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. HR McMaster finally speaks out against Donald Trump on Ukraine scandal and Kurd betrayal

    When it came to Syria and Trump’s decision to betray America’s Kurdish allies, McMaster explained that Kurds control 65 to 70 percent of Syria’s oil reserves.

    “Our forces there served as a useful means of preventing what we see now, which is a Turkish-Kurdish civil war that has profound political as well as humanitarian consequences,” McMaster said. “What we have in the Middle East right now is the potential for four simultaneous crises.”

    He went on to say that the reason Russian President Vladimir Putin is inserting himself in the fight is for the Syrian resources.

    “Guess who wants that really badly?” McMaster asked. “Vladimir Putin and the Assad regime. Once you cede control there, you cede influence over what does a post-civil war Syria look like.”

    https://www.rawstory.com/2019/10/hr-mcmaster-finally-speaks-out-against-donald-trump-on-ukraine-scandal-and-kurd-betrayal/

  4. “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.”

    ***

    https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319796.php

    Should definitely be available as a treatment option. There’s no good reason to deny someone in pain what could be an effective treatment.

  5. “Because of his damned fence-sitting on Brexit. Labor/Labour doesn’t have a leftist issue, it has a fence-sitting issue.”

    ***

    Truth.

  6. frednk @ #516 Friday, October 11th, 2019 – 5:53 am


    Late Riser says:
    Friday, October 11, 2019 at 1:21 am
    ….

    https://unherd.com/2019/10/what-if-germanys-economy-toppled/
    The article describes the disruption that electric vehicle will cause to Germany’s economy and the opportunity that provides others. (Looking at you Australia.)

    This was not filmed in Australia or for that matter in China.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zttC2x9nMEw

    Thanks! A few thoughts on the video.
    * Hungary? Why not Australia?
    * Human fingers, hand-eye coordination, and general usefulness is amazing.
    * The motors are the complex part.
    * The motors are small.
    * Why aren’t the humans wearing hair nets?
    * What happens if one crucial bit fails (like the gluing or stitching), and no human sees it?
    * Who built the machines, and maintains them?
    * Power of hydraulics is pretty cool.

    But I take your point. These are not simple factories. I wonder how much infrastructure you need to set one up? Hungary…

  9. https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/disability-carer-steals-40-000-worth-of-cash-and-jewellery-from-clients-20191011-p52zou.html

    A carer for the terminally ill and disabled has been arrested after she allegedly stole over $40,000 worth of jewellery and cash from her clients.

    Violeta Hansen, 46, worked for a number of different support organisations within the disability sector and visited the homes of her clients as a carer and hygiene assistant.

    Her alleged victims included numerous people with multiple sclerosis, a quadriplegic and a cancer patient.

    Police allege that between December last year and this month she stole more than $40,000 worth of goods from clients’ homes in Drummoyne, Bexley, Doonside and Wiley Park.

    The woman then allegedly sold the stolen items in five different pawn shops in Blacktown, providing false information.

    Ms Hansen was arrested on Thursday when she was allegedly attempting to pawn stolen goods.

    She has been charged with six counts of stealing property in a house and four counts of making a false or misleading statement.

    She was refused bail by police and will appear in Blacktown Local Court on Friday.

    What a woman. I had a quick search for commandments (thou shalt not get caught) and found —

    Thou shalt not outsource your judgment to experts

    You mean, apart from “don’t get caught” ?

    “Don’t panic.”

  12. Nooooo! Not two of them. That’s cruel.

    @InsidersABC
    ·
    1h
    This Sunday on #Insiders
    @frankelly08 will be joined by @lenoretaylor @MStutch and Gerard Henderson #auspol

  14. WaterNSW has objected to the expansion of a coalmine under Sydney’s drinking water catchment because the project would cause unacceptable impacts, including the loss of 3.3bn litres of water a year.

    The government-owned water corporation has also warned that mining company South32’s proposal to extend the mining operations at its Dendrobium coking coalmine could cause cracking in the walls of two dams that supply water to the Illawarra and Macarthur regions, and may harm 26 endangered coastal swamps.

