Poll positioning

Fraught preselections aplenty as the major parties get their houses in order ahead of a looming federal election.

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.

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.

3,175 comments on “Poll positioning”

Comments Page 49 of 64
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  1. I think as long as there is no perception that the DNC is interfering and playing favourites in the primary like last time, whoever wins shouldn’t have much trouble unifying the base

  2. Kakuru says:
    Monday, January 7, 2019 at 3:48 pm

    Bill Shorten has questions to answer.

    At ease, they said a third party was not involved 🙂

  5. poroti says:

    Monday, January 7, 2019 at 4:17 pm

    phoenixRED

    I have no problem at all believing a Nooo York entrpenoor like Trump would have a cemetery’s worth of financial skeletons. I’m very meh on the Russia claims though. So for the next 6 months it is riding the wait and see train for me

    *******************************************************************

    I have said on here consistently that IF Trump gets done for anything – it will be for any financial crimes that he and his Crime Family committed BEFORE he became president !!!! …… and total asset seizure is a reality as is jail time for ALL his family …..

    I still think there is “something’ related to the 2016 election – prepared to wait for Robert Muellers report before I make up my mind on what may have decided the outcome of the 2016 election …..

  6. It’s pretty clear that a bunch of posters on here want an ALP that is nothing more than a pale shadow of the LNP. They support the status quo and are probably invested in it. Makes me laugh to read the vehemence of their language in talking about the Tories, when they themselves are in fact Tories. They justify a vote for Labor on the basis of some virtue signalling identity issues, but really do not support any real change. they are invested in the establishment. Socialism scares them and they rationalize all sorts of neo liberal policy. Really what is the point. Just vote Liberal.

  7. “Hey Earlwood, if you keep supporting right wing sentiment and using DLP like rhetoric, I will continue to call you and other right wingers out on it.”

    You’re bludger’s left wing version of Rohan Dean, aren’t you Clem?

    Grouper. grouper! Faark. Faark! …

  8. clem attlee @ #2406 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 4:26 pm

    It’s pretty clear that a bunch of posters on here want an ALP that is nothing more than a pale shadow of the LNP. They support the status quo and are probably invested in it. Makes me laugh to read the vehemence of their language in talking about the Tories, when they themselves are in fact Tories. They justify a vote for Labor on the basis of some virtue signalling identity issues, but really do not support any real change. they are invested in the establishment. Socialism scares them and they rationalize all sorts of neo liberal policy. Really what is the point. Just vote Liberal.

    I’m sure you do!

  9. I still think there is “something’ related to the 2016 election – prepared to wait for Robert Muellers report before I make up my mind on what may have decided the outcome of the 2016 election …..

    There was definitely something related to the 2016 election as per the charges laid against those former members of Trump’s campaign. Whether Trump himself was exposed to charges being laid against him is another matter.

    And then there is Don Jnr and Kushner.

  10. “Ok then. I’ll cop that.”

    Goodo, Rex. Now please be a sport and help your left wing mate Clem out of the gutter. He seems to be drunk.

  11. It’s pretty clear that a bunch of posters on here want an ALP that is nothing more than a pale shadow of the LNP. They support the status quo and are probably invested in it. Makes me laugh to read the vehemence of their language in talking about the Tories, when they themselves are in fact Tories. They justify a vote for Labor on the basis of some virtue signalling identity issues, but really do not support any real change. they are invested in the establishment. Socialism scares them and they rationalize all sorts of neo liberal policy. Really what is the point. Just vote Liberal.

    _________________________________________

    It’s pretty clear here that a bunch of posters here pretend they are Labor or Greens but are really Marxists-Stalinists who want nothing more than the annihilation of everyone who disagrees with them. And the closer politically, the more sinful they are. Bolsheviks cleaning out the Mensheviks by putting them up against the wall.

  12. clem attlee
    There is a lot of difference between Labor and liberal, but no doubt you know that.
    And what is the great big change you want to see?

  15. This is for Clem and Rex:

    After the uprising of the 17th June
    The Secretary of the Writers Union
    Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee
    Stating that the people
    Had forfeited the confidence of the government
    And could win it back only
    By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier
    In that case for the government
    To dissolve the people
    And elect another?

