Two brief news items to relate on Australian matters, as well as which we have the latest of Adrian Beaumont’s increasingly regular updates on the constitutional mess that is Brexit.
Sarah Henderson, who held the seat of Corangamite for the Liberals from 2013 until her defeat in May, will return to parliament today after winning preselection to fill Mitch Fifield’s Victorian Senate vacancy. This follows her 234-197 win in a party vote held on Saturday over Greg Mirabella, a Wangaratta farmer and the husband of former Indi MP Sophie Mirabella. After initial expectations that Henderson was all but assured of the spot, Mirabella’s campaign reportedly gathered steam in the lead-up to Saturday’s vote, resulting in a late flurry of public backing for Henderson from Scott Morrison, Josh Frydenberg, Jeff Kennett, Michael Kroger and Michael Sukkar.
Also, The Australian reports Queensland Liberal Senator James McGrath will push for the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, of which he is the chair, to consider abolishing proportional representation in the Senate and replacing it with a system in which each state is broken down into six provinces, each returning a single member at each half-Senate election – very much like the systems that prevailed in the state upper houses of Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia in the bad old days before the advent of proportional representation.
Ostensibly motivated by a desire to better represent the regions, such a system would result in a Senate dominated as much as the House of Representatives by the major parties, at a time of ongoing erosion in public support for them. The Australian’s report further quotes Nationals Senator Perin Davey advocating the equally appalling idea of rural vote weighting for the House. The kindest thing that can be said about both proposals is that they are not going to happen, although the latter would at least give the High Court an opportunity to take a stand for democracy by striking it down.
They just need Scotty in this pic and we’ll have the governments of Australia, UK and US summed up.
Alpha Zero
Yup.
Boerwar
Says: She was a member of at least two foreign agitprop organisations whose main purpose is influence peddling on behalf of China.
__________________________________________
That is what you allege. These organisations may indeed do that, but they are ostensibly involved in diaspora trade and commerce. There need to be some evidence that she has acted contrary to Australian interests in some way. Lifting the foreign investment threshold is not going to cut it.
BW
It’s pretty simple. Dastyari was under attack for being influenced by the CCCP.
Liu is under attack because of allegations she once belonged to CCCP propaganda organisations.
Liu is in the worse position.
Coorey says we should have public funding of elections.
Does anyone else agree that even if we did (unlikely IMO), the Coalition would find a way of getting around it? They’re the ‘clever money managers’, after all.
guytaur
says:
Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 10:02 am
BW
It’s pretty simple. Dastyari was under attack for being influenced by the CCCP.
Liu is under attack because of allegations she once belonged to CCCP propaganda organisations.
_____________________________________
Every organisation in China theoretically reports to some other organisation connected to the CCCP.
Every organisation in China theoretically reports to some other organisation connected to the CCCP.
Well, if there’s no problem with it why are the Libs denying it so vehemently?
“Thanks everyone for watching Insiders so I didn’t have to.
Watching Fran Kelly is a good way to ruin an otherwise fine Sunday morning.”
Seconded – last time I watched it Barrie Cassidy was in the chair and Labor were about to win Government.
lizzie @ #1305 Sunday, September 15th, 2019 – 10:04 am
Political donations should be banned.
A federal ICAC with teeth should be able to keep it clean.
Bushfire Bill
says:
Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 10:08 am
Every organisation in China theoretically reports to some other organisation connected to the CCCP.
Well, if there’s no problem with it why are the Libs denying it so vehemently?
_____________________________
As far as I can tell the only problem for her/them is the media pressure. Unless new evidence emerges. The fact that Morrison has a slight majority and that Chisholm is marginal indicates to me that Morrison will be willing to expend a fair bit to defend her.
lizzie @ #1305 Sunday, September 15th, 2019 – 8:04 am
Wouldn’t it just benefit the party in govt if elections were funded by taxpayers.
Nath
Just like US government ones. The difference is the degree of connection.
Eg. Hong Kong has been showing us the infiltration and control.
So valid questions. This makes it harder for ethnic Chinese to be independent organisations from China. For MP’s that’s especially crucial.
