Sins of commission

Kooyong and Chisholm legal challenge latest; by-election rumblings in Isaacs; Jim Molan strikes back; and the Victorian Liberals gearing up already for federal preselections.

Possible (or possibly not) federal by-election news:

• The Australian Electoral Commission has petitioned the Federal Court to reject challenges against the federal election results in Chisholm and Kooyong. The challenges relate to Chinese-language Liberal Party signage that appeared to mimic the AEC’s branding, and advised voters that giving a first preference to the Liberal candidates was “the correct voting method”. As reported by The Guardian, the AEC argues that “the petition fails to set out at all, let alone with sufficient particularity, any facts or matters on the basis of which it might be concluded that it was likely that on polling day, electors able to read Chinese characters, upon seeing and reading the corflute, cast their vote in a manner different from what they had previously intended”. This seems rather puzzling to my mind, unless it should be taken to mean that no individuals have been identified who are ready to confirm that they were indeed so deceived. Academic electoral law expert Graeme Orr argued on Twitter that the AEC had “no need to intervene on the substance of a case where partisan litigants are well represented”.

• Talk of a by-election elsewhere in Melbourne was stimulated by Monday’s column ($) from acerbic Financial Review columnist Joe Aston, which related “positively feverish speculation” that Labor’s Shadow Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus, would shortly quit his Melbourne bayside seat of Isaacs with an eye to a position on Victoria’s Court of Appeal. Aston further reported that Dreyfus hoped to be succeeded by Fiona McLeod, the prominent barrister who gained a 6.1% swing as Labor’s candidate for Higgins in May. Dreyfus emphatically rejected such “ridiculous suggestions” in late August, saying he was “absolutely committed to serving out this term of parliament”, and again took to Twitter on Monday to say he would be “staying and fighting the next election”. Aston remains unconvinced, writing in Tuesday’s column ($) that the suggestions derived from “high-level discussions Dreyfus has held on Spring Street with everyone from Premier Daniel Andrews, former Attorney-General Martin Pakula, his successor Jill Hennessy and his caucus colleagues”, along with his “indiscreet utterances around the traps”.

Federal preselection news:

• Jim Molan has won the endorsement of both Scott Morrison and the conservative faction of the New South Wales Liberal Party to fill the Senate vacancy created by Arthur Sinodinos’s departure to become ambassador to the United States. However, the Sydney Morning Herald reports this is not dissuading rival nominee Richard Shields, former deputy state party director and Insurance Council of Australia manager, and the runner-up to Dave Sharma in last year’s keenly fought Wentworth preselection. Shields’ backers are said to include Helen Coonan, former Senator and Howard government minister, and Mark Neeham, a former state party director. Earlier reports suggested the moderate faction had been reconciled to Molan’s ascendancy by a pledge that he would only serve out the remainder of Sinodinos’s two-year term, and would not seek re-election in 2022.

• Rob Harris of The Age reports the Victorian Liberals are considering a plan to complete their preselections for the 2022 election much earlier than usual – and especially soon for Liberal-held seats. The idea in the latter case is for challengers to incumbents to declare their hands by January 15, with the matter to be wrapped up by late February or early March. This comes after the party’s administrative committee warded off threats to members ahead of the last election, most notably factional conservative Kevin Andrews in Menzies, by rubber-stamping the preselections of all incumbents, much to the displeasure of party members. Other preselections are to be held from April through to October. Also proposed is a toughening of candidate vetting procedures, after no fewer than seven candidates in Labor-held seats were disendorsed during the period of the campaign.

Self-promotion corner:

• I had a paywalled piece in Crikey yesterday which noted the stances adopted of late by James McGrath, ideological warror extraordinaire and scourge of the cockatoo, in his capacity as chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, which is presently conducting its broad-ranging inquiry into the May federal election. These include the end of proportional representation in the Senate, the notion that parliamentarians who quit their parties should be required to forfeit their seats, and — more plausibly — the need to curtail pre-poll voting.

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.

