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.
That is certainly the Republican world view, IMHO it would be a very big mistake. I don’t blame Hilary, the world had moved and the centrist corporatist dems hadn’t noticed it. But to repeat the same mistake wouldn’t not be wise.
If the dems lose in the US, like in Australia it will NOT be because their vision of change is too bold, it will be because it is too muted.
Confessionssays:
Monday, September 16, 2019 at 8:48 am
But when it does rain, they stop the water being lost to those pesky rivers.
Fess
No i hadn’t. Thanks.
Trump is a malignant narcissistic, and he has always behaved in an appalling fashion. Now that he is a President, it is plain for all to see.
And the main issue I have had with him from the get go, is his treasonous conduct against his own nation.
Like Shorten here Hilary offered slightly nicer normal. People don’t want normal.
Apparently volunteers can’t do volunteer work.
Guess who?
The Guardian blog
Bill Shorten
People with disability need their stories of abuse & neglect dragged into the light, so we can work to not repeat the mistakes of the past. But we share the grave concerns of disability communities about the two commissioners with potential conflicts.
__________________________________
Are they worse conflicts than a union taking money from a company for a compliant EBA while supposedly representing its workers?
WWP:
Trump is the biggest and best motivation for Democrat voters to turn out next year.
https://www.news-gazette.com/news/the-big-with-jeff-d-alessio-sept/article_a28b5c2a-3493-5172-8072-de0e91e908fe.html
Barney
The silly cow seems to believe that volunteers never undergo training for anything. No wonder her MPs are a rabble.
nath,
Get help.
There is nothing positive in your fixation.
lizziesays:
Monday, September 16, 2019 at 9:04 am
I think her milking days are well in the past.
She serves no useful purpose now.
Oil prices could rise by more than 10 per cent, driving petrol prices higher, following an attack that has knocked out about half of Saudi Arabia’s crude processing.
On Saturday, a drone attack severely damaged the Abqaiq oil processing facility as well as targeting the Khurais oil fields in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Aramco has reportedly shut down around 5.7 million barrels per day of production capacity as a result of the attacks, which is more than 6 per cent of global supply, according to ANZ analysts.
Barney
Oh dear. We’re being very rude to cows, aren’t we. 😆
Confessions says: Monday, September 16, 2019 at 9:02 am
WWP:
Trump is the biggest and best motivation for Democrat voters to turn out next year.
Says GOP strategist RICK WILSON, whose 2018 book, ‘Everything Trump Touches Dies,’ reached No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list: “Focus everything you have on making this election a referendum on Donald Trump, because that’s what it is
*******************************************************************
Andy OstroyVerified account @AndyOstroy
Replying to @TheRickWilson
Absolutely. Given that we have a dangerous pathologically-lying sexist racist corrupt sociopath traitor squatting on the Oval, if we don’t see 75-85%+ turnout by Dems, then they deserve 4 more yrs of #Trump…
Such a shame nath can’t get fixated on the incompetent and dishonest Liberals.
While Morrison’s in the US we will be in the safe and steady hands of Michael McCormack.
Think about it!
a r:
I think both sides are bluffing. Trump may order a strategic strike but I don’t think he’d escalate it to full-scale war. Iran would little doubt respond in its region. What the US wants is regime change, but the sanctions aren’t achieving that end. Where it goes from here is hard to predict but neither side’s interests would be served with war.
Thanks BK for the Dawn Patrol.
The numbers in the article concerning river flows are frightening (probably only to ordinary people). Praise the Lord for the dude appointed as a water envoy.
No that’s not a water envoy. That’s a fabulous baby chimp – not quite as cute as a baby gorilla – but near enough.
Question – what’s the thinking lately about Gods? Those of the singular.
Is he/she/asexual/variable/ what ❓ Should be enough hate there to satisfy the most jaded of palates.
The Lambie conscripts could also be used (give em a gun and send em away to the war (and the band played Waltz…..)) in the middle east to sort out the latest fuckups. This would result in fewer arseholes working ❓ for Centrelink and the displaced AH’s could off to Iran as well. What’s not to like there ❓
Solution – put a little wine in the rivers. Voila — instant plonk (or bombo as my old folks said).
Never forget that Orstraya has drones too – and plenty of em. ❗
Newcastle to have water restrictions starting today.
Big day replacing blades on my mower. Some damn fool has misplace the blades.
☮☮☮☕☕☕ E & OE
BK @ #1816 Monday, September 16th, 2019 – 9:15 am
No – oo – -ooo. Help ❓ 😵
lizziesays:
Monday, September 16, 2019 at 9:16 am
Milk of human kindness.
Or as Billy would sing,
“Milkman”
https://youtu.be/4mMUJFAd4rQ
What is to become of nut milk chocolate?
Confessions @ #1799 Monday, September 16th, 2019 – 8:48 am
It makes the punters think you care about them, as well as giving you heaps of opportunities for crony capitalism.
Win-win! 🙁
Regarding the definition or branding for milk, meat is under the gun too. And let’s not forget this one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Can%27t_Believe_It%27s_Not_Butter!
