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| Blue numbers indicate size of two-party majority for the Liberal Party. Click for larger image. Map boundaries courtesy of Ben Raue at The Tally Room. |
Murray covers central northern Victoria including a 200 kilometre stretch of the river that bears its name, from Gunbower east through Echuca to Yarrawonga and Bundalong. From there it extends southwards into the Goulburn Valley region as far as Inglewood in the west and Nagambie and Euroa in the east. Its largest population centre by a considerable margin is Shepparton, home to about a third of its population, followed by Echuca, which accounts for about 10%. The electorate was created with the expansion of parliament in 1949, but its boundaries resembled those of Echuca which existed from federation until its abolition in 1937, when its territory was divided between Bendigo in the west and Indi in the east. Its dimensions have not substantially changed at any time since 1949, apart from a slight reorientation westwards when the electorate of Wimmera was abolished in 1984.
The area in question was the domain of the Country Party from its formation in 1920 until 1996, when Sharman Stone won Murray for the Liberals upon the retirement of Nationals member Bruce Lloyd. John McEwen began his federal parliamentary career as the member for Echuca in 1934 before moving to Indi when it was abolished the following term, then transferred to Murray in 1949 and remained there until his retirement in 1971. McEwen served as leader of the Country Party after 1958 and, for three weeks following Harold Holt’s disappearance at the end of 1967, Prime Minister. McEwen was succeeded on his retirement in 1971 by Bruce Lloyd, who held the seat until 1996. In a sadly typical outcome for the Nationals, the seat fell to the Liberals when Lloyd retired in 1996, Sharman Stone outpolling the Nationals candidate 43.2% to 29.7% and prevailing by 3.7% after the distribution of preferences. The Liberals had intermittently fielded candidates against Lloyd throughout his career, but always finished third behind Labor.
Sharman Stone served as a parliamentary secretary from after the 1998 election until January 2006, when she was promoted to the junior ministry as Workforce Participation Minister. After the 2007 election defeat she assumed environment, heritage, the arts and indigenous affairs, the first named being shared with shadow cabinet member Greg Hunt, before being promoted to shadow cabinet in the immigration and citizenship portfolio when Malcolm Turnbull became leader in September 2008. However, she was demoted to the outer shadow ministry position of early childhood education and childcare when Turnbull was replaced by Tony Abbott in December 2009, having supported Turnbull during Abbott’s leadership challenge, and relegated to the back bench after the 2010 election. In February 2014, Stone accused Abbott of Joe Hockey of lying about union conditions for workers at the SPC Ardmona cannery in Shepparton after the government’s rejection of a bid for $25 million in assistance put the future of its 2700 jobs in doubt. When asked at the time if she intended to remain in the Liberal Party, Stone said only that it was “to be seen how things pan out”.
[“@latikambourke: Clive Palmer arrives in a com car. Says he’s never said he wouldn’t use them.”]
I’ve got a feeling he may well have.
Jackol
I agree with all your comments on the Green Army.
Jackol
we seem to have these periodic outbreaks of angst amongst Labor supporters – the media runs a story saying (for example) that Labor will vote with the government to repeal carbon pricing, everyone gets in a lather about it, and then it doesn’t happen.
Labor has said quite explicitly that they’re going to look at each Budget measure on its merits. That requires a flexible approach, including signalling that they might pass some (with changes).
This is exactly what Butler is saying. Let’s see what the changes actually are before deciding that it’s a bad idea.
And I would also add that OF COURSE Labor is going to play down the size of the changes required. The image Labor is trying to construct is that of a positive, co operative Opposition who puts up reasonable changes to legislation and has to reluctantly walk away from the deal when these aren’t accepted. (Thus also painting the government as unable to negotiate…)
You can’t paint that picture if you start off with the position that the changes you want are impossible to achieve.
zoomster
When Greg Hunt is making such a fool of himself, I don’t think it’s the right time for Butler to appear to be weakening. I understand what you’re saying, but it’s the wrong vibe.
Laura Tingle is usually pretty straight.
[@ColouredView 10m
Laura Tingle in #AFR reports ALP going wobbly on #ETS & #carbon pricing.
Are you both inept & bereft of any judgement @Mark_Butler_MP?]
Zoomster – again, the tone of Butler’s comments was far more positive than needed if all Butler was trying to do was say “we may pass it if our concerns are addressed”.
As I said, the Green Army legislation passing would be very bad in my opinion, but I’ll leave it at that.
