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| Teal numbers indicate size of two-party majority for the Liberal National Party. Click for larger image. Map boundaries courtesy of Ben Raue at The Tally Room. |
Created at federation and fairly constant in its boundaries ever since, Maranoa covers a vast expanse of south-western Queensland accounting for about 40% of the state’s surface area. Most of its voters are concentrated at the inner end of the state’s populous south-eastern corner, including the centres of Kingaroy, Dalby and Warwick to the north, west and south of Toowoomba (which has formed the basis of Groom since 1984, and Darling Downs beforehand). Centres further inland include Roma and Charleville on the Warrego Highway, and Barcaldine and Longreach on the Landsborough Highway further north. The seat’s Liberal National Party margin after the 2013 election is 22.4%, making it the third safest Coalition seat in the country after Parkes in New South Wales and Mallee in Victoria.
Reflecting a familiar pattern in rural Queensland, Maranoa started life as a Labor stronghold and progressively moved to the other extreme with the decline of the shearing and railway workforce. The first changeover occurred in 1921 upon the death of the seat’s inaugural Labor member, Jim Page, initiating a by-election won for the Country Party by James Hunter. The seat returned to the Labor fold when Hunter retired in 1940, but Labor’s Francis Baker was unseated after a single term, emerging the only Labor member to lose his seat amid the party’s national landslide in 1943. It was then held for the Country Party by Charles Adermann until he moved to the new seat of Fisher with the expansion of parliament in 1949, which he would eventually bequeath to his son Evan in 1972.
Adermann’s successor at the 1949 election was Charles Russell, who quit the Country Party less than a year after his election and unsuccessfully contested the seat as an independent in both 1951 and 1954, falling 1.1% short on the latter occasion in the absence of a Labor candidate. That would mark the last occasion when the Country Party’s grip on the seat was seriously troubled, a 9.7% swing at the 1966 election pushing the margin into double digits where it has remained ever since. The National/Country members through this period were Wilfred Brindlecombe until 1966, James Corbett until 1980, and Ian Cameron until 1990. There were suggestions ahead of the 1998 election that a threat might loom from One Nation, but in the event they could only manage third place behind Labor on 22.4%. A 9.7% swing at the 1966 election pushed the margin well into double digits, where it has remained ever since.
The seat’s present long-serving incumbent is Bruce Scott, who served in the junior ministry as Veterans Affairs Minister for the first two terms of the Howard government, losing the position when the Nationals’ weak electorate performance in 2001 reduced its share of the spoils. In October 2012 he became Deputy Speaker, filling the vacancy created by Anna Burke’s rise to the Speakership following Peter Slipper’s resignation, and has retained the position in government. Barnaby Joyce had hoped to facilitate his move from the Senate to the House by replacing Scott in Maranoa at the last election, but Scott was determined to serve another term and Joyce dismissed the notion of challenging him for preselection, saying it would be “self-indulgent personality politics”. He instead opted to cross the state boundary and contest the northern New South Wales seat of New England.
During the week I cannot keep up with reading all the great articles linked to by BK and others so I have only just got around to reading this one http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/02/abbott-deserves-to-be-punished-relentlessly-for-his-broken-promises
It is by Tom Bentley who was Julia Gillard’s Chief of Staff and who I have in the past been critical of as the author of bizarre ideas like the ‘Citizens Assembly’.
All is forgiven Tom, that article is a good summation of the deficiencies of the Abbott Govt vs the strengths of the Labor Govt which he summarises as:
[Whatever their failings, the Rudd-Gillard governments espoused goals that still seem right to most people: decent jobs, secure pensions, better health and education for everyone, reduced carbon pollution and good relationships with the US and Asia, all supported by accessible, fast internet access for all.]
Now this is the absolute height of self-deception. And silly little Hunt believed him. From 2013.
[Zac Spitzer
Abbott to win over G4 on #climate action, “I think (Tony’s) a fantastic negotiator,” said @GregHuntMP 18/4/13 http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/abbott-to-win-over-g4-on-climate-action/story-e6frea7l-1226623919979 … #auspol ]
The only sociopath in the ALP was that arsehole and government wrecker, the Great Traitor Rudd.
So its goodbye from me today.
Puff, the Magic Dragon.@103
Puff, I can see you will never get over the dastardly way he attacked Gillard’s knife with his back in June 2010.
