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.
The issue of responsibility and accountability when it comes to past atrocities is complicated. It can not be boiled down to ‘I didnt do the crime so I am not accountable’. These are not one off crimes, they are a series of horrific events over a long period that have led to large groups of people being disadvantaged long after the ‘crimes’ took place. Furthermore, these people often have to deal with sections of the community who deny/ignore the crimes happened, dismiss the repercussions, blame the victims descendents for not getting their act together and continue to discriminate against them.
On top of that, there are people and corporations to this day who are benefiting from those crimes. Almost all of us live on and own land that was aboriginal land.
So, no, we white fellas are not to blame for the crimes of the past. But I do believe we are all responsible to actively pursue means to right those wrongs, to recognises the crimes and embrace ideas from the aboriginal community in ways to improve their well-being and standing in the community.
Also I should post this even though I am sure someone has probably already posted it. Very good from Mr Shorten
@billshortenmp tweets
There is no excuse or explanation that justifies Anning’s attendance at this rally, and his views have no place in the parliament. When you’re siding with neo-Nazis, you’re on the wrong side. He disrespects the memory of Australians who fought to defeat this evil ideology. https://twitter.com/sunriseon7/status/1082010418715992065
@sunriseon7 tweets
Queensland Senator @Fraser_Anning says there ‘were no Nazis at the rally’ he attended and that those who say there were have been ‘fooled by the left wing media’. #auspol https://twitter.com/sunriseon7/status/1082010418715992065/video/1
guytaur @ #2250 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 11:28 am
Yep. It’s practical for Sanders to run if he can get the Democratic nomination. If he fails to do that, then entirely not so much.
poroti says: Monday, January 7, 2019 at 12:25 pm
phoenixRED
Not sure if Trump’s getting out of Vietnam service will stir many up. Dubya and his neocon Chicken Hawks were pretty much wall to wall ‘Vietnam Avoiders’. Did not seem to hamper those bustards. The only person who copped shit over Vietnam was poor bloody John ‘Silver Star, Purple Heart’ Kerry who actually went.
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Yes Poroti – like Trumps father – it seems that Daddy Bush pulled the same strings for shrub Dubya – where he spent the Vietnam years doing – some dodgy part time- service in the Texas Air National Guard
George’s war
In the photographs he looks every bit the dashing fighter pilot but President Bush is struggling to convince America that he did his bit in the Vietnam war. Did daddy pull strings to get him a cozy billet? Did he actually show up for duty? And do the latest documents released by the White House prove anything at all? Suzanne Goldenberg and Oliver Burkeman investigate
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/feb/12/uselections2004.usa2
@joshaubadge tweets
”In whipping up fear about a single, marginalised community, conservatives gave a sizeable boost to the far-right project of creating visceral fears about outsiders” @jason_a_w killing it out here
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/07/st-kilda-rally-a-fascist-movement-can-only-be-kept-small-if-we-call-it-by-its-name
Simon² Katich®
Maybe “guilt” is the wrong word and perhaps “shame” is better. Just as you can feel pride in an institution, group or a single person you can feel shame. Shame need not be overwhelming or destructive. It can acknowledge a wrong and be a source of making things better.
And that is the clincher. The political ideas are not new. But there is now significant elements of the media, academia, the Democrat Party and voting public who are onboard.
We used to laugh at how the Democrats were further to the right of the Liberals in Australia. What with Climate Change policies, tax policies etc; that is clearly no longer the case and the noticeable shift in US public discourse in general is encouraging.
poroti says:
[‘Good. It might help chip away at the tendency to treat ‘The Military” as an infallible sacred cow that must be genuflected to.’]
Gone are the days of obsequiousness towards the generals/admirals, of the ilk of MacArthur, Patton, Nimitz, even Eisenhower. Indeed, one would be doing well to name a US general, admiral, save perhaps for “Mad Dog”, but even he is only known because he served in the dolt’s cabinet. Most in the military respect civilian oversight, Trump finding a fight at the drop of a coin – eg, a bad hair day. I have a strong feeling that the men and women in the US military have a very low opinion of Trump.
From the SMH article:
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/nothing-to-do-with-each-other-company-clarifies-it-did-not-build-opal-tower-20190106-p50pvv.html
What bugs me about this image is just how cheap and nasty the construction is!
guytaur @ #2250 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 12:28 pm
It is not impractical for Sanders to run. It is just impractical for him to win. And America desperately needs someone who can win.
