Created with the expansion of parliament in 1984, Goldstein covers coastal southern Melbourne starting from Brighton, located about 10 kilometres from the city centre, and proceeding southwards through Hampton, Sandringham and Black Rock to Beamaris. The northern part of the electorate extends inland beyond the Nepean Highway to accommodate Caulfield South, Bentleigh and surrounding suburbs. The more inland areas are naturally marginal, but the affluence of the coastal suburbs has kept the seat in Liberal hands by stable margins ranging from 5.5% in 1993 to a new high of 11.0% in 2013.
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| Blue and red numbers respectively indicate size of two-party majorities for Liberal and Labor. Click for larger image. Map boundaries courtesy of Ben Raue at The Tally Room. |
The area now covered by Goldstein was accommodated by the electorate of Balaclava in the years immediately after federation, and then by the new seat of Henty when Balaclava was pushed northwards by a redistribution in 1913. Brighton was put back into Balaclava after 1937, and the new seat of Higinbotham covered the remainder after parliament was expanded in 1949. When Higinbotham was abolished in 1969, the area was divided between Balaclava, Henty and the new seats of Hotham and Isaacs. Beaumaris and Black Rock remained in Isaacs after Goldstein was created in 1984, at which time the new electorate extended northwards to St Kilda East. It assumed a more familiar form when it absorbed Beaumaris in the redistribution of 1996, which greatly reduced the Liberals’ competitiveness in Isaacs.
The various electorates which dominated the modern area of Goldstein were at all times in conservative hands, with the partial exception of Labor’s win in Isaacs at the 1974 election. Don Chipp held Higinbotham for the Liberals from 1960 to 1969, at which time he moved to the new seat of Hotham. Balaclava and then Goldstein were held from 1974 to 1990 by Ian Macphee, who emerged as the figurehead of the party’s moderates. Macphee was ultimately defeated for preselection ahead of the 1990 election by David Kemp, an intellectual leader of the party’s rising neo-liberal tendency, an event that provided a catalyst for Andrew Peacock’s successful challenge to John Howard’s leadership in May 1989. Kemp went on to serve in the Howard cabinet from October 1997 until his retirement at the 2004 election, as Education Minister until 2001 and Environment Minister thereafter.
Goldstein has since been held by Andrew Robb, a former Liberal Party federal director who had long been spoken of as a potential candidate for safe seats in New South Wales, where he had lived for two decades. However, Robb had originally hailed from Victoria, having been raised in a working-class Catholic family that supported the Democratic Labor Party. He came to the Liberal Party via student politics and a job at the newly established National Farmers Federation, which was an assertive voice for labour market deregulation during his period as executive director after 1985. As federal director of the Liberal Party, Robb oversaw the 1990, 1993 and 1996 election campaigns, after which he set up the marketing company Acxiom for Kerry Packer. His first term in parliament was the last of the Howard government, in which he was promoted to parliamentary secretary in January 2006 and thence to the outer ministry as Vocational and Further Education Minister in January 2007.
Robb nominated for the deputy leadership after the 2007 election, but was defeated by Julie Bishop. He instead became Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister, and was briefly discussed as a leadership candidate when Malcolm Turnbull was embroiled in the “Utegate” affair in the middle of 2009. Shortly afterwards he made the surprise announcement that he was moving to the back bench owing to a depressive illness. He returned to the front bench in the finance portfolio in March 2010, from which he was resassigned to trade and investment after the 2013 election victory.
Surprised the Victorian contingent haven’t commented on this sad news.
Police found a 27 year old man, his 23 year old girlfriend, and their dog dead in their car outside Ballarat at about 9.30pm last night.
No suspicious circumstances.
Homeless, they were living in the car and using a small butane heater to keep warm. The three died, overcome by fumes.
The undeserved benefits of Sloppy Joe’s “we’re all living in an age of (unnecessary) entitlement” apparently hadn’t flowed down to this couple.
psyclaw
Poor bastards! Having worked in Glebe for five years for the local member I saw too many of the homeless living in terrible circumstances.
So sad!
@ Slothy
Yes I can see now that I read that passage incorrectly.
psyclaw
My son has been working in the ballarat area over the past month and it gets very cold in those parts.
Without knowing anything about this sad case, another horrible reality is that the ice epidemic is destroying regional centres
psyclaw
Indeed. A miner who had been volunteering to help the search after his shift was interviewed last week. He showed ten times more humanity than our PM has. He spoke of the stench and the horror of finding bits and pieces of people but said he must carry on because as horrible as the search was “this catastrophe is even worse” .
Signatories to the Refugee Convention: http://www.unhcr.org/3b73b0d63.html
victoria
I did wonder if the recordings on the dictaphone led whoever was listening to believe it was property of someone else and to have mistakenly returned it to them.
