With the excitement of the British election over and done with, now begins the extended nothingness of the silly season. A few points worth noting to keep things ticking over:
• A by-election looms in the Northern Territory for the Darwin seat of Johnston, not far out from a territory election scheduled for August 22. This follows the retirement of Ken Vowles, who has held the seat since 2012. Vowles served as a minister after Labor came to power in 2016, but was one of three members expelled from the party caucus in December 2018 over a feud with Chief Minister Michael Gunner. Labor held the seat with a 14.7% margin in 2016, an election at which it won the two-party vote 58.5-41.5. A heavy swing at the by-election seems inevitable, but the Country Liberal Party to this point appears to be dragging its heels on naming a candidate. Labor has chosen Unions NT general secretary Joel Bowden, a former Richmond AFL player who says he’ll be putting in a 100% team effort. Former Chief Minister Terry Mills’ CLP breakaway party, Territory Alliance, is running Steven Klose, who according to the Northern Territory News held the curious position of “political adviser at the Northern Territory Electoral Commission”. Also in the field will be Braedon Earley of the Ban Fracking Fix Crime Protect Water Party.
• In other by-election news, there isn’t any. Confident speculation a month or so ago that Eden-Monaro MP Mike Kelly would be gone by Christmas has less than a fortnight to bear fruit, and there also are no visible signs of progress on suggestions that Mark Dreyfus and Brendan O’Connor would be pulling the plug in Isaacs and Gorton.
• Michael Koziol of the Sydney Morning Herald reports on jockeying for the Liberal preselection in Warringah, where the party faces the difficulty of its branches being dominated by conservatives in a seat whose voters gave Tony Abbott the flick in favour of independent Zali Steggall. Included on the watch list are “NSW upper house member Natalie Ward, Menzies Research Centre manager Tim James, Downer EDI executive and former Scott Morrison staffer Sasha Grebe, as well as management consultant and NSW Liberal Party state executive member Alex Dore”, along with Manly barrister Jane Buncle. Mike Baird, former Premier and now senior executive at NAB, set the hares running when he declined on opportunity to seek the position of chief executive at the bank, but “several Liberal sources doubted Mr Baird would want to take the pay cut to go to Canberra”.
• A number of victims of the Liberals’ 2018 Victorian election disaster are identified in The Age as potential successors for Mary Wooldridge’s Eastern Metropolitan seat in the Victorian Legislative Council, following her retirement announcement last week: John Pesutto, Heidi Victoria and Michael Gidley, respectively the former members for Hawthorn, Bayswater and Mount Waverley.
Not Sure @ #4592 Monday, December 23rd, 2019 – 10:07 am
You’re making me blush….what are you wearing?
Mundo
I disagree with you about the Murdoch Press. I do agree with you that Labor has to go on the attack over climate policy.
Labor has to choose coal or winning elections.
That statement by Morrison of I won’t change I won’t listen to voters is truly a gift to Labor and has just won it the Queensland deletion campaign if Labor grasps the nettle over coal.
They should. They have suffered all the electoral damage from being for the environment in Queensland anyway.
CC: Thanks so much for your excellent comment @12:06AM this morning. What’s your take on the SMH story on reusing Hunter coal mines as a “mega reservoir” system – practical tie-in with local pumped hydro, or another desperate distraction from the NSW LNP’s pooch screwing?
Michael: Why don’t you fuck off back to Hawaii with ScumMo from Marketing?
I should be crystal clear
Labor can wedge the LNP.
Morrison has just declared himself the elite. Hanson will use it to attack the LNP.
So will the Greens.
Why Labor feels it should miss out is only explained by wanting to support coal.
You’re wrong about Morrison though Mundo, he’s a dead duck.
This is without a doubt the worst fuckup from a PM that I can remember,much worse than any of the stupid crap Abbott pulled, and Morrison was already on borrowed time.
He may not go tomorrow or next week, but he will not lead the government to the next election.
Put that in your Nostradamus machine and smoke it.