BB
Slipper would have a lot on the Coalition, particularly the Rabbott.
Just guessing!
Remember Rabbott saying some time ago now that he was able to confess and have in depth conversations with Slipper because he was a minister of the church and was bound by confidentiality. This revelation was in the context of talking up his friendship with Slipper.
Slipper may have held his tongue through all this turmoil but if faced with millions in costs and the polls as they are both he and the government may have reached an understanding.
[
Climate Institute tells Labor: don’t retreat from emissions trading policy http://theconversation.com/climate-institute-tells-labor-dont-retreat-from-emissions-trading-policy-28028 … via @ConversationEDU #auspol ]
Lucky for the WA govt that the federal govt is cutting funding to CSIRO and shifting away from accepting the scientific advice of such bodies.
[The State Government would have to abandon a CSIRO- endorsed population cap at Coral Bay if it were to expand the settlement into a town or the “Rottnest of the Pilbara” under its coastal revitalisation policy.]
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/24242307/fears-for-future-of-coral-bay/
To balance the picture — some recent Mark Butler comments re climate change —
[We made it very clear in the election and we’ve been arguing in the Parliament since that we think the most effective way to deal with carbon pollution – to bring it down – is to put in place a legal cap..]
[…What people can be assured of is that the Labor Party is committed to taking action on climate change – strong and sensible action on climate change – but we want to look at a range of different options. We’re very interested in what other countries are doing to deal with this. Now, an emissions trading scheme is a very popular approach by other countries, including countries in our region, but it’s not the only one. So we want to have a very broad ranging discussion and not lock ourselves into what might have been policies in the past for the future.]
[…there are certainly issues that I want to work through on Green Army, workplace rights, about training obligations and such like, but we’re continuing to work through that and we’ll make a final decision about the Green Army program in due course, once we’ve had all of those questions addressed.]
http://markbutler.alp.org.au/news/2014/06/15/transcript-of-interview-with-australian-agenda-on-sky
zoomster
As long as Labor sticks to what Shorten said in the budget reply speech I am happy.
As I said I think it would be stupid for Labor to walk away from all that work. Just what you are saying.
I agree the aim of what Butler is saying is good. The MSM was always going to put the worst light on what he said. I also think now is exactly the right time to say it.
Its on the record and will be a half day wonder as today’s parliamentary coverage takes over.
[Treasurer Joe Hockey’s defence of the Abbott government’s budget does not pass muster with us. Mr Hockey says it is ”misguided” to believe the government’s budget initiatives were unfair or that they exacerbated inequality. While we agree with Mr Hockey’s contention that there are some serious structural problems in terms of government expenditure, this is not the way to address those problems.
. . .
Outcomes do matter, and in some circumstances it is the duty of the government to improve people’s outcomes, not just provide them with equal opportunities. Sophisticated communities do not leave the worse off behind, not even in a crisis. If governments do not intervene to achieve more equitable outcomes, then income differentials will continue to widen, inherited opportunities become more vital generation after generation, and our community will become captive to the merciless ideal that only the fittest in terms of skills, wealth and cunning will survive. It is a beggarly objective, one that would impoverish us all.]
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/no-mr-hockey-it-remains-unfair-20140615-3a5oz.html#ixzz34kdy0f4A
I agree with Lizzie, re: Butler’s comments on pricing carbon and the ETS.
[Bill Shorten @billshortenmp 18m
Read my opinion piece in the @australian about how Tony Abbott has neglected our first Australians http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/abbott-breaches-faith-with-aborigines-in-act-of-political-theft/story-e6frg6n6-1226955193222# …
@billshortenmp @australian If you want anybody but RWNJ to read it Bill, don’t bother writing for The Australian]
RWNJ = right wing nutjobs? 😉
lizzie
[Outcomes do matter, and in some circumstances it is the duty of the government to improve people’s outcomes}
The Press definitely turning against the Coalition.
Jovial Joe’s Budget a real turning point.
Good tweet this one
@Tony_Burke: Problem is back. Travelling West Abbott returns to same place. World is round!
Abbott 0 Science 1 http://t.co/GczlLP18G9
#auspol
Jacko
While there are OHS issues to consider, there is not anything wrong IN PRINCIPLE with a Green Army, especially in times of high youth unemployment. It is better that unemployed kids do something useful and weed clearing is useful even if it is not particularly cost effective.
