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. Interesting development:

    Beirut: The Syrian army will deploy along the entire length of the border with Turkey in an agreement with the Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria, the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces have said.

    In a major shift of alliance, the deployment would support the SDF in countering “this aggression and liberating the areas that the Turkish army and mercenaries had entered”, it said, in reference to Turkey-backed Syrian rebels.

    It would also allow for the liberation of other Syrian cities occupied by the Turkish army such as Afrin, in the country’s north-west, the statement said.

    https://www.smh.com.au/world/middle-east/kurds-and-syrian-government-forces-to-fight-side-by-side-against-turkey-20191014-p530bs.html

    I guess I don’t have to say it but the Syrian Army are battle-hardened and the Turks are not.

  2. “sustainable future
    Howard had the benefit of good economic conditions and a few poor ALP campaigns. Morrison is unlikely to get better economic conditions than now and the ALP surely won’t dish up another rubbish campaign.”

    I hope you are right. Howard survived some economic low points and was a master at 2 years of spending cuts to fund election year middle class welfare – and the current government is cutting hard. The ALP is up against it in today’s media and political donations environment. Clive has shown the way for other coal barons. Albo is showing little promise at present, and at some point shorten will start destabilising to either return as leader or get his old mate Marles into the LotO seat.

  3. Some real nastiness by Morrison when he was questioned on Brian Houston and the White House. Even the Speaker shut him up promptly.

  4. Amy

    It has to be said, although I know that the PMO will disagree, but Morrison was a little nervous before getting up to answer those questions. He does this thing where he shakes the paper a little, and continually folds over the same spot when he is nervous. The hands were moving like crazy in that answer.

  5. At last, a question about Houston, who’s still under investigation by NSW police for not reporting that his father sexually abused children and who was adversely cited in the RC. Morrison’s response was predictable, but Labor should continue with this line of questioning, as it will get under SmirkMo’s skin.

  6. Re: Houston:

    [‘Richard Marles to Scott Morrison:

    I refer to reports in the Wall Street Journal that the prime minister was determined to bring Brian Houston to the White House, with several rounds of discussions between Canberra and Washington before the White House vetoed the idea. Why won’t the prime minister give a straight answer to this question: “Did the prime minister or his office seek to have Brian Houston invited to the White House?”

    Morrison:

    Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I refer the member to my previous answer about how invitations are issued, Mr Speaker. It is not my practice to go around commenting on the unsourced reports, Mr Speaker, and just respond to the rumours that go around this place. The member opposite might want to engage in that but, if the member opposite wants to make comments about the individual in question …

    Anthony Albanese gets up on relevance:

    It is Question Time for a reason – there’s questions and there’s answers. The prime minister has just said … My point of order goes to relevance. The prime minister can’t say “I’m just not answering.” He’s got to actually answer questions in this place. That’s what it’s for.

    Tony Smith rules the answer in order.

    Morrison continues:

    I responded to the question, Mr Speaker, but I do ask, Mr Speaker, in the way that the question has been put to this House, that if they are suggesting anything serious or casting any aspersions on the individual which is the subject of the question, then perhaps I suggest they go and attend that church and they explain their concerns directly to their parishioners.

    Albanese is not happy with that. NOT AT ALL. The pair, who attended and had a laugh together at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning, continue to argue across the table. Morrison turns his back on Albanese, but turns back, to answer something else. That is fairly unusual – the pair usually leave the politics to the despatch box.

    It has to be said, although I know that the PMO will disagree, but Morrison was a little nervous before getting up to answer those questions. He does this thing where he shakes the paper a little, and continually folds over the same spot when he is nervous. The hands were moving like crazy in that answer.’]

    The observation in the last para. is telling and which is why Labor should pursue this matter.

  7. what is it with leaders of the liberal party and their associations and defence of child rapist church leaders?

    It is great to see ScoMo squirm over this and for once his “I don’t respond to rumours…/canberra bubble gossip/ etc” bullshit get called out – if the liberal speaker of the house can do it, what can’t 99.9% of ‘journalists’ in this country do it?

    labor needs to hammer the messages that scomo is full of shit and every time he uses the terms rumour/gossip/canberra bubble that means he’s hiding something.

  8. Monetary policy is blunt: it cannot be targeted spatially, or by occupation, or by income group. Fiscal policy can be framed in a precise, well-targeted way.

    Monetary policy is weak because lowering interest rates will not induce already highly indebted and precariously employed households to borrow more, and it will not induce firms to borrow more when they can’t even sell the inventory they have accumulated. Firms base their investment decisions on sales, not interest rates.

