As the likelihood of a July 2 election firms, the preselection treadmill gathers pace. All the action this week is on the conservative side of the fence:
• New discord has emerged in the fractious New South Wales branch of the Liberal Party over its preselection for the Senate, after a party vote on Saturday delivered top position to Hollie Hughes, Moree-based autism support advocate and the state party’s country vice-president. This reduced the remaining incumbent, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, to number two, in defiance of the wishes of the Prime Minister, who had recently signalled his support by promoting her to the ministry. With number three reserved for Nationals Senator Fiona Nash, the result also meant neither of the Liberals’ winnable positions was available to Jim Molan, a former senior army officer who was heavily involved in the government’s efforts against unauthorised boat arrivals. Hughes has since forestalled a looming state executive intervention by agreeing to be relegated to number two. At issue was the presence on the preselection panel of two lobbyists and moderate factional operatives, Michael Photios and Nick Campbell, two years after Photios had been forced off the state executive by a Tony Abbott-sponsored rule forbidding the involvement of lobbyists. Opponents of the moderates cited in a report by David Crowe of The Australian claim that without the involvement of Photios and Campbell, Fierravanti-Wells and Molan might have taken the top two spots, with number three going to Andrew Bragg, policy director at the Financial Services Council. Tony Abbott described the outcome of the vote as “another exercise of stitching up”, which had been “tainted” by the involvement of Photios. If a double dissolution elections is called, the entire process will need to be revisited in a way that also accounts for Marise Payne, John Williams and Arthur Sinodinos, who were elected in 2013.
• Outgoing Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson has been preselected to succeed Andrew Robb as Liberal candidate for the Melbourne seat of Goldstein. The Australian reports Wilson prevailed in the local party ballot over Denis Dragovic, a “lecturer, former hostage negotiator and columnist”, by the paper-thin margin of 142 votes to 140. Eliminated in the first round were Georgina Downer, with 66 votes, and Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive John Osborn, on 18 votes. The vote came shortly after a pamphlet was distributed to preselectors describing Wilson as “a danger to our families, schools and the local community”, owing to his “unrelenting campaign for gay rights issues”.
• The Daily Telegraph reports Bronwyn Bishop faces defeat in the Mackellar preselection at the hands of Jason Falinski, owner of aged care business Carewell Health. Falinski was Malcolm Turnbull’s Wentworth campaign manager in 2004, and has worked for John Hewson and Barry O’Farrell. While Falinski is strongly associated with the moderates faction, the Telegraph reports he “will get the support of much of the Right because of an anyone-but-Bronwyn attitude caused by her switching sides on Tony Abbott”.
• A further three challenges have emerged against federal Liberals in Western Australia, in addition to the widely reported contest between Tangney MP Dennis Jensen and the state party’s former director, Ben Morton. Liberal sources invoked by Andrew Burrell of The Australian suggest Nola Marino is under pressure from Ben Small, although all I can discern of Small is that he lives in Bunbury. Elsewhere, Swan MP Steve Irons faces Carl Pallier, state manager of Suncorp Insurance, and Durack MP Melissa Price is opposed by David Archibald, a geologist.
• Seven Liberal Party members have nominated for preselection in the new southern Perth seat of Burt. Andrew Burrell of The Australian suggests the front-runner is Matthew O’Sullivan, “who runs Andrew Forrest’s GenerationOne philanthropic movement aimed at ending indigenous disparity”. However, Gosnells councillor Liz Storer is reported to be “backed by conservative forces”. Also in the field are Marisa Hislop, a small business owner; Daniel Nikolic, a company director; Lance Scott, the party’s divisional president; and a low-profile figure named Lesley Boyd.
• Sarah Martin of The Australian reports the Liberal Party has approached indigenous journalist Stan Grant about running for preselection against Labor’s Julie Owens in her highly marginal seat of Parramatta. The Liberals will be choosing their candidate for the seat through a trial plebiscite of local party members of more than two years’ standing, amid an ongoing brawl within the party over the power of head office in the party’s preselections.
• Melissa Grant of AAP reports on a second contestant for the Liberal National Party preselection to succeed Ian MacFarlane in the Queensland seat of Groom, joining the widely touted state member for Toowoomba South, John McVeigh. The candidate is Toowoomba general practitioner David van Gend, who describes himself on his Twitter bio as a “combatant on matters of life and death: euthanasia, cloning, abortion, gay ‘marriage’, faith and freedom” – his perspective on such matters being conservative.
Jackol
Yes, I’m finding that constantly switching from one country to another is quite confusing, especially as I have no interest in the American pre-election detail.
Jackol
[The US presidential discussion is getting a bit overwhelming on here. There is another thread specifically for it…]
I agree. There is NO further need for this discussion at all.
