Kicking off a federal election year with an overdue accumulation of preselection news, going back to late November:
• Liberal Party conservative Craig Kelly was last month saved from factional moderate Kent Johns’ preselection challenge in his southern Sydney seat of Hughes, which was widely reported as having decisive support in local party branches. This followed the state executive’s acquiescence to Scott Morrison’s demand that it rubber-stamp preselections for all sitting members of the House of Representatives, also confirming the positions of Jason Falinski in Mackellar, John Alexander in Bennelong and Lucy Wicks in Robertson. Kelly had threatened a week earlier to move to the cross bench if dumped, presumably with a view to contesting the seat as an independent. Malcolm Turnbull stirred the pot by calling on the executive to defy Morrison, noting there had been “such a long debate in the New South Wales Liberal Party about the importance of grass roots membership involvement”. This referred to preselection reforms that had given Johns the edge over Kelly, which had been championed by conservatives and resisted by moderates. Turnbull’s critics noted he raised no concerns when the executive of the Victorian branch guaranteed sitting members’ preselections shortly before he was dumped as Prime Minister.
• The intervention that saved Craig Kelly applied only to lower house members, and was thus of no use to another beleaguered conservative, Senator Jim Molan, who had been relegated a week earlier to the unwinnable fourth position on the Coalition’s ticket. Hollie Hughes and Andrew Bragg were chosen for the top two positions, with the third reserved to the Nationals (who have chosen Perin Davey, owner of a communications consultancy, to succeed retiring incumbent John “Wacka” Williams). Despite anger at the outcome from conservatives in the party and the media, Scott Morrison declined to intervene. Morrison told 2GB that conservatives themselves were to blame for Molan’s defeat in the preselection ballot, as there was “a whole bunch of people in the very conservative part of our party who didn’t show up”.
• Labor’s national executive has chosen Diane Beamer, a former state government minister who held the seats of Badgerys Creek and Mulgoa from 1995 to 2011, to replace Emma Husar in Lindsay. The move scotched Husar’s effort to recant her earlier decision to vacate the seat, after she became embroiled in accusations of bullying and sexual harassment in August. Husar is now suing Buzzfeed over its reporting of the allegations, and is reportedly considering running as an independent. The Liberals have preselected Melissa McIntosh, communications manager for the not-for-profit Wentworth Community Housing.
• The misadventures of Nationals MP Andrew Broad have created an opening in his seat of Mallee, which has been in National/Country Party hands since its creation in 1949, although the Liberals have been competitive when past vacancies have given them the opportunity to contest it. The present status on suggestions the seat will be contested for the Liberals by Peta Credlin, who was raised locally in Wycheproof, is that she is “being encouraged”. There appears to be a view in the Nationals that the position should go to a woman, with Rachel Baxendale of The Australian identifying three potential nominees – Anne Mansell, chief executive of Dried Fruits Australia; Caroline Welsh, chair of the Birchip Cropping Group; and Tanya Chapman, former chair of Citrus Australia – in addition to confirmed starter Anne Warner, a social worker.
• Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie yesterday scotched suggestions that she might run in Mallee. The view is that she is positioning herself to succeeding Cathy McGowan in Indi if she decides not to recontest, having recently relocated her electorate office from Bendigo to one of Indi’s main population centres, Wodonga. The Liberals last month preselected Steven Martin, a Wodonga-based engineer.
• Grant Schultz, Milton real estate agent and son of former Hume MP Alby Schultz, has been preselected as Liberal candidate for Gilmore on New South Wales’ south coast, which the party holds on a delicate margin of 0.7%. The seat is to be vacated by Ann Sudmalis, whose preselection Schultz was preparing to challenge when she announced her retirement in September. It was reported in the South Coast Register that Joanna Gash, who held the seat from 1996 to 2013 and is now the mayor of Shoalhaven (UPDATE: Turns out Gash ceased to be so as of the 2016 election, and is now merely a councillor), declared herself “pissed off” at the local party’s endorsement of Schultz, which passed by forty votes to nine.