However the Green Army is NOT a substitute for taking positive action to reduce CO2 emissions – whether by price signal or regulation.
Weed clearing is an ideal task to soak up unused labor because it is low in capital cost, high in labor intensity, but is a task that because of its high cost, will not normally be undertaken by councils at especially high levels.
It is physically active and likely to develop positive self image and may have long term benefits in getting more kids committed to environmental protection. A small percentage may gain skills that directly lead them into employment.
So I have no problems with Labor passing the Green Army legislation PROVIDED the kids are not being exploited ie they get a fair return ie they get paid at least the minimum wage for the work done AND they have appropriate OHS protection.
guy
[Travelling West Abbott returns to same place. World is round!]
Tones should explain this to George Pell. No need for Pell to pass in on as the current Pope has probably already got this.
As to Labor’s policy on anything, IMHO they should play their cards very close to their chests, STFU, and reserve all options until the lead up to the next election.
They should not put anything “out there” because for sure the MSM will focus on it and whatever the response, good or bad, it will take the spotlight off the current incompetent government, their crap policies, their misjudgements, their backflips, their lies.
As to the ETS, who knows what will be the state of such schemes internationally in 2016. Who knows what other options might be available or needed, to mesh in with global responses in 2016.
Only a foolish shadow minister would spruik on right now about “ETS for sure in 2016”.
It is important to differentiate between Labor principles, Labor policies, and Labor strategies. Only the first of these needs to be on the public record and in the public discourse all of the time.
No ifs, no buts, Abbott is running the country now. Labor needs to take a leaf out of his book as LOTO ….. “we’ll have our policies ready for the election” is the correct answer to any gotcha focus on their policies for the forseeable future.
I suspect that sales of Murdock papers are falling in Qld. Last night at 5:30 I was at Woolies and there were still stacks of papers for sale. Once there might have been one or two left and NO Australians but yesterday probably 80-100 Courier Mail and 50 or so Australians.
Morning all
[The richest 1% of Australians now own the same wealth as the bottom 60%, according to a new report designed to bolster the case for global and domestic action to shrink the gap between rich and poor.
The Oxfam Australia report also indicated that the nation’s nine richest individuals had a net worth of US$54.8bn, which was more than the combined bottom 20% of the population, or 4.54m people.]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/16/australias-richest-1-own-as-much-as-bottom-60-says-oxfam
Every explanation of the Green Army is that the workers will be paid substantially less than minimum wage.
There is no indication that there will be any training or other useful skills developed – it’s just making use of labour valued at very low wages. It’s inherently exploitative. (And yes, the OH&S issue is a big one).
Funding for the Green Army has come directly from cuts to Landcare.
A bunch of desperate, unmotivated young people is no substitute for properly funding local schemes where the labour is provided by invested and enthusiastic locals.
The Green Army is basically a complementary measure to the ‘earn or learn’ nastiness. Under 30s who don’t fit into the higher education systems will basically be strong armed into ‘volunteering’ for the Green Army as pretty much the only way they can be guaranteed any money at all in their 6 month waiting period.
There is nothing worthy of support in the Green Army proposal.
The full “Herald Sun” story of the broken lease is here
It mentions Frances signing a lease because she wanted to be independent, presumably later telling Abbott who called in the federal police who did an adverse security assessment. Frances used the assessment to break the lease, the owner wanted compensation under the terms of the lease, the case went to VCAT who found in favour of Frances after she presented the security assessment.
If Frances signed the lease on her own behalf, then she should have been responsible for paying the appropriate compensation when she broke the lease for whatever reason. It seems unfair that the owner should bear the financial burden.
The Abbotts must be a stingy lot. Why did Abbott not just give Frances the money to terminate the lease? The age of entitlement continues.
citizen
[The full “Herald Sun” story of the broken lease is here]
I suspect that after she signed the lease someone explained to her that Prahan is not a ‘trendy’ place to live.
That then resulted in a ‘Help Dad’ call.
This is the dysfunctional politics of the last 10+ years continued.
It is a dead end road, politically.
If the ALP plans to put in anything controversial, they need to have committed to it well in advance of the election.
If the ALP consistently say that they will (re)implement a carbon price (and maybe they can wait for another 6 months or so before talking firm policy, but in my opinion not longer) until the next election, there cannot be any scare campaign, and there won’t be any surprise or confusion on the part of the electorate.
Governments lose elections. The ALP won’t fail to win an election because they promise to (re)introduce a carbon price when the time comes.