    Monetary policy creates mixed macroeconomic effects. Lowering interest rates is supposedly stimulatory – the theory is that it encourages households and firms to borrow more because credit is cheaper. That is simply not true in conditions of stagnating wages and stagnating sales, as we are seeing right now. But another problem with the theory is that cutting interest rates reduces the interest income that the non-government sector receives from the currency issuer. So interest rate cuts create a modest fiscal contraction.

    Fiscal policy is a much better counter-stabilisation tool than monetary policy. Even New Monetary Consensus / New Keynesian / Neoclassical economists – who are slow on the uptake and have been getting the big calls wrong for decades – are admitting this now. Heterodox economists have known this for decades.

  9. Gladys must be thanking her lucky stars the NSW election is out of the way. Yet another network failure for Sydney Trains today. I’ve lost count of the number of these problems that have occurred since March.
    Combined with the regular failures on the Metro, can’t wait for the light rail to be thrown into the mix.

  10. sustainable future @ #1714 Monday, October 14th, 2019 – 4:12 pm

    what is it with leaders of the liberal party and their associations and defence of child rapist church leaders?

    It is great to see ScoMo squirm over this and for once his “I don’t respond to rumours…/canberra bubble gossip/ etc” bullshit get called out – if the liberal speaker of the house can do it, what can’t 99.9% of ‘journalists’ in this country do it?

    labor needs to hammer the messages that scomo is full of shit and every time he uses the terms rumour/gossip/canberra bubble that means he’s hiding something.

    labor needs to learn to hammer the messages….etc

  11. Interesting that on the ABC news just now the tone was very pro Morrison re Brian Houston – just Morrison telling Labor to “attend that church” if they had concerns. NO MENTION AT ALL of Houston’s father. The ABC clearly implied it was a witch hunt.

    The ABC now totally squirrel-gripped by Morrison. Pathetic.

  12. sustainable future:

    [‘labor needs to hammer the messages that scomo is full of shit and every time he uses the terms rumour/gossip/canberra bubble that means he’s hiding something.’]

    I’m in earnest agreement with you. It will be interesting to find where the Houston matter will land.

  13. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/why-is-australia-the-target-of-climate-ecocult/news-story/f32620b9e3de97367418957513afe5ab

    If you are confused about Extinction Rebellion, fret not. The green dreamers take orders from a higher authority. It is hard for we mere earthlings to understand the transcendent thinking that comes from a direct line to the divine. By divine, I mean the universal consciousness of folk so fried by psychedelic drugs they’re convinced flower power reigns and we’re all going to die if carbon emissions aren’t net zero by 2025.

    XR wants action on climate change and climbing on planes, stopping trains and lying under cars is the road to redemption, ­apparently

    They are not truly sorry for blocking streets, occupying parks and holding people hostage to hard-left demands because they cannot get what they want by democratic means.

    There seems to be a disparity between the intense disdain demonstrated above (with no evidence whatsoever) and the call to prayer regarding droughts and bushfires. Perhaps different suppliers and different psychedelic drugs. I don’t quite know what to make of Ms. Jennifer Oriel’s claim to be a mere earthling. I half suspect that Ms. Oriel made up most of the above, possibly channelling the scorned Mr. T. Leary (in the body of the article).

    The last time psychedelic drugs were this political, it was the 1960s. Timothy Leary’s tribe of hippies took advice to “Turn on, tune in and drop out” by staging bed-ins and love-ins. They tried to elevate a fondness for getting high, having sex and napping into a movement. Only the children of the wealthy and the welfare state can get away with such a thin excuse

    I’m not sure about this last. Does that mean that the meritocracy are fine with their drugs and dreaming but the ones who don’t read The Australian are not. Badly written bit that – Jennifer Oriel – ambiguous.
    There should be questions in the house. Not my house – please.

    How dare they and where do you get it ❓ One a them telephone to Bejabbers I mean (a direct line to the divine). My half smart phone won’t connect.

    Another thing I protect the rough handling of squirrels. 🐰 (That’s a rabbit but close enough for Gummint work). 🐰 (Peanuts – close enough —-).

  14. So simple. So deranged.

    Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
    · 15h
    We have become a far greater Economic Power than ever before, and we are using that power for WORLD PEACE!

  15. @mcannonbrookes
    10m

    Ok now this one is fairly insane. A daily train transports 725,000L of water between one coal mine (which is defunct but has water extraction rights) to another (that needs water to make coal to destroy the planet).

    Sounds like an efficient plan for all concerned?