Steve777 says:
Monday, December 23, 2019 at 9:42 am
Ballantyne – you could have pointed out to your neighbour that Labor has had no say on whether or where backburning takes place in NSW since 2011, that the Federal Government does not control backburning (and anyway has been controlled by the Coalition since 2013) and that Greens / Greenies have never had any say.
Probably wouldn’t have made any difference.
____________________________
As the Trump experience shows, there are some people who have been so effectively sold fireproof underpants by a snake oil salesman that they will not believe their arses are on fire without sworn evidence and multiple close-up photos. And then they’ll refuse to look at them.
These are not the people who will decide the future of this country.
mundo says:
Monday, December 23, 2019 at 10:10 am
…”You’re making me blush….what are you wearing?”…
Where I live it doesn’t get below 22°C from about October until April so I wear as little as possible, whenever possible.
Did you like my tribute?
Not Sure
You are right about Morrison being a dead duck. It makes Abott’s knights and dames look like he was seriously in touch with the people of Australia’s values.
Edit: All to protect coal.
At ths first sign of the battle to remain PM is lost, Morrison will conveniently discover another path to greatness and glory, pick up his finish money, proclaim to anyone still listening that ……….. bullshit, bullshit bullshit.
Having bent his straw this early in his PMship, Morrison will fall at the next hurdle, the budget, not bother with a review of thd situation and look for greener pastures for the benefit of the party.
John Cain, a good honest man.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-23/john-cain-victorias-longest-serving-labor-premier-dies/6851140
[‘While being served cocktails at the beach on his getaway, the PM reportedly palmed off the nation’s bushfire crisis as a “state issue”.’]
https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/scott-morrisons-dismissive-comment-in-hawaii/news-story/ff490f5af6b2abf8be13650ac42c74eb
michael says:
Monday, December 23, 2019 at 8:09 am
Victoria where is Andrews. Is he on holidays or working. The left have decided this is now a critical issue. Or because he is a Labor premier he can do as he pleases.
So who is the most pathetic, the Australia having a go at Annastacia Palaszczuk for taking a 30 minute ferry ride, or Michael for having a go at Andrews for quietly getting on with his job.
God the right wing are a sad lot.
The Chaser
Not Sure @ #4607 Monday, December 23rd, 2019 – 10:20 am
Yes, but I want you to try to move on.
Re Morrison and his attitude to his national leadership responsibilities:
I think Sean Kelly’s article is absolutely spot-on. His actions will be forgotten if they turn out to be an aberration. However, if he shows the same lack of judgement and substance again and again, the view of him will become entrenched among the non-politically committed.
I remember how the Liberals starting running YouTube videos of Rudd as a lemon. People like me dismissed it as trying to create a fake impression. But time proved that they had picked up his weakness (even if somewhat unfair given his handling of the GFC leadership crisis).
People won’t forget this appalling lack of leadership. The only question is whether it will be seen as a moment where he became aware of his responsibilities or totemic of what sort of ‘leader’ he is, like Abbott’s Sir Prince Philip moment.
I think the latter.
TPOF
Today Morrison said he is not changing climate and energy policy.
Thats the tin ear that makes Morrison a lemon. Thats where you are 100% correct Labor needs to campaign on this. The trick is to let the LNP hang themselves on the issue for as long as possible.
It gives Labor time to erase the we are for coal comments in voters minds.
Adani does not have that many jobs.
We are still at the start of summer and we have reactions we normally have at the end of the bushfire season.
We have months of the fire chiefs saying action must be taken on climate and energy policy to come.
Voters trust fire chiefs far more than they do journalists and politicians.
A summary of the destruction thus far.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7819093/Devastated-NSW-SA-communities-count-cost-weekend-bushfire-hell.html
Hurrah ! Albo finally read my Poll Bludger post 🙂 On RN this morn heard him use the, fine for Scrott to go on holiday but not the choice he (Albo) would have made line .
poroti
Hate to burst your bubble, but I thought he said that yesterday.
It’s a pretty obvious hit on Morrison, tho ‘tactfully’ done.
