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.
Thanks for that reminder, Lizzie, of what Morrison SAID were his principles.
“We expect Christians……… to stand on the side of the poor and the hungry, the homeless and the naked, ….”
The hypocrisy is nauseating.
Good morning Dawn Patrollers.
David Crowe reports how the government has egg all over its face with respect to the arrival of “plane people” asylum seekers.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/asylum-seeker-number-bungle-means-plane-people-not-a-record-20191014-p530nk.html
Peter Hartcher quotes a former diplomat and eminent US expert Nicholas Burns, who has said “If you are an American ally anywhere, the message is ‘beware”. This is well worth reading.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/australia-has-a-key-role-to-play-in-contest-between-us-and-china-20191014-p530ez.html
Joel Fitzgibbon has been savaged by several of his colleagues over his climate retreat.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/ill-considered-and-ill-timed-labor-savages-fitzgibbon-over-climate-retreat-20191014-p530n6.html
Richard Denniss piles into Morrison’s coal-fired climate hypocrisy.
https://outline.com/YNcbst
The Morrison government has delivered another rebuke to Turkey over its invasion of northern Syria amid growing concern in Parliament at the fate of Australians trapped by a conflict that has displaced 130,000 people writes David Crowe, but it avoided any reference to the role the US troop withdrawal has played.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-government-warns-syria-invasion-could-revive-isis-threat-20191014-p530ll.html
Shane Wright explains how the banks are saying they might have to actually lift interest rates in order to protect their profits. A former bank chief Don Argus has said that in the government’s rush to help home buyers the interests of depositors who relied on the interest on their savings were being disregarded.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/bank-inquiry-ignores-depositors-as-westpac-warns-rates-could-go-higher-20191014-p530ie.html
Crummy superannuation funds are right to be uncomfortable about the impending release of performance appraisals that will expose high fees and poor returns, APRA says.
https://outline.com/uzhkCJ
The former environment minister Josh Frydenberg sought urgent information about an investigation for land clearing brought by his department against a company in which fellow minister Angus Taylor and his relatives held an interest, new documents show. This seems to be warming up.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/oct/15/frydenberg-sought-urgent-details-on-angus-taylor-grasslands-investigation
John Della Bosca said Labor officials had become more interested in “nosh-up lunches with rich people and powerbrokers than their branches” reports Alexandra Smith.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/pawns-in-a-power-game-former-labor-boss-says-party-members-have-been-abandoned-20191014-p530kq.html
More from the ICAC as Michaela Whitbourn tells us how ex-NSW Labor general secretary Jamie Clements has been forced to hand over his mobile phone to the corruption watchdog as it investigates an illegal $100,000 cash donation.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/former-nsw-labor-boss-jamie-clements-surrenders-mobile-phone-to-icac-20191014-p530jx.html
Stephen Bartholomeusz refers to a banquet photo that gives a good idea of who has got the better of US/China trade negotiations after Trump had tweeted “the deal I just made with China is, by far, the greatest and biggest deal ever made for our Great Patriot Farmers in the history of our country.”
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/the-photo-that-reveals-who-got-the-better-of-the-us-china-trade-truce-20191014-p530es.html
Elizabeth Knight looks at what is facing the punch drunk banks in this latest inquiry.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/punch-drunk-banks-face-another-tough-bout-this-time-with-the-accc-20191014-p530jb.html
Call your bank and ask for a better mortgage deal – but read this first advises Greg Jericho.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2019/oct/15/call-your-bank-and-ask-for-a-better-mortgage-deal-but-read-this-first
Professor Mark Humphries-Jenner proposes four questions about mortgages the ACCC inquiry should put to the big four banks.
https://theconversation.com/four-questions-about-mortgages-the-accc-inquiry-should-put-to-the-big-four-banks-125224
Michael Pascoe reckons Frydenberg’s home loan inquiry is a stunt but he hold out hope that the ACCC will surprise.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/finance-news/2019/10/14/big-banks-home-loan-inquiry-stunt/
Michael West writes that three interest rate cuts have failed to lift the economy. As have the Government’s $1080 tax breaks. Printing money is now a serious option. Quantitative Easing they call it, or “QE”.
