Newspoll’s surprise this week has caused a minor landslip in the BludgerTrack poll aggregate, which moves 0.8% to Labor on two-party preferred, while delivering only a modest gain of three on the seat projection (one each in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia). The leadership results from the poll have also caused Malcolm Turnbull’s net approval rating to continue its downward trajectory, and given a very slight impression of Bill Shorten pulling out of his slump. Also in the mix this week were results from Roy Morgan and Essential Research, neither of which recorded much movement, although the former found Labor hanging on to a big gain the previous fortnight.
In other news, the big story at the moment is obviously the introduction this week of Senate reform legislation to the Senate, for which there is a dedicated thread here for you to comment on, together with my paywalled contribution to Crikey on Tuesday. Then there’s preselection news:
• Nominations for the hotly contested Liberal preselection in Mackellar closed on Friday, with seven challengers coming forward to take on Bronwyn Bishop. Joe Kelly of The Australian reports the field includes the widely touted Walter Villatora and Jason Falinksi (see this earlier post for further detail), along with Bill Calcraft, a former Wallabies player described by the Sydney Morning Herald as having “returned to Australia after a long career in business in Europe”. For what it may be worth in well-heeled Mackellar, Calcraft has the support of talk radio broadcaster Alan Jones, who coached him when he played for Manly in the 1980s. The other candidates are Campbell Welsh, a stockbroker; Vicky McGahey, a school teacher; and Alan Clarke, founder of Street Mission.
• Sarah Martin of The Australian reports that while Craig Kelly no longer faces opposition from Sutherland Shire mayor Kent Johns in the Liberal preselection for Hughes, two other local party members have nominated against him: Jeffrey Clarke, a barrister, and Michael Medway, noted only as the candidate for Werriwa in 2004.
• The Liberal preselection to replace Andrew Robb in Goldstein, which was covered here in detail last week, looms as a contest between Georgina Downer and Tim Wilson, after another highly rated candidate, local software entrepreneur Marcus Bastiaan, ruled himself out. Christian Kerr of The Australian reports on a move by locals to throw their weight behind Denis Dragovic, a “former hostage negotiator, academic and global development worker”. Also expected to nominate by Kerr’s Liberal sources are Jeremy Samuel, chairman of the party’s Caulfield electorate committee, and John Osborn, director of economics and industry policy for the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
• The Liberal preselection to replace Bruce Billson in the outer south-eastern Melbourne seat of Dunkley has been won by Chris Crewther, a Frankston-based business consultant. Steve Lillebuen of Fairfax reports that Crewther won in the final round over Donna Bauer, who held the state seat of Carrum for the Liberals from 2010 to 2014. Crewther unsuccessfully attempted to win the rural seat of Mallee for the Liberals when Nationals member John Forrest retired in 2013, but was defeated by Nationals candidate Andrew Broad.
• The retirement of Warren Truss creates a preselection vacancy in the Nationals stronghold of Wide Bay in central Queensland. Among those to express interest are Jeff Seeney, who entered state politics in 1998 and served as Opposition Leader from March 2011 to March 2012, and as Deputy Premier through the period of Campbell Newman’s government from March 2012 to February 2015. Also said to be in the mix is Tim Langmead, a former adviser to Truss.
• Also vacant is Ian Macfarlane’s Toowoomba-based seat of Groom, where the state member for Toowoomba South, John McVeigh, has confirmed he will seek Liberal National Party preselection.
• Sally Cripps of the North Queensland Register reports four candidates have nominated for Liberal National Party preselection in Bob Katter’s seat of Kennedy: Michael Trout, who held the state seat of Barron River from 2012 to 2015; Shane Meteyard, grazier and owner of Milray Contracting; Jonathan Pavetto, economic advisor for the Alliance of Electricity Consumers; and Karina Samperi, a Cairns management consultant. The narrowly unsuccessful candidate from 2013, Noeline Ikin, has withdrawn after being diagnosed with cancer.
