In through the out door

Sarah Henderson returns to parliament via a Senate vacancy and a hotly contested preselection, as Coalition MPs blow bubbles on electoral “reform”.

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.

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.

2,838 comments on “In through the out door”

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  3. @deniseshrivell tweets

    @JacktheInsider @michaelpurvis64 So. @ScottMorrisonMP if Labor attacks on Liu are xenophobic then that would make your attacks on @samdastyari xenophobic/racist as well given he is from Iranian descent. #auspol #MSM

  5. Lizzie:

    @matthaggis666
    ·
    5m
    Here we go, the LNP are trying to paint Gladys Liu concerns as racism… Same playbook as Frydenberg concerns are “anti-Semitic”. #auspol

    The difference is that the Frydenberg “concerns” were never about any substantial issue, but rather an attempt (by someone with a grudge against Mr. Frydenberg) to inconvenience him via s44.

  8. A policeman is being hailed as a hero for helping people to escape the Sunshine Coast inferno. A reminder that all Qld cops are not like Dutton.

  10. “Grubby smear” and “clumsy interview” is the official government line when it comes to Gladys Liu.

    A bit rich from the Dog-whistler in Chief.

  12. Malcolm Farr @farrm51
    ·
    1m
    Joel Fitzgibbon waiting outside Sky office for Michael McCormack to emerge.
    Could be interesting.

    The MSM do love a fight. 🙂

  14. Guytaur:

    Oh and don’t forget for the luminaries. Its just a Senate Stunt.

    Your inability to distinguish between the Senate performing its proper investigative function and completely improper (and pointless) attempts to engage in sham ‘actions that are clearly in the executive domain is not a strength of your argument.

  15. EGT

    So is your inability to distinguish between the “stunt” by Dreyfus losing the changing standing orders vote this morning about Liu. After all its up to the numbers. It doesn’t matter if the government wins the vote. Your vote against means nothing.

  16. Tristo:

    [‘I have a feeling that the national public sector debt is going to skyrocket in this economic downturn to come.’]

    The ways things are shaping up, maybe it’s not a good time to be in charge of the purse strings, though the economy may pick up in the September quarter if taxpayers have spent their refunds in the retail sector, and not paid down debt. The December quarter is anyone’s guess. There was a time when governments followed the advice of the RBA.

  19. national public sector debt is going to skyrocket

    You mean that the net financial assets held by the private sector will increase. Why will that be a problem?

  20. [‘London: A no-deal Brexit could mean severe and long-lasting delays at British ports, significant electricity price hikes, medicine shortages and an increase in livestock disease, according to a secret document the UK government has been forced to publish.

    There would be less fresh food and higher prices in the shops, exacerbated by potential panic buying and the lead-up to Christmas which is usually food retailers’ busiest time of year.’]:

    https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/disease-food-shortages-and-price-hikes-no-deal-brexit-risks-revealed-20190912-p52qgk.html

  21. You expect noting but shit from LNP, but on the same day Labor appears to be caving entirely on any real action on climate change, carbon pollution and the inevitable global heating and ocean acidification.

    The national electricity market (E coast, Tas and SA) has been over 40% renewables since just after 9 am and at ~12.30 is over 46% renewables. With black coal pushed down to below 38%. This is during a normally busy weekday. The next months of renewables is going to smash coal down even more.

    The 45% ALP target was already below what will happen if things progress as they are. We are already on target to exceed 50% renewables in the NEM as long as th dickheads in parliament don’t get in the way.

    The utter mediocrity and apparently wilful and gutless ignorance exhibited by the nongs in the two major parties in Australia is astounding so often.

    No fires, no rivers, no Great Barrier reef, no climate change to worry about. Kick it all along till 2050, some imaginary long distant place so we can get back to all the utter useless and incompetent shit we usually do in this country. No worries mate. Labor may as well just pack up and go on holiday, apparently Sussan and Pauline recommend the Great Barrier reef for snorkeling, all is fine there according to them.