[teh_drewski
Posted Saturday, June 7, 2014 at 1:54 pm | PERMALINK
victoria
Devine’s right about Oliver. His show is buried on Sunday night at 11pm on HBO – a subscription only premium cable channel. Most people don’t subscribe to it; only a small proportion of the ones who do are watching political comedy near midnight on a Sunday.]
Maybe he gets additional exposure through Youtube and Twitter, like the Abbott episode has done in Australia.
Bemused – Ho!
James Massola doesn’t believe there’s a Turnbull challenge.
In fact, he doesn’t believe it so much that he feels forced to write an article about how little support Turnbull has… and about how universally respected Tony Abbott is.
[At 10 minutes past five on Thursday afternoon you could hear a pin drop in Parliament House’s marbled Members’ Hall.
Four weeks after the budget had been handed down, Coalition MPs, battered by an ugly backlash, streamed towards the exits, the airport and a week in their electorates. The budget fallout has been bruising.
Ministers have fluffed their lines on policy details, crossbench senators are vowing to sink particular budget measures and the government’s friends in the conservative commentariat have started a war with a senior cabinet minister.
But here’s the non-news from Canberra. Malcolm Turnbull is not counting numbers and will not challenge for the leadership; Prime Minister Tony Abbott has the respect of his party room and is safe in his job.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/how-they-coalesce-in-the-coalition-20140606-39ofb.html#ixzz33vb80Myo ]
There is a lot of protesting going on, it appears. Perhaps too much?
I laughed when i saw this.
[ Mr Pyne’s modelling estimated a $67,848 starting salary – higher than the Greens’ $44,000 for an arts graduate – and salary increases of 10 per cent for three years.]
So Pyne is now advocating 10% / year salary increases for Arts graduates?? Good on him. 🙂
Mr Pyne’s spokesman queried the Greens’ estimated annual pay rise of two per cent after inflation, saying this was too low. ]
2% / year too low? Pyne is definitely the workers friend the cuddly wuddly little leftie. 🙂
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/coalition-accuses-greens-of-scaremongering-over-university-fee-website-20140606-39n8r.html#ixzz33varXzJx
Always pisses me off that people only seem to listen to Dvorak’s 9th Symphony (New World) rather than any of his other symphonies. Am listening to the 3rd right now, which is bloody good. And everything between 5 and 8 is better than the 9th. Indeed, the 6th and 7th are much better.
Glad I got that off my chest!
Some – he crashed the comments system for the FCC after a segment he did on net neutrality went viral – but he’s no Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert. And he is a former Daily Show correspondent, so he’s not entirely without profile.
But he’s certainly not a big deal, and as amusing as his takedown of Abbott is, it’s not going to have moved the needle anywhere but on Australian social media, and Devine is right – albeit entirely through ignorance – to note that.
KEVIN-ONE-SEVEN@106
I endorse the form of words used by Tom Bentley – “the Rudd-Gillard governments”.
This article is surprising in who it says are “moderates”. “Closeness” between Hunt and Morrison also looks odd. If you haven’t read it…
[There are four loose groupings that have emerged in the parliamentary party that reflect the friendships that have formed to pursue like-minded policy outcomes. And it is important to stress the Prime Minister has the loyalty of all of these groups.]
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/how-they-coalesce-in-the-coalition-20140606-39ofb.html#ixzz33vds8U9U
It’s a good article, but it does illustrate the difficulty in trying to figure out factionalism in a party without formal factions. No doubt Massola’s trying to coalesce information from a number of different sources, each with their own agenda, each trying to spin their own friends whilst undermining others.
I guess “moderate” in the Liberal party means something unrecognisable to most Australians’ understanding of the term.
[87
BK
Posted Saturday, June 7, 2014 at 1:29 pm | PERMALINK
sprocket_
I wonder who was responsible for setting up the photo.
]
I think the photo would have been set up by the French, in consultation with wtith the Queen and Obama who are in the middle front row.
Their protocol offices would have input into precise positioning of the leaders.
Abbott being way off to the right at the end could have been the Queen still pissed off over his Knights And Damed brainfart ™ which he didn’t consult with the Palace about.
