As we wait for the 2019 polling machine to get cranking, a review of recent happenings:
• Indigenous leader Warren Mundine is to be installed as the new Liberal candidate for the marginal seat of Gilmore in southern New South Wales, supplanting the existing candidate, Grant Schultz, by decree of the party’s state executive acting at the behest of the Prime Minister. Schultz promptly quit the Liberal Party when the news broke yesterday and announced he would run as an independent. Schultz’s dumping was also blasted by Shelley Hancock, member for the corresponding state seat of South Coast, who spoke of “one of the darkest days of the Liberal Party”. A local real estate agent and son of the late Alby Schultz, former member for Hume, Schultz was preparing a challenge to the preselection of incumbent Ann Sudmalis last year, and was the only remaining nominee after she announced her retirement in September. Mundine was national president of the ALP in 2006 and 2007, but quit the party in 2012 and moved ever further into the conservative orbit thereafter. It is expected the seat will be contested for the Nationals by Katrina Hodgkinson, former state member for Burrinjuck and Cootamundra.
• Following Kelly O’Dwyer’s retirement announcement on the weekend, it appears accepted within the Liberal Party that it needs to pick a woman to succeed her. Katie Allen, a paediatrician and medical researcher who ran unsuccessfully in Prahran at the November state election, has confirmed she will nominate. Michael Koziol of The Age reports other names being discussed include Caroline Elliott, state party vice-president and daughter of businessman John Elliott, and Margaret Fitzherbert, who lost her upper house seat for Southern Metropolitan region at the state election. Senator Jane Hume has reportedly encouraged to put her name forward, but announced yesterday she would not do so.
• Anne Webster, founder of young mother support organisation Zoe Support, was chosen as the Nationals candidate for Mallee at a local preselection vote on Saturday. Webster will succeed one-term member Andrew Broad, who announced his impending retirement last month after he became embroiled in the “sugar baby” affair. Rachel Baxendale of The Australian reports Webster won in the second round of voting over Birchip accountant and farmer Bernadette Hogan and Mildura police domestic violence taskforce head Paul Matheson, with three other candidates excluded in the first round.
• Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie has announced she will not contest the lower house seat of Indi, contrary to expectations she would do so if independent incumbent Cathy McGowan announced her retirement, which she did last weekend.
• Two notable independents have emerged to challenge Tony Abbott in Warringah: Alice Thompson, a KPMG manager who worked in the Prime Minister’s Office under Malcolm Turnbull, and Susan Moylan-Coombs, founder and director of indigenous advocacy organisation the Gaimaragal Group.
Thank you, ‘fess. 🙂
“Matthew Flinders grave found? I didn’t know he was dead!”
Stay cool Vic Bludgers, lets hope it’s too hot for the firebugs to go outside.
You know, I bet Wilbur Ross, Donald Trump, Steve Mnuchin or Larry Kudlow have not donated one red cent to the laid off federal workers of America.
Apocalyptic weather in Melbourne. Can someone photoshop a picture of ScoFo wielding his lump of coal in a firestorm?
Schumer is definitely the weak link.
Port Fairy seems to be the place to be at the moment… 22.6
Already 39.9 at Geelong Racecourse and 40 at Avalon
It is 38 in Prahran at my library and punchy northerly winds.
Just heard on Jon Faine that a mushroom farmer in Nagambie couldn’t use its own solar power during the blackout yesterday.
Apparently, the solar power has to go into the grid first and then drawn back out to run the farm.
Does anyone who knows about these things can confirm that is the case?
36.7 in Glen Iris at the moment. Wind picking up.
@weatheronPB
Barney in Go Dau @ #1493 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 9:03 am
Now why does that sound familiar? 🙂
BREAKING: Australian Prime Minister Morrison stated today that he is thrilled at the location of the body of Captain Matthew Flinders who, he said, was allegedly the first person to circumnavigate Australia.
C@tmomma @ #1422 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 5:05 am
Twenty-one(ish) today,
Twenty-one(ish) today,
She’s got the keys to the door,
Never been twenty-one(ish) before. 😉
PeeBee @ #1508 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 9:13 am
Yep
Safety issue.
In a blackout crews expect lines to be dead, so your solar has to disconnect too.
PeeBee
If that means I don’t get first go at”my” solar power, that’s a worry.
Can anyone give the correct answer?
Thanks VP. Of course safety!
Vogon Poet @ #1509 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 6:19 am
That doesn’t make sense.
What if you have a generator?
#weatheronPB. It’s sunny, humid and 28-30 across Sydney. It is not expected to get any warmer on the coast, but will get up into the high 30s inland, with humidity to go with it.
I’ve read a few comments from people that have a reaction to red wine. This could be due to the sulfur that is burnt to prevent the wine oxidising. Just my thoughts on that problem. Now hay fever, I grew up on a farm with all sorts of dust and pollen’s blowing around and never blowing around and never had a problem until I moved to my current address. When the wind blows from one particular direction now get it….big time. If I track down the plant involved I don’t give much for its chances of survival.
