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| Blue numbers indicate size of two-party Liberal polling booth majorities. Click for larger image. Map boundaries courtesy of Ben Raue at The Tally Room. |
Menzies covers eastern Melbourne suburbs from Bulleen at the western end through Templestowe, Doncaster, Donvale and Warrandyte to Wonga Park and Croydon North at the eastern end. It was created with the expansion of parliament in 1984, prior to which the area had been divided between Diamond Valley in the west and Casey in the east. At the time of its creation it extended northwards to Eltham, but this area was exchanged for the Warrandyte end of the electorate in 1996. The entire area is solid or better for the Liberals, who have held the seat at all times by margins of no less than 5.4%. The present margin of 14.5% is the highest in the electorate’s history, following consecutive swings of 2.7% against the statewide trend in 2010 and 5.8% in 2013.
The inaugural member for Menzies was Neil Brown, who had held Diamond Valley from 1969 to 1972 and again from 1975 to 1983, having lost the seat with the defeats of Coalition governments on both occasions. Established in the safe new seat of Menzies from 1985, he served as the party’s deputy leader under John Howard from 1985 to 1987. Brown retired in February 1991 and was succeeded by Kevin Andrews, who won the by-election held the following May without opposition from the Labor Party.
Noted for his religious convictions and social conservatism, Andrews came to prominence when he spearheaded a successful push to overturn Northern Territory euthanasia laws in federal parliament. He was promoted to the outer ministry as Ageing Minister after the 2001 election and then to cabinet in October 2003, serving first as Workplace Relations Minister during the introduction of WorkChoices and then as Immigration Minister from January 2007 until the government’s defeat the following November, in which time he was dogged by the Muhamed Haneef affair.
Andrews was dropped from the Coalition front bench after the November 2007 election defeat, but returned as Shadow Families, Housing and Human Services Minister when Tony Abbott became leader in December 2009. He had played a key role in Abbott’s rise to the leadership, having made a tokenistic challenge to Turnbull’s leadership a week earlier in protest against his support for the Rudd government’s emissions trading scheme. Andrews was back in cabinet following the election of Abbott’s government in September 2013 in the role of Social Services Minister, a newly packaged portfolio encompassing aged care, multicultural affairs and settlement services.
Steve777:
Right, as continuator state the remnant-UK would also inherit the UKs rights and obligations under the NPT (as the Russian Federation did), whereas the newly independent Scotland would be strongly encouraged to join the NPT (as Ukraine did), which could only be as a NNWS.
Fukishima fallout continues, this time, it’s resentment:
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/fukushima-fallout-resentment-of-evacuees-grows-in-nearby-city
Fukushima*
Would Scotland have its own king?
Idi Amin ?
Re a Scottish monarchy
____________
This matter hasn’t really been debated yet
In the Scot Nat Party(and it’s the goverment of Scotland as it is)here are two opinions…one is that Elizabeth Windsor(Saxe-Coburg Gotha)might become simply Queen of Scotland…she has after all two houses there,…Balmoral and Holyrood Castle in Edinburgh
I suspect in the long run they would go for a republic…there being no scottish claimantfor the throne as the Royal Stewarts have long gone(and disasterous they were)
However there is a republican sentiment also in the Scot Nats and there might ultimately be a referendum at some future date to decide
Nett_NEWS++™ by @Otiose94 http://bit.ly/1nAtjp1 #War, #abbott, To #Russia w’ Love David Rowe © http://bit.ly/1r5vq6d
Franz, Duke of Bavaria is the current Jacobite pretender (although he has never pretended himself). With its propensity to madness the Bavarian Royal House (Wittelsbach I think) is a great example of the evils of a hereditary monarchy.
Good morning Dawn Patrollers! BK reporting for duty.
Here we go again.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-at-war-in-iraq-edging-closer-20140901-10b59o.html
With words of warning from Hugh White.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/intelligence-is-the-key-only-fools-will-rush-into-iraq-20140901-10asyf.html
Mark Kenny asks whether Parliament should approve any such deployment.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/should-parliament-decide-iraq-strategy-20140901-10atwi.html
Paul Bongiorno – a failed war created a worse threat,
http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2014/09/01/iraq-go-again-paul-bongiorno/
Peter Hartcher with a good look at the problems in the Middle East.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-we-need-the-middle-east-to-help-fight-islamic-state-20140901-10ax8l.html
Horrible stuff from the unions RC.
http://www.smh.com.au/national/trade-union-inquiry-witnesses-fear-for-safety-hearing-told-20140901-10b3nn.html
Judith Bloody Sloan disgraces herself in SA with the worst speech ever delivered. She is a shocker!
http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2014/09/01/hear-hear-turns-jeer-jeer-sloan/
Influence and secretiveness surround the Packer casino approval.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/secret-casino-agreement-kept-from-public-20140901-10azna.html
Kristina Keneally drops the bucket onto Tripodi at ICAC yesterday.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/the-ultimate-act-of-betrayal-former-premier-kristina-keneally-delivers-broadside-against-joe-tripodi-at-icac-20140901-10asdj.html
The blindness of George Pell.
http://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/society/2014/08/30/george-pells-blindness-child-sex-abuse/1409320800#.VATc5jK1ZcQ
Section 2 . . .