    Whatever you do don’t listen to these people though
    https://theconversation.com/the-great-barrier-reef-is-in-trouble-there-are-a-whopping-45-reasons-why-122930

  22. From March. Morrison uses race when it suits him.

    Reaching for the worst in people

    Irfan Yusuf was the Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Reid in the 2001 federal election and Morrison was the NSW campaign director. During the campaign, Morrison threatened Yusuf with disendorsement if he spoke publicly about the grief of an Afghan Australian who had lost two nieces when they drowned with the 353 other asylum seekers during the SIEV-X catastrophe.

    Morrison allegedly said to Yusuf: “We both hate Pauline Hanson … the best way to destroy someone like Pauline Hanson is to express policies that make us look like her.”

    During the 2004 federal election, a conservative Liberal group affiliated with Morrison (by now, he was the NSW Liberal Party executive director) distributed thousands of fake leaflets to smear Labor candidate, Ed Husic. The leaflets replicated official Labor campaign material and election slogans, but inserted the words: “Ed Husic is a devout Muslim. Ed is working hard to get a better deal for Islam in Greenway”. Husic, whose background is Bosnian Muslim, went on lose the election by 883 votes. The victor was Louise Markus who, like Morrison, is a member of the Pentecostal church.

    In the preselection battle for the seat of Cook during 2007, Morrison was easily defeated in the Liberal Party ballot by Michael Towke. Dissatisfied with the result, Morrison highlighted Towke’s Lebanese background as one of the reasons for disendorsement and the Liberal Party overturned the result and installed Morrison as the candidate.

    https://newpolitics.com.au/2019/03/18/scott-morrison-racism/

  24. [‘Speaking today, Mr Morrison said Labor should review its attacks on Ms Liu.

    “Gladys is a Chinese-born Australian. Does that make her in cahoots with the Chinese Government? Of course not,” the Prime Minister said.

    “It is a ridiculous suggestion and I think it is an insult to every single Chinese-Australian in this country.’]

    Morrison’s a moron. It was Australian security agencies who warned senior Tory officials that Ms. Lui had/has at least casual connections with the CPC.

  25. Funny old game politics…if it were Labor in office, a couple of seats shy of being in minority government, and leading 51-49 in the supposedly most reliable poll in Oz, the howls from the LNP in opposition would be deafening. The conservative press would be flooding all of Labor’s actions in government with a very bright light. However, such is not the case………….
    Close as it may seem, the LNP is comfortable in its current policy-free inertia zone, while Labor has not yet got a clue what it should stand for…………on the one hand, all things to all people or a bold, new, reformist agenda……………….? The only saving grace is that in any two horse race, as the last election shows, both sides are in with a chance…………………….
    Of course there are seats within reach of Labor all over Oz, but Queensland has been a killer for Labor. What can convince those in the Deep North to consider Labor Federally again will take some working out. Clearly, threatening to take jobs away was not a good idea last time around.

  26. Mavis Davis

    Beautifully put.

    Morrison’s a moron. It was Australian security agencies who warned senior Tory officials that Ms. Lui had/has at least casual connections with the CPC.

  28. Morrison may be a moron, is certainly a grub, but his ‘interpretation’ of events is all over the ABC.

    He seems to at least understand that in politics the best form of defence is attack; a lesson that the ALP appears yet to have learnt.

    Imagine the ALP playing the racism card with gusto in defence of Sam Dastyardi for example?

  29. Of course there are seats within reach of Labor all over Oz, but Queensland has been a killer for Labor. What can convince those in the Deep North to consider Labor Federally again will take some working out.

    Don’t bother. Find the necessary seats elsewhere.

  31. “Oh my god. Water minister for NSW on climate change and drought. She’s remembering there was no rain in King Arthur’s time.”

    That’s crap.

    If there was no rain in King Arthur’s time, where did the water in the lake come from? The “watery tart” who threw swords at people would have had nowhere to live!

