New year news

What’s next for Kristina Keneally; the trouble with Victorian Labor; George Brandis’s Senate vacancy; new hopefuls for a resurgent ALP in Western Australia; and more.

Ring in the new year with two months of accumulated news concerning preselections for the next federal election – not counting matters arising from Section 44, which will be dealt with in a separate post during the January lull in opinion poll news.

• After falling short in the Bennelong by-election, Kristina Keneally’s most immediate pathway to federal parliament is the Senate vacancy created by the resignation of Sam Dastyari. However, The Australian reports the position is being eyed by Tony Sheldon, national secretary of the Transport Workers Union, and Tara Moriarty, state secretary of United Voice – either in opposition to Keneally or in her absence, since it is not clear she would not prefer to await a lower house berth. The Canberra Times reports the looming creation of a third electorate for the Australian Capital Territory could present such an opportunity. Other possibilities mentioned for the new seat are Thomas McMahon, economic adviser to Bill Shorten; Taimus Werner-Gibbings, chief-of-staff to Tasmanian Senator Lisa Singh; Jacob Ingram, 23-year-old staffer to Chief Minister Andrew Barr; Jacob White, staffer to Fenner MP and Shadow Assistant Trade Minister Andrew Leigh; and Kim Fischer, former territory ministerial staffer and current communications consultant.

• Another soon-to-be-created seat has been central to factional convulsions in the Victorian ALP in recent months. As in the ACT, population growth has entitled Victoria to an extra seat, which is expected to be established in Melbourne’s booming and strongly Labor-voting north-east. The Construction Mining Forestry and Energy Union wants it to go to Jane Garrett, who recently failed in a bid to move from her state seat of Brunswick to the Legislative Council after losing a Left faction ballot. Garrett feared Brunswick would be lost to the Greens, in part because of the efforts of the United Firefighters Union, whose dispute with Garrett over a pay deal caused her resignation as Emergency Services Minister in 2016. In tandem with other “industrial Left” unions, the CFMEU has walked out of the Left, which is dominated by Senator Kim Carr, and sought an alliance with the Right, which looks likely to proceed with the blessing of Bill Shorten. This will mean an end to the long-standing “stability pact” between the Carr forces and the Right, which has protected members including Jenny Macklin in Jagajaga and Andrew Giles in Scullin. However, Shorten insists he will ensure no sitting members are threatened.

• With George Brandis resigning from his Queensland Senate seat to take up the popular posting of high commissioner in London, The Australian reports a big field of potential successors includes three names from state politics: Scott Emerson, the former Shadow Treasurer who lost his seat of Maiwar to the Greens; John-Paul Langbroek, a former Opposition Leader who remains the state member for Surfers Paradise, but was unsuccessful in the post-election leadership vote; and Lawrence Springborg, repeatedly unsuccessful state Opposition Leader who did not contest the election in November (who would presumably faces a difficulty in being from the Nationals). Also in the mix are Joanna Lindgren, who had an earlier stint in the Senate when she filled Brett Mason’s vacancy in May 2015, but was unsuccessful as the sixth candidate on the Liberal National Party ticket in 2016; Teresa Harding, director of the Queensland government’s open data policy and twice unsuccessful candidate for Blair; and Amanda Stoker, a barrister.

• Surf Coast councillor Libby Coker has again been preselected as Labor’s candidate for the Victorian seat of Corangamite, after winning a local party vote over Geelong businesswoman Diana Taylor by 116 votes to 39. Coker ran unsuccessfully in 2016 against Sarah Henderson, who gained the seat for the Liberals in 2013.

• Mehreen Faruqi, a state upper house member, was preselected to lead the Greens’ New South Wales ticket in late November, winning an online vote of party members by a margin variously identified as 1301 to 843, and 1032 to 742. The preselection took place against a backdrop of conflict between the more moderate environmentalist tendency associated with the parliamentary leadership and Rhiannon’s hard left base in New South Wales. Anne Davies of The Guardian observes that Rhiannon will face “intense pressure to step down early”, so Faruqi can fill her vacancy and raise her profile ahead of the election.

