At the top of the sidebar are links to guides I have up for three by-election campaigns currently in progress, including yesterday’s new addition:
• Queensland’s festival of democracy on March 28 looks set to receive a new attraction after Jo-Ann Miller’s announcement to parliament yesterday that she is resigning as member of the eastern Ipswich seat of Bundamba, effective immediately. After two decades as Labor member, Miller has grown increasingly estranged from her party over time, a particularly interesting manifestation of which was an appearance alongside Pauline Hanson on the campaign trail two days before the December 2017 state election. One Nation did not field a candidate against Miller in 2017, but has been quick to announce it has a candidate ready to go for the by-election, who will be announced on the weekend. Since Ipswich was the birthplace of the Hanson phenomenon, this could yet make the by-election more interesting than the 21.6% two-party margin suggests. Tony Moore of the Brisbane Times reports Steve Axe, Miller’s electorate officer, will contest the preselection, but Sarah Elks of The Australian reports the front runners are two candidates of the Left: Nick Thompson and Lance McCallum, who are respectively aligned with the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union and the Electrical Trades Union. I have a provisional by-election guide up and running which takes it for granted it will be held on March 28, though this is yet to be officially confirmed. Also on that day will be the Currumbin by-election and council elections, including for the big prizes of the Brisbane city council and lord mayoralty.
• Further on the by-election front, I had a paywalled piece in Crikey yesterday on the Greens preferences imbroglio in Johnston.
Legal matters:
• The Federal Court is hearing a Section 44 challenge against Josh Frydenberg relating to his Hungarian-born mother, which complainant Michael Staindl argues makes him a dual citizen. Frydenberg’s mother and her family fled the country in 1949 as its post-war communist regime tightened its grip on power, describing themselves as stateless on arrival in Australia. Staindl maintains that the whole family’s Hungarian citizenship rights were restored with the collapse of communism in 1949. Staindl is also pursuing defamation action against Scott Morrison over the latter’s claim that his action was motivated by anti-Semitism. The Australian ($) reports a decision is expected “within weeks”.
• In further legal obscurantism news, Emanuele Cicchiello has withdrawn from the race to fill Mary Wooldridge’s vacancy in the Victorian Legislative Council on the grounds that he once pleaded guilty to an offence carrying a prison term of more than five years – for improperly claiming a concessional train fare when he was 19. The Australian ($) reports that those remaining in the field are Asher Judah, former Property Council deputy director and Master Builders policy manager, and Matthew Bach, deputy director of Ivanhoe Girls Grammar.
Confessions @ #80 Friday, February 21st, 2020 – 9:59 am
I don’t think this is true. Unlike Labor, they don’t seem to have explicitly dumped any policies, although they may be working on a new policy … or not. I don’t actually know if the “Green New Deal” works alongside, augments, or replaces, their existing policy.
Can any of the Greens here enlighten us?
The Mineral Council is thankful of Brown’s pro bono work in helping get the Morrison govt elected.
Another day of Labor supporters whinging about the Greens on PB and blaming us for problems of their own making. As predictable as the sun rising in the east.
Meanwhile, CNN is going nuts over Russia trying to get Trump re-elected. Thanks, Sherlock! Why does anyone find it surprising that countries are interfering with one another? The US establishment does it on a daily basis! I’d be more surprised if it wasn’t happening.
Both major parties thank the fossil fuel industry for their political donations.
———-
Fossil-fuel industry doubles donations to major parties in four years, report shows
Coal, oil and gas companies trying to ‘buy political power’, says Australian Conservation Foundation
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/12/fossil-fuel-industry-doubles-donations-to-major-parties-in-four-years-report-shows
The St Petersburg Candidate.
Firefox
They could be described as “thin-skinned and joyless, even. (Thanks confessions).
peg
‘I think you are under a misapprehension about how policy is “thrashed out” on the floor of the ALP conference. What happens there is just for media consumption. All theatre. The policies to be adopted have already been stitched up behind closed doors. To think otherwise is naive, dare I say.’