• Hawkesbury councillor Sarah Richards has been preselected as the Liberal candidate in Macquarie, where Labor’s Susan Templeman unseated Liberal member Louise Markus in 2016.
Hurray. At least one sensible Democrat.
.
.
Elizabeth Warren: ‘It is right to get our troops out of Syria’
Warren, who recently announced she is forming an exploratory committee ahead of a likely campaign for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on “The Rachel Maddow Show” Wednesday night the “defense establishment needs to explain what they think winning in those wars look like and where the metrics are.”
The senator said continuing to keep troops “forever and ever and ever in that part of the world … it is not working, and pretending that somehow in the future it is going to work by some unmeasured version of it, it’s a form of fantasy that we simply can’t afford to continue to engage in.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/02/politics/elizabeth-warren-troops-syria/index.html
lizzie @ #18094 Sunday, January 6th, 2019 – 8:19 am
The BreastCare nurse positions are usually proxies for the Federal funding of State Health System-based regional oncology setups, which are expanding rapidly. The salaries and on-costs are only a small part of the packages, most of which goes to the (rapidly expanding) local and FIFO surgical, radiotherapy and chemotherapy setups. $27m doesn’t go as far when split over >10,000 cancer survivors.
Lizzie – that figure is over 4 years
I saw an ABC News (24?) item about Morrison giving $27m of taxpayer money to McGrath’s charity. The piece went about two minutes and the PM’s ‘gift’ was mentioned about six times in that period. The whole item was about Scomo.
It would be a good thing for the Senate quota to be lower. The Parliament should represent a wide diversity of experiences and perspectives in the electorate.
rhwombat ad jenauthor
Thanks. 🙂
AOC should be framing this proposed increase to the top marginal income tax rate as a measure to reduce inequality of wealth and income and to protect democracy from the damaging effects from extreme concentration of wealth, not as a means of “paying for” a Green New Deal.
The Federal Reserve clears any payment that has been authorised by Congress and the President.
That is how all federal government spending is done.
https://www.facebook.com/223649167822693/posts/1077637962423805/
jenauthor @ #18102 Sunday, January 6th, 2019 – 8:30 am
In crude terms, it’s ~ $165,000/year, which is a Clinical Nurse Consultant salary with on-costs. By comparison, an oncologist “costs” >$500,000/year.
poroti @ #692 Sunday, January 6th, 2019 – 7:29 am
Wow
I am warming to Warren. watch the rest of the centre right Dems attack her now!
I keep remembering this.
Remember when Tim Flannery was roundly ridiculed for an interview he gave suggesting that climate change would endanger domestic water supplies?
DTT
Warren seems to be catching the same bus Bernie S took…………….
“In her New Years Eve announcement forming an exploratory committee for the presidency, Sen. Elizabeth Warren made a great point: “Right now, Washington works great for the wealthy and the well-connected. It’s just not working for anyone else.”
In case you missed that, she pointedly did not say “the economy isn’t working well” or such, as we’ve all heard numerous politicos say countless times.
She rather said the opposite of that – repeatedly: “The way I see it right now, Washington works great for giant drug companies, but just not for people who are trying to get a prescription filled. Washington works great for for-profit colleges and student loan outfits, but not for young people who are getting crushed by student loan debt. And you could keep going through the list. The problem we have got right now in Washington is that it works great for those who’ve got money to buy influence.”
https://original.antiwar.com/shusseini/2019/01/04/elizabeth-warren-pierces-through-rhetoric-on-economy-muddles-on-foreign-policy/
Donald Trump is a self proclaimed know-it-all. This video compilation proves it
https://mobile.twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1081279851405983745/video/1
Nicholas @ #696 Sunday, January 6th, 2019 – 7:32 am
Nicholas
Yes I agree BUT parties that do no get at least 1% of the primary vote should be excluded initially BEFORE the distribution of quotas etc. It is essential that we knock on the head the immoral deals of the preference whisperers. With 74 senators no party with less than 100/74% ie 1.3% should be elected, so 1% is a reasonable cut off.