2,219 comments on “Sins of commission”

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  1. Curiouser and curiouser

    Barr Meets With Murdoch as Trump Steps Up His Criticism of Fox News

    William P. Barr, the attorney general, met privately Wednesday evening with one of President Trump’s frequent confidants, Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul whose holdings include Fox News, which has recently become more critical of the president.

    The meeting was held at Mr. Murdoch’s home in New York, according to someone familiar with it. It was unclear if anyone else attended or what was discussed. Aides to both Mr. Murdoch and Mr. Barr declined requests for comment on the meeting.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/10/us/politics/barr-murdoch-trump.html

  5. Victoria says: Friday, October 11, 2019 at 8:14 am

    Fess

    Soon Trump will be saying that he doesn’t know Guiliani

    ***************************************

    My lawyer ?????? ….huh ??? …… I think he was the coffee-boy ….

  6. ‘lizzie says:
    Friday, October 11, 2019 at 8:05 am

    @colonelhogans
    ·
    Oct 10
    Towns burnt down. Families homeless. What do they get from @ScottMorrisonMP ?
    A fucking video on twitter and $1,000! $150M to crawl up Trumps arse, and only $1,000 for families who’ve lost everything! One bloke asked “Hows $1,000 going help us with 4 kids, no house or clothes?’

    The comparison with the $150 million is invidious. Australia is bereft when it comes to investment in space. It had some things going but the Abbott Government destroyed it with swingeing stupid cuts. The $150 million partially replaces those cuts. That Morrison mischose to announce it in order to suck up to Trump is a political fail, not a policy fail.

    The $1000 is a quick cash hit to tide them over in the days between losing everything and getting their lives back in order.

    Apart from that, with global warming, if you live in the bush you had better either (a) get ready in every way for your house to be burned down WITH insurance or (b) go and live in the city.

  8. #ETTD

    Marshall CohenVerified account@MarshallCohen
    35m35 minutes ago
    BREAKING: The FBI and federal prosecutors in NYC are scrutinizing Rudy Giuliani’s financial dealings with the two men charged today. The men, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, are charged with pumping Russian money into US political campaigns. (reporting from @evanperez @ShimonPro)

  9. PhoenixRed

    William Barr was brought in to be the Mr Fixit. Just like his role in previous administrations. I believe as Rick Wilson says, ETTD may yet apply to Mr Barr.

  15. C@t

    If the broom-sweeping rumour is true (and I never doubt you!!), we can’t discuss it sensibly unless we know who is Right and who is Left, and I admit I don’t. For example, is Fitzgibbon an advance party in the revolution, preparing the ground, or is he simply an outlier?

  17. lizzie,
    Honestly, I think Fitzgerald is simply trying to hold both ends against the middle in his seat. If you read David Crowe’s article today he lays out 3 paths Labor may go down wrt Climate Change policy. Fitzgibbon is but one. The most extreme one and unlikely to succeed.

    Imho, I think path 2 would be the smartest, politically, to follow.

  19. There’s always a tweet!

    Donald J. TrumpVerified account@realDonaldTrump

    Has Barack Obama been caught red handed laundering money into his campaign from illegal online foreign donations? Media?

    11:04 am – 10 Oct 2012

  22. C@t

    As I’ve mentioned in past, I always envisaged Trump being taken out of WH in straight jacket.
    I’m not so sure now. Lol!

  25. Boerwar and Vic

    Mum went from hospital to her aged care facility overnight still in a confused state. I’m driving down to see her and the staff there soon. It is possible that she endured a cumulative OD of morphine via the Norspan patches she has been using for her arthritis in the hips.

  26. C@t:

    Here was Kev back in 2016.

    A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders: that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    “There’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) said, according to a recording of the June 15, 2016, exchange, which was listened to and verified by The Washington Post. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is a Californian Republican known in Congress as a fervent defender of Putin and Russia.

