A little extra polling:
• The Australian on Tuesday provided an extra finding from the weekend Newspoll: that opposition to reforming Section 44 has hardened since August, when Barnaby Joyce’s difficulty first emerged. Fifty-one per cent now believe dual citizens should be disqualified from parliament, up seven, with 38% opposed, down five. Forty-six per cent opposed a referendum being held on the matter, with 43% in support.
By-election latest:
• Western Australia’s Darling Range state by-election will be held on June 23. Nathan Hondros of Fairfax reports the Liberal preselection, which will be determined by the party’s state council on Saturday, will be contested by Alyssa Hayden, who unexpectedly lost her upper house seat for East Metropolitan region to One Nation in 2017, and Rob Coales, a police sergeant and Serpentine-Jarrahdale councillor. The early mail was that Coales was favourite, but according to Hondros, it is “understood party powerbrokers are supporting Ms Hayden”.
• David Crowe of Fairfax reports the date for the Super Saturday by-elections could be pushed back to July 7, as the government looks at an Australian Electoral Commission recommendation to implement an online tool for candidates to lodge declarations and supporting documentation, so as to avoid further issues arising from Section 44. This had caused initial plans for a date of June 16 to be scotched, although concerns linger about the electoral impact of an eight-week campaign.
• Speaking of, Michael McKenna of The Australian reports the Liberal National Party preselection for Longman is being held off until next Tuesday to ensure frontrunner Trevor Ruthenberg was able to clear up his own Section 44 issue, arising from his being born in Papua New Guinea.
• Georgia Downer has emerged unopposed for Liberal preselection in Mayo. The Australian reports “ambitious conservative” Michael van Dissel was another potential nominee, but withdrew as it became clear the Right was solid behind Downer. In contrast to the Liberals in WA, Labor will be contested Mayo, despite never having held hte saet before. A Labor source quoted by Philip Coorey said the party believed its preferences could assist Rebekha Sharkie, and that failing to run would suppress the party’s Senate vote at the next election.
• Braddon will again be contested for the Liberals by Brett Whiteley, who held the seat from 2013 until his defeat by Labor’s Justine Keay in 2016, and served in the state seat of Braddon from 2002 until his defeat in 2010. The Burnie Advocate reports former McDonald’s licensee Craig Brakey and Wynyard RSL president Gavin Pearce also contested the state executive vote, but Whiteley was chosen unanimously.
• The Western Australian Liberals’ decision to forfeit the Perth by-election, said to have been instigated by Matthias Cormann, has been widely criticised in the party. Following Tim Hammond’s resignation announcement on May 1, Christian Porter told Sky News Australia the party would “undoubtedly” run, and state Opposition Leader Mike Nahan, who had mocked Labor’s unsurprising decision not to field a candidate in the recent by-election for Colin Barnett’s old seat of Cottesloe, said the by-election was “one we need to contest”.
• The Western Australian Greens have announced their by-elections candidates: Caroline Perks, senior sustainability officer at the City of Perth, in Perth; and Dorinda Cox, domestic violence campaigner and former police officer, in Fremantle.
Other preselection news:
• Jane Prentice’s preselection defeat in her Brisbane seat of Ryan has roused controversy over the lack of gender balance in the Coalition. The winner was Julian Simmonds, a Brisbane councillor who once worked on Prentice’s staff when she herself was on council. Simmons, who is identified with the Right, won a local party ballot by 256 votes to 103 over Prentice, a moderate and early backer of Malcolm Turnbull. Charlie Peel of The Australian reports the vote was “roughly split along traditional party lines, with Nationals backing Ms Prentice”. Critics of the decision include Campbell Newman, Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch and Capricornia MP Michelle Landry.
• Jared Owens of The Australian reports Ian Macdonald and Barry O’Sullivan, who respectively hold Queensland Senate seats for the Liberals and the Nationals, face preselection challenges from Scott Emerson, the former state Shadow Treasurer who lost his seat of Maiwar to the Greens last November, and Susan McDonald, managing director of a chain of butcher’s shops and a member of “one of Queensland’s grazing families”.
• Michael Owen of The Australian reports on a “strong challenge” for Liberal Senate preselection in South Australia from Alex Antic, an Adelaide councillor. This apparently poses a threat to another female Liberal MP, Anne Ruston, who might otherwise be expected to lead the ticket, but not to the mooted number two candidate, David Fawcett. It might also endanger Lucy Gichuhi’s hold on number three, long shot proposition though that may be.
Gives self pat on back for predicting accurately that China would use non tariff barriers to teach the Turnbull Government a lesson.
Happening now.
Ciobo on kowtow mission as we post.
Hawks bemused. Butter beats guns!
Zoom
I can only vomit soo much.
zoomster
I’m sure we already have been treated to such writing about Truffles.
zoomster @ #50 Friday, May 18th, 2018 – 6:26 am
Sounds like you’ve been reading Miranda! 🙂
Malcolm, frazzled by a torrid tongue-lashing from Lucy..
Malcolm, frowzy after a lapdog encounter with Murdoch, promised reset No 26.