It is analysed definitively HERE:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/primary-flow-chart_us_56f6b02ae4b0143a9b48623f?section=australia
adrian@1200
Indeed.
Where is the ‘evidence’ he even has authority within the LNP.
He is PM because he *was* doing well in the Polls and the tories thought he would save their jobs and perks..
But so far he has done bugger all except walk away from what people thought/ were lead to believe he stood for.
I’ll be interested as to how he proposes to turn his cities program into votes.
People want solid programs that are important in their lives – Medicare which is not gutted, education programs not run by spivs on the taxpayers tit and which deliver bugger all.
Pensions which aren’t being cut by altering the indexation calculation.
These were promised by the LNP at the 2013 election after all….
He might flip a switch and bewitch the electorate – but I’ll believe it when I see it.
And I scored
95% Green
72% Labor
25% Liberal
No big surprises there. I’ve always tended to get ranked nearer the Greens. I just wish Labor would do the hard policy work and move more towards adopting more of the Greens platform.
Apparently my affiliation with the Liberals had mostly to do with me not being entirely opposed to uranium mining, export, waste storage and not entirely opposed to CSG.
The quiz needs to be more fine grained. And you need to be able to stress which issues you feel most strongly about.
So, who is writing to Tony to stroke his ego and encourage him to wage war against Turnbull? 🙂
On the quiz, my results were pretty unsurprising. 91% Green, 57% Labor and 4% Liberal.
What is this quiz please?
Tony has only two reasons to campaign.
1 The second Abbott government. (It will be so much better than the first.)
2 Margie wanted him out of the house.
https://australia.isidewith.com/political-quiz
Roger Miller@1209
He still sees himself as an alternative PM and hasn’t and probably won’t accept that he dished it out and got it back.
Live by the sword…etc…
He will never accept that he was a dud PM. A liar who lied about lies and someone most people just him to go – go far away – out of their lives.
His *legacy* FFS – his utter disillusion starts right there.
But I’m overjoyed at the prospect of him causing more division more damage to the LNP.
Truly, a rotten apple as BW said yonks ago.
Tony is still in politics because he loves conflict and would be empty without it.
disillusion = delusion
Grrr…
Thanks cud. I scored:
Labor 91%
Greens 87%
Liberals 3%
My complaint about these kinds of quizzes is there is no ‘don’t know’ or ‘unsure’ option.
And there’s no way to prioritise the importance of a question.
Plus what gets me about Tories is their utter failure to understand human nature. I’d love to see a quiz that asks questions like:
Do you believe that your lot in life has everything to do with how hard you work and nothing to do with your parents?
That would tease out the basic beliefs.
trog
[I agree. There is NO further need for this discussion at all.
It is analysed definitively HERE:]
What I agree with is that:
– mostly attention paid to the US election is a waste of time; and
– the Huffington Post is very unreliable.
confessions, 1214
You can leave the questions blank if you want, which I think is the same as not knowing or being unsure.
[He will never accept that he was a dud PM.]
Well, to be fair to Abbott, most people dudded over for a job rarely see themselves as not being the most suitable candidate. Our work has gone through a terrible period recently where an outsider was appointed for a key leadership position, and the obvious internal candidate wasn’t even shortlisted for interview despite this person telling all and sundry she had all the skills and the job was hers yada yada.
To justify her non promotion she then started spreading rumours about our director that he was having an affair with another colleague (who happens to know the successful applicant), and she threatened to tell his wife if he didn’t give the job to her friend. Utterly vile, baseless and completely unprofessional conduct that smears a good man in the eyes of people he works with, another colleague who is also married with a young child, and our director’s wife who is lovely and to whom he is 100% devoted.
But to the unsuccessful person, that job was hers and hers alone and she had to find ways to explain away how she just wasn’t considered a suitable applicant. The need for vengeance can be a nasty pervasive influence that corrupts rational thinking. Abbott is displaying all these traits in my view.
[And there’s no way to prioritise the importance of a question.]
On the left hand side you can state how important the issue is to you. To be honest, all but the environment and NBN questions I ranked as ‘most’. The rest were less, least or somewhat.
Airlines:
Oh, I didn’t realise you had the option to leave them blank. That might have changed my results if I’d done that.
[To be honest, all but the environment and NBN questions I ranked as ‘most’.]
That should say that only the environment and NBN questions were ranked as ‘most’.
Abbott is just setting the facts straight. How could he possibly let revisionist history go uncorrected?