I once had a phone call from Albury airport, telling me that ‘my daughter’s’ mobile phone had been found. As I don’t have a daughter – and noone in my family had flown anywhere in the last five years – I asked why they’d identified me as the person to contact.
Apparently I was listed under “Mum” in contacts (it’s still a mystery…I was the only member of my family with a mobile phone).
There would have been no questions asked if I’d lobbed up to Albury and claimed ‘my daughter’s’ phone.
As it is, however, I’m willing to accept that Tomazin lost her device at State conference, and that a security guard handed it in to lost property.
Even ‘The Age’ saying that a senior party member was seen removing the device is questionable. I’d bet there were a couple of mobiles in the lost property box, which were reclaimed fairly quickly, and that this meant that at least a couple of party officials had reason to take objects from the box. To be definite – months after the event – about who removed which object suggests a remarkable eye for detail and a very good memory – unless, of course, very detailed records were kept (in which case, the Labor party wouldn’t be silly enough to deny a thing).
psyclaw@100
It is an absolute disgrace that anyone in Australia should need to live (and die) like this.
If we don’t have sufficient accommodation for ALL the homeless, it behoves State and Federal Govts to immediately fund the building of enough accomodation.
zoomster
The Age say they have a very reliable source that this recording found its why into Daniel Andrews office. It is alleged that subsequently it found its way into Liberal operatives hands.
Today there are further relevations regarding other recordings finding its way to the Oz, as reported earlier.
There does appear to be some divisions within the Liberal party machine and perhaps Labor should point that out
Oops way
ALPNSW conference today
[Labor will ban meetings between ministers and lobbyists. Huge. #labconf14]
Editorial by The Age
Daniel Andrews, Show Leadership
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/show-leadership-mr-andrews-20140725-3cksg.html
Socrates,
[So much for Zionism not being racism!]
ABC RN Breakfast 23/7/2014: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/racism-becoming-the-norm-in-israel-political-scientist/5616796
[Hatred and racism towards Arabs is becoming the norm in Israel, according to Israeli Jew Dr Marcelo Svirsky, who has just returned from a trip to Israel.
Hamas has been at war with Israel since it was first elected eight years ago and Israel’s strong response is nothing new, but Svirsky says this attitude towards Palestinians is new.]
[guytaur
Posted Saturday, July 26, 2014 at 7:49 am | Permalink
Mike Carlton gives an update
“@MikeCarlton01: The inevitable barrage of Zionist abuse has begun. Best so far: “We are the Chosen People. Get over it !””]
I am not sure of the context of Charlton’s tweet so it is impossible to assess it.
The quote from Dee’s link last night was, ‘It is OK for the Chosen to steal’.
This post is in the context of an anti-Israeli site. The article linked by Dee is not credible.
My point stands: posters are doing sarcastic pseudo- Zionist posts and these are being taken at face value by the credulous.
I accept that Zionists exist and that some Jews really do believe they are the Chosen People.
But this does not mean we can take ‘Chosen People’ tweets, posts and comments at face value.
Given that such texts feed straight into anti-Jewish and/or anti-Israeli stereotypical thinking, I suggest that all such texts should be taken with a very considerable grain of salt.
Apparently Herald Sun name who listened to recording
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/victorian-labor-leader-daniel-andrews-accused-of-being-deceptive-and-tricky-over-tape-scandal-20140726-zx4jl.html
Today’s Mumble on Joe Hockey’s biography.
http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/mumble/index.php/theaustralian/comments/what_was_joe_thinking/
Ashkelon, Israel: It is the radio advertisement Israeli authorities do not want their citizens to hear.
In a quiet voice, a woman speaking in Hebrew reads the names and ages of just a few of the more than 190 Palestinian children killed in Gaza in the last two weeks of intensive Israeli air strikes.
Describing the ad’s content as “politically controversial”, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority banned the 1 minute, 25-second spot produced by local human rights group B’Tselem.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/israel-bans-radio-ad-listing-dead-childrens-names-20140725-zwns9.html#ixzz38XHo8cCJ
[Hatred and racism towards Arabs is becoming the norm in Israel, according to Israeli Jew Dr Marcelo Svirsky, who has just returned from a trip to Israel.]
IME, the only people who think racism isn’t a serious issue in Israel, and not just targeted at Arabs/Muslims, are those who haven’t been there, or the very blinkered.
@Victoria/114
“”He is entitled, like everyone, to have a private conversation with a journalist, and not have that listened to, distributed, or legal advice sought, by other people,” Mr Guy said.”
So the Journalist should be the one prosecuted? For recording it in the first place.