    Bertolt Brecht

  17. Andrew_Earlwood @ #1547 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 3:26 pm

    “Hey Earlwood, if you keep supporting right wing sentiment and using DLP like rhetoric, I will continue to call you and other right wingers out on it.”

    You’re bludger’s left wing version of Rohan Dean, aren’t you Clem?

    Grouper. grouper! Faark. Faark! …

    Andrew

    I am NOT accusing you of being a grouper, although there are plenty on here who seem to be. However you do seem to be pretty bloody centrist and conservative economically.

    Now while i do not agree with you I support your right to hold such views BUT you must also accept that actively anti socialist views were the ones held by the groupers and it is only a person in denial that objects to tags being applies or is not able to elucidate us on how they differ. Now I am proud to be a socialist and I recognise that many of my views are shared by the extreme left. However I am very very strongly a Democratic Socialist and also i support many of the successes of the “free market’ especially when it comes to small business and entrepreneurs. On the other hand I have no truck whatever with privatized monopolies/dupolies or for unregulated corporate greed.

    So it would be very useful to us here if you enlighten us from time to time about how your views differ from those of the groupers.

  18. Andrew_Earlwood
    You mentioned a hatchet job on O’Rourke. What was misleading about it? I’ve only heard YouTube’s side of the story which implied he receives fossil fuel money and has an unexpectedly right leaning voting record

  20. Bonza @ #2417 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 4:35 pm

    Andrew_Earlwood
    You mentioned a hatchet job on O’Rourke. What was misleading about it? I’ve only heard YouTube’s side of the story which implied he receives fossil fuel money and has an unexpectedly right leaning voting record

    You believe it because you saw it on You Tube!?!

  21. Jeez, how old is this clem attlee clown!?! ‘Groupers’!?! You’d think he could come up with a more contemporary contemptuous slur! 😆

  22. You believe it because you saw it on You Tube!?!
    ________________________________

    Could be worse. 4chan could have been given as the source!

  23. Let’s take the right wing Labor hero Chris Bowen.

    Denies a newstart increase despite clear evidence it’s way too low – and supports cuts to new immigrant welfare.

    That’s clear neo-lib austerity. Yet the partisans adore him.

  25. “You believe it because you saw it on You Tube!?!”
    No, I’ve just never heard it referred to as a hatchet job until today. If that’s true then I’ll know who to stop watching

  26. Bonza @ #2425 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 12:44 pm

    “You believe it because you saw it on You Tube!?!”
    No, I’ve just never heard it referred to as a hatchet job until today. If that’s true then I’ll know who to stop watching

    Why would anyone go through the effort and put a video on YouTube about it unless they wanted to make the person look bad or good?

  27. Nicholas @ #2215 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 10:19 am

    The argument that a certain candidate should decline to run because “they would be splitting the vote” is the dumbest argument one can level against a candidate.

    Vote splitting at the general election stage in a first-past-the-post system (especially in marginal or swing seats/states) is about as politically dumb and irresponsible as it gets.

    Vote splitting at the general election is only a viable option in a preferential system.

  28. Rex Douglas says:
    Monday, January 7, 2019 at 4:41 pm

    Let’s take the right wing Labor hero Chris Bowen.

    Denies a newstart increase despite clear evidence it’s way too low – and supports cuts to new immigrant welfare.

    That’s clear neo-lib austerity. Yet the partisans adore him.
    ________________________
    Don;t forget the business tax cuts he really supports and wrote about in his book. PLus he looks like real estate agent.

  30. “Why would anyone go through the effort and put a video on YouTube about it unless they wanted to make the person look bad or good?”
    Youtube includes news outlets too you know – the question is whether that guardian article linked above is genuine reporting or misleading as suggested here earlier.

  31. Okay, so instead of believing anything Rex Douglas alludes to, I decided to do a little research for myself.

    Now, yes, it’s an article from The Daily Caller, but they are no friend of Progressive candidates, so their analysis suggests that, yes, Beto O’Rourke’s campaign did accept money but:

    A spokesman for the Sunrise Movement, a left-wing environmental group, also indicated O’Rourke might have been confused about the specifics of the pledge.

    “It seems there was a misunderstanding from the O’Rourke camp about the nature of the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge,” Evan Weber, the Sunrise Movement’s political director, stated. “The No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge goes beyond asking candidates to swear off donations from fossil fuel corporate PACs.”