Cannibalism is unhealthy Peg. On the other hand, you shouldn’t forget to eat your greens.
I’m unsure whether you could find a more nibbled on Labor supporter than bemused, though ;).
GG: “Obviously, they are going to keep polling you till you get your answers right.”
Or maybe they like my answers so much they want to keep hearing them? But GG, this is the first time you’ve shown any sign of a sensa-yuma. I could even start liking you…
A Revenant critique with with I pretty much agree:
[The Revenant [is] a misery-fest that plants its narrative flags as carelessly as a Roland Emmerich blockbuster, guaranteeing us a viewing experience almost as arduous as the trials depicted on screen, before reaching a conclusion that’s sealed the moment audiences first meet the key players.
After an obligatory false calm, The Revenant’s proper opening scene is a show-stopping massacre at a fur-trapper’s campsite. It’s the kind of thing Howard Hawks would have handled—and did, in The Big Sky—in under 90 seconds, with mostly off-camera particulars and minimal effects, but González Iñárritu forces it to resemble the Normandy Beach sequence in Saving Private Ryan as much as history or sense will allow, and then some.]
And then it got really miserable.
GG #2722
Much of my working life was in the area of child abuse.
I am able to to identify the milestone years when the phenomenom of child abuse and the public understanding of it “changed gears”.
I recall a primary school in 1970 when a fairly wild and unsupervised (by parents) , attractive 10 year old girl who was quite forward in all aspects of her development took a shine to a young male teacher. She haunted him in the playground, coming into close physical contact,, putting her arm through his elbow, and flirting with him. He was very troubled and felt helpless to end it.
I relate this to focus on the reactions of all other staff members. Their common sense view of it was that it was wrong, and that the girl was at risk. This was in an era before there was any institutional or societal understanding, awareness of child abuse. They had not been trained in any way to identify the problems they observed. They simply used their common sense and human values to judge that things were not right.
And in the decade AFTER 1970, Pell coul not apply similar common sense, human values
to be aware of serious abuse, despite kids, parents, police, and colleagues being aware.
Seems he must have suffered serious blindness and deafness early in his priestly years.
Good evening all,
Re The Revenant.
I agree with BB about the movie and the critique he posted at @2754.
I was amazed at how many ways Leonardo could find not to die.
I wad starting to strain about this but when he went over the cliff on the horse and survived then the movie lost me !
As far as I am concerned a far better movie was The Last of the Mohicians with Daniel Day Lewis with the fight scenes and cinematography far superior to that in The Revenant.
But, that is the most appealing aspect of movies. They are different things to different people.
As long as you enjoy it who really cares what others think.
I also think Leonardo was far better in Blood Diamond than in this latest.
Cheers.
Doyley
it was the long term immersion in freezing water which lost me – mind you, it seemed to improve his mobility, up until then he couldn’t walk at all.
The Revenant is about Hugh Glass:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Glass
What the Wiki entry does not do is to raise the issues relating to mass murder, the ecological smashing that accompanied the mass extermination of beaver over most of their range, and grand theft continent.
I have not seen the film and have no idea whether it does anything other than treat the Glass story as a story.
[Doyley
I was starting to strain about this but when he went over the cliff on the horse and survived then the movie lost me !]
Billy Connolly was there a long time ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4ilEIypWbo
Different times, different attitudes and a young Catholic priest would not be the most worldly individual.
I often wonder how ‘worldly’ a priest would be. Surely, they would be more worldly than a lot of people because they would have been exposed to all sorts of human misbehaviour as confessed to them in the confessional.
Psychlaw,
While I respect your practical experience, your views around Pell seem to be, for you, what didn’t he know and when didn’t he know it.
You seem to believe your specialist knowledge and experience should have been known by everyone else.
Clearly, this is not the case.
Just in from Fairfax: Man jailed for shooting a dead man.
