Preselections: Groom and WA Liberal Senate

Early manoeuvres for a Liberal vacancy in a looming federal by-election, and a preselection to fill Mathias Cormann’s Senate seat set for November 7.

With Newspoll and Essential Research both having said their piece this week, there is likely to be a fortnight gap between federal polls. Not counting state and territory election action, which you can be assured you will be hearing more about shortly, there are two important preselections on the boil on the conservative side of politics:

• A situation is vacant for the Liberals in the Toowoomba-based federal seat of Groom following last week’s resignation announcement from John McVeigh, the member since 2016. In a column for the Brisbane Times, former Newman government minister and current 4BC presenter Scott Emerson says the vacancy presents an opportunity to head off a stoush over the order of the next Senate ticket between James McGrath and Amanda Stoker. The winner of this fight will get top position while the loser must settle for third, second being reserved for the Nationals. Emerson reports that this amounts to a battle between moderates and the Christian Right, of which McGrath is apparently one of the former. The suggestion is that Groom might give McGrath an opening, but in this he could face opposition from locals who support the claim of Toowoomba councillor Rebecca Vonhoff. Suggestions the seat might be of interest to another Senator, Matt Canavan, are complicated by the fact that he is a National, the sensitivity of which was illustrated when the LNP organisation blocked an attempt by the seat’s previous member, Ian Macfarlane, to jump ship from Liberal to the Nationals in 2015.

Nathan Hondros of WAToday reports the Liberals will hold their preselection to fill Mathias Cormann’s Western Australian Senate vacancy on November 7, with the winner to take third position on the party’s ticket at the next election behind Michaelia Cash and Dean Smith. There would appear to be three nominees: Julian Ambrose, stepson of the late Perth construction billionaire Len Buckeridge; Sherry Sufi, an arch-conservative party activist; and Albert Jacob, former state Environment Minister and current mayor of Joondalup, who emerged as a “last-minute nomination”. Jacob held the coastal northern suburbs seat of Ocean Reef from 2008 to 2017, when he was defeated in the landslide the tipped the Barnett government from office. Cormann is reportedly lobbying for Ambrose, and his backers are pressuring Sufi to withdraw.

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.

2,450 comments on “Preselections: Groom and WA Liberal Senate”

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  1. Morning all. Joel Fitzgibbon continues to defend the indefensible.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/26/labors-joel-fitzgibbon-threatens-to-quit-shadow-cabinet-over-emissions-target

    Rather than this crash or crash through approach, why doesn’t Fitzgibbon demand an alternative to doing nothing? Nobody is building new coal power stations so this is about the existing jobs of a few thousand workers, whose loss is inevitable, in a region in economic decline. Why not make Newcastle a centre for renewable technology? Or have a separation package for workers leaving the industry, or retraining assistance? (A fast rail link to Sydney would not hurt either.)

    Hawke successfully reformed the waterfronts in the 1980s using similar means, and there were a lot more of them. Fitzgibbon greatly overestimates the degre of community sympathy for workers in a very well paid industry that damages the planet. IF policy changes under the Liberals they will get nothing.

  2. If Matt Canavan was let go from the Ministry, so can Joel Fitzgibbon be let go from the Shadow Ministry, if that’s his choice. Though a word of caution. It’s not the seat of Hunter that is the problem, it’s the Queensland seats.

  3. Pauline Hanson’s One Nation sank $500,000 into a deeply troubled investment fund that has been likened to a multi-­million-dollar Ponzi scheme, blowing a hole in the party’s ­finances ahead of next month’s election in her home state of Queensland.

    Senator Hanson immediately distanced herself from the ­potentially disastrous investment in James Mawhinney’s stricken Mayfair Group, saying the decision was taken by the One Nation executive without her knowledge or consent. She emphasised it would not affect state election planning because the campaign budget had been set and separately secured.

    But party officials were scrambling on Friday to ascertain whether the money could be retrieved after provisional liquidators warned that investors in one of the company’s failed investment funds, promoted by its Mayfair 101 arm, may not recover a cent.

    The timing couldn’t be worse for the Hanson party, gearing up for the October 31 election that will make or break its fortunes at the state level in its electoral heartland.

    Returns to the Queensland Electoral Commission for the first six months of the year and filed under Senator Hanson’s name show the $500,000 was pumped into Mayfair Platinum debentures paying interest above the standard bank rate.

    After obtaining court orders banning Mr Mawhinney from promoting Mayfair’s M+ Fixed Income Notes and M Core Fixed Income Notes or signing up new customers for them, corporate regulator ASIC this month moved to have provisional liquidators appointed to Mayfair 101. Another Mayfair entity, the $80m IPO Wealth Fund, was frozen in July and the assets wound up.

  4. In news that will surprise nobody.

    A majority of Americans oppose efforts by President Trump and the Republican-led Senate to fill a Supreme Court vacancy before the presidential election, with most supporters of Democratic candidate Joe Biden saying the issue has raised the stakes of the election, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

    The Post-ABC poll, conducted Monday to Thursday, finds 38 percent of Americans say the replacement for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last week, should be nominated by Trump and confirmed by the current Senate, while 57 percent say it should be left to the winner of the presidential election and a Senate vote next year.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/poll-supreme-court-ginsburg-trump-biden/2020/09/25/0f634e6c-fe6a-11ea-8d05-9beaaa91c71f_story.html

  5. This is absolute crap from Pauline Hanson:

    Senator Hanson immediately distanced herself from the ­potentially disastrous investment in James Mawhinney’s stricken Mayfair Group, saying the decision was taken by the One Nation executive without her knowledge or consent.