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/oct/11/coalmine-would-take-33bn-litres-of-water-a-year-from-sydney-catchment-agency-warns?CMP=share_btn_tw

  15. The Far Left and the Far Right in Britain both supported the Brexit Referendum.

    One lot wanted a dictatorship of the capitalist cronies. They were/ARE going to gut the British people and the British environment. Anarcho capitalists don’t care about traditions. They don’t care about truth. They have no morals. They have no ethics. They debase debate and they debase words. They don’t care about social cohesion. They don’t care about people. They hate anything that compromises what they want. They hate multi-lateralism solutions to multi-lateral problems because they are THE multi-lateral problem. They hate global solutions to global problems because they are THE global problem. They are happy to grow and harness racial hatred, xenophobia and know nothingism. If the Irish and the Scots get in the way the Irish and the Scots can GAFG. Their one rule is that there are no rules for them.

    They DO care about one thing: abusing power to enrich themselves. Johnson is perfect for this crew. Absolutely perfect.

    The other lot of extremists thought that Brexit would improve their chances of some form of top down dictatorship of the intellectuals. This is Corbyn’s country. Direct election of The Leader has handed the Labour Party to the extremists as direct election of party leaders tends to do. This lot of extremists are excellent haters as well. They hate compromise, they hate multi-lateralism. They hate anyone who is not with the Program. Their Program. Following the Brexit Referendum the first and most important task of the latter was to rid the Labor Party of anybody and everybody who was not with the Program. Talent has nothing to do with it. Out They Must Go. This is being pursued with a personal viciousness that is hard to describe. They have gutted the Labour Party of many a person who has dedicated their lives to the Party. They have nothing but contempt for ‘Blairites’ whoever and whatever they were, or are. They have a visceral hatred for Israel which spills over into occasional bursts anti-semitism. Like their fellow travellers on the extreme Left in the Australian Greens, they are not all that interested in the environment. Corbyn is perfect for this mob. Absolutely perfect.

  16. ‘Greensborough Growler says:
    Friday, October 11, 2019 at 9:22 am

    Boerwar @ #607 Friday, October 11th, 2019 – 9:18 am

    GG
    I did not eat that man.

    I suppose that is where the word “Prime Rib” came from.’

    As far as I am concerned, it was a Wittwash.

  17. “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.”

    Thanks to ACT Labor and Greens, the most effective and safe natural pain medication will finally be legally available for people in Canberra from January 2020. Unfortunately Federal Labor is to the Right of the Texan Republican Party on this issue, which is what happens when your orient your platform around whatever dinosaurs still read the Daily Telegraph.

  19. Has anyone told Scott & Josh and Angus and…

    Australia would fail to meet its Paris Agreement commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions even with a $US75 carbon tax that would drive up Australia’s electricity prices by 75 per cent over the next decade.

    Research by the International Monetary Fund, released on Friday, shows Australia is still so dependent on coal and other greenhouse gas-intensive energy sources that even direct intervention to address climate change won’t be enough for the country to reach its international commitments.
    …
    The IMF said such a large tax would deliver the federal government billions of dollars in extra revenue that it would need to funnel back to taxpayers.

    “To make carbon taxes politically feasible and economically efficient, governments need to choose how to use the new revenue,” it said.

    “Options include cutting other kinds of taxes, supporting vulnerable households and communities, increasing investment in green energy, or simply returning the money to people as a dividend.”

    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/australia-will-miss-paris-goals-even-with-a-us75-a-tonne-carbon-tax-imf-20191010-p52zct.html

  20. W
    At the last Federal election the Party that ran with that particular idea as part of its core drugs policy managed to convince just 10% of the voters.

    90% of voters disagreed with the Greens.
    Most of that 90% does not read the Telly.
    Labor might one day clean up the NSW division.
    It might one day move far enough to the centre to capture 51% of the 2PP.
    It might one day pick up more than 4 of the 34 large state regional seats.
    It might one day find a climate policy that does not frighten the horse but does move us forward in terms of emissions reduction.

    But, if copies all of the Greens policies 100% it might just as well stop bothering altogether because it will be fighting with the Greens for 10% of the vote.

  21. Boerwar @ #616 Friday, October 11th, 2019 – 9:35 am

    ‘Greensborough Growler says:
    Friday, October 11, 2019 at 9:22 am

    Boerwar @ #607 Friday, October 11th, 2019 – 9:18 am

    GG
    I did not eat that man.

    I suppose that is where the word “Prime Rib” came from.’

    As far as I am concerned, it was a Wittwash.

    Nobody’s nose is in the truffles I made………….