A man has been jailed for eight years for attempting to murder a corpse.
This article chronicles the sad ending to a complicated story about Tony Abbott’s violent love affair with himself and his political legacy.
IW @ 2762
*laughs*
zoomster @2757,
What got me was straight after getting out of the river the next scene had him asleep on the river bank with a fire going !
Must have had great waterproof matches.
I know I must sound picky but after all the hype it just came across to me as a basic revenge, chase movie with the lead character a man who just could not die.
Anyway, that is the power of movies. Every one takes different things out of seeing them.
Cheers.
A recent study on the impact of wolves on beaver numbers in Yellowstone National Park.
Add wolves and get more beaver:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_wolves_in_Yellowstone#Ecological_impacts_after_re-introduction
Boerwar @2758,
To me it was just your standard revenge / chase movie.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Cheers.
I’m really really annoyed that they’re giving Lyle Shelton way too much airtime on Q&A.
Greensborough Growler, do Catholics masturbate?
Thanks for the response Jack A Randa. I’d like to keep up with the Brisbane Council elections but my disappointment in it is of its electoral style of emulating the state it is in. Virtually all seats are represented by major parties due to the way it is divided up.
DisplayName@2752
Mere flesh wounds. 😉
D
I have seen both ‘Brooklyn’ and ‘Spotlight’ recently.
‘Brooklyn’ has some context including the drivers for Irish migration. ‘Spotlight’ deals with what was, in large part, an Irish phenomenum – the pedophile protection racket that was the Church in Boston. Brooklyn also ignores stuff like the role of the Irish in America in funding the IRA for decades. Although Brooklyn was technically set before that period. In addition, Brooklyn was set when Tammany Hall ran the joint.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammany_Hall
Yet the priests in ‘Brooklyn’ are all depicted as avuncular.
In the end, I enjoyed ‘Brooklyn’ as an excellent movie that told a simple human story and dealt honestly with some of the issues of migration.
Were I a director with a free choice of script I am not sure what sort of choices I would make for either ‘Brooklyn’ or the ‘Revenant’.
[
Boerwar
Posted Monday, February 29, 2016 at 8:55 pm | Permalink
S777
Pell finally dies and makes his way to the Pearly Gate for the entry interview.
….
‘Next!’ yells Peter as he pulls the lever on the trapdoor.]
Do you really believe that the bishops up believe in that sort of stuff.
I now understand why Waffles couldn’t stand having Billson in Cabinet. Wow, makes waffles sound like a clear speaker.
Nina661 at 2768
There are only two types of me in this world
Wankers or Liars.
PeeBee; “I often wonder how ‘worldly’ a priest would be.”
Certainly the few Catholic priests and bishops, and the rather more proddy ministers, I’ve met have all struck me as being a bit odd hormonally, or a bit out-of-tune with the real world mentally, or both. Brain scans would be interesting.
[
Nina661
Posted Monday, February 29, 2016 at 10:06 pm | Permalink
Greensborough Growler, do Catholics masturbate?
]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUspLVStPbk
men not me
I am a Catholic. I went to Catholuc schools. I knew many priests. I have worked in child welfare during the 80s and 90s.
George Pell is an intelligent man. Ambitious. He is a sophisticated mover and shaker.
It simply beggars belief that he did not know and did not act on what seems to have been obvious to many other people around him at the time.
I suspect it is called wilful blindness.
Boerwar @2771,
I,thought Brooklyn was a great movie.
One scene that stood out for me was the Christmas party where all the old retired Irish construction workers walked into the hall for their lunch.
The priest described them as the workers who had built America, the roads, rail etc. and then he reflected sadly ” what are they living off now ? ”
Used and thrown aside. Very powerful scene for me.
Cheers.
‘Do Catholics masturbate?’
Only when they sense they’re alone with The Beast.
Doyley
I wept at that scene. I think everyone in the cinema was sobbing away as well.