Research backs secular counsellors/chaplains.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/black-dog-institute-rejects-dollars-for-chaplains-proposal-20140901-10atoy.html
Stephen Koukoulas – it’s going to be a big week for economic news.
http://thekouk.com/blog/it-s-a-big-week-for-economic-news.html#.VATdFjK1ZcQ
The three worst things the Liberals did yesterday.
http://www.ellistabletalk.com/2014/09/02/the-three-worst-things-the-liberals-did-yesterday-49-2/
The “pink batts” was a successful political fit up. Read Can-Do Newman’s comments at the end. Queensland has NOTHING to be proud of.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/a-litany-of-failures-tony-abbott-tables-royal-commissions-report-into-the-rudd-governments-home-insulation-scheme-20140901-10aw95.html
How the LNP/MSM lied about the Home Insulation Program.
http://www.independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/hip-royal-commission-submission-part-7-how-the-coalitionmsm-lied-about-pink-batts,6839
Politics’ hidden millions in party favours.
http://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2014/08/30/politics-hidden-millions-party-favours/1409320800#.VATfhjK1ZcQ
Inside the World Congress of Families conference.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/01/i-went-to-the-world-congress-of-families-and-all-i-got-was-this-lousy-foetus-stress-toy
Mike Seccombe’s view of Team Australia.
http://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2014/08/30/when-team-building-fuels-racial-unrest/1409320800#.VATf3zK1ZcQ
Craig Emerson and Greg Combet write about coal seam gas.
http://www.afr.com/p/opinion/stumbling_towards_the_worst_of_all_Xfaqzgxq04CdbpkB5vKMlM
Section 3 . . .
Peter Martin does it again and torpedoes Abbott’s stupid Direct Action Plan.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/cheap-option-appeals-as-the-way-to-cut-carbon-release-20140901-10atni.html
And Greg Jericho finishes the job with a fact laden contribution.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2014/sep/01/the-ret-review-only-cares-about-coal-profits-not-renewable-energy
Kathy Jackson’s bizarre press conference.
http://wixxyleaks.com/virtual-insanity-kathy-jacksons-bizarre-press-conference/
A nice take down of Andrew Bolt.
https://newmatilda.com/2014/09/01/bolts-grip-reality-tenuous-his-grip-history-even-worse
A review of the Coalition government’s appointments.
http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/coalitions-appointments-part-of-a-bigger-pattern,6844
Adele Ferguson continues with the structural issues with Big Banking and Finance.
http://www.smh.com.au/business/big-banks-face-up-to-structural-flaw-20140901-10ay6c.html
David Marr asks where Brandis is coming from.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/01/george-brandis-religious-liberty-sexuality-marriage
Section 4 . .
Cathy Wilcox and the coal barons.
A classic from Alan Moir on Joe Tripodi’s brain.
http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/federal-politics/cartoons/alan-moir-20090907-fdxk.html
Clever work from Andrew Dyson.
http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/federal-politics/andrew-dyson-20090819-epqv.html
MUST SEE! David Pope on Middle East policy.
http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/federal-politics/cartoons/david-pope-20120214-1t3j0.html
David Rowe has a visual metaphor of Australia’s sanctions on Russia.
http://www.afr.com/p/national/cartoon_gallery_david_rowe_1g8WHy9urgOIQrWQ0IrkdO
And yesterday’s effort from Rowe on the First Fleet.
Good morning?
Is Scotland still a kingdom? If it secede, wouldn’t it just be Scotland but with the Queen as the head of state? Or the people could elect to have it as a republic in the Commonwealth.
I meant to say Good morning!
I really like David Pope’s “Now Targetting:” comic
There is also Laurence Gardner The Chevalier Labhran of St Germain who claims to be the inheritor of the holy grail ( ie bloodline of Jesus) in the book of the same name AS A STUART.
Good morning all. BK thanks for the excellent range of links. The pieces warning of the dangers of rushing into Iraq (again) are well written. We should assist those in need, but not put troops into there. This BBC piece shows just how hard it is to work out who is behind the IS.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29004253
The story about organised crime links to the CFMEU and kickbacks being expose at the RC is not a good look for Labor again. I am not surprised by the links. Those familiar with past inquiries into the Sydney and Melbourne construction industries will not be surprised. My question is: with crimes reported extending up to murder, where was the police inquiry? Good day all.
Socrates
I read the BBC article as a bit of whitewashing and airbrushing out the importance of our maaates in the ME in creating and funding ISIS.
Newscorpse and the marches
BK
You have surpassed yourself this morning What a Herculian effort
Raaraa
[Good morning]
… What’s so f’ing ‘good’ about it?
Sloan: I have often wondered how she became a professor as I have only ever heard her make her points with anecdotes.
[The harsh assessment may have had some relevance had she backed it up with a reasoned argument, with some examples.
No. Instead, the Sloan assessment was an observation that Adelaide is a “government town”. Our public sector is so large that it dominates the economic landscape.
Except that there were no numbers to back that up.