Genuine emerging small parties can certainly team up with others to get above the cut off but it should be honest and written on the ballot paper. So if the Arts and Science parties want to get together, fine but tell us, and if the Bicyclists and Sustainable futures want to team up OK but tell us, as should the various Christian and fascist micros.
poroti @ #702 Sunday, January 6th, 2019 – 7:46 am
There is hope for the Democrats against Trump IF they can get a message like this out and about.
I had a quick look at the much vaunted Beto O”Rouke. A catholic rich kid in the Kennedy mould. Very centrist policies. I will not write him off yet but I think he is probably the USA wishing for another Kennedy and not accepting that the world as moved on and pretty boys from rich families may be passe.
dtt,
It was the Democrats that fought so hard to get Elizabeth Warren into the Senate, I don’t think they will be trying to rain on her parade now or up until the 2020 election for President. She’s no fair weather Democrat friend like Bernie Sanders.
Morrison is scared to say anything in case he offends his RW supporters, then he will have very few left.
So now it’s a crime to be from a Middle Class family and Catholic if you want to run for President of the United States!?! Talk about a bad case of inverse snobbery.
ScoMoFaux… smelling the breeze
[1/2] I thank Vic police for their efforts dealing with the ugly racial protests we saw in St Kilda yesterday. Intolerance does not make Australia stronger.
[2/2] Australia is the most successful migrant country in the world. This has been achieved by showing respect for each other, our laws and values and maintaining sensible immigration policies. Let’s keep it that way, it makes Australia stronger.
C@tmomma says:
No but it does seem a ‘crime’ now to be old,white and ,oh the horror, white.
An argument for the retention of strips of native vegetation on roadsides and within large paddocks.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-01-06/bulloak-jewel-butterfly-ant-mistletoe-a-web-woven-across-species/10477430
Morning all
Sprocket
Of course Morrison is smelling the breeze here in Victorua.
The state libs were handed their arses on a platter. Heck even the blue ribbon liberal seat of Hawthorn went to a former catholic high school principal.
Although I wonder if Dutton got the memo
sprocket_
A bit of whistling to the faithful going on though with Scrott. “Stop the Boats”, ‘keeping us safe’ anyone ?
.
” maintaining sensible immigration policies. Let’s keep it that way, it makes Australia stronger.”
lizzie
says:
Sunday, January 6, 2019 at 9:06 am
An argument for the retention of strips of native vegetation on roadsides and within large paddocks.
_____________________________
Sounds like just a fraction of permaculture design, of course it makes sense. Increasing the diversity of food for paddocked animals increases their resistance to disease too.
Victoria
Dutton would only care about things North of the Tweed and even then mainly his seat. So if bashing ‘reffos’ still plays well in his neck of the woods then ‘bashing reffos’ it is.
Good Morning
I am so happy that the St Kilda beach was a fizzer for the Nazis.
My congratulations to the people that turned up and had a picnic. The Nazis had nowhere to go.
I agree that the sooner Fraser Anning is out the better.
My congratulations also to the Greens and council politicians for turning up. I did not see any Labor party signs but I assume a lot of Labor people were there in the anti fascist picnic.
Basically really well done St Kilda and Melbourne. Its good to see the fear and division being trumped by hope. The Sudanese community really knows Melbourne is on its side now. From comments on twitter I think they can be assured that Australia is on their side.
Such a shame the dog whistling of Dutton led to such a thing.
poroti @ #1569 Sunday, January 6th, 2019 – 9:04 am
I have never cast that aspersion at Elizabeth Warren once. She is an emblem for women fighting their way to the top from poor beginnings. More power to her arm. But just because you support one candidate over another because you feel they can capture the all important centre and Independent voters in America, doesn’t mean that’s the only candidacy you support.