This goes back to my argument with hacking trial in UK.
Racism is alive and well in the Middle East?
Who would have thought it?
I have to say that from this distance ‘Dictaphonegate’ looks like a massive beatup, with the Murdochracy trying their best to convince the punters that Labor generally and Danial Andrews in particular are guilty of some vague misdeeds.
A journalist loses a tape at a political convention. Well (1) So what? (2) What a drongo. Someone finds it and listens to it. What do you expect? And why should Daniel Andrews be expected to ‘come clean’? Is it being suggested that Daniel Andrews ordered the theft of the ‘tapes’ for some sinister purpose?
Things are looking desperate for the Liberals in Victoria, although the Murdochracy is making good use of the proceedings of the Union Witch-hunt to claw back some ground. But not enough. A desperate Liberal is like a cornered rat.
Steve777
It is a beat up. But as I said, perception is everything, and Labor need to handle this deflty otherwise things will unravel very quickly
Deftly
victoria
Of course, as Julia Gillard found out, if people want to accuse you of something it’s very hard to stop them doing it.
‘The Age’ has painted itself into a corner on this. There’ll be very little Daniel Andrews can do – be he pure as a maid unwed (cough) – to get them to back down.
The background on this is interesting. The original articles make it clear that the blame for the leak was attributed to one of Tomazin’s co workers. Of course ‘The Age’ stenuously denied this.
It’s a bit of an unfair contest. ‘The Age’ isn’t going to back down, but if Andrews is genuinely innocent, he’s going to have a hard time proving this.
@Steve777/120
I agree, and then Liberals in Victoria come out all looking squeaky clean.
Zoomster
Yep the age will not back down and the herald sun are in on the act.
Personally i see this as a litmus test for Labor.
The Liberals have problems of their own and If it is possible to throw it back at them, Labor should do so
So Mumble reckons that if Hockey or Turnbull had won the Liberal leadership the CPRS would have passed parliament, Rudd would have won the 2010 election and Gillard would be PM today.
I think he could be right. Of course had it not been for Greens lunacy and they supported the CPRS, Abbott would not be PM today.
Right, so the point of Dictaphone-gate is to force Daniel Andrews to answer the all-important question: “When did you stop stealing tapes to further your nefarious plans?”
Steve777
You got it in one!
Centre:
I agree with Mumble’s reasoning also.
After reading the articles about “Dictaphone-gate” I’m still lost as to what the OMG !! Shock ! Horror ! is about.
[Of course had it not been for Greens lunacy and they supported the CPRS, Abbott would not be PM today.]
If the Greens had supported it, they would still have been 2 votes short, so we’d still have the same outcome.
Facts are not a strong point for Tory voting trolls are they?
Although, if Hockey or Turnbull had won LNP leadership, Rudd wouldn’t have needed the Greens vote anyway.
But they didn’t, so it’s all the Greens fault, apparently.
Re Centre @126: remember that Abbott won the leadership election by one vote and a Turnbull supporter missed the election through illness.
It could have gone either way. I believe that December 1, 2009 was a genuine breakpoint in Australia’s history. Australia came to a fork in the road and chose the path down to right wing, Tea Party, market fundamentalist madness.
Meanwhile, in a parallel Universe a tiny fraction of a nanometer away, Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard is Prime Minister with a thumping majority. Tony Abbott has long left Parliament and, like his late mentor Bob Santamaria, is writing increasing cranky op-eds for the Australian that nobody reads.
poroti
The shock horror is that our msm have figured that Labor’s trustworthiness for govt is dependent on how they handle dictaphonegate. So far they have deemed Labor a failure, and if they dont explain themselves pronto, they are stuffed.
Anyhoo, off for a while…
Dan G @ 131
Try to broaden your tiny imagination just a little:
Had the Greens supported the CPRS, the situation would have been that Labor, half the Coalition and the Greens would have been in favour as opposed to Abbott and his fellow sceptics against.
The Monkey would have been under enormous pressure in those circumstances.
Rudd could then have risked a double dee and won.
Instead, the Greens turned the whole issue into a circus and managed to turn off majority public support for action on climate change.
Think about it, you might get a break through in the noggin!
If this govt starts paying grandmothers to nanny their grandchildren, surely it will be rort city. There was an interesting study a few years ago by a scientist who said there is no evolutionary reason for humans to live beyond 40 other than the fact that it means there will be grandmothers to look after offspring (presumably while Mum and Dad went out hunter-gathering)
Just on the basis of press reports (I don’t read political biographies) it appears that Greg Combet:
1. Thought dumping Rudd was a mistake;
2. Insinuates that Rudd cunningly deligitimised Gillard by not running against her in the 2010 leadership stoush. Presumably he should have done that and got smashed.