She had, however, once met a nice taxi driver who complimented her on her “good looks” when she was on a trip to the airport (pleased, perhaps that she was getting out of town).]
The audience apparently gave her the treatment she deserved.
http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2014/09/01/hear-hear-turns-jeer-jeer-sloan/
Having read Hugh White’s piece, I do hope that somewhere in Shorten’s piece was a reference to caution, or the possibility of withdrawal in the future. If he echoed Abbott in every way, I wonder where he’s getting his advice from.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/intelligence-is-the-key-only-fools-will-rush-into-iraq-20140901-10asyf.html
Bernard Keane @BernardKeane · 23h
If you’re interested, here’s the Australian entry for the terrorist organisation we will be arming in northern Iraq http://bit.ly/1tmDZvO
Abbott is now supplying guns to a terrorist group?
lizzie
She is Sloane Square to the straps.
Trashy Russians in Ferrari’s and picnic baskets from Harrods … (and the problem of what to do with the basket afterwards) she’d take in her stride.
With the usual newscorp insightfulness the reporter was able to tell us that a RAAF plane had Australians on board
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/isis-rebels-shoot-at-raaf-c130-hercules-with-australians-on-board/story-fnhnv0wb-1227044300309
Considering they are in our region and Abbott is desperate for scary ME stories I’m surprised this story has been pretty much ignored.
[U.N., Fiji say no word on location of peacekeepers abducted in Golan Heights
– The head of the Fijian army said on Sunday negotiations for the release of 44 soldiers abducted by an al Qaeda-linked group on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights were being pursued as the United Nations said it had no word on the troops’ whereabouts.]
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/31/us-syria-crisis-peacekeepers-idUSKBN0GV07420140831
Good morning
… What’s so f’ing ‘good’ about it?
Broome first fog of the season
CTar1
Hearing her name my mind automatically adds ‘Ranger’ .
poroti
Not being rounded-up by one of them is good for your wallet.
A terrific selection today, BK. Many thanks. That Mike Secombe article is a must- read. David Pope is brilliant.
I’m still working my way through the rest. I will enjoy reading about that obnoxious Judith Sloane being humiliated.
AA
[Broome first fog of the season]
Sweating like a Judith, I expect.
Morning all. Thanks BK for the links. As usual with Rowe always lots to look at!
Remember Mt Sinjar where Abbott “rescued” the Yazidis by bombing mountain goats with water bottles and biscuits the best part of a week after they’d been rescued ? Shame for Tones one of our current “baddies” seem to have been the ones who actually did rescue the Yazidi people.
[Yazidis who escaped the Sinjar mountains say the US airstrikes were all very well, but if it weren’t for the Syrian Kurds, they wouldn’t have made it.
A limited number were airlifted off the mountain, but the mass exodus took place on foot. The much-vaunted Peshmerga, meanwhile, initially ran.
“The PKK [a political and militant Kurdish party based in Turkey) saved us. They cleared a path for us so we could escape the Sinjar Mountains into Syria.”
“As we neared the path, we came under fire from two sides. Me and my brothers were shooting from the back of the vehicle.”
“Thank God for the PKK and YPG (a Syrian branch of the PKK).”
“If it wasn’t for the Kurdish fighters, we would have died up there.”]
http://www.myantiwar.org/view/285206.html
The right wing being very shrill about the HIP Royal Commission.
I’d like to see a Royal Commission into Howard’s decision to send troops into Iraq
Good Morning
Ctar
The morning is good because BK is back.
@BernardKeane: Tom Switzer demolishes the case for intervention in Iraq and – unusually – quotes @senatormilne approvingly http://t.co/JPC86O36kK
What is the prediction for Geoff Shaws return to Vic Parliament today?
“@GMegalogenis: The US is wary of getting sucked into Iraq again. Iraq hasn’t asked for our help. Yet Australia wants to intervene in Iraq. Strange days.”
Morning all
BK welcome back!
CTari
the weather has been brilliant. blue skies, warm but not to warm days, and cool nights.
Aussie plane NOT shot at by militants:
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-hoses-down-claims-australian-c130-shot-at-while-on-aid-mission-to-iraq-20140902-10b84x.html
News Corp making up rubbish again.
Hugh White making the statement that Obama is actng with real leadership in the current situation, tells us all a great deal about the Abbott
This may be of use at some time if you have a legal problem.
http://www.lawanswers.com.au/threads/nsw.1341/
All we need in a “war situation” is the lying abbott in charge. Doesn’t provide confidence in Team Leader.
@1petermartin: It’s back! Abbott and the road to a carbon price: http://t.co/78SWKUs9TN Me, today. @theage #ret #ausecon #auspol
AA
Been nice here too. A real blast of winter for a couple of weeks.
Then clear, sunny with little wind (with rain shower this morning).
Well here is a headline you do not see every day.
[Russia Reveals Space Sex Geckos Dead on Reentry]
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/01/russia-death-five-geckos-space-sex-mission
@ggreenwald: !!!!!!!!!!! Run and hide, abolish political protections, drop bombs everywhere!!! https://t.co/fd7XP0DyeY