Obama is saving his ritual humiliation of Abbott for his time in Washington, which should be fun to try and spot. He might say something like “Tony, you have been punching above your weight”
http://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2014/06/07/the-buried-treasures-corporate-tax-avoidance/1402063200#.U5Kn83KSyKI
[Says tax law expert Antony Ting, from the University of Sydney Business School: “This government appears to be less eager than its predecessor in closing a tax loophole that allows deduction of interest expenses incurred to generate exempt dividend income.”
And there were other indications in the budget, too, of the government’s attitude. Two of the agencies most heavily hit by its cuts to the public service were the tax office, slated to have its staff reduced by 2300, or about 10 per cent, and the corporate watchdog, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, down about 200 staff, or 11 per cent.
. . .
In other words, what we need is governments that are open to reform, not just open for business.]
Bemused
[I endorse the form of words used by Tom Bentley – “the Rudd-Gillard governments”.]
Well the “the Rudd-Gillard regimes” anyway. 😉
@BB/107
The whole leadership is to get back off the budget (because the budget has been bad for liberals), seems to have worked too.
Quiet alot of people fooled.
Fran Barlow@116
Split hairs if you wish, but you know what I mean.
I am not interested in Puff confessions and others attempts to keep the blame game going.
[zoidlord
Posted Saturday, June 7, 2014 at 4:13 pm | PERMALINK
@BB/107
The whole leadership is to get back off the budget (because the budget has been bad for liberals), seems to have worked too.
Quiet alot of people fooled.]
On the other hand, we are in the quiet period between when the budget was announced and when legislation is introduced in the parliament, especially the Senate. There should be a lot more talk about the budget when MPs and Senators start debating the various budget related bills.
The Turnbull/Bolt/Jones etc verbal slanging matches and speculative MSM articles tend to fill this gap nicely (along with preferred leader polling).
[It is by Tom Bentley who was Julia Gillard’s Chief of Staff and who I have in the past been critical of as the author of bizarre ideas like the ‘Citizens Assembly’.
All is forgiven Tom, that article is a good summation of the deficiencies of the Abbott Govt vs the strengths of the Labor Govt which he summarises as:]
Lesson: Opposition is easy, government is hard.
[I am not interested in Puff confessions and others attempts to keep the blame game going.]
Well stop replying to them then.
Most readers are sick of scrolling past bulls#it from the past.
Meanwhile in WA the West Australians answer to Bolt or maybe Hadley on 6pr,who is on in the Arvo carry’s on his support of the Abbott Govt and Brandis ignorance in the estimates about the drone assassinations of an Australian and a New Zealander, though I don’t think they are sure about the NZ one.
Apparently Scott Ludlam had the temerity to ask Brandis a few questions about it, Brandis just did the not commenting on the matter,but Ludlam kept after him according to Murray bent on destroying our national security also upsetting the US, wrecking the war on terror.
He then quotes 9/11 death toll and say that according to The American Bureau of Investigative Journalism only 488 targets and 83 civilians and 6 kids have been killed from 2002 to 13,I read a book a few weeks ago and the author of that I think would dispute those figures,its called Dirty Wars.
He also asserts that Assange and Snowdon tacitly support the al-Qaida Jihad, I have never seen that anywhere in papers I read, wonder which ones Murray reads apart from that honest journal of record The Australian,not sure if he is auditioning for a position at NEWS LTD or Sky News or the IPA.
He Murray also falls back on the old standby of the desperate right all Greens are watermelons blah blah blah,just for doing his job which is to hold the Govt to account,given Murray’s love of the Libs I wonder what he would be saying if it was a Labour Govt instead of the idiot Liberals in power
[Well stop replying to them then.
Most readers are sick of scrolling past bulls#it from the past.]
Amen.
Psephos@120
Lesson2: Idiotic ideas can make Govt or Opposition harder.
CTar1@121
Just Me@123
Why are you responding then? 😐
At least Bemused came up with a witty riposte. That excuses everything.
Clive asks a good question about the corruption claims. If Newman knew about it and he thought it corrupt then why did he not report it ?
[Mr Palmer told ABC radio today that he believed he had done nothing wrong, adding that Mr Newman and Mr Seeney should have reported the allegations sooner if they were concerned.
“The premier was supposed to be the tier law officer of the state,” Mr Palmer said.
“And if the premier heard this (allegation) he had an obligation to report it to the police, the CMC.
“The fact that he hasn’t done so means that he has committed a criminal offence as well and should be thrown in jail, and this is not the end of things.”]