I recall Kim Beazley mixing Rove McManus with Karl Rove, the media having a field day. Yet where is the outrage with Morrison stuffing up elementary history?
Oh, btw Cat – Many Happy Returns.
I see the Australian of the Year ceremony tonight are on at the Canberra National Arboretum- rather than the usual lawns in front of Parliament House.
For anyone who hasn’t been there, it is a spectacular setting, and a feather in the cap for John Stanhope who as ACT Cheif Minister pushed the project through. And this year, it removes the backdrop stain of the horrendous security works – Trump inspired walls – which now deface our national,parliament.
And the winner is? Don’t know, but I hope it is Michael Long.
15 degrees here at present forecast max of 20. Sunny, light breeze.
#weatheronPB
Mavis Smith @ #1516 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 6:23 am
It all comes down to expectations! 🙂
Fess
Albany and its region is beginning to sound very attractive. Watch out for an influx of climate migrants!
“I live in Higgins and just got a telemarketing call. Qns included 1. Does the @kellyodwyer replacement need to live in Higgins? 2. Do you want a female candidate even if she isn’t as credentialed as a male? 3. Do you think Peter Costello would be the best option? @joshgnosis”
That doesn’t seem like a very useful poll. They should be asking what party you intend to vote for or are leaning towards. The candidate would only matter for swinging voters. As a Labor voter, I’d want the Liberals to select the biggest dunderhead they could find. In any case, I wouldn’t vote for the Libera; candidate no matter where they lived or how good they are, they’d just be a cypher for a nasty right wing Government.
And what on Earth does “credentialed as a male” mean? That he/she’s had a medical test like elite athletes?
BK
Perhaps Scotty could put Matthew Flinders remains on the Endeavour circumnavigation? Would make it more authentic.
This idea is so stupid that he will probably pick it up
AM
‘Schultz will be lucky to get his deposit back. Apart from political tragics like us on this blog, nobody will have heard of him.’
But some will recognise the surname. And if they do, that will attract votes.
Barney in Go Dau @ #1517 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 9:23 am
A generator isn’t going to be wired in to feed the grid
lizzie:
It’s already happening, particularly among the older generation.
PeeBee @ #1507 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 9:13 am
I learned this week that the inverter, which converts the DC from the panels into AC mains power, is itself powered by mains power. If mains power fails the inverter stops working. It is a safety feature to prevent solar panels feeding power into power lines that have come down. (Which is what happened to us on Monday.)
Vogon Poet @ #1525 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 6:33 am
So why doesn’t the just feed into the grid trip maintaining power to the property?
Mavis Smith,
🙂
sprocket_ @ #1525 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 9:30 am
Nah. Not a boat, a bus.
Listening to the iconic sounds of the Kookaburras in the trees near my house is the best present you can get!
Vogon Poet @ #1510 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 9:19 am
Yes, AS 4777.3 requires that solar inverters disconnect themselves from the grid during an outage.
However if you have the right inverter model (has to support ‘off-grid’) and/or the right wiring setup (and/or batteries) you can still self-consume during a blackout. Though most solar installs won’t be configured that way.
Centrelink continues to be outsourced:
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/contractors-replace-aps-workers-at-human-services-debt-branch-20190124-p50tga.html
“Ninety labour hire workers will next month start work at Centrelink’s debt management branch, just four months after about 80 public service employees in the same area were told their contracts wouldn’t be renewed.”
Even Newt Gingrich thinks Trump’s deal for his border wall is a ‘mistake,’ and immigration hardliners are slamming the president’s proposals as ‘increasingly weak’
Gingrich told USA Today that the bill was “just plain a mistake” and contained nothing that would entice Democrats to vote for it.
At the same time, immigration hawks have criticised Trump for focusing on a wall above all else.
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/newt-gingrich-immigration-hardliners-think-trump-immigration-deal-mistake-2019-1?r=US&IR=T
My surf club years ago was toying with idea of rowing a surf-boat from Darwin to Adelaide along the railway line as fund raising stunt.
It was going to be set up so the rowing action would drive the wheels.
It never got beyond some basic design, but it would have been a great adventure. 😆
Guardian Australia
Verified account @GuardianAus
2m2 minutes ago
TAS police urged residents to leave Geeveston. Authorities predicted the #TASfires threat today would be almost unprecedented. “800km of fire front,” says @adamlmorton. Follow our #heatwave live blog for the latest https://trib.al/uW9Wdaw #melbourneweather #SurviveTheHeat
You may be sure that your sins will find you out:
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/police-investigate-more-abuse-claims-at-the-armidale-school-20190118-p50s4d.html
Arguably one of Julia’s greatest legacies was the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
don @ #1443 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 9:00 am
I was also wondering how Emma Husar might go as an Independent in a 3 way with Lib & Lab …?
No doubt she would have made good connections in Lindsay over the last 3 yrs and I’d say she’d have to be favourite to win if she decides to run.