Labor has completed preselections for the brace of Liberal-held seats where it is now reckoned to be competitive in Western Australia, after the resurgence in its fortunes in the state – all of which have gone to women:

• Hannah Beazley, policy adviser to Mark McGowan and daughter of Kim Beazley, will run against Steve Irons in Swan, which her father held from 1980 to 1996 before seeking a safer refuge in Brand. Hannah Beazley ran unsuccessfully for the state seat of Riverton in 2013.

• Lauren Palmer of the Maritime Union of Australia has been selected to run against Ken Wyatt in Hasluck, winning out over the Left-backed Bill Leadbetter, a history lecturer who ran in the seat in 2016, and very briefly served in the state upper house earlier this year. This comes after the MUA threw its lot in with the now dominant Right (“Progressive Labor”) faction in pursuit of its oft-thwarted ambitions to establish a parliamentary power base, together with the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union.

• Decorated police superintendent and Left faction member Kim Travers has been chosen to run against newly anointed Attorney-General Christian Porter in Pearce. Sarah Martin of The West Australian reported Labor’s administrative committee knocked back a nomination from Ann O’Neill, a campaigner against domestic violence whose estranged husband shot her and murdered her two children in 1994, who had not been a party member for the required period and was not granted a waiver.

• A little further up the pendulum, Melita Markey, chief executive of the Asbestos Diseases Society, will run against Michael Keenan in Stirling, and Melissa Teede, former head of the Peel Development Commission, will run against Andrew Hastie in Canning.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

3,217 comments on “New year news”

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  2. All you Melbournians have to worry about are ‘rampaging African gangs’ beatups.

    We have some serious shit going down

    Police arrived in the late afternoon at Central train station to control the angry crowds while customers at Town Hall Station claimed they couldn’t even gain access to the underground platforms and were forced to wait upstairs at the entrance for close to an hour.

    The city’s hot, humid weather did little to sedate the agitated crowds, with temperatures reaching above 27 degrees and broken air conditioning reported on several trains.

    “Piss poor Sydney Trains, no communication to customers, no air con, no drivers, no seats,” one commuter said.

    “Omg, Wynyard station is hot like a sauna. I’m sweating so much I think I’ll just go back to work!” another traveller said.

    The chaos follows the NSW government’s major timetable change, introduced in November last year, which unions are blaming for the congestion.

    Rail, Tram and Bus Union NSW Secretary Alex Claassens said he was disappointed by this week’s “shambolic state” of NSW public transport but said the person to blame was Transport Minister Andrew Constance.

  3. The Sydney train network is in a mess. It started with lightning strikes this morning, but then, Sydney does get lightning. It was compounded by staff leave (bad planning) and glitches with a new timetable (bad planning).

  4. CTar1,

    It was cheap and as a backpacker ( as I was ) that was all that mattered. Saying that by the end of the trip each way a man could be excused for crying.

    At that time ( 1988) Thessaloniki was the place to be for all backpackers heading to Tukey. A large number of hostels, cheap bars and restaurants combined with a large number of cheap bus companies competing for business heading north and south was a great mix.

    I am so glad I did my travelling through Turkey back then. I watch the news now with all the attacks in Istanbul and throughout Turkey with a tinge of sadness. A terrific country inhabited by friendly and hospitable people it was my favourite destination.

    Cheers.

  8. Sprocket ~ @ #3099 Tuesday, January 9th, 2018 – 7:25 pm

    All you Melbournians have to worry about are ‘rampaging African gangs’ beatups.

    We have some serious shit going down

    Police arrived in the late afternoon at Central train station to control the angry crowds while customers at Town Hall Station claimed they couldn’t even gain access to the underground platforms and were forced to wait upstairs at the entrance for close to an hour.

    The city’s hot, humid weather did little to sedate the agitated crowds, with temperatures reaching above 27 degrees and broken air conditioning reported on several trains.

    “Piss poor Sydney Trains, no communication to customers, no air con, no drivers, no seats,” one commuter said.

    “Omg, Wynyard station is hot like a sauna. I’m sweating so much I think I’ll just go back to work!” another traveller said.