Just parking this here. … I can already here propeller cap boy riding into battle to smite the evil Blairite centrist. Poroti and Clem at his shoulder. Charge!
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/22/labour-repelled-voters-political-graveyard-david-miliband
‘lizzie says:
Monday, December 23, 2019 at 10:21 am
John Cain, a good honest man.’
He purchased his own stamps for any personal mail and kept some stamps in his office drawer when he was Premier.
Former Victorian premier John Cain has died
Mr Cain, who was the longest-serving Labor premier, has died aged 88 after suffering a stroke earlier this month.
lizzie
Yes. The only complaint I have about Labor is they have not appointed an attack dog politician. The role Tony Abbott had before he became the leaders and thought being leader was being the attack dog.
Keneally is good in this role.
So is Penny Wong.
They can join the shadow environment minister in pointing out the implications in their roles.
For Wong the whole international market Australia would be part of with a carbon price.
For Kenneally how the increased global heating means loss of control of borders as it will create floods of immigrants.
There are very clever ways to use the right’s campaigns against them.
Mavis
With fires in WA,SA,Vic,NSW,Qld burning up about 35,000 square kilometers so far ! you’d think it might just qualify as being an issue that is a bit ‘national’ and not ‘just’ a State’ issue.
mundo says:
Monday, December 23, 2019 at 10:29 am
…”Yes, but I want you to try to move on”…
If it helps you get to a happier place with a less negative outlook on things, then sure.
An apposite comment:
Richard Denniss
@RDNS_TAI
It’s now clear the fires
@ScottMorrisonMP
rushed home to put out were in his party. When even the Nats began talking about actually doing something to cut emissions the PM rushed home to put a hose on those heretical thoughts #auspol #AustraliaBurns
lizzie
I just heard it on RN his morning during the news, anyway I suggested earlier last week 🙂
It has taken a mere day for Morrison’s to revert to his arrogant, boorish form, telling the media that he will not change the policies he took to the May election, on the basis that it would be a breach of trust. The fact is, the extent and fury of the bushfires are unprecedented, requiring a change of tack. He obviously still believes what he told a tourist in Hawaii: the bush fires are a state matter, not a good look.
AE
You can try your desperation as much as you like. The facts are clear. Labour lost because it was for Remain.
The “Red Wall” collapsed due to Brexit. They voted Leave knowing that included a Hard Brexit.
They knew thats what Get Brexit Done meant.
The members know Jeremy Corbyn was right to back leave to be in the same camp as the voters.
Corbyn was wrong to cave on that. I say that as someone who thinks Remain is the sane option.
Edit: The members will win.
I cannot ignore the election results.
poroti
Takes nothing away from you. Promise. 🙂
I know what happened to one Christmas Beetle this morning: it went inside the tummies of some Dusky Woodswallow nestlings.
Christmas Beetles are implicated in Eucalypt Dieback.
It is thought that the balance between grassland and trees has been disrupted by clearing. Christmas Beetle larvae thrive in the pastures and then the adults zone in the isolated paddock trees.
In a drought year, when the ground gets too hard, Christmas Beetle larvae can’t get out of the soil. They have the ability then to wait for next year in case the soil softens.
But their capacity to hold out like that is not indefinite.
I assume that Christmas Beetles are victims of the Coalition’s First Great Global Warming Drought.
Labor should consider developing a digital literacy campaign, such as been developed in Finland, to combat the misinformation being propagated primarily through social media. Albanese certainly has acknowledged the problem of misinformation being propagated on social media in his speeches.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I_ZhGHxnHQ&feature=youtu.be
guytaur @ #3105 Monday, December 23rd, 2019 – 10:49 am
Yes, Corbyn, like Turnbull, made the mistake of being led rather than leading.
Albanese is making the same mistake.
Seems M was on Sunrise making himself out to be just an ordinary kinda bloke trying to balance his life between work and family, like any plumber.
He’s keeping on track, aiming at the quiet Australians who work hard and do their best.
