For discussion focused on the count for the Wentworth by-election, which turns out not to have been as over as you thought it was last night, the live results thread is still in action. For general political discussion, I offer the following post, with my usual semi-regular updates of preselection news.
• Phillip Coorey of the Australian Financial Review reports a New South Wales Liberal Senate preselection next month is a three-way contest between Jim Molan, Andrew Bragg and Hollie Hughes. Molan found a place in the Senate last December by the grace of Section 44, after securing only the unwinnable seventh position on the Coalition ticket at the 2016 double dissolution, to the chagrin of conservatives including Tony Abbott. Then followed the disqualification of Nationals Senator Fiona Nash, followed by the determination that the sixth candidate on the ticket, the aforesaid Hollie Hughes, was likewise ineligible due to a position she had taken on the Administrative Affairs Tribunal. Now it appears Molan is primed to take top spot, and since the third position is reserved for the Nationals, this leaves two and four to be fought out between Bragg, whose decision to withdraw himself from consideration for preselection in Wentworth is now looking pretty good, and Hughes, whose Section 44 complication is behind her.
• The Port Macquarie News reports three candidates have nominated to succeed retiring Luke Hartsuyker as Nationals candidate for Cowper: Patrick Conaghan, a former police officer and North Sydney councillor who now works locally as a solicitor; Chris Genders, a newsagent; and Jamie Harrison, former Port Macquarie-Hastings councillor and owner of an electrical business.
• The Burnie Advocate reports Gavin Pearce, who has been described as a “farmer and ex-defence force member”, has been preselected as Liberal candidate for Braddon ahead of “Devonport business identity Stacey Sheehan and property developer Kent Townsend”.
Fess
Its called the Sabbath. Applies to every Saturday
When you run 7km every morning you can get immersed in your thoughts
Regardless of the ultimate Wentworth outcome it required a swing against the government of upwards of 18% for them to lose (yet another) blue ribbon seat
That is beyond comprehension
So why?
My allegiance is to Labor, but that has not always been the fact nor will it be
So why again prosecuting for the removal of a Conservative government – because as fully self funded retirees you would assume that we are Liberal heartland?
There are a raft of reasons, as emerged over the 2004-2007 period
To list them all would bore
BUT, to crystallise was a contributor putting the front page of Murdock’s Australian on this site
The Liberals wheeling out a 104 year old (and good on her!) to spruik Menzies
Not the spruiking of Menzies but the attaching commentary and references
To a White Australia which was a proud member of the British Commonwealth of Nations
Then to Howard, who had been dismissed as a campaigner in Wentworth but was a favourite because he spent (the proceeds of the Mining Boom Phase 1 and asset sales) on tax cuts and middle class welfare – remembering Vanstone’s “sandwich a week” for median income earners – and not on infrastructure (and the very reason I was one of those who voted Howard out)
So my reasons for again agitating for the removal of the Conservatives was crystallised – by the Liberal Party no less
They still live in the 1950’s – on the sheep’s (now Mining) back
And, as confirmation, you have the references to Albury and the Party of Menzies
Menzies retired shortly after commiting to the Vietnam War and introducing Conscription, so 1966
We are now 2018
The World has changed, as has the Island of Australia (and Tasmania!)
Bringing a lump of coal into the Parliament is symptomatic of the Liberal Party remaining rooted in the 1950’s
And why our children – and now their parents – agitate for a change of government to a progressive political party, debating the issues and moving forward
Not looking back generations
guytaur @ #140 Sunday, October 21st, 2018 – 11:38 am
You are truly an idiot sometimes, guytaur. Plus, I don’t remember you coming to MY defense when nath ‘joked’ that he would give Mr Bowe $10000 to ban me from PB for a year. Especially after all the support I have given to you over the years when you have been the subject of unwarranted attack.
Sorry, but if you can’t see the malign intent in what nath wrote, and it’s very unfunny aim, in a series of pointed attacks since nath arrived here, all specifically directed at character assassination directed at Bill Shorten solely and only, then, as I said, nath has certainly succeeded in hoodwinking you.
All day, every day, nath comes here, to openly abuse Bill Shorten, or craft his ‘jokes’ about him, because he knows that ridicule is a very effective form of attack and undermining. And nath uses every single method of attack that he can think of.
*Reintroducing old stories about Bill Shorten.
* Cutting and pasting discredited news items about Bill Shorten or Labor.
* Arguing old decisions from the previous Labor government as though they were the end of the world for certain demographics in Australia. When it can be proven that the opposite is the case.
* Smearing Bill Shorten about things he does, has done, or the way he lives his life. Standards that he applies to no other politician in Australia, when there is plenty of material to work with.
* He admits he has a vendetta against Bill Shorten and will not cease in his attempts to bring him low before the federal election.
* Not to mention that nath will abuse any skerrick of data or occurrence in politics in Australia, and skew it to his agenda, by crafting a slur or a ‘joke’ out of it.
And you have fallen for it.
Cat
I only commented on one joke. One that many Labor partisan people have said.