Whereas no one knows how Greens conferences work, because no one is allowed to observe them.
I’ve known Conferences to overturn what were supposed to be the pre determined outcome. I had a win that way myself, once.
By all accounts, the last (? one before?) NC’s debate on asylum seeker policy was very free and open. I had members attend who are very much aligned with the Green positions on AS who thought it was an excellent process.
After re-reading Zoomster’s posts, and realizing that they are not actually intended to be funny, I now have absolutely no idea what Labor’s current policy is.
Has Labor merely re-committed to the same policy they had in 2015? Or is Albo expected to announce something new today?
Anyone?
Speech by Richard Di Natale, delivered in his absence by Adam Bandt.
We need a Green New Deal
Let’s face it: we’re stuck.
It’s time for a big, bold, transformative plan to get us out of this mess.
A plan that smashes the big lie that the environment and the economy are at odds. A plan that acknowledges, in fact, that they must work in harmony if we’re to have any chance of solving the major crises facing us as a nation and a species.
What we need is a Green New Deal.
The Greens know that a fair future is one where the economy serves people and the planet so we can all enjoy a good life, a safe climate and a healthy environment.
It is a blueprint for dealing with the overlapping crises of climate destruction and economic inequality.
A Green New Deal recognises that we should not have to choose between climate policies and policies that improve the life of working people.
It’s a recognition that you can’t just phase out destructive climate – and environment – destroying industries without a plan to replace them with jobs-rich, cleaner alternatives in renewable energy, infrastructure, transport, housing, manufacturing, public and social services and repairing our environment.
A Green New Deal recognises the significant and urgent government investment needed to create the scale and speed of change that we need to address the climate crisis.
That, by investing in new technology, infrastructure, social and public services and caring for Country, we can create millions of new jobs and prioritise universal public services.
A Green New Deal also recognises historical dispossessions and provides justice for First Nations people – which means treaty, voice and truth-telling – and a leading role for them in driving this transition.
Government has a responsibility to make sure this transition, which is happening whether we like it or not, delivers climate justice and ensures no one is left behind. No matter what our major parties would like you to believe, we cannot continue to dig up, burn and sell our coal and tackle the climate crisis at the same time.
What’s next?
The first step to solving a problem is acknowledging that you have one – that’s why we need Parliament to declare a climate emergency – but it isn’t enough if we don’t also provide people with genuine hope that an alternative is possible.
A Green New Deal can be that concrete plan to tackle climate and inequality, to create meaningful work for those who want it while transitioning our economy to the clean industries of the future – like hydrogen exporting or battery manufacturing.
We aren’t the only country to recognise the need for a Green New Deal. Canada, the US, the UK and several other leading economies are looking at how they can turn the danger of the climate crisis into an opportunity to transform their societies for the better, much like Franklin Delano Roosevelt did with the original New Deal during the Great Depression.
All across the world progressive movements are recognising that the real lie isn’t that we can’t have a healthy environment and strong economy; it’s the idea that the political, social, environmental and economic dysfunction we’ve seen in recent years are all just a coincidence and can each be treated separately.
It’s time that all of us admit what has been clear for a while now: society is not functioning the way it’s meant to – for the benefit of the people and the planet instead of a few wealthy individuals – and quick fix solutions aren’t going to cut it anymore.
We need systemic change, and I believe a Green New Deal is the way to do it.
But I need all of you to be involved if this is going to work. And that’s why – over the next twelve months – the Federal Party Room are committed to engaging in a wide-reaching engagement process with you – the members – as well as stakeholders, experts and the wider community to understand what a Green New Deal means in an Australian context.
https://greens.org.au/magazine/time-has-come-green-new-deal
Sleeping Giants Oz
@slpng_giants_oz
SERIOUSLY
@sunriseon7
‼️
You interviewed Mark Latham about Hannah Clarke the callous murder of a woman & her children.
He trolled Rosie Batty
He diminished the murder of Luke her son, he questioned her work as an advocate.