Queensland police have confirmed to media no African gang problem.
Victoria’s ‘problem’ is Queenslanders like Anning and Dutton coming down here to interfere.
P1
We shall see. If it is impractical for him to win then he won’t
To be clear I think everyone should read that Jason Wilson article. If it was not for copyright I would have posted the article in full
Nothing to do with politics but for those few who expressed interest in my quail recipe I’ll post it up as soon as I resurrect my laptop. Bashing things out on the tablet I’m currently using is a pain.
phoenixRED:
Yes, it must’ve been very convenient for Trump Snr. to have a podiatrist at his apparent beck and call.
Player One:
[‘It is just impractical for him to win. And America desperately needs someone who can win.’]
And that person is Joe, not Bernie, not Liz, not Beto. Joe will take it right up to Don; he (Joe) will take no prisoners. And if he were to win, he could hand the baton to a younger person after serving one term.
https://www.afr.com/business/legal/maurice-blackburn-appoints-first-muslim-woman-partner-20190106-h19rzg
Mavis Smith says: Monday, January 7, 2019 at 12:59 pm
phoenixRED:
Yes, it must’ve been very convenient for Trump Snr. to have a podiatrist at his apparent beck and call.
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That’s the whole history of the Trump Crime Family – going way back and has a history of dodging military service and being involved in all sorts of shady deals and practices …..and using favours to bribe people like medicos to avoid certain things ….
On October 7, 1885, Friedrich Trump, a 16-year-old German barber, bought a one-way ticket for America, escaping three years of compulsory German military service. He had been a sickly child, unsuited to hard labor, and feared the effects of the draft. It might have been illegal, but America didn’t care about this law-breaking—at that time, Germans were seen as highly desirable migrants—and Trump was welcomed with open arms. Less than two weeks later, he arrived in New York, where he would eventually make a small fortune. More than a century later, his grandson, Donald Trump, became the 45th president of Friedrich’s adopted home.
https://www.history.com/news/donald-trump-father-mother-ancestry
guytaur @ #2263 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 11:56 am
A list might be useful, such as in stages of grief. Although the article doesn’t provide the list of five, it does summarise the first two.
Hanson?
Hanson, again?
These are the stages, according to wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Paxton#Fascism
As much as I see the fascist in Dutton’s actions I don’t think it’s credible to put him at stage 3. But as a trajectory it is a timely warning.
Mavis Smith @ #2266 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 1:06 pm
Yes, you could be right. He currently looks like the best available option.
PhoenixRED:
[‘…Friedrich Trump, a 16-year-old German barber, bought a one-way ticket for America, escaping three years of compulsory German military service.’]
So Trump’s grandfather appears to have had a valid reason for avoiding military service, but rather than going through the normal channels to prove same, he caught a boat to the US. While you can’t blame the sins of the grandfather, father on the son, a pattern of moral dishonesty does emerge.
Perhaps Sunderland, and others like Mike Carlton, are afraid of over-inflating the importance of a poorly organised group. This idea is related to the notion that fascist groups will perish in the absence of attention from media and counter protesters.
A basic tactic of the skinheads is to disrupt, to insult, to provoke, to generate outrage in the hope of attracting hostile attention, hostility which can then be returned and re-amplified, creating the spectacle of a fight. This is one of the devices of the skinheads. The fight game places the skinhead at the centre of attention and gives them a platform for further insults; further lies and further rallies.
briefly
Read the whole article. Its a big attack on the LNP as much as anyone else for Its African Gangs campaign during the Victorian Election.
@slpng_giants_oz tweets
Our amazing GIANT friend @PPantsdown has started a petition to the President of the Australian Senate @SenatorRyan to deny the Senator for NAZIs travel claim.
SIGN SIGN SIGN – Share Share Share‼️
#Auspol #NotMyAustralia
LINK
https://www.change.org/p/senator-scott-ryan-senator-anning-should-pay-his-own-airfare-to-nazi-rallies-af073130-d029-4604-b4a2-f915b9067f5c?recruiter=893254898&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial.pacific_email_copy_en_gb_4.v1.pacific_email_copy_en_us_3.control.pacific_email_copy_en_us_5.v1.pacific_post_sap_share_gmail_abi.gmail_abi.lightning_2primary_share_options_more.variant
Mavis Smith @ #2271 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 12:25 pm
I’d hesitate to call ‘moral dishonesty’ on draft-dodging. It’s easy enough to argue that military drafts are not moral things so there’s no moral imperative to comply with one aside from “it’s the law and you must obey the law”. Which is pretty weak, as moral justifications go.