The ALP cannot do what the LNP did in winning the last election – try to sail under the radar and avoid talking about anything controversial. The public are sick of it, and if the ALP flip flop around about carbon pricing or any other controversial policy and then try to implement it post-election, they will suffer the same fate as the current government.
Anyway. I accept that now is not the time to be putting out firm policy positions, but I think it would be a very grave mistake to not flag the controversial stuff well before the election.
[zoomster
Posted Monday, June 16, 2014 at 7:43 am | PERMALINK
Asked if that meant the policy might not be an ETS, Mr Butler said he was “not going to indicate one way or the other what we’re going to do because we will do that in a deliberative way” but that the party would look at “all policy options”.
Can people please re read my posts about the Labor policy process?
It would be foolish to lock the party into any position this far out from an election.
I would also remind people that every time someone on the Labor side has even twitched when discussing the ETS, we’ve been confidently told by the media that that means the ALP is going to walk away from it.
At present, all policy options are open – exactly what Butlet is saying. He’s leaving the door open in case the world situation changes between now and the next election, and a better mechanism than the ETS comes along.
Labor will go to the next election with a policy that supports the best method of reducing carbon emissions to the desired target within the designated timeline.
If that’s an ETS, then that’s what Labor will be supporting.]
I thoroughly support you in those comments Zoomster. I saw the Butler interview and he answered all their gotcha questions regarding the carbon tax/ETS perfectly. There was no hint whatsoever that Labor was wimping anything. The simple message was that when the time comes Labor will consider all options and then choose the best one – a totally unassailable position.
If Butler had said anything even remotely sounding like Labor was determined to reintroduce a CT it would have become an unnecessary diversion at a time when the full focus needs to be on the unfairness of the government’s budget – a strategy which even Liberal supporters concede is working very well at present. He showed a lot of good judgement in that interview IMO.
Under pressure, Qld finds an excuse to not proceed with penalising tradies having “bikie links”.
[THE Queensland government has delayed a controversial plan to rid the building industry of people with links to criminal bikie gangs.
NEW laws that could have forced every tradie to undergo a police background check were due to come into force in two weeks.
But Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie has told The Courier-Mail the government will now wait for any possible findings from the royal commission into union corruption before launching its new anti-criminal gang licensing program.
The royal commission must report by December 31.]
http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/qld-plan-to-rid-bikies-from-sector-on-hold/story-e6frfku9-1226955600320
Jackol
As someone said earlier on this thread, Joe Public doesn’t give a stuff about “policy” at this stage.
More especially, magnify this disengagement 100 fold for that special species, Swingin Joe Public.
The Labor party is expressing principle at the moment …”we will cap carbon emissions”.
To think that that 30 months out Labor should commit to an ETS as the best method, the only method, the globally accepted method to cap carbon emissions in 2016+, given what is going on globally at the moment is at best naive and probably plain stupid.
Talking about an enduring principle ….. the commitment to cap carbon emissions is flagging a firm policy position. But there needs to be no “T”s crossed or “i”s dotted for a while yet.
Labor have form on carbon and climate change. In 2009, having badly mishandled the politics, they caved in. They better not go belly up on this again.
re: the green army
these schemes have been largely useless in the past and are more about fudging long term and youth unemployment figures. will anyone forced onto them then be ineligible for support for 6 months once they are off their ‘assignment’. A friend who supervised these ‘green jobs’ during the 1990s (hawke-keating era fudging) described them as ‘really useful for the local drug dealers – it gave them a captive market and most of the crew were stoned, smacked or speeding by 11am’.
“@ABCNews24: Live: Opening statements are being made at the RC into trade unions, focusing on HSU. Watch http://t.co/TTkTJ5G5Ba or #ABCNews24 #turc”
[Ms Abbott instead opted to leave the flat after discovering security restrictions forbade her from living in a ground-floor flat.]
Didn’t Daddy explain beforehand?
[Mike Carlton
@TheRealPBarry Counted some 30 shots at Fairfax and the ABC in the Oz this morning: a newspaper suffering paranoid schizophrenia.]
[Katharine Murphy @murpharoo 1m
Why is Butler leaving Labor’s options open on climate when Shorten has already confirmed a market mechanism for 2016? http://gu.com/p/3q5m8/tw ]
[Katharine Murphy @murpharoo 1m
Why is Butler leaving Labor’s options open on climate when Shorten has already confirmed a market mechanism for 2016? http://gu.com/p/3q5m8/tw ]
The media never seemed to ask this sort of question of Abbott prior to the election.