:sigh:
TPOF @ 10:29 am
Election winners benefit for a time from confirmation bias: people don’t want to admit, even to themselves, that they picked a dud. That makes it hard to be in opposition after an election loss: if you declare the PM is no good, you are telling people they got it wrong, and they tend to push back.
But it’s a different story once people reach their own conclusion that they got it wrong. Then, a PM’s standing can fall catastrophically (as happened both to Mr Whitlam in mid to late 1974, and Mr Abbott in 2014-5). Personally, I think Mr Morrison’s recent behaviour won’t be forgotten, and will damage him a lot. The images of him sitting on the beach, juxtaposed with images of exhausted fire fighters, are pretty deadly. As it happens, I caught up last evening with some friends from a profession not known for radicalism, and nobody was other than scathing about the PM’s leadership failings and lack of character.
I am sorry that Ms Thunberg was unable to persuade Xi, Modi and Trump not to wreck COP25 and, with it, possibly the last real prospects for a focussed global attempt to restrict temperature increases below the massively destructive.
That was not her fault, IMO.
She did her best.
Rex
It shows the pressure of the elites. Even those fighting the elite can fall for it.
Corbyn did and destroyed his political career in doing so.
He was originally perceived as being for Leave. No clearer way to say to voters you cannot trust me to stand up and fight for you.
‘Rex Douglas says:
Monday, December 23, 2019 at 10:53 am
guytaur @ #3105 Monday, December 23rd, 2019 – 10:49 am
AE
You can try your desperation as much as you like. The facts are clear. Labour lost because it was for Remain.
The “Red Wall” collapsed due to Brexit. They voted Leave knowing that included a Hard Brexit.
They knew thats what Get Brexit Done meant.
The members know Jeremy Corbyn was right to back leave to be in the same camp as the voters.
Corbyn was wrong to cave on that. I say that as someone who thinks Remain is the sane option.
I cannot ignore the election results.
Yes, Corbyn, like Turnbull, made the mistake of being led rather than leading.
Albanese is making the same mistake.’
Thank dog we have Di Natale to put it all to rights.
‘Tristo says:
Monday, December 23, 2019 at 10:52 am
Labor should consider developing a digital literacy campaign,…’
The Coalition should implement one. Now.
BW
Unlike you the leader of the Greens is on the right side of history.
A vote of thanks to BK, lizzie and Cat for making sure that service was not interrupted during the Coalition’s First Global Warming Megafires.
@senthorun tweets
“Those seeking the protection of the law can’t ignore the protection it affords others. Even the vulnerable must acknowledge that others can be vulnerable too.”
No one has a right to ignore (let alone trash) the dignity of others.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/22/maya-forstater-case-about-protected-beliefs-not-trans-rights
#IStandWithTransPeople
I am extremely grateful for the political existence of Di Natale.
Albanese’s role at the moment is basically to be polite and be somewhat visible.
How anyone can expect him to be superman and have Scomo on the ropes now is completely beyond me. Come next election, everyone, and I mean literally everyone, will have forgotton about the twitter frenzy caused by Scomo’s ill-timed vacation.
@guytaur
If Jeremy Corbyn had stuck to his guns and campaigned on delivering on a Brexit for the many, rather than the few.
Sure, Labour would have held up and gained ground in leave voting seats. However, in the Remain voting seats, they would have faced a major challenge for the Liberal Democrats, would have polled above 20%. Which would have led to a considerable number of Tory and lesser degree Labour seats being lost to the Liberal Democrats. The likely result would have been a hung parliament, with Labour probably having the most seats. However, the Liberal Democrats and/or the Scottish National Party would have held the balance of power.
This result would have been the opposite if Federal Australian Labor Party went to the federal election on a #startadani platform. That would have helped Labor in retaining seats in Queensland and Northern Tasmania. However, the Greens would have gotten around 14% of the vote, along with winning seats such as Batman, Wills, McNamara, Griffith, maybe Richmond off Labor.
Big Adrian.
We can expect Labor to appoint an attack dog to take advantage of the situation. Labor was not backward when Knights and Dames happened.