A lesson for politicians to want crystal clear lines to protect them.
Dastayari was a fool, he admits to it. But for mine the biggest scandal that emerged is the politicisation of ASIO who leaked information to get him.
I actually feel sorry for Liu although I would agree with her on nothing. Not too long back being friendly to “Chinese” organs would have been seen as a good thing. And Bolt would not have desisted unless and until she condemned China for being an evil empire with a despotic tyrant on top, trying to “steal” the South China Sea.
She is only a backbencher of Chinese ethnicity – from Hong Kong. I wonder if his questioning of her on foreign affairs was related more to this than her reported associations.
Bolt is exactly in line with sentiments here.
“The Prime Minister’s race-baiting in defence of Gladys Liu is working. It’s inflaming race resentments that are very useful to helping his Government save Liu, or at least to win her heavily-Chinese seat of Chisholm in a by-election if she’s forced to quit: ”
I think his worry is the influence of Communist China on the government.
“Coorey says we should have public funding of elections.
Does anyone else agree that even if we did (unlikely IMO), the Coalition would find a way of getting around it? They’re the ‘clever money managers’, after all.”
No doubt they’ll get around it, without having to break the rules. The equivalent of tens of millions of free campaigning by Newcorp, special interests with deep pockets and billionaires like Clive Palmer. There will be a price, but it will never be disclosed. Then of course there are friendly State Governments and, when in power, Federal Government ads paid for by the taxpayer.
Steve777
I agree.
:sigh:
Boerwar
Didn’t she advocate changes in foreign ownership laws to further Chinese interests?
Interesting to hear PvO comment that he didn’t think ScoMo was “loyal enough” to back Guandong Gladys, if he hadn’t checked out her credentials thoroughly.
I think his worry is the influence of Communist China on the government.
Yes, of course. You try to influence the GOVERNING PARTY, not so much the opposition.
Same reason Philby, Burgess and McLean were picked out. They were Establishment all the way, especially Philby.
Funnel $1 million through Gladys, and the Libs are your friends forever. $100,000 is chump change, Aldi bag or not (would Fran have preferred a calf skin attache case with concealed throwing knives and 30 gold sovereigns in the lining?)
Regarding the amelioration of the effects of climate change, our gov is merely praying for relief. It has been suggested that providing more funds for emergency workers would be more useful, and for firefighting especially, the purchase of more water bombing planes.
Instead of submarines, perhaps?
I totally disagree with the gun-carry policy, but this road rage video is amusing.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1172796994177257472
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/15/david-cameron-slammed-for-horrendous-mistake-brexit-referendum
Boris Johnson is a liar who only backed the Leave campaign to help his career and Michael Gove was a “foam-flecked Faragist” whose “one quality” was disloyalty, David Cameron writes in his memoirs.
The former prime minister poured vituperation on both his former colleagues Priti Patel, the current home secretary, and Dominic Cummings, the No 10 adviser, in extracts from the book published on Sunday.
In what may be Cameron’s most explosive allegation yet, he effectively accused Boris Johnson of mounting a racist election campaign by focusing on Turkey and its possible accession to the EU.
“It didn’t take long to figure out Leave’s obsession,” he writes. “Why focus on a country that wasn’t an EU member?
Guardian Today: the headlines, the analysis, the debate – sent direct to you
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“The answer was that it was a Muslim country, which piqued fears about Islamism, mass migration and the transformation of communities. It was blatant.”
Then Cameron echoes the explicitly racist Conservative campaign slogan used in Smethwick in 1964: “They might as well have said: ‘If you want a Muslim for a neighbour, vote “remain”.’”
In Smethwick, Peter Griffiths had been elected as Conservative MP on the slogan “If you want a n**** for a neighbour, vote Labour.”
Cameron was very foolish not to recognise the inherently xenophobic character of Brexit and to reject the Brexit demands coming from his Party.
Brexit is a stanza in the White Supremacist/Nationalist chant. The Right like it a lot. They can campaign with Brexit and they’ve done very well with it. Labour, divided on the issue and led by an Old-time Leaver, is unable to prevail against the Right and appear to be headed for a huge defeat in the approaching election.