Good Morning
Eric McCann tweets
Spent my commute casually wondering if Apple’s ever going to make a smaller watch and stumbled upon a subgroup of men worried that a 4mm difference in the two current sizes affects their masculinity https://twitter.com/mccanner/status/997106265531863040/photo/1
Trifecta!
AR
I am impressed with Labor going for everything with the by elections. Its good to see they have learnt from the Democrats in the US.
In these political times its well worth it you can get surprising results.
Michael Pesce tweets
Another severe flaw in Signal desktop app lets hackers steal your chats in plaintext – https://thehackernews.com/2018/05/signal-desktop-hacking.html via @TheHackersNews 🙁
Good Morning Bludgers 🙂
I wonder whether Malcolm Turnbull knows the species of trees that are going to be bulldozed in Far North Queensland once his ‘Environment’ Minister gives the go-ahead?
I think Labor and The Greens are really running a “Kill Downer” game in Mayo. I really hope they direct their first preferences to Sharkie rather than each other before Sharkie.
Rachel Maddow tweets
Lordy.
You guys.
You are going to want to see the tape that @AllInWithChris is going to play at the top of his show at 8pm ET on MSNBC.
This is a 12 second clip, but wait til you see the rest of it… https://twitter.com/allinwithchris/status/997249589743968256
This is Bill Gates dishing on Donald Trump
guytaur @ #59 Friday, May 18th, 2018 – 9:41 am
Yes, I was referring only to the two spelling errors and one grammar error in that sentence.
AR
🙂
Ar
Speaking of such things.
James Colley tweets
Alice Workman tweets
The government has refused to answer how many staff have left Michael Keenan’s office since October… following BF’s story that a journalist claims Keenan’s office tipped them off about AWU raid https://www.buzzfeed.com/aliceworkman/raid-leaks https://twitter.com/workmanalice/status/997260104968781824/photo/1
Just want to point out.
Labor are going to run a candidate in Mayo, to hand out HTVs that preference Sharkie over the Liberals to help Rebecca Sharkie win.
Lots of people on PB patting Labor on the back for this genius idea.
But people on PB have been telling me that the Greens running candidates and distributing HTVs that preference Labor over the Liberals has been helping the Liberals.
These two beliefs are inconsistent.
Please let me know which of these you wish to abandon.
zoomster @ #32 Friday, May 18th, 2018 – 8:37 am
What rot!
Firstly you are endorsing Confessions drivel and if she read what I wrote, I would challenge her to provide a reference to the comments supposedly attacking her for such a benign statement. She is a well known fabricator and this is most likely another instance.
I do not recall a single post opposing guytaur’s right to wear a dress if he wanted to. In fact I encouraged him to go off and wear a tutu, burka or anything he fancied.
And as for strange looks, anyone defying cultural norms naturally attracts attention. So what? I have friends who wear a hijab. Yes, they initially aroused some curiosity in me, but we became friends and I no longer give it a second thought. That’s pretty normal reactions.
So much being made of so little by air-heads.
bemused
No you did no such thing.
You used ridicule. You are not getting away with this rubbish statement of trying to rewrite history
Try saying I was wrong to ridicule men wearing dresses and then your statement will be true.
Voice Endeavour says:
Friday, May 18, 2018 at 9:55 am
Just want to point out.
Labor are going to run a candidate in Mayo, to hand out HTVs that preference Sharkie over the Liberals to help Rebecca Sharkie win.
Lots of people on PB patting Labor on the back for this genius idea.
But people on PB have been telling me that the Greens running candidates and distributing HTVs that preference Labor over the Liberals has been helping the Liberals.
Let’s hope that Labor prefs help ensure that Sharkie prevails over the Lib and the G.
Ides of March not.logged in @ #62 Friday, May 18th, 2018 – 9:44 am
They will direct their first preferences to their candidate.
Of course, it remains the case that the endless, puerile campaign against Labor conducted by the Gs is intended to assist their class-siblings, the Liberals, while also frustrating Labor.
guytaur @ #70 Friday, May 18th, 2018 – 7:02 am
Maybe you saw ridicule, when none was intended.
Just saying!!! 🙂
I have discovered the real reason we have an NBN.
It’s so that when either my phone or my laptop give up and tell me that – despite the modem’s wi-fi signal strength being 5 bars, and indicating a strong internet connection – they’re refusing to connect me, when I phone Telstra they will tell me it’s an NBN problem, and when I phone NBN they will tell me it’s a Telstra problem… both at the end of crackly telephone connections with thick, indecipherable Filipino accents doing the telling.
zoomster
But wait……………………..
.
"….anecdote from "Stop at Nothing" by @annabelcrabb"
guytaur @ #70 Friday, May 18th, 2018 – 10:02 am
I did not ridicule men wearing dresses sunshine.
I couldn’t care less what you and other men wear.
Barney
No.
Bemuse said wear a dress face the consequences. I posted two examples of the prejudice and discrimination that results in. First the ridicule Catherine McGregor copped while transitioning.
Then an article on a trans woman being bashed and the court sentence handed down.
Bemused ignored my question of consequences like these.
Instead he just went on to rewrite history of how he was not ridiculing and ignored those posts and did not say of course I condemn the violence of this.