https://www.michaelwest.com.au/privatisation-fetish-government-surrenders-economic-management-to-the-bankers-via-qe/
Former competition tsar Graeme Samuel has joined business groups in disputing the need for new laws to block corporate mergers, while questioning whether the regulator he used to run was contesting the right cases in court.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/former-competition-cop-questions-accc-s-merger-law-reform-push-20191014-p530ko.html
Following on from some pointed remarks from Dutton an official Chinese state newspaper has urged Morrison to “build more consensus” on China policy in his government ranks if he wants to improve ties with China.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/china-daily-urges-morrison-to-build-consensus-following-dutton-remarks-20191014-p530kt.html
Meanwhile Kirsty Needham reports that Eric Abetz has dramatically upped the rhetoric against China, condemning the Chinese communist “dictatorship” and accusing China of shocking human rights abuses.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6437752/senator-eric-abetz-condemns-chinese-dictatorship-in-speech/?cs=14350
Christian Porter has emphatically rejected the Victorian government’s claim the religious discrimination bill could harm its proposed ban on gay conversion therapy, writes Paul Karp.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/15/religious-discrimination-bill-will-not-override-laws-to-ban-gay-conversion-therapy
Professor Erin Wilson explains that the biggest hurdle for the Coalition’s religious discrimination bill: how to define ‘religion’. This is an excellent contribution.
https://theconversation.com/the-biggest-hurdle-for-the-coalitions-religious-discrimination-bill-how-to-define-religion-125214
Sarah Martin writes about Morrison getting a bit rattled over references to his relationship with Brian Houston.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/oct/14/scott-morrison-refuses-hillsong-brian-houston-invited-white-house
Jennifer Hewett explains how litigation funders, many of them international, are able to earn huge fees for reasonably low risk through class action lawsuits.
https://outline.com/xnDky7
Zoe Wunderberg takes serious issue with the government, and Michaelia Cash in particular, over their “jobs snobs” comments.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6436668/when-it-comes-to-jobs-australian-values-and-political-leadership-are-at-odds/?cs=14329
Tasmanian parliamentarians should reject the Federal Government’s attempts to water down Tasmania’s anti-discrimination laws, a group of twelve community groups has said.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6438227/12-tasmanian-community-groups-unite-against-federal-religious-freedom-laws/?cs=14231&utm_source=website&utm_medium=home&utm_campaign=latestnews
Toni Wren proposes a $75 fix that would help solve Australia’s poverty problem.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/here-s-a-75-fix-that-would-help-solve-australia-s-poverty-problem-20191011-p52zro.html
Kim Carr has lashed out at Australia’s national security establishment, claiming that a “creeping authoritarianism” in Canberra and hawkish opposition to research collaboration with China risk the nation’s future prosperity.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/new-cold-war-kim-carr-hits-out-at-national-security-establishment-20191014-p530jt.html
The nurses’ union has joined calls for Labor to block new free trade agreements that undermine Australian working conditions, as the party splits over whether to support new deals with Indonesia, Hong Kong and Peru.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/oct/14/nurses-union-urges-labor-to-block-free-trade-deals-that-hurt-working-conditions
Sally Whyte reports that the Australian Statistician has issued a warning to the government of just what will be lost if the Australian Bureau of Statistics faces further funding cuts.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6437810/abs-boss-sounds-warning-on-funding/?cs=14350
Infrastructure is the latest area of Morrison Government incompetence exposed by fresh data from the Bureau of Statistics says Alan Austin.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/coalition-hypocrisy-on-infrastructure-surges-as-actual-spending-stalls,13201
Nick Miller opines that the UK is unlikely to leave the EU on October 31, as it has repeatedly promised to do. And, depending on how this chaotic, high-tension week unfolds, the government might not even be in power shortly afterwards.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/everything-is-on-the-line-as-brexit-negotiations-enter-crunch-week-20191014-p530mh.html
The editorial in the UK Guardian describes the Queen’s speech as “show without substance”.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/14/the-guardian-view-on-the-queens-speech-show-without-substance
And its John Crace says that Johnson has reduced the Queen to a furious frontwoman for a grubby election stunt.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/14/queen-reduced-to-furious-frontwoman-for-grubby-election-stunt
As they sweat on the results of the long drawn out post mortem over Labor’s loss in the unlosable election, the warlords are already staking out their own positions writes Mungo MacCallum.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/mungo-maccallum-albanese-and-the-inconvenient-climate-change-deal-breaker,13206
The days of being forced to find hidden nasties in lengthy product disclosure statements to protect yourself when dealing with banks, insurers and super funds are numbered, explains Sarah Danckert.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/a-warning-on-warnings-asic-to-crack-down-on-financial-products-20191014-p530ee.html
According to Kate Burgess Labor has been accused of running a scare campaign about Morrison government plans to outsource Australia’s visa processing system.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6437276/labor-accused-of-mediscare-redux-over-visa-outsourcing/?cs=14350
Joko Widodo may have won a second term as president, but Indonesian democracy is in a parlous state says James Massola.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/jokowi-pursues-majority-rule-not-democracy-in-indonesia-20191014-p530lk.html
Peter Hannam explains how the benefits of the $1 billion dam-building plan in NSW will likely be limited by rules that cap the amount of water than can be taken from catchments within the Murray-Darling Basin.