Abel Tasman sort of cicumnavigated Australia in 1642-1643 (wide arc from Mauritius including New Zealand and New Guinea!)
So sprocket_, maybe they can send his remains together with Flinders’ ones on Morrsion’s “Cook’s Tour” of Australia.
Jon Faine just took a call from a pensioner complaining that he will lose his franking credits. The Tram Union ‘wrapper’ didn’t point out that the pensioner will still collect the credits as a cash payment. The ALP policy doesn’t apply to people who were pensioners as of 23rd March 2018 (of which the caller was one).
This is the problem when you don’t make knowledgable people available for these shows. It gives the LNP a free kick.
Weather report from Rokeby (an eastern shore suburb of Hobart). Temp 36.2 humidity 19% and ne winds at 3.6 kmh and forecast to get worse. To all bludgers in at risk areas, be safe
I think cartoonists are going to have a field day with the Matthew Flinders /James Cook / Scott Morrison trifecta.
Zoidlord @ #1539 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 10:49 am
I think my friend there has aleady left. Certainly hope so.
PeeBee @ #1538 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 10:53 am
Shorten and Bowen are clearly failing to cut through on this particular issue.
They really need to simplify down the messaging
“Re Puffy @ 8:31. In fact I think James Cook only got promoted to Captain posthumously. When he landed at Botany Bay he was a Lieutenant.”
Facepalm.
There is much misconception about the system of ranks and promotion within the Royal Navy in the 18th century. Some scribe in the Herald has an ignorant stab at history recently and suggested that at the time of his death Cook wasn’t a real captain, only a “Post Captain”. FFS, that from a paid journalist tasked with writing a front page history article. I nearly cancelled my Fairfax subscription on the spot.
When Cook was appointed to command the expedition there were only three officially gazetted Commissioned ranks – Lieutenant, Captain and Admiral. However, because of the inadequacy of the official system a series of unofficial or temporary ranks had been established. These included a Lieutenant-in-Command – a position assigned to a promising but relatively junior lieutenant to command small vessels like Bomb Ketch’s and the like. Lieutenants-in-Command were referred to as Captain whilst aboard his vessel but reverted to the title of Lieutenant whilst on land.
Next up the ladder, was ‘Master and Commander’ – a senior Lieutenant who was assigned command of larger vessels, like the Endeavour, a Brig or a Sloop of War (a three masted small frigate of below 20 main guns – what the French called a Corvette). Such an officer was entitled to the honorific of ‘Captain’ whether on board or on land. Although not official use of this honorific was acceptable even after the specific command ended. Further, such an officer had a legitimate expectation of further commands and perhaps promotion onto the Captain’s list. An official Commander’s list was not established and published in the Navy Gazette until the late 18th. Century – more than 20 years after Cook was appointed to command the Endeavour. If the list had been in existence at the time then the promotion steps would have been – Commission as Lieutenant. Upon selection and purchase into service of the Collier that became the Endeavour another promotion and Sealed Orders from the Admiralty direction Cook to board HMS Endeavour as Master and Commander.
Being promoted onto the Captain’s list was to be “posted” as a Captain. This rank was was referred to as “Post Captain” to distinguish it from the other temporary and official ranks of Captain. It was the real deal. Once appointed, unless one was cashiered for scandalous conduct (and you had to try pretty bloody hard in pre Victorian England to be drummed out for scandal) then you got a ginormous salary (which increased with seniority) for life or until you gained such seniority on the Navy list that you were ultimately appointed an Admiral. At the time of his death Cook was a Post Captain. Had he lived long enough he would have died an Admiral.
There are other myths that surround Cook’s Royal Navy career. The one that irks me the most is the myth that he started off his career as an ordinary seaman, or “shipping before the hawse” as it was referred to. While there are numerous examples of common seaman being promoted all the way to the top, Cook is not one of those cases. True it is that he was first entered onto the books of his first Navy ship as an “Able Seaman” he was at that stage already a successful merchant master (Captain) and has been specifically recruited by what would these days be called Naval Intellegence for special service. Specifically to work with another famed navigator and cartographer charting the extremies of Canada and elsewhere during the Seven Years War. Within the month he received his Admiralty Warrant as a “Masters Mate” which ranked only behind the Sailing Master and Purser amongst the Warrants. He might have been temporarily on the books as an ordinary sailor but he would have immediately taken his berth in the Wardroom. By the end of the 7 years war Cook had been promoted to the position of Sailing Master – a warrant position equivalent to that of Lieutenant but one taken up by men who aspired to a lucrative career in the merchant navy in lieu of Royal Navy Command. Cook was intact preparing to go back into the merchant navy when the intelligence service once again called. Being a naval intelligence agent goes a long way to explaining why such a ‘junior’ Lieutenant was given such a senior command. It also explains why the premier Navigator and Cartographer of the Age “failed” to note and survey Port Jackson in his official public record of expedition.
Rex Douglas @ #1544 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 6:58 am
Or the media are too lazy to point out that this is not true, when they know it to be the case.