I just pointed that out.
If you don’t like it fine. Thats your lookout but it shows exactly how one eyed you are and you will note I have been lately staying out of most of the to and fro.
I just made the point about that because it was so obvious.
Why, it’s almost as if this isn’t a Bill Shorten fan site, or something!
Nath, I’m sorry, but your bald ‘Rex-like’ proclamations hold no water. Most people here are too intelligent to buy ‘advertising spin’
The Shorten/ALP strategy in Wentworth worked a treat. The whole idea is to unseat the Libs – if you know you can’t win, you go for the next best option. It is called common-sense and shows people are not just automatons, but do actually think/vote strategically to acquire the best outcome.
Shorten has seen off: several PMs, several DPMs, several govt senate leaders and now likely a blue ribbon electorate (or at the very least, a massive anti-lib swing) … not bad ‘strategic thinking’ in anyone’s book.
So you can keep your shit-stirring proclamations. Shorten is doing just fine
jenauthor @ #154 Sunday, October 21st, 2018 – 11:57 am
Edit -> no post
guytaur,
If you were actually being fair you would have remembered that I have said nothing about 99/100 ‘Bill Shorten has questions to answer’ jokes. Even by nath. That one just seemed pointedly nasty and unfunny. That is all. Go on defending it if you want.
Shorten has seen off: several PMs, several DPMs, several govt senate leaders
_______________________
Abbott shot himself in the foot and then the head, don’t think Shorten was involved there. Did Shorten slip Barnaby a Viagra? I can’t see his hand in all that. MT was the victim of Abbott and conservatives. So to give Shorten the kudos for all this is the same as giving them to Abbott for the RGR mess. You can if you want.
itsthevibe @ #153 Sunday, October 21st, 2018 – 11:55 am
It’s not. As evidenced by the number of people who post here against him.
cat
Nah
You are now just defending your one eyed view. You know as well as I do if a Labor partisan had made that exact same comment you would have ignored it like all the others.
Remember I have also used the Bill Shorten has questions to answer joke so I get why its a joke.
DPMs? If nothing else, it does reek of hagiography to suggest that Shorten can claim any credit for Truss’s retirement or Joyce’s self-immolation.
But no doubt I’m just a creep, a loser and a lowlife who deserves to contract a flesh-eating disease, right?
nath @ #157 Sunday, October 21st, 2018 – 12:01 pm
tl:dr So re-elect the clown show because I don’t like Bill Shorten!
🙄
guytaur @ #160 Sunday, October 21st, 2018 – 12:03 pm
Sorry guytaur, you can try and find ever more pretzel logic-like ways to tell me that what I thought wasn’t what I thought, because you say so. But I know why I thought what I thought. And you don’t.
Get down off your high horse, you’re not getting enough oxygen to your brain.
True Cat but most of us are happy to knock & make fun of Morrison, Di Natale, Trump, Abbott etc. so we’ve got to be able to cop a bit of incoming as well.
What’s a nath?
Cat
Sorry you can try and defend your hypocritical double standards all you like.
The fact is lots and lots of posters on this site have used the Bill Shorten has questions to answer without emoji added as its now standard practice no matter what you think of the joke.
Nothing to do with reading your thoughts. Just pointing out how you reacted
And here’s me thinking I had brought a bit of style, joie de vivre and some humour to this ALP branch.
Is God really Dark Matter? 😉
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/oct/20/dark-matter-day-scientists-hunt-ghost-particle
On behalf of Rosemour – who wishes he could be here – calm down everyone!
Re Speers’ new book. Not sure much new has been released. Pyne and a few of Morrison’s posse were instrumental in getting the last five signatures on the petition to bring on the second spill motion. They knew Turnbull was terminal.
If Sharma manages to get over the line, is this then another example of Morrison lying to the Australian Community. Afterall, he and Sharma conceded last night.
According to the SMH ….”The Liberal party is staging a surprise recovery in Wentworth, sparking talk of a recount because the result will be close….”
In the ‘seeing off’ doesn’t mean Shorten needed a direct hand in any of those things – good strategic thinkers also know when ‘not to speak/act’ just as much as knowing when to butt in.
Shorten has let them self-immolate without his help, when it was clear that was where things were headed. Keeping above the fray, so to speak.
Planning and strategy includes biding your time, and waiting for cards to be dealt, so to speak.
GG – a mozzie with a lithp?
If we had a proportional representation system and you want Party X to win Government, you always vote for party X. In a system of single member electorates, strong two party systems normally develop. Typically only a minority of seats, maybe 20%, 30% at most, are genuinely in play in an election. Maybe more at a general election.
Hence, strategic voting. If you want Labor to win, you want to:
A. Maximise the number of Labor members
B. Minimise the number of L/NP members.
In a blue-ribbon conservative seat you almost certainly can’t do A, so your best best is to look for opportunities to achieve B. It looks like many Labor voters in Wentworth did exactly that, in effect joining an alliance of convenience with Progressive (i.e. non-RWNJ) “Liberals” to see if they could instal a socially progressive centrist member who wanted to address climate change.