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/catchment-curb-could-cap-benefit-of-outrageously-expensive-dam-plan-20191014-p530l7.html
Kate Aubusson tells us about how surgeons are being urged to disclose their rates of surgical complications to prove they’re worth premium fees.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/veiled-in-secrecy-call-for-surgeons-to-disclose-complications-rates-20191006-p52y3j.html
Snowy 2.0 will not produce nearly as much electricity as claimed. We must hit the pause button says energy expert Bruce Mountain.
https://theconversation.com/snowy-2-0-will-not-produce-nearly-as-much-electricity-as-claimed-we-must-hit-the-pause-button-125017
The Washington Post explores the 2020 presidential race which just keeps getting more uncertain.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/the-2020-presidential-race-just-keeps-getting-more-uncertain-20191014-p530i0.html
Some previous “Arseholes of the Week” nominees have now pleaded guilty after what looks like a substantial plea deal.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/walker-brothers-to-admit-vicious-attacks-but-won-t-face-county-court-20191014-p530in.html
Cartoon Corner
David Rowe on the banks.
Alan Moir’s fine form continues.
Andrew Dyson and power politics.
A cynical Cathy Wilcox gives us the banking cycle.
From Matt Golding.
This is an anonymous contribution from the UK.
A good one from Jon Kudelka on the leaked talking points.
https://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/45a43015cdb02509a962e61edcae6fc3?width=1024
From the US
Maude Lynne
The point I wished to argue last night, which I found impossible with one finger typing on a phone, was that disturbing Morrison’s smug superiority, while it may not produce immediate political results, will give heart to Labor, who are probably feeling that he is currently invincible. Anything that shakes the foundations of his supposedly god-given righteousness, like drops of water on a stone, will eventually wear him away.
Morning all. My sympathies to Cat and all who have suffered from welfare “reforms” in the past two decades. Australia’s safety net used to be average in the OECD. Now we are in the bottom third. The fact is, we are not very generous as a nation to those in need. They are demonised as bludgers or burdens but the fact is most are in need through circumstances beyond their control. We subsidise millionaires, while punishing the poor. That being said, I feel equally sorry for the young who cannot get a full time job or buy a house. They may be even worse off when they are old.
Something in our economy is broken. It is globalisation in two respects. No, a worker in Australia cannot compete with a worker in India. No matter how much their wages are reduced, they will still be too expensive, till they have no job. And no, there is no benefit to Australia from permitting free trade of goods and finance if the firm concerned pays no tax here and sends the profits elsewhere. It is time to give up on free trade agreements, unless they are with another country with similar wages and laws, and the companies pay fair tax on the profit made here.
Thanks Lizzie.
I will now deploy my auto exorcism machine. Cleverly disguised as a coffee mug.😇🕊
Hi Lizzie,
yes, I agree.
Morrison is not invincible.
He has weaknesses, skeletons in the cupboard.
Attacking him in QT over the Brian Houston WH invitation clearly worked – it rattled him.
It heartens me to see Labor is getting back its mojo.
