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.
@NewsroomNZ tweets
‘No Logo’ author Naomi Klein talks the Green New Deal, Greta Thunberg and the links between the rise of white supremacy and the climate crisis. #CoveringClimateNow https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/09/16/811189/naomi-klein-the-link-between-climate-crisis-and-white-supremacy
briefly @ #1870 Monday, September 16th, 2019 – 10:51 am
You’re not wrong there Briefo.
Albo is dead weight.
Remember, bend from the knees.
ar @ 11:18
“And when the battle’s over and the nominee is locked in, leave the sour grapes at home, shut up about “corporate democrats”, and get loudly behind Not Donald Trump.
Because you know who’s even more corporate than a corporate democrat? A Republican. And you know who’s even more corporate than that? Donald Trump. Fight the real enemy.
Yes.
briefly,
Haven’t you learned? Truth is always an optional commodity for Guytaur.
It’s a waste of time taking any notice of him.
With regard to fixed four year terms, the “fixed” and the “four year” bits don’t have to go together. The parliament could legislate for fixed terms now (a constitutional lawyer can correct me if I’m wrong) provided the lifetime of parliaments is kept under three years. But moving to terms of four years would require constitutional change.
It annoys me when the two aspects are spoken of together, as if they’re inseparable, giving the impression we can’t have the fixed terms (good thing*) without the longer terms (bad thing*).
* = In my humble yet irrefutably correct opinion.
Another prism through which to view the annual claptrap about Hiroshima in the context of Japanese war making:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-16/japan-korea-trade-war-history-and-colonialism/11492558
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/16/climate-change-is-threatening-to-break-cricket-apart-from-putting-players-in-danger-to-disrupting-matches?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=soc_568&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1568596835
BW
The Japanese committing war crimes does not make the war crimes of dropping bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki less of a war crime. No matter how much you argue it was necessary. Anymore than the bombing of Dresden.
We have improved. We now have the don’t bomb civilians as part of the Geneva Conventions.
Edit: Yes I am aware that this is breached continually by those conducting wars. Including by the US and those the US supports
[‘Gladys Liu is still a top of conversation.
Jim Chalmers says Labor just wants her to give a statement to parliament clearing up some of the issues:
Every day there are new questions raised by the media about the affiliations and actions and donations involved with Gladys Liu. Every day the prime minister tries to duck and weave from these questions. Every day he tries to evade responsibility for what’s going on here. We call on the prime minister and Gladys Liu to come clean on these donations and these affiliations. The best place for Gladys Liu to do that is in the parliament. She needs to make a full, complete statement about what’s gone on here. Remember that this prime minister may have put winning a marginal seat ahead of Australia’s national security and that’s a very, very serious thing if it’s true. So we do need to get to the bottom of it. Scott Morrison needs to stop ducking and weaving, and Gladys Liu needs to front up to the parliament and make a complete statement about what’s gone on.
Question: Do you think it’s rubbish that the government is saying that this is a racist attack?
Jim Chalmers: I do. I think the only person in this conversation who is trying to pretend that what is going on around Gladys Liu is about an entire community in Australia is Scott Morrison. That is entirely reprehensible. It is offensive and absurd and unfortunately for Scott Morrison, true to form that he has made this ridiculous smear.
All we are asking for, all the media is asking for, all the Australian community is asking for, is an assurance from the prime minister that he hasn’t put winning a marginal seat ahead of Australia’s national security. All we’re asking for is for Gladys Liu, as a member of parliament, to stand up in that parliament and give a complete statement. The time for prime ministerial ducking and weaving is over. The time for Gladys Liu avoiding her parliamentary responsibilities with a full statement is over. We need to get assurances that Scott Morrison hasn’t put winning a marginal seat ahead of national security in this country.’]
Well put, Jim Chalmers.
@Hannahgadsby tweets
So honored to receive an Emmy for Nanette. My gratitude to the Television Academy for recognizing my work, to Netflix for the embrace of my vision & to my team for their humbling faith in me. If you found strength in Nanette, know that our stories matter; our humanity matters.
[‘Australian intelligence agencies reportedly found China was responsible for a cyber attack on federal parliament earlier this year, but kept the finding secret to avoid souring trade relations with Beijing.’]
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/intelligence-agencies-pinned-parliament-hack-on-beijing-report-20190916-p52rou.html
All the more reason for Ms. Lui to come clean about her links to the CPC.
@briefly
I would join the Labor party if they had the sort of changes to their policies and democratized the party, in the ways I have explained above.
I can’t imagine what good can come out of this.
I fear we are slipping in many directions.
lizzie
Ideology still gets in the way of facts. See Nick Ross reporting on the facts about the NBN.
To this day the dogs breakfast is still excused by the media trying to pretend they were neutral. The failure of objective journalism is stark.
Mavis @11:33 – is there a link for that? It deserves wide circulation, especially this part:
“[Jim Chalmers] I think the only person in this conversation who is trying to pretend that what is going on around Gladys Liu is about an entire community in Australia is Scott Morrison. That is entirely reprehensible. It is offensive and absurd and unfortunately for Scott Morrison, true to form that he has made this ridiculous smear.”