And, as I was trying to point out, I definitely don’t base my support on what they look like, how wealthy their family was, or what religion they are.
Re roadside vegetation: It is being much appreciated in it’s form of the Long Paddock right now, during the drought.
Morrison was quick to come out and denounce the school kids for demonstrating on climate policy but where is he now talking about the Nazi rally?
Gotta be a message here somewhere.
C@t
I can’t see Elizabeth Warren winning over enough people to get the Presidency should she become the democratic candidate.
Beto ORourke or Eric Salwell are better choices.
Oh and I hope Bernie S acknowledges that his time has passed.
He annoys me on so many levels
C@tmomma
She was saved by not being a chap 🙂 As for ” I definitely don’t base my support on …… how wealthy their family was, , ” yet it seems OK to slag off Coalition pollies for their ‘privileged’ private schooling and well to do back ground ? I do however think such a background can on some occasions be a valid basis for criticism.
BK
I saw bits of Morrison on tv during the cricket giving speech re govt funds for nurses etc.
It was cringeworthy. Even Turnbull and Abbott weren’t that bad.
Morrison oozes imposter writ large.
Poroti and Cat
Its way too early to predict the outcome of the Democrat nomination process. All we can say is that it is going to be a candidate of the left of Hillary Clinton. An example. I think which ever nominee becomes the Presidential Candidate out of the 20 or so will embrace Universal Health Care.
A position that Hillary Clinton is on record as favouring just not thinking that US politics would let it happen,
Times have changed and if Clinton was running today she would be running on Universal Healthcare.
Warren has the advantage of runs on the board regarding the financial industry with the American public. She is known for attacking the “elites” so she could win over some of the independents who fell for the Trump con.
The marvellous thing for me is that there is going to be a fight for being the progressive not centrist candidate of the Democratic party. Yes that means looking at reality on the middle east wars and being explicit about getting troops out of Afghanistan just like with Syria.
The problem with Trump is that he does it for Russia not the US.
Russia cannot talk. Putin trying to revise history by legislation to declare the Afghanistan invasion the correct policy for Russia won’t change the reality anymore than it will for the US.
So yes we have reached peak right wing and hopefully sanity is going to restored.
That means the end of the GOP neo liberalism in the US. If the GOP survives Trump that is.
The GOP are probably looking at the Romney Rubio combo for 2020.
The Democrats will need to put a team up that is palatable for the swinging voter. Elizabeth Warren wont be it.
Here’s the flowchart:
1. A gang of thugs gather on a beach.
2. Are they black?
3. Yes –> use “African Gangs” script
4. No –> are they Muslim?
5. Yes –> use “Terrorism” script. Demand Muslim leaders condemn them. Decry Labor as soft on Terror.
6. No –> Do they look like unionists, environmentalists, climate change activists, socialists or other lefties?
7. Yes –> use generic “Law ‘n Order” script. Condemn Labor as soft on crime
8. No –> No worries. Ignore.
Victoria
You don’t understand the US swinging voter.
You don’t understand the anger. You don’t understand indivisible.
You don’t understand turnout.
First and foremost for the Democrats is getting the base out. Warren has a good chance of doing that. So does Beta O Rourke. A lot of people in Australia are still being fed the right wing view of things and not understanding how the US electorate has swung to the left. Thats why Beta O Rourke is a highlighted candidate. Texas has swung left as the down ballot Democrats who won show.
Its quite possible that a progressive woman candidate will win the primaries. As for being centrist to win Trump proved thats a fallacy. Get the base to turn out and you win. The base of the Democrats is bigger than that of the GOP.
Edit: Also don’t forget Warren has the same appeal to some that voted for Trump as Sanders did. Unlike Trump Warren is the real deal.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-elizabeth-warren-could-win-the-2020-democratic-primary/
Guytaur
You dont understand either.