KayJay
There are mugs and there………………
NBN anyone?
https://theconversation.com/snowy-2-0-will-not-produce-nearly-as-much-electricity-as-claimed-we-must-hit-the-pause-button-125017?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twitterbutton
Thank you, Socrates and Quasar. 🙂
It’s true, not everyone is ‘blessed’. As Scott Morrison thinks the ‘righteous’ are. Some of us suffer ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’. That’s fine by me, I will carry on regardless, and I have good friends and family that will probably help in some way, should worse come to worst. But that’s not the same as having the confidence to go from one kind of permanent accommodation to another. You used to be able to afford to do that, even if you were on some sort of social security benefit.
But the Coalition took that away, didn’t they? They took the ‘security’ out of ‘social security’ and started calling it ‘welfare’. Then they started the punitive attacks on people needing government money to survive, and Australian society didn’t begrudge that.
No more. And the Labor Party need to shoulder some of the blame for that. Going all the way back to Mark Latham and his ‘you’ve got to be Learners or Earners’ rhetoric. And the Coalition, as is their wont, used Labor as a cover and a shield against criticism for taking that idea and running hard with it, and going much further than Labor ever would have. All the while using their other mealy-mouthed tactic of, ‘But Labor started it!’. With The Greens providing aid and comfort to the Coalition, as usual, from the Left, going, ‘Yeah! That’s right!’
And that’s how the delegitimising and rending of the social safety net occurs. To the point now where we are so much like Amerikkka it hurts. Struggling families, just one decision by a wealthy Australian, who owns a swag of properties, from heartbreak and losing everything. Which I just thought about as I went into the kitchen to make breakfast and looked around at everything I would have to sell off in a firesale if I had nowhere that I could afford to go to once my house is sold. You can only fit so much in a car.
And my story is not unique.
However, until such time as we become another statistic, I’ll just keep calm and carry on. 🙂
Cat
A friend works in the NDIS. Tearing her hair out in frustration. There are thousands of stories like yours. The impact on kids is worst of all.
Lizzie
I was going to post on the Snow Job II story as well. A price increase of 300%? And less than half as useful as promised?? Where is Denis Shanahan exorciating Turnbull on the waste and incompetence??? The entire Rudd stimulus school building program did not cost more than that. A Tsunami of waste.
I saw last night the latest episode of Utopia, The Ghost of Christmas Future. It was so painfully accurate I found it funny and depressing at the same time. The explanation of induced traffic demand was also remarkably accurate from a technical viewpoint. We are being conned On large projects, especially freeways.
lizzie @ #1863 Tuesday, October 15th, 2019 – 7:59 am
They obviously aren’t ‘Righteous’ enough. God is punishing them and Scott Morrison is His vessel and vassal.
And, don’t forget, Morrison wants EVERYONE on ‘Welfare’ on the card.
“With The Greens providing aid and comfort to the Coalition, as usual, from the Left, going, ‘Yeah! That’s right!”
***
You had me for a bit there until you decided to take a cheap shot at the Greens for no reason.
Firefox @ #1866 Tuesday, October 15th, 2019 – 8:06 am
It’s not a cheap shot at all, Firefox. And it’s about time The Greens woke up to themselves. They are being played like cheap pianos by the Conservative forces. For every attack from the Right on Labor, for it being too lenient, The Greens come along from the Left and attack Labor for being not lenient enough, and so Labor, the only other viable alternative for government, have their support eroded from Left and Right.
The Greens MUST learn to compromise if we are ever to get Social Democrat governments back into power in this country and stop the mean as piss policies of the Conservatives from wrecking what was once a beacon of egalitarianism in the world.
The Greens have to grow up. Help Labor, not continue to try and wound Labor, as Di Natale’s approach seems to be.
Take your cue from the Rolling Stones!
‘You can’t always get what you want,
But if you try sometimes,
You get what you need.’
C@t
“And, don’t forget, Morrison wants EVERYONE on ‘Welfare’ on the card.”
Indeed.
All pensioners (including aged) will be assimilated into his system.
Welfare card and Robodebt to keep us in line.
What a joyful way to end your days
Socrates @ #1862 Tuesday, October 15th, 2019 – 7:54 am
The saddest story I heard the other day was about a DV victim who went to a refuge for help with her kids. Because one of them was a male, >13 years old, 14 I think, they were turned away from the shelter, whose rules were that no males were allowed in the place aged over 13 years old. So the woman, who didn’t want her family to be broken up and her teenage son to go into State Care, the only alternative, decided instead to go back to her abusive partner.