There are some on the pop-left who welcome Brexit on the most spurious of grounds. They are overlooking a thousand years of British political history. Brexit will be a calamity for working people in Britain. It is already a political and constitutional tornado.
adrian @ #1300 Sunday, September 15th, 2019 – 10:01 am
Fran ‘ok…..ok…..ok……ok….ok………ok’ Kelly
In this insightful article there is plenty of grist to the mill of those who believe that the lunatic Right and the lunatic Left are not all that far apart: their first priority is to wreck the joint. All the rest is mere detail. The major difference is that the lunatic Right references the golden age* and the lunatic Left references a glorious revolution.
IMHO this is why the Far Left factions in Britain’s Labor supported Brexit. It is also why there are strong elements in the Coalition among the Australian Greens who are quite indifferent to endless Coalition environmental, social and economic destruction while they both prosecute their particular long arches to their particular glorious revolution. Naturally they most loathe, fear and need to destroy anything in between!
In Australia the Coalition and the Greens combined to Kill Bill.
Social democrats, moderate conservatives, and moderate Left parties are in deep structural trouble, globally. It is also why you see the relentless cynical wrecking negativism coming from some of Bludgers’ regulars.
And give them their due Johnson, Farage, Morrison, Trump, Di Natale, and even Corbyn to an extent, understand these incohate, hate filled and destructive impulses extremely well. Each in their own ways are trying to grow the rage wave and then to ride the front of the wave.
They don’t even have to fake integrity any more!
*MAGA
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/14/to-see-how-extremism-has-taken-root-in-britain-look-at-islington-north
Quoted by Lizzie:
@iMusing
·
56m
Back to Labor, says Fran cheerfully. She seems unaware how fantastically redundant and tedious this focus on intra-Labor dynamics is at this stage of the political cycle. Next thing you know she’ll be observing that voters are disengaged! #Insiders
There was also the general agreement among panellists that the accusations of racism ( and all its ramifications) were pretty disgusting and plain wrong.
“Ah… but the politics!” chirped up PVO.
Guess which one they’ll run with.
Great post by Jason Clare. Something as simple as this often saves someone’s life by spurring them to get a lesion checked out.
https://mobile.twitter.com/jasonclaremp/status/1169781893509726208
What would happen if Trump loses next year and refuses to concede defeat? And given his advice for how to prepare is very unlikely to happen, it’s hardly a reassuring read!
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/09/joshua-geltzer-election-peaceful-transition-of-power-donald-trump.html
‘swamprat says:
Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 10:18 am
Boerwar
Didn’t she advocate changes in foreign ownership laws to further Chinese interests?’
Yes but she did that before she was an MP and when she was a branch member. IMO she was quite entitled as a member to push for changes to foreign investment laws.
briefly @ #1323 Sunday, September 15th, 2019 – 10:50 am
Do the Blairites want a Boris style Brexit or a Corbyn style Brexit ..?
The way they’re acting at the moment they will help deliver a Boris Brexit.
I’m wondering why you sound so surprised, BW.
The radical left is as hate-filled, judgemental, xenophobic, and smug (but wooly-headed) as the radical right.
Problem is: both sides believe they’re the only sensible ones in politics.
Given that Labor are officially in a political coma I think it’s best for commentary now to focus on the debate between Govt policy and Green policy.
Dio
Yep. It was also good that Morrison and Albanese both acknowledged having to manage issues with their prostates at a public event recently.
I think our extended family is now up to three members with a melanoma removed. One was only just in time and was finally nobbled by radiation and chemo. Another was discovered in time but a recurrence and the related surgery eventually resulted in a fatal pulmonary embolism.
Around a third of my gen (60-80 age range) have had BCCs and/or SCCs removed – all in time but some requiring repeated cuttings as the edges were not found in first attempts.
We are spot change happy in our household!
‘Bushfire Bill says:
Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 11:07 am
In this insightful article there is plenty of grist to the mill of those who believe that the lunatic Right and the lunatic Left are not all that far apart: their first priority is to wreck the joint.