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/newman-had-an-obligation-to-report-me-to-cmc-says-palmer/story-e6frgczx-1226946797751
[zoidlord
Posted Saturday, June 7, 2014 at 4:13 pm | PERMALINK
@BB/107
The whole leadership is to get back off the budget (because the budget has been bad for liberals), seems to have worked too.
Quiet alot of people fooled.]
So, you shoot yourself in the left foot because you have already shot yourself in the right foot?
It might work.
KEVIN-ONE-SEVEN@126
Thanks.
I do try to maintain a sense of humour and cheery disposition.
But it gets tested at times. 😀
[Labor has slammed Tony Abbott, declaring him embarrassing for cancelling meetings with the world’s top finance officials during his visit to the United States.
Deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek said the prime minister had made a succession of missteps during his travels overseas, the latest in the US.
“Australians have to worry that he’ll be embarrassing us on the world stage,” she told reporters in Sydney.
It follows a report from political columnist Laurie Oakes, who said Abbott had cancelled long-planned meetings with US treasury secretary Jack Lew, International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde and World Bank president Jim Yong Kim despite Australia hosting the G20 summit in November.
“The G20 is the most important meeting ever on Australian soil. The head of the IMF, World Bank and US treasury chief will be critically involved with preparations for the G20,” Plibersek said.
]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/07/tony-abbott-embarrassing-australia-says-tanya-plibersek
Boerwar@128
Restores a kind of balance I suppose. 😛
Is it OK under the electoral act to stand under a name that is not yours? “Bob Anderson” is not Bob Anderson’s name it is the name his business operates under.
“Mr Jared John Andersen” owns and runs Bob Anderson’s Psychology.
Will the ballot in Stafford say JJ Anderson and people will wonder where Bob went?
[ CTar1
Posted Saturday, June 7, 2014 at 4:30 pm | Permalink
I am not interested in Puff confessions and others attempts to keep the blame game going.
Well stop replying to them then.
Most readers are sick of scrolling past bulls#it from the past.
]
——————————————————
All you get out of looking back to the past is a bloody sore neck …
We’ve got Abbott by the short and curlies just now – focus, focus focus – upon what we can do with the future and TWIST with all our energies …
teh_drewski
[Posted Saturday, June 7, 2014 at 1:54 pm | PERMALINK
victoria
Devine’s right about Oliver. His show is buried on Sunday night at 11pm on HBO – a subscription only premium cable channel. Most people don’t subscribe to it; only a small proportion of the ones who do are watching political comedy near midnight on a Sunday.
His show – which is very good – rates about 1m viewers live, 2.2m including repeats, on-demand and time-delay. To put that into context, that would be about the same as getting 150,000 viewers in Australia. Which means Oliver’s about as “well known” in the US as most of Channel 10′s cancelled shows are here.
I love Oliver, but he’s a fringe performer.]
The point was that despite the fact that john oliver is not well known, this segment re Abbott has gone viral here in Oz. My daughter told me that students in class were sharing it to everyone they could.
Therefore the assertion by Miranda devine that no one knows john Oliver is beside the point.
The budget has gone nowhere and is nowhere near being off the agenda, particularly for those bearing the pain and further reduction in their living standards and overall circumstances.
No Parliamentary sittings next week, but then they start up again followed by the new senate taking their places – with the main topic once again being *the budget*.
The loathing and sense of betrayal is still very much there and will be back in the media with a vengeance as well.
badcat
[focus, focus focus ]
Yep – that’s the ticket to the CURRENT game.
An online petition against Abbott’s dropping of climate change from the G20 agenda has been started at Avaaz. Bear in mind this will go to a very large international audience.
[Seriously? Tony Abbott has just taken climate change OFF the agenda at the G20, as if scrapping The Climate Department, The Climate Commission and yes, soon, the carbon price wasn’t enough. Now he’s literally getting in the way of OTHER countries taking action.
Our PM is meeting with Barack Obama next week in Washington and the President has just put his legacy on the line for climate, cleaning up America’s energy production even in the face of huge opposition. Obama will be busy selling his climate policies, so let’s ask him to give Abbott a copy of Congress’ climate report when they exchange gifts at the White House.
Climate tipping points are threatening to change the very world we live in irreversibly. There’s never been a more important time to act — if President Obama’s subtle present doesn’t convince Abbott, then he can force him out of the way of other countries and put climate change back on the G20 agenda. Sign now!