    …The rising Democratic star signed his name onto a “No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge” in late April, David Turnbull, Oil Change USA’s strategic communications director, told Sludge.

    Under the stipulations of the pledge, signers agree to “not knowingly accept any contributions over $200 from the PACs, executives, or front groups of fossil fuel companies — companies whose primary business is the extraction, processing, distribution, or sale of oil, gas, or coal.”

    However, a Sludge report released earlier in December found the Democrat did accept campaign donations from fossil fuel interests — a lot of them. O’Rourke received a total of $430,000 from executives working on the oil and gas sector, the report states. On top of that, there was no indication he returned 29 different “large donations” that consisted of contributions of $200 or more from fossil fuel executives.

    The large donations were a direct violation of the pledge.

    In the wake of the report, Oil Change USA, the nonprofit organization behind the “No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge,” removed O’Rourke’s name from its list.

    It’s not immediately clear what O’Rourke plans to do about the issue. Turnbull pointed toward a misunderstanding on the part of O’Rourke’s team. The Texas Democrat might have not understood the pledge didn’t just include fossil fuel PACs, but also executives.

    “While we are pleased he hasn’t taken fossil fuel PAC money, he needs to go further in order to be in compliance with the full No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge,” Turnbull stated to Sludge. “We hope to speak with members of Beto’s organization to encourage Beto to sign on to the full No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge, including rejecting major contributions from top executives of fossil fuel companies.”

    https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/18/beto-orourke-fossil-fuel-pledge-oil/

    So, there you go, he did take the money. But the answer suggests it’s a bit more of a complicated situation than some would simplistically suggest.

    Also, an analysis by The Houston Chronicle goes to his Texas voting record:

    https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas/article/Cruz-v-O-Rourke-Forget-the-hype-here-s-13244825.php

    I hope that puts an end to Rex Douglas’ misleading aspersions.

  32. nath @ #2427 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 4:56 pm

    Rex Douglas says:
    Monday, January 7, 2019 at 4:41 pm

    Let’s take the right wing Labor hero Chris Bowen.

    Denies a newstart increase despite clear evidence it’s way too low – and supports cuts to new immigrant welfare.

    That’s clear neo-lib austerity. Yet the partisans adore him.
    ________________________
    Don;t forget the business tax cuts he really supports and wrote about in his book. PLus he looks like real estate agent.

    And speaking of low rent misleading scuttlebutt.

  34. Bonza @ #2430 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 12:58 pm

    “Why would anyone go through the effort and put a video on YouTube about it unless they wanted to make the person look bad or good?”
    Youtube includes new outlets too you know – the question is whether that guardian article linked above is genuine reporting or misleading as suggested here earlier.

    Yes, there are some very good educational videos, but for anything political your first questions should be,

    What’s the motive and who’s making it?

  35. C@tmomma @ #2430 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 5:01 pm

    Okay, so instead of believing anything Rex Douglas alludes to, I decided to do a little research for myself.

    Now, yes, it’s an article from The Daily Caller, but they are no friend of Progressive candidates, so their analysis suggests that, yes, Beto O’Rourke’s campaign did accept money but:

    A spokesman for the Sunrise Movement, a left-wing environmental group, also indicated O’Rourke might have been confused about the specifics of the pledge.

    “It seems there was a misunderstanding from the O’Rourke camp about the nature of the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge,” Evan Weber, the Sunrise Movement’s political director, stated. “The No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge goes beyond asking candidates to swear off donations from fossil fuel corporate PACs.”

    …The rising Democratic star signed his name onto a “No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge” in late April, David Turnbull, Oil Change USA’s strategic communications director, told Sludge.

    Under the stipulations of the pledge, signers agree to “not knowingly accept any contributions over $200 from the PACs, executives, or front groups of fossil fuel companies — companies whose primary business is the extraction, processing, distribution, or sale of oil, gas, or coal.”

    However, a Sludge report released earlier in December found the Democrat did accept campaign donations from fossil fuel interests — a lot of them. O’Rourke received a total of $430,000 from executives working on the oil and gas sector, the report states. On top of that, there was no indication he returned 29 different “large donations” that consisted of contributions of $200 or more from fossil fuel executives.

    The large donations were a direct violation of the pledge.

    In the wake of the report, Oil Change USA, the nonprofit organization behind the “No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge,” removed O’Rourke’s name from its list.