    The chaos follows the NSW government’s major timetable change, introduced in November last year, which unions are blaming for the congestion.

    Rail, Tram and Bus Union NSW Secretary Alex Claassens said he was disappointed by this week’s “shambolic state” of NSW public transport but said the person to blame was Transport Minister Andrew Constance.

    Unfair to Melbournians.

    Hologram issues are very important!

  10. The Sydney storms are spectacular.

    Over in the West we have a cyclone brewing in the Kimberley and the predictions are for it to cross the Pilbara coast on Thursday or Friday and and then produce a major rain event as it moves south early next week with very heavy falls as far south as Perth.

    Bring it on.

  11. Rossmcg, hope the Gascoyne gets a drop or two out of this weather event. Very dry there 6 months ago. Even the locals were starting to get concerned as the Mulga was dying.

  12. The Sydney train workers side of the story, something you won’t get in the MSM

    2/ My brother is a Sydney Trains driver, so this is first-hand knowledge. Sydney Trains have been severely understaffed for over a year. Not enough new drivers and train crew have been trained during this period as a cost-saving measure by the current government and middle mgt.
    3/ Due to these severe staff shortages, all Standby and Swinger drivers and crew are working to cover sick staff and those on holidays/leave. These Standby and Swinger crew are essential to keep trains going for a number of reasons: drivers/crew being either sick or late to start
    4/ or due to incidents/breakdowns on the network. With these specific staff already working, there are NO other emergency staff to run the trains when needed. Think about that. These drivers are working beyond their limits to keep the network running.
    5/ During this staffing chaos, the state government in their infinite wisdom have implemented a new untested timetable that makes no allowances for ANY delays. They have not hired more staff to cover the running of it, and be mindful that it takes 18 months to train crew.
    6/ The train crew are wanting to keep the network running, but they can’t if they’re pushed beyond safe limits and without support. Train staff are denied holidays and time off, all thanks to management cutting staff.
    7/ So to say this is some type of conspiracy by train staff is not only laughable, but highly offensive to the dedicated crew trying to salvage a good service. If you want to direct your anger somewhere, direct it to the State Government. They are solely responsible for this.
    8/ They made the decision to not only cut staff, but services and overall public transport budget, despite our city desperately needing it. If you want to talk conspiracies, then talk about them deliberately running these services into the ground in order to privatise them.

  15. PeeBee

    Looking at the predictions the inland Gascoyne could get a drink, not so much near the coast.

    Hopefully it delivers without causing too much damage. The Gascoyne River in flood is something to see.

    Those of us who like a bit of outback travel look for these events in the hope they will fill the creeks and rivers and there will be some great camping come the winter months.

  16. sprocket_ @ #3109 Tuesday, January 9th, 2018 – 7:45 pm

    The Sydney train workers side of the story, something you won’t get in the MSM

    2/ My brother is a Sydney Trains driver, so this is first-hand knowledge. Sydney Trains have been severely understaffed for over a year. Not enough new drivers and train crew have been trained during this period as a cost-saving measure by the current government and middle mgt.
    3/ Due to these severe staff shortages, all Standby and Swinger drivers and crew are working to cover sick staff and those on holidays/leave. These Standby and Swinger crew are essential to keep trains going for a number of reasons: drivers/crew being either sick or late to start
    4/ or due to incidents/breakdowns on the network. With these specific staff already working, there are NO other emergency staff to run the trains when needed. Think about that. These drivers are working beyond their limits to keep the network running.
    5/ During this staffing chaos, the state government in their infinite wisdom have implemented a new untested timetable that makes no allowances for ANY delays. They have not hired more staff to cover the running of it, and be mindful that it takes 18 months to train crew.
    6/ The train crew are wanting to keep the network running, but they can’t if they’re pushed beyond safe limits and without support. Train staff are denied holidays and time off, all thanks to management cutting staff.
    7/ So to say this is some type of conspiracy by train staff is not only laughable, but highly offensive to the dedicated crew trying to salvage a good service. If you want to direct your anger somewhere, direct it to the State Government. They are solely responsible for this.
    8/ They made the decision to not only cut staff, but services and overall public transport budget, despite our city desperately needing it. If you want to talk conspiracies, then talk about them deliberately running these services into the ground in order to privatise them.