Click below to sign the petition and forward to everyone: ]
http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/President_Barack_Obama_Obama_to_Abbott_out_of_the_way/?btXyIab&v=40639
[
Posted Saturday, June 7, 2014 at 5:03 pm | Permalink
badcat
focus, focus focus
Yep – that’s the ticket to the CURRENT game.
]
——————————————————-
Be like the guy in the US piss take of Abbott – go out tomorrow and tell 10 people – Abbott is a *dickhead* ….thats 1000×10 …… tell them to pass it on …. now thats ‘moving forward’
vic
[Therefore the assertion by Miranda devine that no one knows john Oliver is beside the point.]
Imagine having to make a list of media people or things that Miranda Devine has never heard of … more than a lifetimes work for thousands of people.
soc
I have tried twice and that link for Avaaz does not open.
Dont get too excited bludgers. Insiders tomorrow
[@frankellyabc interviews Acting PM @warrentrussmp on #insiders tmrw. @lenoretaylor @MikeSeccombe & Michael Stutchbury on the panel. 9am!]
CTar1
Imagine having to make a list of media people or things that Miranda Devine has never heard of … more than a lifetimes work for thousands of people.]
Too true. 🙂
[ victoria
Posted Saturday, June 7, 2014 at 5:18 pm | Permalink
CTar1
Imagine having to make a list of media people or things that Miranda Devine has never heard of … more than a lifetimes work for thousands of people.]
Too true.
]
—————————————————-
Miranda Devine – Mirror Mirror On The Wall – Who Is The Fairest Of Them All ??? ……
Thank goodness Joh Oliver is “unknown”. Imagine how many would have watched it if he wasn’t 🙂 Just DailyMotion and YouTube have 1,500,000 views of THE clip.
John Oliver even .Joh Oliver really is unknown .
John Ryan@122
I have sounded off about ‘Mooner’ on many occasions here as being nothing much more than an apologist and mouth-piece for the Liberals in WA – whether this be in his columns in the West or on 6PR.
He is my bete-noire and he his smarmy approach really bugs me!
Murray, it is true to say, now and then puts in an article which seeks to criticise the LNP, and he defends himself by saying John Howard refused to speak to him sometime in the past for some reason or another.
Again, Murray must have been owed some favours when he quit/was fired? at the West as editor as they keep him on for his once or twice a week tirade at the left.
His totally biased approach seems to suit the 116,000 or so readers of the West during the week (just over 200,000 at the weekend) but he failed in his morning session on 6PR – was shifted to the drive session which is bottom of the heap on the bottom of the heap station 6PR, which gains no more than 5% of the listening audience and something like 3.5% in the afternoon I gather.
He seems to appeal to the over 65 year-old cohort – mainly rusted on Liberals.
MTBW – The link works for me using Firefox.
You often seem to have problems with links. Maybe you need a computer ‘doctor’ have a look at your computer.
poroti
[Joh Oliver really is unknown .]
But I’m sure I went to school with him. 😀
CTar1@147
I used the link off the original email OK and just checked the link according to Socrates and that worked. I am using Chrome.
[ Labor has slammed Tony Abbott, declaring him embarrassing for cancelling meetings with the world’s top finance officials during his visit to the United States.
Deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek said the prime minister had made a succession of missteps during his travels overseas, the latest in the US.
“Australians have to worry that he’ll be embarrassing us on the world stage,” she told reporters in Sydney.
It follows a report from political columnist Laurie Oakes, who said Abbott had cancelled long-planned meetings with US treasury secretary Jack Lew, International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde and World Bank president Jim Yong Kim despite Australia hosting the G20 summit in November.
“The G20 is the most important meeting ever on Australian soil. The head of the IMF, World Bank and US treasury chief will be critically involved with preparations for the G20,” Plibersek said.
“This shows the prime minister doesn’t understand how important the G20 is. He’s not as engaged as he should be.”
Plibersek said that followed the embarrassing spectacle of Abbott “washing Australia’s dirty laundry” by talking about domestic issues at the Davos conference.
…Plibersek said the rest of the world was moving forward on climate change action but Abbott was a “Nigel no-friends” on the world stage.
]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/07/tony-abbott-embarrassing-australia-says-tanya-plibersek