  16. Revd Andrew Klein ( Chaplain) @KleinRevd
    · 1h

    PM acclaims power of prayer and work of conservative pastor – The New Daily
    Having read this in the context of behavior displayed by Morrison, I am convinced that he is unfit to hold office in a secular Australia.
    Disturbing .

  17. @jonkudelka
    ·
    2m
    More than comfortable with politicians indulging in prayer, magical incantation or any other superstition on their own time. When at work, would very much prefer a general adherence to the admittedly tiresome but considerably more reliable principles of cause and effect.

  18. Dr Josie McSkimming
    2h
    I didn’t leave Christian fundamentalism to see our Australian govt become some sort of theocratic dictatorship, where the truth is rarely told, the religious climate-change deniers are in charge, & prayer is seen as a substitute for policy.

  19. Greensborough Growler says:
    Monday, October 14, 2019 at 5:53 pm

    One only has to read the report of what these men did to be disgusted with them and the ability of some to buy justice.
    ___________________
    I agree. It’s an absolute disgrace. I think the decision should be reviewed and that the serious charges should be looked at being reinstated. Stomping on peoples’ heads is not a minor assault.

  20. Ruston doesn’t seem to get the message that Newstart does not provide a safety net. It provides a rat-trap.

    The plight of Australians subsisting on Newstart is in the spotlight again during Anti-Poverty Week, but the Morrison government isn’t budging in the face of widespread calls to lift the dole payment.

    “An increase in Newstart is certainly not on the books for the government,” Social Services Minister Anne Ruston told Sky News on Monday.

    She talked up government programs helping people to get into work and said there had been “a much more targeted approach to helping people deal … with the safety net that Newstart provides for them”.

    https://www.edenmagnet.com.au/story/6437223/minister-rejects-newstart-boost-again/?cs=7041

  21. To be perfectly honest, the left’s focus on Morrison’s connections to this dude are a distraction and he’s playing it like that.

    I’m certain that it will not be an issue in 3 years time. So, people are wasting energy on a non event.

    Focus on the bread and butter issues, comrades.

  22. GG

    One only has to read the report of what these men did to be disgusted with them and the ability of some to buy justice.

    Agreed…calling it a justice system doesn’t ring true at all.

  23. ABC news runs an entire report in their 7PM news on the shitfest in Syria without once mentioning what stupidity triggered the event.

  24. lizzie says:

    The Drum is doing a section on the GBR. Not enough criticism of the fossil fuel promoters.

    At least they had a bit of a go. I didn’t think much of the tourism lady.

  25. Mikehilliard
    I’ve heard that tourism business lady before and she’s one of the GBR is fine types. She seems to have latched onto eco tourism as a way of ignoring climate.

  26. The crux of the issue with Morrison and Houston is that the former sent a list of selected invitees to the WH state dinner via the US Embassy, in the knowledge that the latter is under police investigation for attempting to cover up for his father’s child sexual indiscretions. The list would’ve been onforwarded for vetting to the Secret Service, where it was vetoed. This goes to Morrison’s lack of judgment, his character. Labor should milk this for all it’s worth, incrementally attacking his credibility, and exposing him for the charlatan he is, unconcerned that the election is a brace of years away.

  27. Mavis @ #1746 Monday, October 14th, 2019 – 5:24 pm

    The crux of the issue with Morrison and Houston is that the former sent a list of selected invitees to the WH state dinner via the US Embassy, in the knowledge that the latter is under police investigation for attempting to cover up for his father’s child sexual indiscretions. The list would’ve been onforwarded for vetting to the Secret Service, where it was vetoed. This goes to Morrison’s lack of judgment, his character. Labor should milk this for all it’s worth, incrementally attacking his credibility, and exposing him for the charlatan he is, unconcerned that the election is a brace of years away.

    And while we’re on that point, don’t forget to hammer him over his other “mate”, the one from the far-right conspiracy whackjob group QAnon, who’s wife is on Morrison’s payroll.

  28. Mavis @ #1746 Monday, October 14th, 2019 – 8:24 pm

    The crux of the issue with Morrison and Houston is that the former sent a list of selected invitees to the WH state dinner via the US Embassy, in the knowledge that the latter is under police investigation for attempting to cover up for his father’s child sexual indiscretions. The list would’ve been onforwarded for vetting to the Secret Service, where it was vetoed. This goes to Morrison’s lack of judgment, his character. Labor should milk this for all it’s worth, incrementally attacking his credibility, and exposing him for the charlatan he is, unconcerned that the election is a brace of years away.

    Sure mate. Mrs Dubbo is all across this!

    No one in the real world is overly enchanted by this rubbish.

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