See what I mean also about inflexibility from the Left and the Right? The Left people that ran the Refuge wouldn’t bend the rules to help that family and the Right don’t provide the funds to accommodate them separately. Instead keeping competition for the available beds fierce.
Congratulations Margaret Atwood.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/margaret-atwood-and-bernardine-evaristo-share-the-2019-booker-prize/2019/10/14/06d07a28-eea7-11e9-8693-f487e46784aa_story.html
From the Fair Go to the Head Stomp with Glassing.
Cat, the Greens said repeatedly that we were prepared to negotiate with Labor after the election. RDN said he wanted to work constructively with Shorten. It was Labor – including you – that consistently said that you wouldn’t be negotiating with the Greens. You personally made a point of saying Labor would never again make deals with the Greens after the 2010 minority government.
Now that things didn’t turn out the way you were fully expecting them to, you come running to us for help? Yet you continue to take cheap shots at us on the way through at the same time.
Thanks BK for the Dawn Patrol.
I particularly liked the language in the following item
And its John Crace says that Johnson has reduced the Queen to a furious frontwoman for a grubby election stunt.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/14/queen-reduced-to-furious-frontwoman-for-grubby-election-stunt
*’We precede the Sovereign into the chamber and then stand discreetly behind her during the speech. At the end of the speech we precede her out again,’ he explained. ‘And, er, that’s it. Our presence is very ceremonial.’
Mr Duke, 39, has been at the Queen’s side for four years now, ever since he was appointed to the title Rouge Dragon Pursuivant, holder of the badge Red Dragon Cadwallader. He is there, too, at the Garter Service in Windsor, the other great annual state occasion when the participants dress up like figures from the cover of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. At both he mixes with a gaggle of royal attendants carrying titles Tolkien would have been pushed to invent: the Lord Chamberlain (he is the one walking backwards carrying a large white wand), the Lord Great Chamberlain (he is the one carrying the Queen’s crown on a red pillow) and the Silver Stick in Waiting (he is the one carrying a silver stick).
If only (one must have hopes and dreams) Mr. T. Abbott had instituted reforms to enable such fabulous identities to obsequie their way about the Grand Building known as Her Majesties Australian Federal Parliament (nominated once again for the title of Outhouse Facsimile extraordinaire) and the Knights and Dames program failed simply because it did not go far enough.
How we long for the days when “God Save the Queen” was played at the Picture Theatre as we stood to attention.
Ah yes ❗ Them was the days.
Firefox,
Admit it, ‘negotiating with The Greens’ equated to, ‘our way or the highway, meet our demands!’ Of course Labor would not capitulate to those ‘demands’!
You MUST watch this!
https://youtu.be/m_yXg6Gr3OQ
C@t:
The QAnon mob are truly bonkers!
“Firefox,
Admit it, ‘negotiating with The Greens’ equated to, ‘our way or the highway, meet our demands!’ Of course Labor would not capitulate to those ‘demands’!”
***
Nah. The current ACT Greens/Labor government is living proof that the two parties can work very well together. We’ve successfully negotiated constructively with Labor plenty of times in the past, despite the spin you lot go on with. We’re used to this hey. Labor says one things about the Greens before elections and then completely change their tune when they decide they need our help.
Lizzie, Soc,
There is simply not enough network capacity to transmit 2GW of power from snowy 2 to major load point either. Many billions of network upgrades would be needed for it to work.
It compares very unfavourably to upgrading PHES in Tasmania, with a duplicate basslink HVDC underwater cable. Or just incremental roll out of smaller, more distributed PHES in other locations.
C@tmomma @ #1874 Tuesday, October 15th, 2019 – 8:46 am
I did watch it.
I wondered what the Ritual sexual abuse stuff was about.
KayJay @ #1880 Tuesday, October 15th, 2019 – 9:04 am
I’ll ask my Millennial son. 🙂
Maude Lynne @ #1856 Tuesday, October 15th, 2019 – 7:32 am
One good QT does not a mojo make, but I’m prepared to wait a little longer before cancelling my direct debit donations.