It was pretty stark.
Bemused was ignoring the violent consequences of ridicule of men in dresses by his saying its ridiculous for men to wear dresses.
Bemused
You so did ridicule.
Barney in Go Dau @ #74 Friday, May 18th, 2018 – 10:11 am
I will admit to often finding guytaur ridiculous if that helps.
guytaur @ #79 Friday, May 18th, 2018 – 10:17 am
And right on cue, a perfect example of guytaur being ridiculous.
Barney
Note how Bemused uses ridiculous a lot.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridiculous
Bemused is a misogynistic homophobic bully and his free use of ridiculous about other posters proves it.
Bushfire Bill @ #75 Friday, May 18th, 2018 – 10:11 am
I think I may have discovered the reason behind the reason.
A usually reliable source, just this morning, has confirmed my long held belief
And so, he said portentously, there you have it, the Koalas are the responsible party.
Should this information reach the Parliamentary Office of Knowing Stuff, or, even worse, somebody in China, I fear that our Foreign Minister may have to make a statement.
All sing along now -♫♪
What A Wonderful World
♫I see trees of green
Red ♪ roses too
I see ♫ them bloom♪
For me ♫and you
And I think♫ to myself
What a ♫wonderful world♫
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay
Hooray ❗
Why do you people DO this?
Do you not realise how unutterably, profoundly, BLOODY BORING your pathetic spats are to see here day after day, month after month?
guytaur @ #82 Friday, May 18th, 2018 – 10:21 am
Your behaviour is ridiculous sunshine.
Why are you so obsessed with your sexuality and continually feel the need to put it out there in front of everyone? I just couldn’t care less and am not interested. I am also not interested in the sexuality of any other posters.
BB
I will not shut up because I am gay.
I will not be bullied by bemused or any other person on this blog because I challenge the concepts Bemused has of masculinity.
I gave Bemused plenty of leeway to get himself out of being a bully.
I am calling him out precisely because he is being discriminatory by ridiculing me.
Both sides are not the same unless you are Donald Trump of course.
And the antagonists are always drawn from the same small coterie of posters, every single time.
Buy boxing gloves and sort it out once and for fucking all, will you?
Bemused
Again you say shut up be invisible. How dare you post anything about gay people on this blog.
Your homophobia is showing in spades.
…go for it, guytaur. If there is a bludger who can outlast any other, it’s you…
guytaur @ #86 Friday, May 18th, 2018 – 10:31 am
And I don’t care if you are a transvestite and feel the urge to frock up. Go do it. You don’t need my approval.
Here Bemused I will shove some sexuality in your face
https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/cozy-with-you-picture-id521231862
https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-gay-male-couples/jacob-shelton
http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/national-news/ding-dong-im-gay-lgbti-webseries/168796
guytaur @ #78 Friday, May 18th, 2018 – 7:16 am
I can’t remember at any point he made such a statement, he always asserted the right for a man to do so if they wished.
Whether we like it or not any diversion from the cultural norm will create a reaction.
Be it’s simple stares at something that’s unusual, a pretty natural reaction to anything new, or something more extreme.
I don’t think anyone here has said that anything beyond a surprised stare is an appropriate response.
Not everyone is accepting of change and people unfortunately do respond in other ways, as a Society this is unacceptable and those people should be dealt with appropriately.
A final question.
If someone other than bemused had made the initial remark would you have responded in the same way? 🙂
briefly @ #89 Friday, May 18th, 2018 – 10:34 am
You certainly make the right call there.
He’s like the Eveready bunny when he gets going. Unstoppable.
Fess – the Golden Sesame bread is great and takes 5 mins to make (30 – 35 to bake) though 3 parts olive oil top one part sesame is best flavour (like a Vienna damper). I also added sweetener and vanilla and made scones out of recipe.
Guytaur, I don’t give a shit whether you’re gay or not. I really couldn’t care less what you do on your own time, but when you consume megabits of bandwidth boring the rest of us witless with you obstinacy and seemingly complete lack of self-awareness, I get upset.
The same goes for Bemused’s own preoccupations, whatever they may be.
We are all guilty of Being Boring from time to time. The trick is to realise when enough is enough, and to give other people a break from your own personal obsessions and preoccupations.
BB
No BB
You have to accept you will be uncomfortable in your heterosexuality when I post about gay subjects especially when the discussion is about what is masculinity.
I have a very different view to you because I experience not just observe the effects of our patriarchal society.
I am gay I will not be invisible I will not go away.
BB
There is a reason for the existence of IDAHOT day.
https://www.acon.org.au/about-acon/latest-news/#undefined
https://opseu.org/event/international-day-against-homophobia-transphobia-biphobia-idahot
Bemused, whether you say so or not – you ALWAYS need to get the last word. That means every time someone says something you don’t like, you turn it into a spat that, as BB has said, goes on forever.
I’m over it as well.
BB
Like sand through the hour glass….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98T3PVaRrHU
Anyone for tennis ❓ 🎾
Cricket ❓ 🏏
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-18/david-warner-to-make-sydney-club-comeback/9773152