WAKE UP YOU IDIOTS this is an insult
I told you that One Nation were the dangerous ones. Not to mention the media network of the Old White Misogynists (and I include women in that description).
Zoomster,
A Greens conference (cos we all know this is what really goes on)…
I see nath returns with his continued quixotic discussions about Shorten.
***
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/feb/20/peter-dutton-renews-calls-for-public-debate-over-domestic-surveillance-powers
jenauthor @ #112 Friday, February 21st, 2020 – 11:03 am
Has He? I wouldn’t know. 😉
I wonder if he read the post I put up about the other obsession this miscreant constantly obsesses about, the SDA?
‘C@tmomma
Thursday, February 20th, 2020 – 7:47 pm
Comment #1452
Jeez, that horrible, no good SDA Union!
The company behind Rebel Sport, Supercheap Auto, BCF, and Macpac is the latest in a string of Australian brand names to admit it owes staff millions in unpaid wages – on top of $53.2 million it has already declared.
Super Retail Group, which has a stable of high street brands, reported its half-year annual results on Thursday, acknowledging it had added another $8 million to the sum it has previously said it owes workers.
The Queensland company’s net profit for the six months shrank by 20 per cent to $57.4 million, despite modest revenue growth in the face of drought and bushfires.
Its revenue was up 2.9 per cent to $1.44 billion.
The group first revealed its underpayment of 10 per cent of its staff in its results for the same six month-period in 2019.
It has since updated its total estimate for staff back-pay from $53.2 million as at December 2018 to $61.2 million as at December 28, 2019, excluding execution costs.
Super Retail Group’s admissions are the latest in a week announcements from many of Australia’s biggest brands that they owe millions to their workers. Among them are Coles, Target and Officeworks – who join a cluster of big-name chains and celebrity chefs to be caught out underpaying staff.
Many of the most recent admissions come after the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association – the union that represents retail workers – asked the big chains to audit their payrolls. That request followed Woolworths’ admission in 2019 that it owed $300 million to 5700 staff.
The SDA has called the increasing number of admissions of wage rip-offs “a full-blown epidemic”. National secretary Gerard Dwyer said he expected many more cases to emerge in coming months.’
https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/work/2020/02/20/super-retail-group-wages/
But! But! Cleanevent! 🙄
Player One @ #108 Friday, February 21st, 2020 – 10:43 am
Found an answer to my own question …
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/labor-locks-in-goal-of-net-zero-emissions-by-2050-opposition-to-new-coal
So, I don’t know what Albo is going to say today, but it is not policy. I guess he’s just feeling the pressure of not actually having one, or rather, of the various Labor states all having different ones, in the lead up to various by-elections.
‘Firefox
We need systemic change, and I believe a Green New Deal is the way to do it.’
Greens Old Deal: smash rural and regional electorates while expressing contempt for the deplorables.
Does the Greens New Deal mean farmers get to keep their GMO cotton, 605 Gigs of water licences and will NOT be subject to a swingeing new set of national ecosystem services regulations? Does it mean that rural and regional economies will not be smashed by the immediate closure of the coal industry (coal has no future) and the uranium industry? Does that mean that the ADF will still be gutted, further affecting rural and regional industries?
And all of the smashing is to be replaced by the export of hydrogen and the manufacture of batteries, and retraining as Gig baristas for Inner Urban hipsters?
Firefox
‘We aren’t the only country to recognise the need for a Green New Deal. Canada, the US, the UK and several other leading economies are looking at how they can turn the danger of the climate crisis into an opportunity to transform their societies for the better, much like Franklin Delano Roosevelt did with the original New Deal during the Great Depression.’
Just how out of touch is the Greens leadership?
Canada is spewing out tar sands stuff like crazy. As of around two years ago bark beetles alone had negated all actions taken by all Canadian governments to reduce CO2 emissions.