This article linked by Raaraa on the US election thread is interesting. Scott Adams (author of the ‘Dilbert’ cartoons) sets out why he thinks Trump will win the Presidency.
http://www.theage.com.au/world/us-election/donald-trump-will-win-in-a-landslide-says-dilbert-creator-scott-adams-20160324-gnqpxd.html
I can see parallels with Tony Abbott as opposition leader. I also see parallels with Clive Palmer (although Clive’s a much more benign figure), although he failed in his attempt at… whatever it was he was trying to achieve.
85% Green 76% Labor 15% Liberal
*gags*
Fess
abbott was hardly duded.
Very different from the work examples you quote – voters had long since past their verdict on him.
His carryon was out in public and judgment was past over by the many over an extended period in the polls based on his atrocious performance, his multiple dud captains calls and lies then lies about lies.
abbott duded turnbull when he rolled him way back when and then failed on every conceivable measurement when he became PM.
But I take your overall general point.
100 years since the Easter Rising against British occupation of Ireland….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Sje2VYw99A
Hewson offers unsolicited advice on how the Libs should handle Abbott and also an unflattering assessment of Morrison:
[Former Liberal Party leader John Hewson has urged Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to give his predecessor, Tony Abbott, a formal role in the federal election campaign to avoid disunity within the Coalition.
…and…
Dr Hewson also criticised Treasurer Scott Morrison as a “spin merchant” who had failed to deliver since taking on the job.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/give-tony-abbott-an-election-role-to-avoid-coalition-disunity-says-john-hewson-20160327-gnrsgr.html#ixzz445ef7Fpa
My results for this quiz were 89% Green, 71% ALP, 10% Liberal.
http://australia.isidewith.com/results/2213073115
Seth
I had a similar result and a similar reaction!
celebrating Easter….. like Jesus
swamprat@1226
Yep. It was a half baked debacle at the time, but the British brutality and subsequent Irish reaction to it all meant it was the beginning not the end of booting the british out.
What is the estimate – by 2040 or there abouts – the Catholics in the North will have the numbers to vote to unite with the Irish Republic ?
I also was a similar result. The message that that I get out of it is that ALP and Greens policies share much in common, which makes it ironic that we have Greens coming here and criticising the ALP, claiming that they are superior. Time to re-assess folks. I also have lots of questions as to methodology and who put this together – I know the name, but not the persuasion. The one definite good point is that the Greens/ALP policy does not have a lot in common with the Libs. That’s gotta be good.
Tom.
kakuru@1188
All I get is this:
[ File:Texas US Congressional District 2 (since 2013)
No file by this name exists.
File usage
No pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file. (Pages on other projects are not counted.)
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Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless otherwise noted.
Terms of UsePrivacy ]
KEVIN-ONE-SEVEN@1212
Also, the lack of job offers from outside politics, that he would regard as suitable and his due, must have hurt and been a cold sharp wake-up call about his chances out in the real world.
The possibility that he might once again be LOTO, or even just shadow minister, would be no small financial attraction to hanging around, even if he never gets close to being PM again.
Bluey did the quiz and is proud to announce that by doing common sense answers he got 0% Greens.
I answered the quiz as what I want if I had a magic wand, not a political process to go through.
BK, thanks again for the SMH link this morning on modern monetary theory.
However, if I put in the string, I get this URL which works:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%27s_2nd_congressional_district
And that gives me what I think you are referring to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%27s_2nd_congressional_district#/media/File:Texas_US_Congressional_District_2_(since_2013).tif
A truly strange and obviously gerrymandered district.
I’d love to see what your precise answers were to each question of that quiz, Boer 🙂
dave:
My point is that like my work colleague Abbott would see himself dudded out of a job. The reality is very much different, as it is for this woman at work. But the aggrieved rarely see things as they really are, preferring to view things through a lens of feeling ripped off.
don, there are worse ones 🙂
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/05/15/americas-most-gerrymandered-congressional-districts/
Green 90%. Labor 76%. Liberal 0%
cud chewer@1241
Woah!
They need the AEC, and they need it bad.
cud chewer@1241
Just looking at that again, that is as close to corrupt as it gets, surely?
Is there such a thing as anti-corruption watchdog government organisations in the US?
If so, they are way behind schedule.
That’s the good ol US of A for ya 🙂
Re Swamprat @1230: good stuff. I wonder what Jesus would have made of the ‘prosperity gospel’?
Puff
I think you nailed the problem with the quiz and why the Greens show up so strongly.
JUST ME – I don’t think it’s got anything to do with job offers or money. Tony knows nothing else. Politics (and conflict) is his life. Didn’t matter how much money he was offered. He’s a political beast.
In the US State and Federal elections are run by the states under state laws. The Republicans have been spending up big to win state governments, because then they can rewrite election laws for both state and federal elections.
BK:
You’ll love this!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1ZXYAF2_Ro