I’m wondering why you sound so surprised, BW.
The radical left is as hate-filled, judgemental, xenophobic, and smug (but wooly-headed) as the radical right.
Problem is: both sides believe they’re the only sensible ones in politics.’
I am not surprised at all. I thought that the particular examples provided in that article provided grist to the mill.
It places Rex in context.
Boerwar @ #1298 Sunday, September 15th, 2019 – 9:58 am
Labor need to be going, line by line, post by post, speech by speech, newspaper article by newspaper article, community radio interview by community radio interview, since she has been in Australia, to see where Gladys Liu’s allegiances truly lie.
Confessions @ #1335 Sunday, September 15th, 2019 – 11:13 am
Nah, I’ll go with ‘dodgy’.
Isn’t that the media’s job?
The radical left is as hate-filled, judgemental, xenophobic, and smug (but wooly-headed) as the radical right.
And research was released today that indicated that being a vegan actually clouds your thoughts. You may be able to validly say that it turns you into a vegetable! 😆
a r @ #1339 Sunday, September 15th, 2019 – 11:16 am
You would think so, wouldn’t you? But no, not if you look at PvO’s performance today on Insiders, among many, many other examples. They can stick a camera in Craig Thomson’s bathroom window while his wife is having a shower but I bet they don’t find out the source of Liu’s $1 Million in donations to the Liberal Party. Unless the Victorian Liberal Party tells them.
Politically, Tom Watson and his Blairite colleagues would better serve themselves by defecting to the Lib Dems.
What has been clear from the start is the campaign against Liu is coming from within the Victorian liberal party.
If there is more to be uncovered I am sure it will flow from within that branch into the hands of journos.
Labor does not need to go digging.
Let the MSM carry the dirt can by itself.
What will be interesting is how far the leakers intend to go. Is it a all out campaign to bring her down or a shot across the bow ?
Is it factional or personal or both ?
The Victorian branch of the liberal party is a swamp in itself so anything and everything is possible.
C@T
Australia has a huge history of it being acceptable for Australians to have external allegiances. It has been, for very lengthy periods, to express allegiance to the empire and to the US alliance. The reason all this arises in a different way is that Australia is working out its existential problem: how to have a military alliance with one superpower and an economic alliance with another superpower at a time when the two superpowers are butting heads. Trying to do both (which is the basic stance of both the Coalition and of Labor) will not, IMO, work in the long run. In the interim we are trying to ride two tigers at the same time.
There are two exceptions to the generally accepted tolerance for at least some allegiance to a foreign state. The first is when we are at war. The second is when individual actions in peace time provide a security-related advantage to a foreign state or compromise some military advantage. German Australians found during both our world war that war is when having shown signs of allegiance to a foreign country becomes totally unacceptable.
The five million or so dual citizens institutionalize this stance.
Our allegiance to a foreign-owned monarch institutionalizes a dual allegiance.
One of the interesting things here is whether there will be a deeper set of questions about high degree with which the US influences our domestic politics, our security stance, and our military affairs.
a r @ #1339 Sunday, September 15th, 2019 – 11:16 am
It has to be the media and Greens job given Labor are politically unresponsive on taxpayer funded life support.
doyley
The Victorian Liberals do good hate. Here is a bit of a chronological interest.
Did Victorian Lib insider leakers throw Liu onto the bonfire just as soon as Mr Puff Adder got rolled?
Or was that one of those curious coincidences that sometimes occur in politics?
The most hate-filled people here are those who would describe themselves as centrist.
Rex Douglassays:
Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 11:21 am
You do understand what the LibDems are?
I was interested in Savva’s connections to the Victorian Liberals because she said Liu’s behaviour has been dodgy as opposed to ‘clumsy’ from PvO, and wondered if she’s getting her info from the Vic Libs. She used to work for Peter Costello IIRC, so perhaps she does have connections to the Victorians.
Lovey @ #1347 Sunday, September 15th, 2019 – 11:28 am
Given the protection the centrists provide the 1%, your comment is very reasonable.