It feels like there’s a marketing opportunity for some enterprising entrepreneur to trademark “I can’t believe its not”.
nath:
[‘Bill Shorten
People with disability need their stories of abuse & neglect dragged into the light, so we can work to not repeat the mistakes of the past. But we share the grave concerns of disability communities about the two commissioners with potential conflicts.
__________________________________
Are they worse conflicts than a union taking money from a company for a compliant EBA while supposedly representing its workers?’]
Yes. The disabled are at the mercy of those who abuse them; whereas union members have options:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-16/royal-commission-disability-shocking-statistics/11514546
Had to share (sorry, not sorry).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xszIaNpYILY
Good Morning
WWP
I can’t agree with you more. For example. There are 20 million college students most of whom did not go out and vote at the last election. It was no accident the debate was held at a Black University in Texas.
Joe Biden will go down in the polls due to his inherent white privilege racism in the answer to the slavery question. Biden showed his age. Not by his teeth nearly falling out. Not by talking about record players, but by talking about how black people don’t know how to be good parents and need social workers sent into homes to help them.
This was a question relating to his previous comments about the effects of slavery. Thats not saying Biden intends to be racist. His comments come from another age of thinking and he totally disgraced himself with the racism white privilege of noblesse oblige in his answer.
Its no way to impress Black college woman or indeed stay at home black woman either. Biden is the perfect candidate to suppress turnout.
Confessions @ #1799 Monday, September 16th, 2019 – 8:48 am
The frantic need to do anything and something, and be seen to be doing something, instead of addressing what is really going on. Faith in the future (ask G G about that), and dam building, will get you only so far, till the future hits you fair square in the face.
It is the economic costs of the impending disaster – towns running out of water – that will bring them, and us along with them, down. And as I noted above, their path to a magic surplus is at the cost of social services, and the need for social services is about to escalate.
@sahilkapur tweets
White voters without a college degree
…voted Romney 61-36% in ‘12.
…voted Trump 66-29% in ‘16.
…voted Republican 61-37% in ‘18.
That any Democrat could make meaningful gains with this group in 2020 is an arbitrary assumption that requires serious evaluation.
Meanwhile, 100 million eligible voters didn’t turn out in 2016 (disproportionately non-white/young i.e. Dem-leaning) and college-educated whites are suddenly Democrat-curious. There are paths to a Trump defeat that don’t require flipping white working class votes.
The Economist
WeWantPaul @ #1800 Monday, September 16th, 2019 – 8:49 am
I’m not a Republican, and I agree with it. The goal is to get Trump out. Literally nothing else matters until that’s accomplished.
If the progressives and reformists can’t swallow their zeal for 4 more years and get behind whomever the Not Donald Trump candidate happens to be, bland economic agenda notwithstanding, then the US is well and truly fucked. The mere presence of Donald Trump in the White House should fire them up enough to do that. They’re not very good progressives otherwise.
Dams are about using city money to redistribute stocks and flows to where our regional socialists can skive off it the most.
The basic equation is that if it is stored in a dam it is not acting as a flow. The flows in this case are the rivers and their associated wetland and riparian biodiversity systems.
In other words, the Nationals are all set for another massive capital assault on the environment.
The ultimate test for this proposition is the state of the Murray Mouth open. There are three broad management settings: (1) closed (if not dredged), (2) enough flow to keep it open, (3) enough flow to scour it.
There are already enough dams in all but a succession of very wet years to get outflows at the Murray Mouth below the required levels to keep it open, let alone to scour it. The most notable result is that nearby wetlands have lost around 80,000 shorebirds due to increased salinity.
Just keeping it open requires 2000 megs a day. Permanent high security water licences are currently selling for around $4000 per meg. Temporary (that is to say a one off annual use of the permanent licence) price for water is around $7-800 per meg. Thus, just to keep the Murray Mouth open has a market price of $1,400,000 per day.
In dry years not enough water arrives to keep it open so then dredges are required. These cost a motsa. How much, exactly, I don’t know.
The politics of this are quite predictable. The Greens will target the new dams, thus pissing off rural and regional voters. This is not an electoral problem for the Greens because they will not win a regional federal seat for the next 20 years. So, from a Greens perspective, regional seats are expendable. Labor will be both wedged and tarred with the Greens brush. The Coalition will hoover up the regional seats* and remain in power for the foreseeable future. And the Greens will strengthen the electoral allegiance of the vegan fogsters.
https://www.naturalresources.sa.gov.au/samurraydarlingbasin/projects/all-projects-map/keeping-the-murray-mouth-open
*McCormack only has to use the code ‘frogs stopping dams’ to provide the appropriate signal to Nats voters. Expect Di Natale to come out with a general statement against new dams. Easy as.