    House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) immediately interjected, stopping the conversation from further exploring McCarthy’s assertion, and swore the Republicans present to secrecy.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/house-majority-leader-to-colleagues-in-2016-i-think-putin-pays-trump/2017/05/17/515f6f8a-3aff-11e7-8854-21f359183e8c_story.html

  29. BK says: Friday, October 11, 2019 at 8:32 am

    Boerwar and Vic

    Mum went from hospital to her aged care facility overnight still in a confused state. I’m driving down to see her and the staff there soon. It is possible that she endured a cumulative OD of morphine via the Norspan patches she has been using for her arthritis in the hips.

    *********************************************

    Kind thoughts to you, your family ….. and especially to your mum BK !!!

  30. lizzie
    That is the insurance industry trying to get all taxpayers, by way of the government, to rescue those policy holders who have made high risk decisions.
    Why should I subsidize the citizens of Roma or those who have built their houses in holes in a hugely flammable eucalypt forest?

  32. lizzie
    I would be happier if the insurance industry started screaming loud and clear about how their business models are running into global warming headwinds.

  35. Boerwar

    It’s a conundrum. People scream if they’re prevented from living where they choose (damned red tape) and “don’t believe in insurance”, but demand help from govt when they are in trouble.

    Edit: Well, insurers were some of the first to recognise CC dangers.

  37. God I hope this happens.

    The canine loyalty of Senate Republicans will keep Trump in office. But until he complies with House committee subpoenas, the House must not limply hope federal judges will enforce their oversight powers. Instead, the House should wield its fundamental power, that of the purse, to impose excruciating costs on executive branch noncompliance. This can be done.

    In 13 months, all congressional Republicans who have not defended Congress by exercising “the constitutional rights of the place” should be defeated. If congressional Republicans continue their genuflections at Trump’s altar, the appropriate 2020 outcome will be a Republican thrashing so severe — losing the House, the Senate and the electoral votes of, say, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina and even Texas — that even this party of slow-learning careerists might notice the hazards of tethering their careers to a downward-spiraling scofflaw.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-spiraling-president-adds-self-impeachment-to-his-repertoire/2019/10/10/8c1a739c-eb7c-11e9-9c6d-436a0df4f31d_story.html

  44. C@t:

    As Victoria said, it can’t be long now before Trump claims Rudy was never his personal lawyer, but was just a wannabe hang around errand boy!

  45. BK @ #588 Friday, October 11th, 2019 – 8:44 am

    C@t
    I told her she was a junkie and she saw the funny side of it.

    🙂

    I have osteoarthritis in my shoulders quite badly and painfully but am resisting going down the opiates route, due to the fact you have to keep increasing the dose to get the same effect. And that’s when the problems and side effects, such as your mum appears to have, start taking their toll. It’s a rum job, to be sure, trying to manage the condition at that age and a hip replacement is probably out of the question. Though Diogenes would be an informative source. I bet she was an extremely active lady in her prime as well. Which was my downfall-a history of arthritis in the family combined with an active lifestyle wore my joints out prematurely.

    Anyway, I’m sure she’ll have the best of care to carve a path out of the weeds. 🙂

  49. Rick Perry can stop Rudy Giuliani from being the scapegoat — by implicating Trump and Pence: Ex-FBI agent

    Breaking news in the just the last few minutes a new subpoena for Rick Perry, the latest Trump Administration official snared in the Ukrainian scandal, the man Trump tried to blame for the July 25th call at the center of his own impeachment,” MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace reported.

    For analysis, Wallace interviewed former FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Frank Figliuzi, who said Perry may be able to implicate Trump — as well as Vice President Mike Pence.

    “Innocent people don’t act like this,” Figliuzi said. “They don’t resist and obstruct like this.”

    I see Perry as being able to tell us why he went to Ukraine and not the vice president,” he continued. “What did he talk about with the vice president? What was the brief? Why did he have to go? The vice president didn’t have a cold or the flu.”

    “The vice president didn’t go for a reason. And it seems to have been that they wanted it to pressure Ukraine that you’re not getting a vice-presidential visit from us until you do what we need you to do,”

    https://www.rawstory.com/2019/10/rick-perry-can-stop-rudy-giuliani-from-being-the-scapegoat-by-implicating-trump-and-pence-ex-fbi-agent/

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