Scullin covers suburbs at the northern edge of Melbourne including Thomastown, Epping and Mill Park, from which it extends eastwards beyond the Plenty River to semi-rural outskirts and further suburban territory around Diamond Creek, a somewhat stronger area for the Liberals. The electorate traces its origins back to the seat of Darebin, which was created in 1949 to accommodate the area from Reservoir south to Preston. A seat bearing the name of Scullin existed in Melbourne’s inner north from 1955 until 1969, at which point it was abolished and the name reassigned. The newly renamed electorate of Scullin continued to cover the area immediately south of its present location, which was accommodated by Burke in the west and Diamond Valley in the east. Epping and Thomastown were absorbed by Scullin when Diamond Valley was abolished with the expansion of parliament in 1984, at which time Scullin continued to cover suburban territory around Hadfield further to the west, while the Diamond Valley area remained in McEwen. The electorate assumed its present character when the former area was exchanged for the latter with the redistribution that took effect at the 1996 election. Scullin as it has existed since 1969 has been held at all times by Labor, by margins ranging from 7.0% in 1977 to 27.6% in 1984. The current margin is 14.3%, following a 6.2% swing against Labor at the election in September.
Despite the dramatic changes in the territory it has covered, Scullin maintained continuity of representation in being held firstly by Harry Jenkins Senior from 1969 to 1986, and then by his son Harry Jenkins Junior up until the recent election. The elder Jenkins had been the state member for Reservoir from 1961 to 1969, and served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from the election of the Hawke government in 1983 until his appointment as ambassador to Spain in December 1985. His son then emerged as a compromise preselection winner after a tussle within the locally dominant Socialist Left faction, which took place against the backdrop of the events which led to its controversial figurehead Bill Hartley being expelled from the party. Jenkins faced a preselection challenge ahead of the 2007 election after the Right and hard Left reached a deal in which the latter was to back Bill Shorten’s move against factional independent Bob Sercombe in Maribyrnong, with the former to support youthful party operative Nathan Murphy in Scullin. This fell through after Sercombe agreed to go quietly, relieving pressure on Right members to fall in behind the contentious deal in support of Murphy, who has since entered state politics as a member for the upper house region of Northern Metropolitan.
Jenkins followed his father’s footsteps still further when he took on the position of Speaker after the election of the Rudd government in 2007. The Labor leadership hoped to improve their precarious position on the floor of parliament after the 2010 election by having Jenkins make way for an independent or Coalition defector, but this could not be effected until Liberal member Peter Slipper agreed to take on the position in November 2011, which proved to be a poisoned chalice for all concerned. Jenkins insisted he had abandoned the position of his own accord as he wished to resume participating in policy debate. He announced his intention to bow out of politics after serving out his term the following July. With the seat remaining a prize of the Socialist Left, there was no reported opposition to the preselection of the state faction’s secretary Andrew Giles, a Slater & Gordon lawyer and former adviser to state MPs Gavin Jennings and Lily D’Ambrosio.
“@tim_chr: Bill Shorten says the government is “hiding behind the military” at press conferences. #insiders”
It is interesting to see how the ‘adults’ are buggering up Labor’s asylum seeker policies.
Boerwar:
I’m glad I didn’t watch then.
[One could almost mount an argument of hackery in the contrast there, couldn’t one?]
‘One’ could do whatever ‘One’ likes.
It makes f$ck all difference.
“@QandA: MT @ABC_NewsRadio: SA government warned to prepare for departure of Holden operations as early as 2016 http://t.co/Q9okE3rdJh #QandA #auspol”
g
Howard politicised the military by including them in the Intervention.
Abbott politicised the military by including them in Operation Sovereign Borders and arranging for them to look like idiots on a weekly basis.
This is, quite simply, bad policy.
The Abbott Government should stop buggering up the military in this fashion.
Cassidy seems a bit grumpy.
Shorten doing an excellent job on Insiders. Excellent.
Sounds like rorts are going to be used by Labor in QT.
Boerwar
This guy has given the best description of typhoon Haiyan winds.
[”It was like standing behind a jet engine,” Manuel Roxas, the Interior and Local Government secretary, told DZMM radio ]
[Cassidy seems a bit grumpy.]
Shorten avoiding all his gotcha attempts.
I think we should have a media inquiry to review the bias media criticism of the government.
poroti
The good thing was that the Philipphines authorities have had a lot of practice at minimising the human toll of typhoons. The bad thing is that there is so much poverty that makeshift homes tend to blow away at the first big wind. Hundreds of thousands of people will be homeless and, just as crtically, without work.
The consequences of Haiyan are awful.
r
Absolutely. Bring it on.
r
I think there should be an enquiry into all the secrets the Government is hiding from the Australian taxpayer.
They promised us more accountability and transparency and the bastards lied through their teeth then and are lying through their teeth now.
Dear me, now ripping apart the coalition’s hysteria on the budget. Where was this before the election?
confessions
Exactement.
Insiders absolutely trashing the Coalition’s various lies about the budget.