@MrKRudd tweets
The US-China trade war is about to enter the end-game. And the outcome will determine whether the US, Europe and Australia go into recession next year. https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/trade-war-enters-the-end-game-20190915-p52rhl
@ConversationEDU tweets
“Despite Australia’s unique vulnerability to #ClimateChange, our greenhouse gas emissions are rising. We must turn the ship around, and quickly.”
Our #Environment Editor @nicole_hasham explains why @ConversationEDU are joining #CoveringClimateNow: https://bit.ly/2lRRK9U
lizzie @ #1914 Monday, September 16th, 2019 – 11:45 am
The only thing likely to come of it is more dams 🙁
Perhaps we should adopt the Trumpian solution – just build a dam wall around the entire Australian coastline, and get the rest of the world to pay for it.
Tristo,
Why would the ALP want such a dissembling wanker like you as Member. Your only features are the ability to whinge incessantly. Labor requires people that are committed to the cause and prepared to do the hard yards to develop and implement policies. So, I don’t really see where you would fit in.
Wait, Donald Trump just said WHAT about Iran?
We knew something underhanded was going on when Donald Trump’s corrupt Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that it was Iran who launched the devastating drone strike against Saudi Arabia, even as rebels in Yemen were taking credit, and Saudi Arabia wasn’t even accusing Iran of having been involved. Now Trump has gone and turned the whole thing into even more of a farce.
Donald Trump posted this tweet on Sunday evening: “Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!” As you might guess, there are a few problems here.
First of all, Trump sounds like a cartoon character when he says the U.S. is “locked and loaded.” He seems to be implying that he’s going to target Iran with air strikes. But this is the same Iran that, as recently as a few days ago, Trump was trying to bribe into a new peace deal with a $15 billion line of credit.
Third, since when does Saudi Arabia get to decide what the U.S. military is going to do? Only Congress can authorize war, not the murderous Saudi Arabian Crown Prince. We have no idea what Trump is even talking about here, and neither does he. The Iran situation is getting worse for him by the day, and at this point his only fix would be to go back in time and not have ripped up the Obama-Iran peace deal.
https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/iran-incoherent-mess-donald-trump-deep/20855/
Tristo @ #1912 Monday, September 16th, 2019 – 11:41 am
So you would rather others do the heavy lifting for you? Thank goodness there are those within Labor who don’t think the way you do and are working to turn the ship around. I hope you will be suitably impressed, Tristo. 😐
Tristo says:
Monday, September 16, 2019 at 11:41 am
@briefly
I would join the Labor party if they had the sort of changes to their policies and democratized the party, in the ways I have explained above.
Ohhhh, lollability plus. That would make one less pop-mad Trot/Green wanting to join the party of working people.
In future, try not to tell Labor what to do.
GG
Are human rights part of the Labor cause?
Is being passionate about that not good enough for Labor?
That means you don’t fit in?
How do these dopes ever work out how to put their shoes on?
lizzie @ #1925 Monday, September 16th, 2019 – 12:08 pm
He obviously has never heard of heat stroke and a myriad of other medical conditions exacerbated to the point of death, especially among babies and the elderly, that can lead to death in heatwaves.
The Lib-kin have well and truly debased the word “progressive”.
Mavis Davis @ #1908 Monday, September 16th, 2019 – 11:33 am
Move over Albo.
Please.
Give Chalmers time to establish himself in the public’s mind.
The disgusting demonization of single parents by both the Liberals and Labor continue:
Of the 33,620 parents who had their income support temporarily cut off last financial year, only 4,868 did not have a “valid excuse” and were handed a “demerit point” by their job agency, the figures show. It means 85% had their payments suspended despite having a valid reason.
The initial suspension of payments is a mostly automated process a under new job seeker compliance regime introduced last year. The government argues that people who have their payments suspended do not necessarily miss a payment and that if they are delayed, recipients receive backpay.
But Siewert said the compliance regime of welfare suspensions and penalties should not be applied to those on the ParentsNext program, who can have children as young as six months old.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/sep/15/parentsnext-80-of-recipients-who-had-payments-suspended-not-at-fault-data-shows
Mavis,
David Crowe in his piece this morning opined about Morrison feeling it necessary to clean up his Shanghai Sam comments the other day. In the past he’s been able to lie and then fob it off. Crowe senses a slight change in the atmospherics of power.
I’d say it will take a further revelation about Liu’s conduct and connections for some serious questions to emerge about Morrison’s Leadership.
Grrr. Is there no journalist left now who knows the difference between led and lead?
RIP “led”.
Lol. guytaur says ‘ideology gets in the way of facts’ in one of his myriad criticisms of Labor, without a hint of irony. 🙄
Moving to fixed terms would be a big mistake IMO.
Giving up the flexibility to deal with the world and politics as they happen, in all their messy, human ways for some illusory idea of fairness or (ridiculously) ‘taking the politics out of the election date’ (taking the politics out of politics, really?).