    It’s the traditional privitisation mantra. First you starve them of resources. Then you sell it off to your mates.

  17. I think this is how it works – it is before a Grand Jury that you cannot have a lawyer present; but may step outside to consult:

    Advice of Rights

    The grand jury is conducting an investigation of possible violations of Federal criminal laws involving: (State here the general subject matter of inquiry, e.g., conducting an illegal gambling business in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1955).

    You may refuse to answer any question if a truthful answer to the question would tend to incriminate you.

    Anything that you do say may be used against you by the grand jury or in a subsequent legal proceeding.

    If you have retained counsel, the grand jury will permit you a reasonable opportunity to step outside the grand jury room to consult with counsel if you so desire.
    http://www.lecs-center.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=230%3Aon-special-prosecutors-usa&catid=44%3Aevents&lang=en

  20. The SMH has carried articles saying the NSW government was warned internally that the new schedules (which promise lots of new trips) were flogging the existing trains and staff to breaking point.

    Will the train rider emerge from his harbourside mansion and and threaten the NSW premier of dire electoral consequences if the trains don’t run properly?

  24. At Gordon station, on Sydney’s North Shore, the passengers were told to trains were borked and to get on buses…. some unhappy campers

  25. Sproclet

    Of course none of the Sydney train chaos could be traced back to Gladys’ time as Transport Minister could it?

    Eddie Obeid must have had a hand in causing these problems.

  28. According to the MSM, Gladys herself can do no wrong. She just has incompetent ministers (if they can’t blame the weather, the unions, Labor or just bad luck).

  29. GG

    Or a few rounds at the station of

    Gladys why are we waiting ?
    Oh why Gladys are we waiting ?
    Because you keep us waiting ?
    We are suffocating Gladys
    </blockquote.

  31. Perhaps Gladys could employ the African gangs to keep the disgruntled train commuters under control.

    Kill two birds with one stone!

  32. Doyley – We started in London and went to to Instanbul via Sofia to stay with some friends for 3-4 days.

    Then, along your road to Thessaloniki, s-w to Igoumenitsa, ro-ro ferry to Brindisi and eventually back to the UK.

  35. It seems that NSW Transport is trying to suspend the Theory of Constraints.
    What a mess! And, by the look of it, entirely foreseeable.

  36. citizen

    Gladys must have the handy dandy Turnbull MSM playing card . The amount of bad luck that Truffles has had and his magnificence thwarted entirely by circumstance is a testament to the power of the card.

  43. Poroti

    It was a good idea. I had just finished up a long period of contract work and was undecided whether to come home or do some more in the UK.

    We dodged the worst of the UK winter. I perfected Fritalian during weeks spent doing not much at all the hills above Menton before returning to London.

  46. BK

    You are just the man I thought of reading sprocket_ ‘s comment. 🙂 I’ve seen the same management crud myself but you have a much deeper and more knowledgeable understanding of the hows and whys it is so. Vote 1. Deming.

  49. Boolean:

    Thanks for that link to Elder’s latest. A fantastic point and one I haven’t seen in media reports about Victoria’s African crime gangs.

    Here’s where Dutton has torpedoed that policy, and made himself look silly: successive Immigration ministers from Ruddock to Morrison told us there were people waiting patiently in refugee camps in Africa unable to enter Australia because bad people from the Middle East tried to jump the queue by coming here on boats. None of the people on Nauru or Manus are from South Sudan. They are people who have come here through the very vetting systems that Dutton now oversees.

    If you agree with Dutton that Sudanese gangs are terrifying Melbourne, then it follows that he has failed to vet these people properly. You can’t believe that Dutton, with his inflated powers as Home Affairs Minister, is keeping Australia safe if you also accept that he has waved through the very people apparently causing this mayhem. Say what you will about Daniel Andrews, his government simply has no role in immigration vetting. Why detain people at Nauru, Manus, Woodville or anywhere else when you are clearly so careless?

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