  22. The UK’s most influential conservative thinktank has published at least four books, as well as multiple articles and papers, over two decades suggesting manmade climate change may be uncertain or exaggerated.

    The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has issued publications arguing climate change is either not significantly driven by human activity or will be positive. The group is one of the most politically influential thinktanks in the UK, and boasts that 14 members of Boris Johnson’s cabinet, including the home secretary, foreign secretary and chancellor, have been associated with the group’s past and current initiatives.

    Despite a longstanding international consensus among climatologists that human activity is accelerating climate change, the IEA’s publications throughout the 1990s and 2000s heavily suggested climate science was unreliable or exaggerated. In recent years the group has focused more on free-market solutions to reducing carbon emissions.

    The IEA said (protested?) it did not take a corporate position on any policy matter. It said the majority of the publications identified by the Guardian predated most of its current staff.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/10/thinktank-climate-science-institute-economic-affairs?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX01vcm5pbmdNYWlsQVVTLTE5MTAxMA%3D%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=MorningMailAUS&CMP=morningmailau_email

  23. Watermelon @ #617 Friday, October 11th, 2019 – 9:36 am

    “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.”

    Thanks to ACT Labor and Greens, the most effective and safe natural pain medication will finally be legally available for people in Canberra from January 2020. Unfortunately Federal Labor is to the Right of the Texan Republican Party on this issue, which is what happens when your orient your platform around whatever dinosaurs still read the Daily Telegraph.

    Not so quickly, Watermelon. Maybe you need to read this first:

    https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/916216?src=wnl_edit_tpal&uac=175234MK&impID=2119070&faf=1

    Legalized Cannabis in Colorado Emergency Departments
    A Cautionary Review of Negative Health and Safety Effects
    Brad A. Roberts, MD

    DISCLOSURES Western J Emerg Med. 2019;20(4):557-572.

    Abstract and Introduction
    Abstract
    Cannabis legalization has led to significant health consequences, particularly to patients in emergency departments and hospitals in Colorado. The most concerning include psychosis, suicide, and other substance abuse. Deleterious effects on the brain include decrements in complex decision-making, which may not be reversible with abstinence. Increases in fatal motor vehicle collisions, adverse effects on cardiovascular and pulmonary systems, inadvertent pediatric exposures, cannabis contaminants exposing users to infectious agents, heavy metals, and pesticides, and hash-oil burn injuries in preparation of drug concentrates have been documented. Cannabis dispensary workers (“budtenders”) without medical training are giving medical advice that may be harmful to patients. Cannabis research may offer novel treatment of seizures, spasticity from multiple sclerosis, nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy, chronic pain, improvements in cardiovascular outcomes, and sleep disorders. Progress has been slow due to absent standards for chemical composition of cannabis products and limitations on research imposed by federal classification of cannabis as illegal. Given these factors and the Colorado experience, other states should carefully evaluate whether and how to decriminalize or legalize non-medical cannabis use.

    It goes on. Extensively.

    But you probably can’t get access to it because you’re not a medical professional with access to Medscape. 😐

    Suffice to say, a dose of caution is needed.

  24. GG and BW furiously telling us why only being on the right side of politics can win elections.

    That factional fight must not be going well for the right.

  25. Boer, you write some utter drivel…yeah the left are great haters and it must be their program that is followed. Of course none of these criticisms can be aimed at the Grouperists. Right wing labourites are the worst haters of the lot. Plus, we have been following their Tory lite group think since the late 70’s. It’s working wonderfully well isn’t it? Only a right winger could bemoan party democracy. Awful isn’t it, Boer, you know when the membership fail to adopt the group think of the right and elect someone who they actually support.

  26. The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has issued publications arguing climate change is either not significantly driven by human activity or will be positive. The group is one of the most politically influential thinktanks in the UK, and boasts that 14 members of Boris Johnson’s cabinet, including the home secretary, foreign secretary and chancellor, have been associated with the group’s past and current initiatives.

    Despite a longstanding international consensus among climatologists that human activity is accelerating climate change, the IEA’s publications throughout the 1990s and 2000s heavily suggested climate science was unreliable or exaggerated. In recent years the group has focused more on free-market solutions to reducing carbon emissions.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/10/thinktank-climate-science-institute-economic-affairs?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX01vcm5pbmdNYWlsQVVTLTE5MTAxMA%3D%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=MorningMailAUS&CMP=morningmailau_email

  28. clem

    Rudd’s legacy. To win factional fights you have to win the leadership. To win the leadership you have to persuade the members.