It was partly because they were used up, but partly for the pain of migration expressed so marvellously by that song.
The idea that George Pell didn’t know the details of numerous sexual assaults by paedophile priests defies credulity.
1. The criminal activity was endemic in his diocese. That he could live in a bubble where he knew nothing – but today admitted he “knew of allegations” – is not plausible. It requires acceptance that he turned away from hearing or seeing of evil, a quite different story to his current narrative of being a Prince of the Church.
2. It is not believable that he did not, from time to time, take confession from a penitent paedophiic priest – or alternately one of the victims. Accepting that the privacy of the confession should be respected does not mean we should against all common sense assume that the absence of evidence of what was said in the confessional amounts to an evidence that no such confessions were ever made to Pell. Indeed if it were so we should accept that the whole notion of the Confession is treated universally as a complete joke.
3. Even Pell’s strongest supporters (GG?) seem to accept that Pell erred in his initial handling of complaints through the Melbourne Response. His lack of empathy and primary interest in protecting the reputation of the Church has been his primary motivator. At no stage has he appeared to move onto the front foot to root out and rid the Church of its scourge. This all “fits” a narrative that sees Pell as a long-term acquiescor to paedophile priests, not a protector and shepard to victims.
If he had any self-respect he would resign and devote himself to charitable works for victims of sexual assault. He has no self-respect, for good reasons -see above.
I’m tapping my foot to a song about sperm – these be some crazy dayz…
Boerwar,
It was a brilliant scene.
No words were needed as the song was sung
The look in the eyes and pain in the faces of the old workers as the camera moved among them was enough.
Brilliant cinema.
Cheers.
My view is that it has not been demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that Pell knew.
I believe he should have known.
And for that failure to know, and its consequences, he should resign.
frednk@2772
Hard to believe any intelligent human being does.
Boarwar 2781 yep that song and scene in Brooklyn was my personal movie highlight of the year. I’m half Irish so I suppose I would say that, but it spoke to a universal truth about identity.
On the evidence of Q&A, Billson has turned into a decent human being now that he is leaving politics.
TPOF
[
I now understand why Waffles couldn’t stand having Billson in Cabinet. Wow, makes waffles sound like a clear speaker]
From his parliamentary performance Bilson’s real calling in life is a telemarketer.
[I also think Leonardo was far better in Blood Diamond than in this latest.]
100% agree. Blood Diamond was di Caprio’s masterpiece.
[I also think Leonardo was far better in Blood Diamond than in this latest.]
100% agree with that. Blood Diamond was Leonardo’s masterpiece.
Sheesh…
“I often wonder how ‘worldly’ a priest would be.”
Does this mean that an ‘unworldly’ person/priest has some sort of unwritten excuse for raping and buggering little children.
Odd to think that only the ‘worldly’ are expected to morally understand that raping and buggering little children is not an acceptable practice.
Lyle Shelton is such a wanker, he makes Billson look sensible and compassionate
GG
The teaching staff I mentioned had had no special training.
They could just recognise right and wrong when they saw it. They used common sense and their humanity.
Years later Pell could not do the same thing.
He has kept his eyes and ears shut for years. Or he lies. Or that he is an incredible dope.
I think it is not the latter option.
Awwwwww….
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/prime-minister-malcolm-turnbull-cries-during-tv-interview-with-stan-grant-20160229-gn6e10.html
[ Lyle Shelton is such a wanker]
Yup. If he is the best the ACL can come up with then they aren’t much of a lobby group. The man is an idiot.
A report on US news website of George Pell giving evidence in Rome. Well written.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/29/vatican-s-no-3-faces-sex-abuse-inquisition.html
I attended Q&A today. Very impressed by Anna Burke as always, and was impressed at the capacity Bruce Billson has to not say anything (though I do like him). Shelton was, as always, awful.
David Pope on Oscars and the NBN
http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/federal-politics/cartoons/david-pope-20141123-1t3j0.html