay marriage etc so not an A) and a C for implementation. Labor did not lose because of lack of vision. It lost because of lack of selling, lack of consistency and lack of ability to deliver the details. The delays to the NBN are a case in point. Te leadership division did not help, but that was not the only problem.
[My prediction is this:]
Considering your track record with predictions, you will forgive us if we think literally anything else will happen over that scenario. Reality is not your forte.
Mod Lib 988
Yur comment about volcanoes is not crazy, but their effect normally only lasts a year or so before the dust falls back to earth. Also it varies with the geology of the volcano. If volcanos put a lot of dust/ash in the air they can make things cooler. If they put a lot of GHGs in the air they make it hotter.
The rate of volcanic activity in recent years has been pretty normal. Individual very large eruptions, e.g. Pinatubo in 1991, have lead to temporary measurable global cooling. Larger eruptions in the more distant past probably had a bigger effect, with super volcanoes leading to a ‘volcanic winter’. But vulcanism has not been an issue in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the last 200 years.
Mod, found an article that says the effects of volcanoes typically only last 2 to 3 years and there haven’t been any sufficiently big eruptions recently. It suggests other possibilities.
Anyway, given that there are cycles with periods on the order of a decade, we probably need to spend another decade observing temperatures in order to rule out short term effects and conclude that poor ‘ol CO2 has been overly maligned :P.
Ooh, 995 and 996, snap ;).
[You might think I am crazy,]
Yes, you support :monkey: 🙂
[but I was wondering whether the odd volcanoes (like the one in Iceland)]
Large eruptions are known to have an effect on global temp. Effect only persists for a couple of years i think.
[Is that ALP ballots or Union ballots or are they all done the same way? ]
Dont know. Its a very reasonable way to do it, and the way it was done in my union at least.
Evening all. Very nice night doing 3 hours of calls for Albo4leader. Main aim – make sure party members vote, however you choose between two very good candidates.
Very very strong support among my calls tonight (not from the Inner West this time!) for Albo : with equally widespread recognition of Bill Shorten’s talents and in particular respect for his huge contribution to the massively important National Disability Insurance Scheme.
These two together have more substance than the entire Tory front bench combined, even were the women included who could and should have been, beyond Tony’s new “5% is good enough” rule.
Pretty much all the ALP members tonight on the phone showed pride in what the last government achieved together, and expressed resolve that internal division shall not again give Murdoch the Subverter of Democracy and Enemy of the Planet and his minions a means of distracting the people
Discussion by some here of possible rigging of the popular vote for the ALP leadership is plain silly: even from those who can live with their party being the beneficiaries of (American) Citizen Murdoch’s efforts to subvert our democracy in his spare time, amongst his empire’s hacking dead schoolgirls’ phones and other anti-human behaviours