    Very hard to convince Labor members voting with the Liberals for right wing policies is what Labor is about.

  29. Ragıp Soylu‏Verified account @ragipsoylu

    NEW — Norway, a NATO ally, suspends all arms exports to Turkey over the Syria incursion.

    Finland did the same yesterday

    Spain may withdraw its Patriots missile systems, deployed in Turkey as part of a NATO mission, in response to Turkey’s Syria incursion — Sources to El Pais newspaper

  30. ‘clem Attlee says:
    Friday, October 11, 2019 at 9:49 am

    Boer, you write some utter drivel…yeah the left are great haters and it must be their program that is followed. Of course none of these criticisms can be aimed at the Grouperists. Right wing labourites are the worst haters of the lot. Plus, we have been following their Tory lite group think since the late 70’s. It’s working wonderfully well isn’t it? Only a right winger could bemoan party democracy. Awful isn’t it, Boer, you know when the membership fail to adopt the group think of the right and elect someone who they actually support.’

    Whatever. The Extreme Left has got the British Labour Party down to what? Low to mid twenties in the polling? The Extreme Left’s pandering to Little England populism has lost it Scotland – once its intellectual and emotional heartland. The Extreme Left’s adoption of populist xenophobia is a disgrace. Whatever happened to Workers of the World Unite? Replaced with workers of the world can just GAGF.

  32. Perhaps the ABC doesn’t even realise it’s being gaslighted. But if they did a little more research…

    @CartwheelPrint
    The #730Report about the Indue Card had spokespeople in favour of the card that took up a lot of air time. Who are they exactly? For starters, they’re members of a Community Reference Group set up by the DHS, the DHS appointed them, not the community, and they’re paid. #auspol
    ***
    Faye Whiffen runs a community centre in the tiny hamlet of Howard and has no social welfare credentials, her background is in credit management and Faye is on the record as saying that all social security entitlements should be by coupons/ration cards..
    ***
    Faye pops up everywhere, if you look, even on Hansard. A Senate inquiry in 2018 was told that she was a youth worker, not quite, she was a receptionist at a centre where youth groups held their meetings..
    ***
    Faye has appeared in the local media many times over the years for MP Keith Pitt, but especially so with the Indue Card: https://news-mail.com.au/news/strong-support-for-cashless-card-system-says-pitt/3180132/ Faye also worked on Keith Pitt’s election team during the last election.
    ***
    Pitt acknowledges Faye in his statement about successfully introducing the CDC to Hinkler: https://keithpitt.com.au/news/constituency-statement-cashless-debit-card-0 And the local media – ‘I have to absolutely give my support to the News Mail and the Fraser Coast Chronicle, who took the initiative to pay for a ReachTEL poll.’

  33. It’s very funny how BW attacks UK Labour for wanting the same as the Tories. Then tells us how Labor can only win by voting for LNP policies. The local Tories.

    Very Trump style talking points.

  34. “Suffice to say, a dose of caution is needed.”

    ***

    It needs to be pointed out that the article you have referenced seems to be talking about the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use. The medical treatment discussed in that link I shared earlier is completely different to that. We aren’t talking about you lighting up a joint and blowing smoke rings to cure your arthritis here.

    Have a read of this article so you understand the difference between THC and CBD…

    ***

    THC – YOU KNOW ME
    Most people, even non-cannabis consumers have heard of the THC cannabinoid from either direct experience or in the media, such as on film or via Google. Tetrahydrocannabinol, know as THC for short is the cannabis chemical that’s responsible for giving users the psychoactive effects we commonly refer to as getting “high” or being “stoned”. It’s not all about getting lit with THC though; THC has been proven to push medical boundaries by helping patients reduce pain and shrink tumours, amongst many other benefits.

    CBD – SET ME FREE
    CBD (cannabidiol) is perhaps the most exciting cannabinoid due to its vast medical benefits. CBD has been studied and researched the most extensively and was one of the first breakthrough discoveries around the cannabis plant. When you hear people discussing cannabis products for therapeutic benefits they are usually referring to this cannabinoid. Currently, many studies exist on CBD, and many companies are actively researching its uses in a clinical setting.