Firefox @ #1878 Tuesday, October 15th, 2019 – 8:56 am
And ‘the current ACT/Labor government are NOT the federal parties. In fact, they ARE formally in government together. Something Labor would never do nationally, as too many people who vote Labor and would never vote for The Greens, would abandon the ALP should such a deal occur at the federal level.
So, The Greens need to learn that it can never be, ‘our way, or the highway’ with the Labor Party. Get off your high horses! Er, Unicorns.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/14/are-you-happy-now-trump-supporters/
But hey, Trump gave the super rich a tax break, and appoints reactionary numpties to the Supreme Court!
“This is a disaster for the President and he’s trying to make the best of it” says an American commentator on 24.
It’s his own personal disaster. He did it! He’s responsible for the deaths. 😡
I have argued that the issue of Adani which is part of the issue of the ‘Climate Emergency’, perhaps decided the federal election. Indeed the election results had a lot of parallels with the Brexit referendum and the 2016 US Presidential election. Labor’s message on these issues, I argue was contradictory and seen as ‘sitting on the fence’.
It seems the federal Labor play is going continue with the sort of polices, which does not change this perception as being seen ‘sitting on the fence’ on these issues. Because I am confident, these issues aren’t going away, indeed it is going to complete dominate the political discourse in this country. Hence why Labor is courting potential electoral annihilation at the 2022 election and the Greens having between 14-16 senators , along with maybe a dozen or even more MHRs in the House of Representatives.
I agree very much with Clive Hamilton’s assessment of the Federal election.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/23/culture-shock-politics-upended-in-era-of-identity
I find the origin of the use of the “rabbit hutch” interesting (because I wasn’t actually alive in Victorian time). It wasn’t a nice little home for the bunnies. Time to get rabbits out of cages? (Calm down, I know they’re a pest in Oz, but farmed rabbit meat is delicious.)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2019/oct/14/not-cross-bunnies-can-pet-rabbit-be-happy
KayJay @ #1880 Tuesday, October 15th, 2019 – 9:04 am
So now you know. 🙂
C@t:
I watched the video of Trump shooting journalists and Democrats. Very nasty.
At the very least I hope Lynard Skynard take the creators to copyright task over using one of their songs in the video!
The Greens have to grow up. Help Labor, not continue to try and wound Labor, as Di Natale’s approach seems to be.
This is utterly unachieveable unless the Greens get something in return, i.e. ministries reserved to Greens.
Just demanding that the Greens “grow up” and “help Labor” for nothing but a warm fuzzy feeling that doing so is good for the nation and will help “Social Democrats” is preposterous.
We all know that “Social Democrats”, in the context of the quote above, means “Labor only”.
The only way to get the Greens to cease sniping at Labor (and I agree that this IS their primary strategy) is to do a deal with them. “A deal” inevitably means some form of formal coalition. A coalition means sharing government (and oppisition) in a meaningful way, through good times and bad. The Libs and Nats – who hate each other mostly – worked this out decades ago, and have prospered ever since as the predominant force in Australian government.
Unless Labor agrees to such a deal they are being as intransigent and destructive as the Greens are accused of being.
Anyone who isn’t a rusted-on Green or Laborite can see that the two parties are doing the LNP/reactionaries’ work for them by wasting time, energy and resources splitting the vote on the left side of politics. The Greens receive about 15% of the vote and Labor about 35%. The total of about 50% is reflected in 2PP results, but not in bums on Parliamentary seats.
It is obvious that a split vote like that is inefficient. Combined it would inevitably be more powerful and less wasteful. This is especially the case because our non-gerrymandered boundaries system, preferential voting, compulsory voting and even Saturday voting otherwise level the political playing field.
There are only a few percentage points in it, but those few points wasted in squabbling (as seen hete every single day, all day, all week, all year, to the point of exasperation) relegate the Greens and Labor to also-rans, time and time again… far too often. While Labor and Greens bitch and bicker over how many lefty angels there are on the head of a pin, the Libs and Nats, and their crony mates, loot the Treasury and – just as bad, perhaps worse – stack the courts, tribunals, public service and government commissions with mates, fellow travellers, hangers on, lurk merchants, failed candidates, urgers, spruikers, deadheads, halfwits, usual suspects, and other reliable reactionary saboteurs.