Obama will still be president in 2016 and pushing hard for climate action, Abbott’s ‘no action’ friend Harper is on track to lose his 2015 election, China will be expanding its carbon trading schemes and so on.
With this sort of momentum overseas, Labor can formulate an appropriate policy in due course.
Sounds like Counsel Assisting is setting Kathy Jackson up for beatification. Can sainthood be far behind?
Why is Katharine Murphy tweeting links that go nowhere?
Labor are going to face an utterly toxic Senate if they win in 2016 that is unlikely to be “fixed” naturally until 2020 short of a DD.
It will make any substantive legislative program very difficult indeed, and particularly any attempt to re-introduce a carbon price.
@political_alert: Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will speak at the International Cleaners’ Day Event at Parliament House today from 12.10pm #auspol
Jackol
“Labor are going to face an utterly toxic Senate if they win in 2016”
Well at last.
At least one person in the country who knows how the micros and Clive’s mob are going to vote, right up to 2020.
I defer to your wisdom, insight and clairvoyancy.
psyclaw – thanks for adding nothing but sarcasm.
If you think I’m likely wrong I’d love to hear some solid argument. I’d love to be wrong on that.
I’m trying to work out the logistics of getting a carbon price up and running again as soon as possible post a 2016 ALP win, but I think the screwed up Senate will be a major roadblock.
I’m not attacking the ALP for that, just seeing it as a likely outcome, and wondering what that likely means for ALP strategy in this area.
National Party not in Senate Chamber to defend budget.
I just watched the first episode of the new ABC series “The Tunnel.”
It is a very close English/French adaptation of the excellent Danish/Swedish series “The Bridge” right down to the casting and character of the lead female detective.
Thoroughly recommended.
“@SenatorWong: Coalition Senator MacDonald indicates his “inclination” is to vote against the PPL scheme.”
Hm. A very interesting speech from Senator MacDonald. He wants those ENTITIES who can afford to pay more to pay more.
[I just watched the first episode of the new ABC series “The Tunnel.”
It is a very close English/French adaptation of the excellent Danish/Swedish series “The Bridge” right down to the casting and character of the lead female detective.
Thoroughly recommended.]
I watched the entirety of the US/Mexico version on a long-haul to Paris earlier this year (13 episodes!). It starts on the Bridge of the Americas over the Rio Grande at El Paso and Juarez, so there’s lots of drugs, prostitution, and general gruesomeness to work with.
It was also very good, and I understand it’s a very close remake of the original Swedish/Danish version, which I’d like to see too.
Libertaran Unionist
The Danes have been making some really good stuff worth catching up with. The Bridge (2 series), The Killing (3 series, I think) and Borgen, a standout 3 series.
zoomster thank u for the info re the green army
i think people here should leave the tactics to those that understand tactics
we are just emotive,
i first thought why then like u thought well why not
but i am concerned abbott would he use the unemployed for his green army
but clear understanding of each policy in the budget
it good to read, as member i would like to have more inside information like that but then,, its not always wise to let any one know ones next step.
are you on twitter u could keep an eye things tweeters say re alp that are often wrong like the ETS ect, i understand that now have seen some greens that are in the area of green minister office moaning about that one.
I do though on the other hand hope alp support the greens re the DD plans,
the policy re the solar rebates,, we have big industry here and in aust,, this needs to stay
so may be you could explain the trigger idea of christine milne
hoping it works and very pleased someone is going forward on something
thanks again for your valued info
will check from time to time your posts are very valuable
the most horrible policy i have read yesterday is meals on wheels loses funding ,
there is lot i could say about that, but am sure most think what i thinking
Darn 76 – I agree completely.
[In February 2012, as leader of the Greens, I made a courtesy call on Tony Abbott. He had just pipped Malcolm Turnbull in a party room vote for the leadership of the opposition. He looked straight at me and said, “I am an environmentalist!”
I did not roll my eyes or argue. I had heard the like before. The CEO of Tasmania’s Hydro-Electric Commission, after flooding Lake Pedder and at the height of the controversy over damming the Franklin River, maintained that he was an environmentalist. So have a string of other dam-builders, loggers and gougers of the Earth.]
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/16/i-am-a-conservationist-is-tony-abbott-the-only-person-who-believes-that?CMP=twt_gu