    KEY DIFFERENCES
    CBD will not get you high. THC will get you high as a kite!
    The majority of medical benefits associated with cannabis come from CBD and other non-THC molecules.
    CBD has the same chemical formula as THC, but the atoms are arranged differently. This slight variance causes THC to create a psychoactive effect while CBD lacks such an influence.
    In other words, CBD dominates Hemp and THC dominates marijuana but remember – they are both from the Cannabis plant!

    https://cannabiscompany.com.au/blogs/news/the-difference-between-cbd-thc

  35. clem Attlee @ #625 Friday, October 11th, 2019 – 9:49 am

    Boer, you write some utter drivel…yeah the left are great haters and it must be their program that is followed. Of course none of these criticisms can be aimed at the Grouperists. Right wing labouites are the worst haters of the lot. Plus, we have been following their Tory lite group think since the late 70’s. It’s working wonderfully well isn’t it? Only a right winger could bemoan party democracy. Awful isn’t it, Boer, you know when the membership fail to adopt the group think of the right and elect someone who they actually support.

    It’s The Greens DLP now. Do keep up.

    And wasn’t anyone responding to your ravings anymore under your old nom, clem? So now you have the capital ‘A’. Lol.

  37. guytaur

    You’re making me cross. Just because one MP (Marles) says something stupid, you are building it up into a policy statement for the whole party. Settle down.

  38. Sally Neighbour
    @neighbour_s
    ·
    7m
    Australian universities are now on the frontline of China’s campaign to expand its power and influence abroad. Watch this important investigation, ‘Red Flags’ next on #4Corners #auspol

  39. Did a quick skim of the post did we, Firefox. It was actually your old mucker in the Socialist Alternative faction of The Greens, Watermelon, who suggested marijuana, containing both THC and CBD, for my osteoarthritis, as he big upped the ACT government. So, I replied with the Medscape article about the medical effects of legalised cannabis…and suggested a dose of caution therefore.

    And, I think I already know the difference between THC and CBD, thanks for asking, being a Pharmacist and participant in one of Australia’s first pharmacological studies of the effects of THC and CBD, in 1980 at Sydney University. 🙂

  40. Lizzie

    Labor has not made voting for LNP legislation it’s official policy yet. It does seem to have learnt from the backlash last time the MP’s tried that.

    So it’s a true statement. When Labor starts voting for LNP legislation and policies it’s Labor that’s been taken over.

  42. My earlier transmission sank without a trace. Here goes again.

    ——————————–

    Canada may not have the toxic presence of the Murdochs in its newspaper culture. But the the owners of Postmedia which control a number of the shrinking metropolitan dailies have moved in that direction.

    https://www.canadalandshow.com/the-conservative-transformation-of-postmedia/

    Today, just 10 days out from the federal election, Postmedia’s flagship daily, National Post was wrapped in a fullpage ad asking readers to throw out the Trudeau government.

    https://www.pressreader.com/canada/national-post-latest-edition/20191010

    The ad, just large text saying: ITS TIME FOR A NEW PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU THE ULTIMATE HYPOCRITE was sponsored by an outfit called the Canada Growth Council and spruiked lapel badges with the image of Trudeau and the label “Ultimate Hypocrite.”

    The broadsheet National Post and its junior tabloid sidekick Toronto Sun provide the daily catechism for Canada’s radio shock-jocks, right-wing nutjobs and social media rumor-mongers. The Australian, anyone? Fortunately, it is outsold by the Toronto Globe and Mail which has a conservative bent but does it responsibly, and the left of center Toronto Star.

    Today’s Post, reminds us of the Armageddon-sized font of front-page anti-Labor headlines of the Murdoch tabloids that litter airport lounges and convenience stores across Australia.

    It also smells of desperation by the Tories as their polling numbers have not moved since the campaign began and in fact they fell behind Trudeau’s Liberals this week for the first time in six months. In the past 24 hours they dropped a full percentage point.

    This despite Justin Trudeau’s “blackfacegate” and the spreading of social media lies such as the charge that the Liberals would remove the current capital gains exemption on family homes (“death tax” anyone?). All of this came on top of an unrelenting right-wing attack on Trudeau over the last year.

    Blackfacegate had almost vanished from the radar until Trudeau was interviewed yesterday by a couple of 5-year-olds. One of them, strangely enough, was so well versed in public affairs, or briefed by someone, that she asked the Prime Minister whether he had in fact worn blackface.