WeWantPaul @ #1802 Monday, September 16th, 2019 – 8:50 am
Yet to fully read through this (time constraints) , but from Harvard, for those interested in a long read:
A strategy for reinvigorating our democracy:
” Our analysis highlights those reforms that will be the most powerful in addressing root causes and discusses how to combine them into an overall strategy. The reforms fall into four areas:
• Restructuring the election process
• Restructuring the governing process
• Reforming money in politics
• Opening up near-term competition—without waiting for structural reform”
http://www.hbs.edu/competitiveness/Documents/why-competition-in-the-politics-industry-is-failing-america.pdf
China
Scotland:)
ar
Telling the base to shut up is not the way to unite the party.
Thats basically what your post is demanding. This because the corporate Democrats can see they will have a socialist in the White House and they control most of the media punditry and have Republicans like Rick Wilson wanting to save the GOP by having the Democrats cave yet again to the GOP agenda.
The best moment for Beto O Rourke was when he did the absolute opposite and said to the GOP and the NRA we are coming to take away your guns. Even if mandatory buyback has constitution problems in the US. To get the base to turn out you fight fire with fire. You get the base out.
That means not being the lesser evil but being the best good you can be.
Edit: If you doubt this have a look at the results of 2016. The base was told to shut up and voters stayed at home.
Boerwar @ #1833 Monday, September 16th, 2019 – 9:54 am
It’s just insanity isn’t it. Why? Because they deny the science, have faith in the future, and the real problem is simply ignored.
Faith is a gamble. Or did I say that already.
guytaur:
Most polls have had Biden consistently ahead of his two nearest rivals. Trump disgraces himself almost daily but still has the overwhelming support of his party. While uncle Joe’s a little long in the tooth, he’s the only candidate who has the experience to take on Trump.
https://www.politico.com/2020-election/democratic-presidential-candidates/polls/
‘Labor’s inability to prosecute its economic credentials is a heavy drag on its electability.’
Bingo.
frednk @ #1786 Monday, September 16th, 2019 – 8:33 am
Yeah that’ll work.
‘Labor’s inability to prosecute its economic credentials is a heavy drag on its electability.’
Bingo
Mavis Davis
Most polls have not had Biden in the full fire of an election campaign. You can tell how weak the corporate Democrats see Biden as being in that they are demanding people shut up and be gentle.
If you think Trump is going to do that you are very gullible. The fire Biden is copping from the left is exactly the fire needed to prove he is able to take on Trump.
The fact is Biden is failing at this. He might win the nomination but I fear that like Clinton he will suppress voter turnout. Thats the achilles heel of Biden. He may have reached his ceiling. At this stage the combined vote for Sanders and Warren is equal to that of Biden and we have seen at least one Poll with Warren in front and a few with her and Sanders at equal ties with Biden.
Its very early voters are not paying attention. When they do Biden’s numbers fall.
I have not seen any post polling from the debates yet but I expect that slavery answer has taken a point or two off his approvals.
Also consider your nickname of Uncle Joe and what that means. Its not a term for voter turnout.
Actually, Labor’s inability to prosecute its credentials is a heavy drag on its electability.
Enthusiasm, passion, rage, guts, confidence…..all gone.
mundo
Yes. Keneally has been showing how you do it on immigration and I don’t fully agree with the out of control of the borders implications feeding on the inherent racism of Dutton’s position of blame the immigrants for the congestion in cities.
From the Guardian
Yes, Morrison, as he packs his undies. Think about those words he chose, and how they fit into the USA today:
* peace (F)
* liberty (F)
* prosperity (what % exactly)
We are going to be treated to the full Right Wing spin very soon.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/461508-trump-to-meet-with-indias-modi-in-houston-australias-morrison-in-ohio
guytaur @ #1836 Monday, September 16th, 2019 – 9:57 am
No, they can be as loud as they want. Until there’s a nominee locked in. Then absolutely they should shut up and enthusiastically vote for Not Donald Trump. Whether their preferred Democratic nominee gets up or not.
Encouraging internal division of the party won’t unite it either. 🙂
The unfortunate thing about Beto’s comment is that it will also get the other side’s base out. It’ll make those wavering Republicans decide that maybe Trump’s not as bad as a Democrat who’s going to shit all over the Second Amendment, take away their freedoms, and shove PC nonsense down their throats.
You want to fire the base up, yes. And you want to do that without firing up your opponent’s base at the same time. Like Obama did with “Hope and Change”. There’s nothing in “hope and change” to trigger the RWNJ ferals. Contrast that with “hell yes we’re coming for your guns” and the difference should be obvious.
And seriously, the Trump presidency should be the only thing that the Democratic base needs to fire itself up in 2020. It’s their single best campaign asset. If they ignore that and try to make the election about guns, or abortion, or UBI, or whatever else they could still snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
In 4 years do that. In 2020, just get rid of Trump ffs!
A National Strategy on Climate Change and Agriculture.
Well, 20 years too late, at least, and good luck with the current mob, the dam building ones, but at last the words have been spoken.
The Australian Farm Institute will launch a report calling for a national strategy on climate change and agriculture today.
About 20 farmers will arrive at parliament to discuss the report, with environment minister Sussan Ley.
Again, how good, really, is the Guardian.