3. If Combet had his time again, he would vote for Julia in the leadership stoush.
I’ve got a lot of time for Combet. But I can’t work all that out.
Why is it whenever I see Joe Hockey I think of the fictional schoolboy character Billy Bunter?
[Bunter’s defining characteristic is his greediness and dramatically overweight appearance. His character is, in many respects, a highly obnoxious anti-hero. As well as his gluttony, he is also obtuse, lazy, racist, inquisitive, deceitful, slothful, self-important and conceited. These defects, however, are not recognized by Bunter. In his own mind, he is an exemplary character: handsome, talented and aristocratic; and dismisses most of those around him as “beasts”. Even so, the negative sides of Bunter are offset by several genuine redeeming features; such as his tendency, from time to time, to display courage in aid of others; his ability to be generous, on the rare occasions when he has food or cash; and above all his very real love and concern for his mother. All these, combined with Bunter’s cheery optimism, his comically transparent untruthfulness and inept attempts to conceal his antics from his schoolmasters and schoolfellows, combine to make a character that succeeds in being highly entertaining but which rarely attracts the reader’s lasting sympathy.]
Without those few redeeming features of course.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Bunter
Dan G @ 132
That’s the whole point. It became absolutely imperative that the Greens had supported the CPRS when Abbott became leader.
I said at the time to the Greens, go back and check, many times I said, “screw the monkey before the monkey screws you”.
They’re lunatics (the Greens) they live in a daydream.
Unpicking the claims made for the Israeli criminal attacks on the people of Gaza:
http://m.thenation.com/article/180783-five-israeli-talking-points-gaza-debunked
Careful Centre,
Cory Bernardi will be on to you with talk like that.
Fran Barlow@141
Classic Fran. 😆
And in so few words!
IF Labor was guilty as charged in Dictaphonegate, it would be very easily handled.
A minor-ish party official – one of those who is quite happy working in HO, who has no ambitions to run for Parliament or work for the Premier (and there are officials who are quite happy with where they’re at and don’t have particular plans for advancement) – would identify themselves as the guilty party.
They would be castigated by Andrews and resign from whatever position they currently hold (and spring up elsewhere in a position which isn’t seen as particularly important e.g. union office, electorate office).
If they hadn’t been the one to personally remove it from the box, they would swear black and blue that whoever it was who did had handed it straight to them, they had listened to it, and acted on their own initiative, and noone else was involved (or if it was irrefutable that someone else had, that that someone else had said wtte of “No, Jim! We cannot use this tainted material! You must return that immediately to that sterling reporter, Ms Tomazin, whose name I will have no slurs cast upon.”)
The fact that it isn’t being handled that way is a very big reason why I believe Andrews on this.
Yep, Fran’s best ever post, and 13 words in total 😈
K17
Of course it was a big mistake to remove Rudd in 2010. I called it at the time and said that the MSM would destroy Gillard.
[bemused
Posted Saturday, July 26, 2014 at 11:32 am | Permalink
psyclaw@100
Surprised the Victorian contingent haven’t commented on this sad news.
Police found a 27 year old man, his 23 year old girlfriend, and their dog dead in their car outside Ballarat at about 9.30pm last night.
No suspicious circumstances.
Homeless, they were living in the car and using a small butane heater to keep warm. The three died, overcome by fumes.
The undeserved benefits of Sloppy Joe’s “we’re all living in an age of (unnecessary) entitlement” apparently hadn’t flowed down to this couple.
It is an absolute disgrace that anyone in Australia should need to live (and die) like this.
If we don’t have sufficient accommodation for ALL the homeless, it behoves State and Federal Govts to immediately fund the building of enough accomodation.]
ATM Australia has a (bipartisan-supported) net migration rate of around 1,000,000 per decade. IMHO, stopping this until all Australian residents have shelter would be the single most effective step in getting rid of homelessness.
Boerwar@146
Boer
except we had homelessness when the entire (white) population of Australia was less than a million.
One of the interesting aspects of reading the autobiographies/biographies of actors such as Errol Flynn and (I think) Peter Finch was that they all seemed to have spent some time sleeping in The Domain.
Similarly, novels set in early periods of Australian post settlement history (really, from any earlier period) often refer to the homeless – not just swaggies, but people of all ages and conditions.
Of course, in The Depression, there were thousands in that position. (The author, Kylie Tennant, spent some time on the road with them, imitating Steinbeck, and wrote some interesting novels based on her experiences).
bemused, Zoomster
I agree that homelessness is a complex issue. Somewhere in the complexity lies supply and demand. If we increase demand by hundreds of thousands of people are year and the supply does not keep up with it, we generate more homelessness.