The incumbents and the opposition are never going to be on an equal footing. Governments have the advantage of incumbency, but Governments also have the disadvantage of destroying their support over time due to the ongoing accrual of negative hits. Trying to “fix” what has never actually proved to be a problem beyond some voters’ sense of grievance with the messiness and inconvenience of politics, and voting, as a whole – and we shouldn’t have a system designed around worrying about whether people feel things are a little messy or a little inconvenient.
The flip side – the loss of flexibility – is a big downside. In recent memory both the NSW and Victorian governments have presented serious problems (for different reasons) that should have been able to be solved by going to an election, but instead both were hamstrung by the fixed term laws from doing what was in the best interests of the state.
In the dying days of the NSW ALP government it would have benefited everyone – the ALP, the state of NSW – for them to have gone earlier before the rotten corpse of that government had time to fully ripen. Perhaps they wouldn’t have taken the opportunity and would have hung on for grim death regardless, but if they had had the option and the sense they should have taken the opportunity to put themselves out of their misery.
The Victorian Napthine government ended up being held to ransom, effectively, by Geoff Shaw with no recourse to go to an election early to resolve matters. Shaw appeared to be willing to use his hold over the government to push for bad abortion law changes etc, and was in general a ratbag. Yes, he was a Liberal ratbag before he was an independent ratbag, but regardless Governments in the face of this kind of political circumstance – where things just aren’t going to be neat and tidy as fixed terms rely on – need to be able to be resolved by going to an election (or being able to threaten to go to an election) without jumping massive hurdles (a la 2/3 majority in the UK parliament or whatever).
Thankfully state governments aren’t that important anymore, so all the fixed terms probably don’t matter too much if a state government ends up stuck in dysfunction for a couple of years.
But having the Federal government in such a situation would be a grave problem.
Moving to fixed terms would be a mistake.
Cat
Yeah my comments about objective journalism are so not fact based. Nick Ross was dead wrong on the NBN.
Credlin did not lie about the Carbon Price calling it a tax and it was totally ok for the media not to call into account the Liberals over this.
Instead its just a great time for you to make a personal attack
PR,
Trump is bluffing and everyone knows it.
He’s just using the Saudis intel as a plausible proxy to enable him to back down later on.
lizzie @ #1926 Monday, September 16th, 2019 – 12:08 pm
I do believe that this type of moronic statement is designed to appeal to the died in the wool complete fwits an dickheads in the community. The 15% or so that decide elections. La La La La ………I withdraw my statement and just give up. Perhaps there is a “who can produce the most ridiculous statement” competition. 😵💫
lizzie @ #1932 Monday, September 16th, 2019 – 12:13 pm
Well there pardner ❗ Onliest thing to do is to check their saddlebags.
guytaur I think you need to get a sense of perspective, you take every comment so seriously. I made a general observation.
Didn’t Trump just sack Bolton for being an Iran warmonger!?!
Cat
Nah thats a personal attack. Not a general observation.
Good try at backtracking.
I accept the implied apology.
KayJay
I blame auto correct, and people who think a computer must always be right. Well, we know how that’s working out for Centrelink customers, don’t we!
@Jim_Pembroke
Gladys Liu got the MP gig coz she raised ‘oodles’ in donations for the Liberal party.
Over a $ million.
Raises the question.
What was Lui and her donors buying with all that money?
#FedIcac #auspol
The greens are ignoring the major issue, the liberals are the source of corruption.
Jackol,
I agree with your analysis.
We also have the situation in Britain where the Government can’t call an Election because they need a two thirds majority in the Commons before calling it. Labour and the non Government Parties are delaying it proceeding because of their perceived self interest in the timing. I don’t think the current process is doing anything to resolve the issue confronting Britain or enhancing the standing of their democracy with the public.
Zoid
Why bring the Greens into it.
Your statement is accurate without having to mention the Greens. Its not like the Greens are fighting to stop corruption being exposed.
Edit:l Sorry alleged corruption in the specific case of course.
I think all the states have fixed terms. I prefer it.
Diogenes
Our fixed terms for the states works well.
However the argument that fixed terms fixes long term thinking I agree with BW on.
I too prefer fixed terms just that its not that big a thing as its made out to be
GG
The Conservatives broke the Conventions. One of the really bad ones was referring a decision to the people in a referendum and then not putting the final decision in the hands of the people for consistency.
So instead the UK has a conflict between the legitimacy of parliament and a people’s vote. Thats the core of the Brexit problem.
That and the way Fixed Terms were set up in the UK.
Here our fixed terms don’t affect how a government stays in power. You just command the numbers or you don’t.
We don’t require special legislation to call an election because a government is in trouble as May did.
@guytaur
Greens blaming Labor for nsw corruption.
It is liberals and only liberals.
It would not surprise me in the least if Saudia Arabia bombed their own oil fields to facilitate an attack on Iran.
Meanwhile the Judge Brett Kavanagh will not lose his position on Supreme Court due to sexual assaults per say. It will be because his debts were paid off for him by the GOP or their donors, and he never declared this conflict of interest.
guytaur @ #1939 Monday, September 16th, 2019 – 12:27 pm
Then your skin is incredibly thin.