But you could say it shows some mix of cowardice, self-preservation, and a willingness to bend/break the law for personal benefit.
I’d vote for this mayor 😆
Why De Blasio Loves ‘The Simpsons’ (and Where He’d Take Homer in New York City)
Q.Mayor Quimby agrees to build a monorail after a huckster sells him on it. Could a monorail solve New York City’s transit problems?
A.If Mayor Quimby likes it, I don’t like it. That’s my rule of thumb in life.
Q.Some people see the BQX, a proposed light rail line to link Brooklyn and Queens, as a kind of monorail.
A.I think it’s a very different reality, to say the least. And look, we’ll veer into seriousness for a moment, the BQX is based on a national movement to light rail that’s been working — Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, L.A. All over the country people are turning to light rail for good reason.
Q.That was part of the argument for the monorail: “Look, it worked in the towns of Brockway, Ogdenville and North Haverbrook. It could work in Springfield too!”
A.I love that. You’ve done your research……………..
https://outline.com/6YwN5p
Brexit. I’ve read a lot about the cost to Britain, but not so much about the cost to the other countries in the EU. This article is the first that I’ve seen looking at that pain, in this case to Holland. Politics is an emotional dance, wrestle, spectacle. I wonder now if the attitude in the rest of Europe will quickly shift from frustration with Britain for being indecisive to anger at being destructive. And I ask myself, who wins?
Player One @ #2269 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 1:24 pm
1. The Democrats need to decide their policies and platform.
2. The Democrats need to work out the best way to obtain the College Votes to win the Election.
3. They need to find the candidate best equipped to deliver the outcome.
At the moment, every one seems fixated on 3.
a r:
[‘But you could say it shows some mix of cowardice, self-preservation, and a willingness to bend/break the law for personal benefit.’]
That it could. I won’t quibble with you over a choice of words.
GG, unfortunately the platform is hammered out to some extent at the convention.
ar
Jumping on a boat on your own at age 16 to sail to a very foreign land would take a fair bit of courage. Although such stories seemed to be not uncommon in the 19th C.
poroti
But But but there were drownings at sea!!!!
Barbarism!!
GG:
[‘At the moment, every one seems fixated on 3.’]
If the Dems get “3” right and early in the peace, the right candidate will take care of “1” and “2”, Biden being a consummate pollie, with 8 years experience as VP.
Wow some people really do like their speculation way way more than reality.
Anyone predicting who is the best democratic candidate for the upcoming election does not understand
a) How big the field of contenders is
b) How the rules have changed.
Your past knowledge of Democratic primaries is now irrelevant.
Its a whole new ball game. That means like it or not. More candidates more open public debate.
No one candidate dictating were the party is going. Thats what was specifically addressed with the rule changes
Mavis Smith @ #2282 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 1:51 pm
Biden is 78. Not sure that someone that may not be there for the future is the right person to be leading the way in to the future.
I agree with Guytaur that the democrat rule changes are significant. And personally I think that is a good thing. A healthy primary process will soon sort out who the real leader should be. The more public attention the better. I suspect it could be Biden, but would not object to a younger candidate. Trump exposed the dangers of predetermined outcomes.
Gareth @ #2279 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 1:47 pm
Not really. Individual candidates need to identify and promote specific issues of interest during the pre-selection process. The ideas that catch the public imagination will be the one’s that make it to the platform.
Mavis Smith @ #1407 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 12:06 pm
Mavis
I am not sure how effective they will be but the guns are out for Joe and some of the photo images make Trump look like a perfect gentleman. As one might expect in the US battle ground the image that first caught my attention was in one of Hillary’s books. The “Uncle Joe” meme and his “attentions” to 13 year old girls will get a heck of a run, should he emerge as a likely challenger to Trump.
Thing is as I always have said, Democrats made a big issue of trump’s sleaziness, so they will not be able to avoid payback.
Mind you it may not have much of n impact.