[They promised us more accountability and transparency and the bastards lied through their teeth then and are lying through their teeth now.]
Don’t get to worked up, you have a decade to last of this government. The missing government is refreshing compared to the song and dance show Labor dished out every single day in the media.
[rummel
Posted Sunday, November 10, 2013 at 9:26 am | PERMALINK
I think we should have a media inquiry to review the bias media criticism of the government.]
I think LNP criticism is allowed, it was only when the ALP was in government that the media was not supposed to be critical! 😉
Shorten needs to use more direct language – too much waffle.
[66
confessions
Posted Sunday, November 10, 2013 at 9:30 am | PERMALINK
Dear me, now ripping apart the coalition’s hysteria on the budget. Where was this before the election?]
Labor had its self on the front page getting rightfully criticised every day.
Abbott’s Government is a shambles.
They are squabbling about climate change.
They are squabbling about destroyng the car industry.
They are destroying our Indonesian relationship.
They are squabbling about flogging off graincorp.
They are squabbling about what to do about the live trade governance.
They are squabbling about the PPL.
[Mod Lib
Posted Sunday, November 10, 2013 at 9:34 am | PERMALINK
rummel
Posted Sunday, November 10, 2013 at 9:26 am | PERMALINK
I think we should have a media inquiry to review the bias media criticism of the government.
I think LNP criticism is allowed, it was only when the ALP was in government that the media was not supposed to be critical! ]
I know. team left do the whinging bias thing really well. Playing victim while in government did not work out to well for Labor though 🙂
Boerwar:
This is indeed a very woeful government.
Insiders now smashing the Government on their inept handling of Indonesian senstivities and the long term damage this will do to Australia’s interests.
ML why don’t you discuss policy rather than trying to put down people on here? Is there any danger of this happening?
Mod Lib
For the last three years the press has focused on trivia, we now have this.
Atkins pointing out that Abbott has managed to do all this damage with SBY, who is very friendly to Australia.
What is going to happen after the Indonesian elections?
[I think we should have a media inquiry to review the bias media criticism of the government.]
The Indonesians have already had a media inquiry.
They’ve decided that what Tony Abbott doesn’t have the guts to say to their faces, he gets his pals in the Murdoch media and shock-jock radio to say for him.
It’s the only inquiry that matters.
Gary
ML and rummel are following Bolt’s line: attack the messengers, snark them, do the unicorn.
What they are avoiding is talking about the Government’s failures.
They are clever, in a kindergarden troll sort of way.
Bill Shorton cam across as a man who can string two words together.
Why did Labor spy on Indonesia?
Replay of Morrison making an utter fool of himself by ridiculing journalists on a point in which he was wrong in fact.
What an idiot.
Why did the Howard and Abbott governments spy on Indonesia?
Insiders panel is snippy about how they are treated by the new govt.
I’m sorry, but the writing was on the wall before the election that this would happen. Why couldn’t they see it then?
Rex Douglas
True, Shorten did not use endless repetitions of inane three word slogans…
ML
All of this was known before the election. Labor Greens and to some extent Palmer warned. Media failed the Australian people
[What they are avoiding is talking about the Government’s failures.
They are clever, in a kindergarden troll sort of way.]
Hahahahahaaha
Where was this Boarwar during Gillards term lol.
LOL Atkins forgets who the Defence Minister is.
Johnston is forgettable.
Abbott is the Prime Minister. He is failing.
Fran 10
Agreed. Also, if they were really serious about stopping rorting (which they are not) there should be some definition of the primary purpose of a meeting. You can always find some slender justification for work in most meetings if you are a politician. But if you spend two minutes talking politics and seventy eight minutes watching footy, you are not working.
So pay back the money Barnaby, you unethical creep.
Have a good day all.
The bias of News Corp with their determination to suppress Abbotts utter capitulation on his turn-back-the-boat rhetoric is not surprising.
Credibility = zero.
Rex
au contraire – Shorten had a couple of instantly tweetable lines there.
He was obviously nervous, and that’s to be expected at present, but he was calm and measured.
More importantly, he was able to stay on track when Cassidy tried to divert him, and fielded these gotcha attempts without being rude.
Pot and kettle.
Abbott going on about self-glorification via press conference. It’s a bad thing, apparently.
Haha. Bishop calling Natalegawa a ‘friend’. What a hoot! How arrogant.
Boerwar
A more jingoistic Indon president would have a field day using Abbott, Mesma and Scoot to stir up the locals. So much material to work with.
Boerwar
By all accounts if General (whose name escapes me) wins the presidency next year, he will not be as understanding as SBY has been to date
[91
Boerwar
Posted Sunday, November 10, 2013 at 9:43 am | PERMALINK
Abbott is the Prime Minister. He is failing.]
After the last two Labor PM’s, I will acknowledge Labor supporters as subject matter experts in this area.
Abbott’s Government is also squabbling about their rort’s rules. The snouters in the Government are squealing about even marginal changes to their access to snouting taxpayers money.