The UK played the old pea and thimble trick. It exported its heavy CO2 emissions industries. And now the UK imports 800 million tons of embedded CO2 emissions. It shows not the slightest intention to change any of that soon. It DOES brag about what a great job it is doing and what a terrible job that Australia is doing.
The US is charging backwards on CO2 emissions, not forwards.
“The US is charging backwards on CO2 emissions, not forwards.”
***
Yeah, well, that’s why the US needs…
The Green New Deal
The climate crisis is not only the single greatest challenge facing our country; it is also our single greatest opportunity to build a more just and equitable future, but we must act immediately.
Key Points
Transform our energy system to 100 percent renewable energy and create 20 million jobs needed to solve the climate crisis.
Ensure a just transition for communities and workers, including fossil fuel workers.
Ensure justice for frontline communities, especially under-resourced groups, communities of color, Native Americans, people with disabilities, children and the elderly.
Save American families money with investments in weatherization, public transportation, modern infrastructure and high-speed broadband.
Commit to reducing emissions throughout the world, including providing $200 billion to the Green Climate Fund, rejoining the Paris Agreement, and reasserting the United States’ leadership in the global fight against climate change.
Invest in conservation and public lands to heal our soils, forests, and prairie lands.
End the greed of the fossil fuel industry and hold them accountable.
https://berniesanders.com/en/issues/green-new-deal/
[‘Street accused Bolt and Henderson of “trivialising” and “minimising” his experience, before describing in graphic terms what “hitting on” him actually meant.’]
Street’s right of course and Bolt and Henderson should keep their mouths zipped, the effects of the grooming by Kehoe necessitating his admission to a psychiatric ward. All the Head Master was concerned with was the reputation of St. Kevin’s, and, as it now seems, so too was the Deputy Head. They should hang their heads in shame. Judged by his performance at Ballarat,* I think the new acting Head Master will change the culture of St. Kevin’s. And while Bolt and Henderson apologised to Street, they should not have made their ignorant comments in the first place. Street is indeed a very impressive, brave young man.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/feb/21/st-kevins-student-groomed-by-coach-says-andrew-bolt-comments-make-him-sick
* https://www.theislanderonline.com.au/story/6639118/st-patricks-headmaster-john-crowley-leaves-college-for-st-kevins/
Germany will keep burning BROWN Coal in its Coal-Fired Power Plants until 2038 at the earliest.
Mavis,
Louise Milligan has given her tick of approval to the new Headmaster of St Kevins.
Louise Milligan
@Milliganreports
·
Feb 19
One of the finest educators I know, John Crowley of St Patrick’s Ballarat, is the new acting principal of #StKevins. Families, boys: You are in safe hands.
Boerwar @ #116 Friday, February 21st, 2020 – 10:14 am
In other words, “change is scary!”.
A very effective and very traditional platform. Problem is, doing nothing won’t stop the change, or the smashing, either.
Your water licenses are worthless if there’s no water because of warming-induced droughts. Your GMO cotton will burn just as nicely in a warming-induced bushfire as anything else. Your coal industry will collapse anyways as buyers disappear due to renewables already being more cost-effective than coal.
You do the people you claim to care about a disservice by pretending they can avoid all change if only they rail hard enough against the Greens and keep voting against any party with actual environmental policies. That’s not how it works; you’re just setting them up to get smashed doubly hard because the delusion you’re selling them leads to complacency and unpreparedness.
The climate doesn’t care what the deplorables vote for. It’ll screw them over just the same.
thanks to Player One for the sbs article. from this & murphy’s exclusives yesterday & today at the guardian, it looks to me like albanese is drawing a line in the sand, directed at fitzgibbon, staking out the position that albanese will argue for at the conference – or that albanese is arguing for now behind closed doors. -a.v.
It’s unfathomable how anyone could defend a school principal writing a character reference for someone accused (with facebook messages to back it up) of grooming one of the school’s students, especially in this day and age.
There’s a lot of ‘I went to a Catholic school/church and it didn’t happen to me, so they can’t be telling the truth’ going on.