    So much for the Liberals attempt to put the so-called “scandal” behind them. This wasn’t helped by the media zeroing in on comments a Toronto-area Liberal candidate made in trying to put Trudeau’s actions into some perspective a couple of weeks ago.

    And last week they came up with another one: rumours that Trudeau was fired from his teaching job a couple of decades ago because of sexual improprieties. This raged on Twitter and Facebook for several days despite intensive media investigations that showed that the charge was baseless and that he left the position on honourable terms, as stated by the former headmaster. This didn’t stop the Conservatives and their leader Andrew Scheer from continuing to argue that Trudeau still “has questions to answer.”

    It had all the earmarks of the Australian Tories and their attempt periodically to bring up rape allegations against Bill Shorten. These clowns operate on their first rule of politics: demonize your opponent.

    The depraved Conservative community will sink to any slimy depth to eliminate progressive ideas. We can only wonder where they will go next.

  43. Brilliant piece by Aaron Blake analysing Mike Pence’s efforts to ‘Deflect, Deny, and Deflate’ his own and Trump’s actions wrt Ukraine, the Bidens and Zelensky:

    Vice President Pence has studiously avoided being drawn into many of President Trump’s controversies, but he has not been able to avoid the current imbroglio involving Ukraine.

    And when pressed Wednesday on what he knew and when he knew it, Pence was extremely evasive — and conspicuously so.

    …So let’s try this again:

    Q: But you were aware of the interest in the Bidens being investigated and that being tied to aid to Ukraine being held up?
    PENCE: That’s your question. Let me be very clear: The issue of aid and our efforts with regard to Ukraine were from my experience no way connected to the very legitimate concern the American people have about corruption that took place, about things that happened in the 2016 election … or about the issue that former vice president Biden had his son on the board of a major energy company in Ukraine at a time that Vice President Biden was running the United States’ efforts in Ukraine. I think the American people have a right to know what was going on. And, but all of our discussions, all of my discussions, with the leadership in Ukraine was entirely focused on President Trump’s priority —
    In saying, “That’s your question,” Pence practically admits he’s not about to directly answer it. Politicians often do this, saying reporters are entitled to ask the questions they want, but that they can then answer however they want. Journalists also have the right, though, to point out when they are repeatedly avoiding the question.

    When Pence does get around to offering something of an answer, he says military aid to Ukraine was not tied to corruption issues — whatever you understand “corruption” to mean — and adds “from my experience.” The “from my experience’ caveat is significant, but even the claim doesn’t really hold water.

    And also to be noted is the lady with Pence in the footage appears to be wearing an Australia lapel pin, again highlighting the increasing closeness between the two countries at the highest levels.

  47. Greensborough Growler @ #644 Friday, October 11th, 2019 – 10:31 am

    You reckon the Libs might have hired Scott Cam because, with glasses, he looks very much like Morrison and that might enable cam to be a sort of cut out cardboard version of Morrison out in the community?

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/oct/11/coalition-refuses-to-say-how-much-scott-cam-is-being-paid-as-national-careers-ambassador

    Cam should be doing it for free. His net worth is ~$78 Million. But grifters gotta grift. 😐

  50. “And, I think I already know the difference between THC and CBD, thanks for asking, being a Pharmacist and participant in one of Australia’s first pharmacological studies of the effects of THC and CBD, in 1980 at Sydney University. ”

    Its a complex business. Did a bit of reading a couple of years ago about:

    https://www.charlottesweb.com/

    Focused on CBD, but also coma across references where people presenting with the same symptoms get nothing from CBD, but do get relief from a combination of THC and CBD.

    If anyone interested there are a mob in Perth called:

    https://www.emeraldclinics.com.au/

    You can download a referral form from their website that you take ot your doctor to discuss referral.

    Have heard interesting things about them and apparently they look at combination therapies with cannabis preps AND other painkillers. Anecdotally…heard a story from one of their tech that they had a client in her 90’s. Taking enough opioids for pain relief that it was getting dubious if she would wake up in the mornings. They put her on a combination therapy of cannabinoids and opioid. Controls the pain and opioid use down 90%.

    For full disclosure i actually know some of the people involved in the science and business side of this from wayback but have no personal $ interest Good people.

    Anyhow, legal, professional way into this area for those in W.A. and could be a mob to talk to if you are outside W.A. as they will likely know who is doing what elsewhere.

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