    It’s not immediately clear what O’Rourke plans to do about the issue. Turnbull pointed toward a misunderstanding on the part of O’Rourke’s team. The Texas Democrat might have not understood the pledge didn’t just include fossil fuel PACs, but also executives.

    “While we are pleased he hasn’t taken fossil fuel PAC money, he needs to go further in order to be in compliance with the full No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge,” Turnbull stated to Sludge. “We hope to speak with members of Beto’s organization to encourage Beto to sign on to the full No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge, including rejecting major contributions from top executives of fossil fuel companies.”

    https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/18/beto-orourke-fossil-fuel-pledge-oil/

    So, there you go, he did take the money. But the answer suggests it’s a bit more of a complicated situation than some would simplistically suggest.

    Also, an analysis by The Houston Chronicle goes to his Texas voting record:

    https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas/article/Cruz-v-O-Rourke-Forget-the-hype-here-s-13244825.php

    I hope that puts an end to Rex Douglas’ misleading aspersions.

    Not a fucking chance.

  36. C@tmomma

    Complicated ? It is pretty straight forward. Sign the pledge yourself.
    .
    .
    Submission Form: The No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge

    Taking the pledge means that a candidate’s campaign will adopt a policy to not knowingly accept any contributions over $200 from the PACs or executives of fossil fuel companies — companies whose primary business is the extraction, processing, distribution, or sale of oil, gas, or coal. We will provide a list of these companies upon request.
    https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScbk__tHVfbma5G1s3QMo9fiEHIHfHZv_jJ7o8_6j7LrK3QiQ/viewform

  37. C@tmomma @ #1571 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 4:01 pm

    Okay, so instead of believing anything Rex Douglas alludes to, I decided to do a little research for myself.

    Now, yes, it’s an article from The Daily Caller, but they are no friend of Progressive candidates, so their analysis suggests that, yes, Beto O’Rourke’s campaign did accept money but:

    A spokesman for the Sunrise Movement, a left-wing environmental group, also indicated O’Rourke might have been confused about the specifics of the pledge.

    “It seems there was a misunderstanding from the O’Rourke camp about the nature of the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge,” Evan Weber, the Sunrise Movement’s political director, stated. “The No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge goes beyond asking candidates to swear off donations from fossil fuel corporate PACs.”

    …The rising Democratic star signed his name onto a “No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge” in late April, David Turnbull, Oil Change USA’s strategic communications director, told Sludge.

    Under the stipulations of the pledge, signers agree to “not knowingly accept any contributions over $200 from the PACs, executives, or front groups of fossil fuel companies — companies whose primary business is the extraction, processing, distribution, or sale of oil, gas, or coal.”

    However, a Sludge report released earlier in December found the Democrat did accept campaign donations from fossil fuel interests — a lot of them. O’Rourke received a total of $430,000 from executives working on the oil and gas sector, the report states. On top of that, there was no indication he returned 29 different “large donations” that consisted of contributions of $200 or more from fossil fuel executives.

    The large donations were a direct violation of the pledge.

    In the wake of the report, Oil Change USA, the nonprofit organization behind the “No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge,” removed O’Rourke’s name from its list.

    It’s not immediately clear what O’Rourke plans to do about the issue. Turnbull pointed toward a misunderstanding on the part of O’Rourke’s team. The Texas Democrat might have not understood the pledge didn’t just include fossil fuel PACs, but also executives.

    “While we are pleased he hasn’t taken fossil fuel PAC money, he needs to go further in order to be in compliance with the full No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge,” Turnbull stated to Sludge. “We hope to speak with members of Beto’s organization to encourage Beto to sign on to the full No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge, including rejecting major contributions from top executives of fossil fuel companies.”

    https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/18/beto-orourke-fossil-fuel-pledge-oil/

    So, there you go, he did take the money. But the answer suggests it’s a bit more of a complicated situation than some would simplistically suggest.

    Also, an analysis by The Houston Chronicle goes to his Texas voting record:

    https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas/article/Cruz-v-O-Rourke-Forget-the-hype-here-s-13244825.php

    I hope that puts an end to Rex Douglas’ misleading aspersions.

    Cat are you as naive and silly as this reply suggests.