Top-heavy Labor needs to cease being a retirement club for lazy unionists and the boutique Greens need to stop dreaming impossible dreams, if either are to prosper going forward.
The mob out here is sullen, cynical and in a very ugly mood. They want and need action from the Left, not shit-flinging and sniping between the parties on that side of politics.
Otherwise just hand over the keys to the Tories, for the duration.
Catastrophic fire conditions are now a normal part of weather predictions.
Insects have declined by 75% in Europe over 30 years.
Let us pray.
Good Morning.
Cat
Best of luck in finding new digs. It’s appalling I have to say luck.
On the Greens you are blaming the wrong people. It’s not a case of the pure being the enemy of the good.
It’s a case of powerful vested interests having denial about reality.
I agree with Mungo McCallum. The Greens did not say my way or the highway on climate policy in the Gillard era. They compromised. If they had not Gillard Combet Windsor and Oakshott would have told us.
It’s common sense. Stop buying the vested interest line about the Greens.
The good thing is Albanese is reforming NSW Labor. That will make a dramatic difference and see real progress of Labor. After the reforms with a real voice I might even join the Labor party.
To return to the LNP. The cruelty is the point. They rule by division. To achieve that they take empathy out of government.
Always praise those with empathy even if they happen to be Green.
The sooner we have a government like that of Denmark or Portugal the better.
Meanwhile
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/14/770004647/3-win-nobel-prize-in-economic-sciences-for-work-in-reducing-poverty
Confessions says: Tuesday, October 15, 2019 at 9:23 am
Tom NicholsVerified account@RadioFreeTom 15m15 minutes ago
We are now sanctioning Turkey for something Trump gave them permission to do, because no one knows what the President is saying to any foreign leaders at any given moment.
*********************************************************
MSNBCVerified account @MSNBC
Retired Gen. John Allen is frustrated by Pres. Trump’s withdrawal of troops in Syria
The former general tells Hallie Jackson that ISIS will likely regrow in the region, leaving Americans and their allies at risk
Retired Marine Gen. John Allen on Pres. Trump’s withdrawal of US troops in northern Syria: “So much of what we have done over the last 4 years has been undone in the last 96 hours, and it is really frustrating to watch this happening.”
Now that Trump has abandoned the Kurds, which country or countries will step up to fill the breach.
“And ‘the current ACT/Labor government are NOT the federal parties. In fact, they ARE formally in government together. Something Labor would never do nationally, as too many people who vote Labor and would never vote for The Greens, would abandon the ALP should such a deal occur at the federal level.”
***
Wow. You actually finally admitted that the Greens and Labor are working together in the ACT! We’re making progress, Cat! Slow, tedious progress…
Labor will try and make deals with the Greens whenever they think it’s politically convenient for them to do so. It’s what they always do.
Before the election you were outright dismissing us because you didn’t think you’d need us once Labor had won a huge majority. Now you come demanding our help after the reality of the election result has sunk in.
Luckily for you, the Greens care more about protecting Australia than playing Labor’s silly games, so yes, we will help you defeat the Coalition. It will be our pleasure, as it always is. Labor absolutely requires help from the Greens if they are to have any chance of forming government again in the current political climate. The only reason Labor is still even slightly competitive is because of the huge number of preferences they receive from Greens voters like me.
PhoenixRed
It is obvious that Trump has acted on Putins instructions to date, and is now pretending he is going to hold the Turks accountable.
Watch for more secrets to be exposed.
Shock and awe
Trump is a bona fide traitor
https://twitter.com/andrewsweiss/status/1183842426445807616
The IPA is arguing that doctors should not be allowed to over-ride a minister’s decision. Has Lambie been persuaded by that charming chap, James Paterson?
Vic:
As I keep saying, scratch a Trump announcement, find a benefit to Putin.
And the Syrian withdrawal came on Putin’s birthday as well I believe.
Fess
Been obvious from the get go.
Nothing else explains their conduct to date.
The GOP as they currently stand is going down.
Fess
Trump is a lot of nasty things.
But as President of the USA, he is simply a Traitor will a capital T