The dispossession, rape and slaughter of indigenous people went on up until at least the 1960s and was known about and accepted by Australian society. Just as the abuse of children within religious establishments went on for many years and was known about and accepted by society. That is the society that we all live in. As part of that society we must therefore accept responsibility for failing to act to protect the victims. Guilt may be the wrong word but playing semantics with issues as serious as these just perpetuates the crime.
Greensborough Growler @ #2278 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 1:42 pm
Number 1 is pretty much established, and in any case “policy” is of little or no interest to Trump voters.
Number 2 is definitely worth some effort, but the Republicans will be playing the same game – and they will have the Russians on their side again.
So number 3 is really the main area where you can make a big difference. Get it right and you can win, even against Trump’s lies, Republican gerrymandering and Russian collusion.
Get it wrong and you could end up with Trump as President For Life 🙁
Greensborough Growler @ #1426 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 12:56 pm
Jeepers
Is Biden really 78? I am all for supporting older candidates (I am old myself) but 78 seems a little archaic and you would certainly need to consider the qualities of the VP very, very closely. The democrats are going to get a reputation as the octogenarian party.
Like the writer of this article I think Apple’s iPhone prices have gotten way out of hand for gimmicky new models. So why did I buy a new iPhone on the weekend? Simple. I went back two models and bought an iPhone 7 with expanded memory (128GB). So I have a very functional, future-proof phone for literally half the price of their new iPhone X.
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/companies/sorry-apple-it-s-not-you-it-s-me-actually-it-s-you-20190104-p50pk6.html
I have found Apple have become very predictable with their phone pricing. Whenever a new phone comes out they drop the price of the current phone slightly and raise the price of the new phone much higher. Only predecessor models (now two models behind the state of the art phone) get heavily discounted. So I keep buying an iPhone two models “old”. With their rate of new releases it will only be around 18 months after first launch, and you get it for a bargain. Then get the expanded memory ($150) to take their inevitably bloated next IOS update without slowing it down.
How to deal with people who use Nazism as a prop for attention.
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/band-kicked-off-brisbane-stage-for-unveiling-swastika-flags-20190106-p50pvh.html
Yeah, for all Biden’s positive qualities, who wants a Gerontocracy to become the norm in America?
This article is an easy to understand outline of all the Democrat front runners and points for and against each of them:
In fairness, the decision to run for president is a big one. The more anyone thinks about it, the less they would want to do it. There’s the fundraising, the time away from families, the pretending you care about ethanol subsidies in Iowa or enjoy the food at that South Carolina fish fry, the negative stories published about you and the ones you love.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/considering-it-looking-at-things-how-2020-democrats-mastered-the-coy-art-of-mulling/2018/12/31/c7010306-09f8-11e9-a3f0-71c95106d96a_story.html?utm_term=.4da2bf170c1e
GG:
[‘Biden is 78. Not sure that someone that may not be there for the future is the right person to be leading the way in to the future.’]
Well, he will be 78 at the time of the next election, and admittedly that’s rather old, but if he’s still got his marbles, I hope he stands. The Dems. imperative surely is to stop Trump getting a second term, and in my view Joe’s the man who’s best equipped to do it.
No. But he might be in 2020
C@tmomma @ #2294 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 2:08 pm
Given a choice between a Gerontocracy and a Kakistocracy, I would go for a Gerontocracy every time!
Socrates
I am still buying new models. However now I keep them for three years. I made this decision with the iPhone XR.
The discounted premium phone. Apparently its their best selling model. Best value buy of the new iPhones. Its the same price as the X or cheaper even if you can still buy it. I upgraded from a 7. I usually look at the S cycle to buy now I am hoping the XR message will get through to Apple.
I made that decision deciding I did not need the depth camera and the largest OLED screen and that the LED screen size bigger than the XS was the better value.
Socrates
I am still buying new models. However now I keep them for three years. I made this decision with the iPhone XR.
The discounted premium phone. Apparently its their best selling model. Best value buy of the new iPhones. Its the same price as the X or cheaper even if you can still buy it. I upgraded from a 7. I usually look at the S cycle to buy now I am hoping the XR message will get through to Apple.
I made that decision deciding I did not need the depth camera and the largest OLED screen and that the LED screen size bigger than the XS was the better value.
Some have called for a Biden led third party ticket with a senior well known Republican (Romney, Kasich…). Where he promises to only serve as President for 4 years and then support his running mate.
Sounds cray cray to me but it comes from some respected peeps.