    Fairly obviously the O’Rouke campaing took funds to the tune of $430,000 or more from fossil fuel interests. If he did not KNOW then he is incompetent and not ready to be POTUS. if he did know he is a hypocrite. Hiding behind technical niceties about whether it was the company or the executives is slimy as hell and if it was Scotty of the tuber you would rightly call them out.

    So either O’Rouke or his campaign team are pnly paying lip service to not supporting fossil fuel industry. So this IS a black mark against him whatever way you want to tist it.

    Now as to his voting record I guess it may be best to rely on Nate, who has posted a list of the voting record of all congress members as to how often they vote with Trump and the republicans. O’Rourke was certainly well on the RW/Trumpist side compared with most other democrats. So he would seem to be a pretty solid centrist, voting 30.1% of the time with the GOP compared with Pelosi at 20%, Warren 13% and Sanders 14%.

  38. Going on the experience of some I have known, and the timing, Albo & Carmel probably waited until junior was over his exams before announcing the split.

  39. I have just about finished watching the German drama “The Typist” on SBS on demand. It has been a cracker.
    The lady playing the lead role was 65 when the series was made in 2015. She was stunning.

  40. All this talk of a suitable Democratic candidate for president.

    Trump has totally trashed every single norm and happens to be a sexual deviant and treasonous traitor to boot. And his wife was an escort in a former life
    Why does the bar have to be reset so high for any democratic candidate. It is at such a low point now having the orange cheeto in charge,

    Seriously every day is just that bit worse with this disgrace at the helm

    _________
    The Hill
    @thehill
    President Trump: “I may declare a national emergency dependent on what’s going to happen over next few days.” (link: http://hill.cm/I2ZPC5c) hill.cm/I2ZPC5c

  41. Cat are you as naive and silly as this reply suggests.

    When I want to annoy my cat, one of the options is to blow air very gently into its face. It goes nutso.

  44. The Syria withdrawal that wasn’t.

    The United States will pull out of Syria only with assurances Turkey will not attack Kurdish allies there, national security adviser John Bolton told journalists on Sunday, according to reports.

    Bolton made the remarks in Jerusalem on a four-day trip to Israel and Turkey. The White House announced last month that ISIS had been defeated in Syria and the United States would withdraw 2,000 troops from the war-stricken nation.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/06/middleeast/syria-bolton-turkey-kurds-conditional-withdrawal/index.html

  45. “Doe anyone know what a “grouper” actually is? ”

    Reference to “groupies” maybe?? Implication of person refered to as being devoted and uncritical fan of??

    Wouldn’t worry. its coming from the Rex / Clem / nath axis of idiots.

  46. Yep, Beto O’Rourke is soooo Right Wing, that in his first campaign for the House he ran on a platform of LGBT rights and drug decriminalisation. In Texas.

  47. Mavis Smith @ #1569 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 3:58 pm

    DaretoTread:

    What you pointed out re. Biden’s “Old Uncle” meme is nothing more than scuttlebutt.

    Mavis
    Jeepers the pictures in Hillary’s bloody book are not scuttle butt. There is one picture in HER book which shows him very very close. I cannot tell if she is grimacing or smiling or indeed flirting with him. You check it out for yourself and make your own judgement. The second photo (with Merkel) seems to indicate she likes his attentions but if Joe were my hubby i would not be comfortable with his closeness to Hillary. Although again it is not entirely clear if she is smiling or grimacing.

    So it is not just scuttlebutt, but at the same time it is probably simply his personality/charm offensive which takes the form of being touchy feely without any improper connotations at all.

  49. In regards to Albo, the only ones that will pass “judgement ” on his situation are the people in his electorate. Jaysus people, get a fekkin grip.

  50. Player One @ #2440 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 5:28 pm

    C@tmomma @ #2421 Monday, January 7th, 2019 – 4:40 pm

    Jeez, how old is this clem attlee clown!?! ‘Groupers’!?! You’d think he could come up with a more contemporary contemptuous slur! 😆

    Doe anyone know what a “grouper” actually is? Apart from the bloody great fish, I mean … or is that what they mean?

    Groupers were anti-Communist right wing Catholic activists controlled by Bob Santamaria who infiltrated the Union Movement and the ALP during the late 40s and 50s. The Split and the formation of the DLP were the consequences of the ALP trying to purge themselves of their influence.

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