Elizabeth Warren is not the best candidate to win 2020.
Trump will either resign or be removed before next election.
The GOP will be looking at the likes of Romney, Rubio and Nikki Haley
Victoria
See that article. I too fell for the Warren is left of Clinton media narrative.
The primaries are going to be a fight for who is the “progressive” candidate and who is the “establishment” candidate. in the early stages.
To then go an and predict either of the candidates that wins that battle to be the Presidential candidate is to really not understand what is happening with the Democratic party. Its also not understanding that some Trump voters will vote for a candidate that is like Warren perceived to be against Wall Street.
Education of the young is a waste of effort.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1081600053314310145
Victoria @ #1591 Sunday, January 6th, 2019 – 5:45 am
In your opinion! 🙂
BetO O’Rourke, guytaur!
You get very upset when people get your nom wrong, please get his right!
Barney
Those talking about the GOP running Romney Rubio and Haley could be right. However they don’t understand the straight jacket Trump has put the GOP in.
He has taken over the campaign committee that no President before him did. For anyone to go against Trump they have to get the backing of his campaign committee Or start building a campaign literally from scratch without access to the GOP database on voters.
Barney IDG
Stating the bleedin obvious.
What is it that we all do on this blog?. Give our own opinion
Colour me surprised!
Elizabeth Warren is a very smart and formidable advocate.
And she is a fighter, but she will not ultimately be the democratic candidate in my opinion….
lizzie @ #1570 Sunday, January 6th, 2019 – 8:06 am
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2019-01-06/bulloak-jewel-butterfly-ant-mistletoe-a-web-woven-across-species/10477430
Science is poetry. 🙂 Thanks for linking.
poroti,
Yes I may criticise Australian Conservative politicians for having had a Private School education but it’s because of the way they parlay it into political life as an elitist manifesto.
You obviously failed to note also that I have never criticised Bill Shorten for HIS Private School education. Maybe it’s because he has used it for good.
Just like I imagine Beto O’Rourke may use his Catholic education, to practice what Jesus preached. Not the Bible, Jesus.
Cat
I have made no predictions about the Democrat candidate. To me its looking like its going to be a drover’s dog election for the Democrats at this very early stage.
We shall see. You will note I have not made comments on who will be the best candidate.
I do this because I see the primaries as being very interesting this year. Its a whole new party with a whole new structure on how things are decided with so many credible candidates that saying who is going to the best candidate is a mugs game.
We don’t even know who of all the candidates are going to be. All we know is towards the end of the primaries it will be a good progressive candidate against a good establishment candidate. They will be good because they will have survived the primary process to get to that stage out of the Melbourne Cup field of candidates.
As I explained recently, it’s too soon for a female American President. Too many Conservative Christians over there. One needs to prove themselves as VP first anyway, to my way of thinking.
Same goes for Nikki Haley on the Repug side.
Paula Matthewson explains how a similar Conservative Christian mindset is plaguing the Coalition in Australia atm too. Hence their ‘Women Problem’.
guytaur
I liked that The Age and The Guardian kept referring to the two organisers (correctly) as convicted criminals. Even news.com.au came to the party “Led by convicted criminals…”
Good for local councillors to attend on their turf, especially after the swastikas recently painted on a local Jewish Nursing Home where some Holocaust survivors live. Best not to have state or federal politicians there – would just set off the Murdoch media.
And Fraser Anning has rightly copped it – will be interesting to see his next Parliamentary expense claims. He is ending his term with this half of the Senate in the middle of this year thankfully – surely even in Queensland he could not win this time with the bigger quota and not being in One Nation!
Cat
It was too early for a black man to be President.
Its the base. Trump won because the Democrat base did not turn out as they did for Obama.
If anything to me that points to a black woman being the best candidate for President. Michelle Obama if she ran would win big I reckon. However she has ruled it out so far.