Schumer Blasts Republican Traitors For Letting Putin Win Instead Of Standing Up To Trump
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called out Senate Republicans who let Putin win because they were too scared to stand up to Trump.
In response to the news that the Russians are trying to reelect Trump, Schumer tweeted:
Republicans keep blocking election security bills in the Senate, and now we know why:
They’d rather let Putin win than stand up to President Trump.https://t.co/9BFguIhn11
— Chuck Schumer
https://www.politicususa.com/2020/02/20/schumer-blasts-republican-traitors-for-letting-putin-win-instead-of-standing-up-to-trump.html
a r :
Yes. Just as science doesn’t care whether you believe in it or not.
So Vlad backs another rich bastard . Vote 1 Bolshevik Bloomberg 🙂
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2020/feb/20/roger-stone-sentenced-democrats-debate-bloomberg-trump
The 2050 target went to shadow cabinet at the end of January. It was discussed and had unanimous support.
Perhaps those frothing at the mouth re conspiracy theories and Albanese “ drawing a line in the sand “ etc etc should remove their hand from their private parts and wait for the Albanese speech at mid day.
C@tmomma:
[‘Louise Milligan has given her tick of approval to the new Headmaster of St Kevins.’]
Yes, he does seem quite impressive.
The one saving grace of the fall of the head & deputy head of St Kevin’s is that others in charge of private schools will be very careful not to make the same mistakes as they did.
BW:
What if he built a mud brick house by hand that was powered by solar panels with water licences to grow his own GMO cotton (to be made into Trump’s toupees)?
Because Bernie’s so old, sick, and likely to cark it while in office should he win, won’t that save emissions by not having a President who is alive for a full term?
I mean, think of all the jet fuel saved for starters.
Surely THAT will offset any emissions created by hypocrite socialist who owns 3 mansions Bern!
doyley @ #129 Friday, February 21st, 2020 – 11:45 am
They suffer from Premature Extrapolation. 🙂
USA, new Rust-belt swing state polls by Quinnipiac, (Electoral College Votes) in brackets
Wisconsin (10)- Trump ahead of everybody by 7 (Biden, Sanders) to 11 (Klobuchar) points
Michigan (16) – Trump behind by 5 (Sanders) to 1 point (Klobuchar, Buttigieg)
Pennsylvania (20) – Trump behind by 8 (Biden) to 3 (Warren) points
Considering Trump won all three by less than 1 point this is an incredible spread of results
In all three states “the economy” is the top issue and Trump’s approval on handling the economy is north of 50% in everyone. His generic approval tops 50% in WI but is marginally under in the other two
All else equal the Dems need to take 36 EC votes from Trump to win, so they need PA and MI
https://poll.qu.edu/2020-presidential-swing-state-polls/release-detail?ReleaseID=3656
***
Oh noes! How terrible that would be!
Proud of it too!
Onya RDN! What a legend.
A NEW APPROACH
For more than half a century, governments have aggressively pursued a disastrous “war on drugs” policy that criminalises a health problem and has only succeeded in making things worse.
These policies are causing harm and are killing young people. It’s time for a complete re-think. But the old parties don’t have the courage to take this issue on.
The Greens are leading a new, realistic and evidence-based approach to drug policy, one that reflects the reality of people’s’ choices to use drugs in Australia. In particular, we support pill testing at music festivals and in the community, the removal of sniffer dogs at music festivals and in our clubs, and regulating cannabis for adult use.
The Greens’ drug policy revolution will restore this country’s reputation as a leader in innovative drug policy by treating drug use as the health issue that it is, rather than the criminal issue other parties think it is. Only The Greens care about having an honest conversation about drugs to minimise harm and save lives.
https://drugs.org.au/
ianal, but it seems illogical to me that the federal gov’t spending $4 billion more on private schools than public schools does not run into problems with the constitution, but calls for the federal gov’t to spend equal money on private & public schools is likely to run into problems with the constitution ? am i missing something ? is this “green letter” law ? -a.v.