It might have worked. We’ll see over the coming couple of weeks as postals chip away in favour of the bad guys.
Kevjohnno @ #164 Sunday, October 21st, 2018 – 12:08 pm
You do have a point. A sensible one. 🙂
This is the torture being denied.
jenauthor says:
Sunday, October 21, 2018 at 12:19 pm
GG – a mozzie with a lithp?
_______________
I always thought you had some class but ridiculing people with a speech impediment is pretty low.
nath @ #167 Sunday, October 21st, 2018 – 12:11 pm
Nope. Nope. Nope. 🙂
My sister had a lithp and she would have laughed herself silly over that one nath … lighten up … tension makes people too damned critical
lizzie @ #177 Sunday, October 21st, 2018 – 12:21 pm
I honestly think this will all come to a head this week.
And this site degenerates to a fire storm on the comment of a Bastiaan supporter, single mother from an eastern suburb in Melbourne who, given the devotion to this site and attacking Shorten, obviously can not afford replacement batteries for her vibrator
jenauthor @ #174 Sunday, October 21st, 2018 – 12:19 pm
I just wonder how an annoying insect got inside everyone else’s devices. I use nathnope.
Observer says:
Sunday, October 21, 2018 at 12:26 pm
And this site degenerates to a fire storm on the comment of a Bastiaan supporter, single mother from an eastern suburb in Melbourne who, given the devotion to this site and attacking Shorten, obviously can not afford replacement batteries for her vibrator
_________________________
I do actually own a few vibrators but they are not for me 🙂
I dont think Morrison and co will learn jackshit from this result. Theres absolutely no sign of it at all.This is all good for Labor who will just continue their march to government.Let the government die of ignorance.
Cat
I also wish to point out to you that my comment was not defending nath.
Just so its clear. 🙂
Will be VERY interesting to see this weeks Essential.
Jen
Yes. All said and done its likely the election will still be in May.
So the ongoing trend of LNP losing polls is still the major story.
As is the fact that despite its uniqueness yet another by election saw a collapse in the primary vote for the LNP
I’m a Shorten fan myself, and have been known to post a spirited defence of him occasionally, along “We don’t need another Messiah” lines.
But it’s not as if the naths and Rexs of this world need to have every snarky comment they make forcefully rebutted, with bonus personal abuse.
Who exactly are their comments “undermining”? A dozen, maybe two dozen anonymous posters, plus a few lurkers. Hardly a tsunami of public participation in that. Nations aren’t going to crumble if they are not countered day in, day out.
The truth of the matter is that by far the vast majority of voters (and almost all non-voters) couldn’t care less about politics, including yesterday’s by-election election. Someone said up-thread that in Washington they don’t know who the Australian PM. Many here would be surprised to learn that a good number of Australians don’t either.
The subtle moves and phrasing used by politicians, so significant to PB’ers, is utterly insignificant to 99.9% of ordinary people. These nuances are so many levels below yer average voter’s circle of attention as to be abyssal. Likewise nath’s heckling commentary. Meh. Who cares?
Nath is either equally deluded as to the effect of his kibbitzing, or knows exactly what he’s doing and is just having fun winding others up.
My attitude is that unless it’s directly personal don’t take it as so. Just ignore him.
Guytaur, when Shorten gets in, brings about Company tax cuts, more income tax cuts, as his mate at the IPA would like, brings in more social conservatives like Kitching, who says Christianity is the best way for humans to ‘organize themselves’. And generally runs a liberal-lite government. Don’t bitch to me.
nath
I see Labor as the lesser evil option. Its my long standing position. Thus why I swing between Greens and Labor in my voting depending on how I can maximise my message.
So yes I will complain. I don’t do informal voting
The Libs have got about 4 months to turn the polls around.You can forget December and part of January as punters dont give a shit over Xmas and New Year. Everything they try to do will just look like electioneering anyway.Phelps talks about voting for legislation if she gets to parliament.She will be lucky to see 2 or 3 bills with this governments track record.
Bushfire Bill,
Also sensible comments. 🙂
@guardian tweets
Nicola Sturgeon quits BBC event over Steve Bannon invitation https://trib.al/7EvJ5d3
guytaur @ #195 Sunday, October 21st, 2018 – 12:42 pm
Steve Bannon wins.
Cat
Nah. Steve Bannon loses.
Sturgeon not giving her credibility to his cause
Steve777:
Well put.
Labor weren’t trying to win Wentworth. They were trying to help the Liberals lose Wentworth. They may well have succeeded.
To suggest that Labor’s primary vote is an issue for concern is to ignore the great swathes of commentary, here and elsewhere, by both regular pundits and notable politicians/journos, about how important it was for those working towards a Liberal loss to vote strategically, to ensure Phelps got above Murray in the count, that Labor didn’t poll high enough that the vagaries of full preference distributions in three cornered contests didn’t deliver an unnecessary win to Sharma. FFS, it was all anyone was talking about in regards to Wentworth.