  32. @adrian

    I credit the government’s election victory in May, due to Scott Morrison’s adeptness at marketing and post-truth politics. This is a trait shared by Nigel Farage and Donald Trump, however Morrison is better at this than either both of them, although only marginally better than Farage.

    Neither Turnbull, Bishop or Dutton would have led the government to victory in May. All of them don’t have this skill that Morrison has.

  33. Paul Karp
    In the Senate the government has lobbed in a last minute amendment to the so-called ‘vegan terrorist’ bill.

    The amendment adds wood processing and wood fibre processing facilities to the definition of primary production businesses protected by the laws criminalising social media posts that incite trespass – a demand of the forestry industry that increases its remit beyond food production.
    …
    This new amendment could pose a difficulty for Labor because it didn’t go through caucus and expands the bill’s remit to deterring organisation of environmental protests generally, not just those that could cause biosecurity concerns.

  36. Tristo

    I still haven’t made up my mind whether Morrison is the most devious pollie ever to stand for Parl, or just a bully who runs with every nasty idea suggested by his advisors and supporters.

    I feel that Labor has always suffered (well, almost always) by trying to be reasonable and act as responsible as if they were in office. RW media has to take some responsibility for the Coalition success, of course.

  39. Two years ago the Crows played off for the flag and now they are a divided, disorganised rabble.

    The Captain walks, the coach walks and at least ten of their better players are looking for new homes.

    The place must be toxic!

  42. It’s a funny old world when you have to agree wholeheartedly with Andrew Bolt.

    From The Grauniad blog:

    Here’s Bolt’s response to Morrison’s Liu presser:

    Extraordinary. Are the dictators in Beijing now writing Morrison’s lines?

    Morrison is offensive not just to everyone asking legitimate questions about Liu’s associations and untruths, from ASIO to Labor, and including many journalists.

    It is also grossly offensive to every Chinese Australian and every democracy dissident in China and Hong Kong.

    Morrison is in effect suggesting that criticism of someone close to China’s Communist Party is a criticism of every Chinese man and woman. As I said, Beijing couldn’t have put that lie better than did Morrison today.”

  43. Labor have made it clear they’re not serious about attacking the catastrophic warming that is occurring so voters with any sense should abandon both the LibNats and the ALP.

  45. The ALP why we have made the progress on decarbonising stationary energy that we have.

    ARENA, CEFC, the RET, and the impetus given to this transition by the CPRS – ALP policy at work.

    Could they do more? Yes, and if they were in power I have very little doubt they would be doing more, particularly for transport emissions.

  46. Dandy Murray @ #196 Thursday, September 12th, 2019 – 1:51 pm

    The ALP why we have made the progress on decarbonising stationary energy that we have.

    ARENA, CEFC, the RET, and the impetus given to this transition by the CPRS – ALP policy at work.

    Could they do more? Yes, and if they were in power I have very little doubt they would be doing more, particularly for transport emissions.

    The ALP are addicted to coal union donations. They back coal mining and export for decades to come with no real transition plan for coal workers.

    Can’t take them seriously when it comes to our warming climate catastrophe.

  47. Operation Yellowhammer reveals the chaos that will most likely follow a no-Brexit deal. Cameron has to take the lion’s share of the blame for this state of affairs for it was he who gave effect to the Brexit referendum. Governments are elected to govern, not refer matters to referenda or plebiscites. Australia’s a different kettle of fish as changes to the Constitution can only be effected via referenda. But we could have done without the SSM plebiscite; it should’ve just been legislated as Howard did in the reverse.

    Britain’s polarised, in the same way as the US. Families have been torn asunder, and there will be social unrest in the wake of whatever happens. There should be a second referendum where the full effects of Brexit are put to the people. If they decide to leave the EU, then sobeit, but at least they’ll be fully informed. Brexit is a far right-wing plot by those who wish to do damage to the social fabric of the UK.

    https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/08/21/yell-a21.html

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