Ray (UK) @ #134 Friday, February 21st, 2020 – 10:59 am
Texas. Or Florida and PA.
pot is legal in canada, coast to coast, no problems. and pot brownies, and pot beer. too green for labor squares? -a.v.
Firefox,
It would be an awesome space to be able to sit and chill in.
I think the cartoon backfires on several levels. Look how happy Lee Rhiannon is 😉
a.v.
‘i was under the impression all policy positions were void after an election loss pending the conference. does this mean fitzgibbon has no choice but to acquiesce ? is this expected to be a shoe in at the conference ?’
More correct to say that, after an election loss, all policies are under review. The review might consist of an instant tick, some consideration followed by a tick, or a rewrite.
The first couple of options don’t need to go back to Conference, because they’ve already been ratified. Any major policy changes should go back to Conference for review.
Of course, occasionally we do have Captain’s Calls – Rudd 2.0 made a few of these, for example.
As with everything in life, there is the ideal and the actual!
The protocol is that, until caucus has ticked off on a policy, you can say whatever you like. Once caucus has agreed to it, the theory is that you’ve had a chance to put your case to probably the most sympathetic audience you’re likely to face, they don’t like it, so it’s probably wrong and you should keep your opinions to yourself.
Firefox says:
Friday, February 21, 2020 at 10:38 am
Another day of Labor supporters whinging about the Greens on PB and blaming us for problems of their own making. As predictable as the sun rising in the east.
The story with the Greens is not that they cause problems for Labor, though they do. The story with the Greens is that they render impossible any progress on any issue at all. Since the rise of the Greens not one single important issue in the economy, in social justice or the environment has been durably resolved on terms that are favourable to working people. Not one.
This is the Green Problem. They are as much of an obstruction to reform as are the LNP. The only meaningful solution to this would be the dissolution of the Greens. This will not happen. Consequently there will be no reform in this country. We should forget about it. Our future is not in our hands. We are committed to self-defeat.
i remember how enemies of the working class bellyached that ted wheelwright couldn’t be a “real socialist” because he wore socks in his sandals & drove a volvo. it was a crock then & its a crock now. -a.v.
Firefox
‘Another day of Labor supporters whinging about the Greens on PB and blaming us for problems of their own making’
In response to comments by Bandt and Brown. Apparently we’re not allowed to defend ourselves against accusations that everything’s Labor’s fault.
Of course, if Bandt and Brown were blaming Morrison’s government, we’d be in full agreement.
a.v
I’d be quite happy if Australia followed the Portugal example….and I’ve never touched an illegal drug in my life.
USA
A correction to my earlier comment – I was forgetting the ‘faithless’ Electoral College voters from 2016, there were 2 defections from Trump in 2016 (and 7 from Clinton)
In reality Trump won states worth 306 EVs (not the 304 that cast a vote for him) so the Dems need to take 38 EC votes away to win, not 36. PA & MI flipping would not be enough.
alfred venison @ #138 Friday, February 21st, 2020 – 12:09 pm
I have been voting for the HEMP Party in federal elections in all likelihood before you were even born. Plus I took part in Dr Greg Chesher’s groundbreaking Pharmacological studies on the effects of THC in the 1970s.
So you can take your ageist profiling and smoke it.
Biden doing well in his town hall — exhibiting a great deal of passion — which all voters like
An illuminating interview between Kevin Rudd and Friendlyjordies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kznT8Sa6RjY&list=WL&index=2&t=0s
Firefox
‘Another day of Labor supporters whinging about the Greens on PB and blaming us for problems of their own making’
As Bill Maher likes to characterise this:
‘Whiny Little Bi***’
C@tmomma says:
Plus I took part in Dr Greg Chesher’s groundbreaking Pharmacological studies on the effects of THC in the 1970s.
_______________
It is intriguing how many major events C@t was involved with and/or was present for. Our very own Forrest Gump. A female Norman Gunston! Always there at the right time and place!