    Everyone knows that Pauline Hanson is firstly, all about making money out of the One Nation vehicle, and secondly, nothing gets done and no decisions are made without her say so.

  6. Good morning Dawn Patrollers

    George Megalogenis explains why the other premiers all want Daniel Andrews to succeed.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/why-the-other-premiers-all-want-daniel-andrews-to-succeed-20200925-p55zbx.html
    The guts of this interesting contribution from Sean Kelly is, “Morrison’s habit of always keeping himself at a distance, in order to avoid full responsibility, carries a political risk, that voters will one day get sick of the dodging. But the more immediate risk is that, by keeping him from getting properly involved, his ability to make things happen is severely hampered. At some point, if he wants to deliver real change, Morrison is going to have to put his own authority on the line.”
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/while-scott-morrison-stays-true-to-form-china-is-setting-itself-up-for-the-future-20200925-p55z98.html
    Ross Gittins reminds the government of the supply side of the economic equation.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/it-won-t-be-just-the-budget-that-determines-the-speed-of-our-recovery-20200925-p55z67.html
    According to Katharine Murphy, Joel Fitzgibbon has threatened to quit the shadow cabinet if the opposition adopts a medium-term emissions reduction target he cannot live with.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/26/labors-joel-fitzgibbon-threatens-to-quit-shadow-cabinet-over-emissions-target
    Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters tell us that an Inspector-General’s report into alleged war crimes in the SAS and Commando regiments is expected to lay bare deep failures in the running of Australia’s elite military forces.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-warrior-culture-and-the-murders-that-followed-what-went-wrong-with-the-sas-20200924-p55yxd.html
    Shane Wright and Jennifer Duke write that Josh Frydenberg is poised to reveal a budget that will leave the economy in deficit until at least 2030 and government debt of $1.5 trillion, some of the nation’s pre-eminent economists believe, as the coronavirus recession delivers a generational blow to the nation’s finances.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/economists-predict-budget-deficit-up-to-270-billion-even-bigger-debts-to-come-20200925-p55z81.html
    But Wright says this is a budget that will be built on unknowns.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/this-budget-will-be-unlike-any-other-built-on-unknowns-20200925-p55z84.html
    Lucy Battersby explains how the insolvency industry fears government rules keeping failing businesses alive during the COVID-19 economic crisis could lead to a massive wave of phoenixing and create a stockpile of non-viable businesses. This is a bit of a worry.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/fears-over-the-growing-stockpile-of-zombie-companies-20200916-p55w6i.html
    Anne Davies describes “phoenixing” and the effects that it has.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/25/phoenixing-how-unscrupulous-dealers-rise-debt-free-from-the-ashes-of-failed-companies
    Adele Ferguson doesn’t hold back in saying the government’s move to trash lending rules during a recession is a recipe for disaster. She writes that now the restrictions have been relaxed, more and more people desperate to pay their debts will dig themselves into even deeper holes.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/the-government-s-move-to-trash-lending-rules-during-a-recession-is-a-recipe-for-disaster-20200925-p55z7j.html
    Do you want banks to run your life asks Michael Pascoe as he looks at the latest changes to lending rules.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/consumer/2020/09/26/responsible-lending-frydenberg-pascoe/
    Industrial relations reform talks have been breached again as the deadline approaches, writes William Olson.
    https://theaimn.com/industrial-relations-reform-talks-breached-again-as-deadline-approaches/
    Tony Abbott has a lot to answer for. The former prime minister’s judgement on the national broadband network, climate and energy have led to costly and embarrassing failures writes Paul Bongiorno.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2020/09/26/ripping-tony-abbotts-legacy/160104240010483
    Alan Finkel declares that we don’t have to choose between the economy and lower emissions. He basically endorsed Taylor’s energy road map.
    https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/we-don-t-have-to-choose-between-the-economy-and-lower-emissions-20200925-p55z5q.html
    Scott Morrison says that under his government Australia will reduce its emissions at no cost – no cost to households, no cost to jobs. But the only way he can do that is with a price says the editorial in The Saturday Paper.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/editorial/2020/09/26/price-right/160104240010481
    The case for an Australian federal anti-corruption watchdog is more compelling after a troubling week opines Katharine Murphy. She goes into considerable detail to make her point.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/26/the-case-for-an-australian-federal-anti-corruption-watchdog-is-more-compelling-after-a-troubling-week
    Hundreds of former Australian defence personnel claim they’re suffering life-threatening cancers and strange illnesses as a result of exposure to toxic fuel, but are being ignored by the Department of Veterans Affairs, reports Cait Kelly.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2020/09/26/defence-force-toxic-jet-fuel/
    On everything from policies regarding water capture to koalas, the NSW Nationals – led by the controversial John Barilaro – are fast losing popularity with their rusted-on constituents and the support of their own party members, says Mike Seccombe.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2020/09/26/nsw-nationals-over-barilaro/160104240010477
    More elite Sydney schools have been drawn into the ‘criminal’ muck-up day fiasco. Nice types!
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/more-elite-sydney-schools-drawn-into-criminal-muck-up-day-fiasco-20200924-p55yuj.html
    After restricting who can return to Australia and who can travel overseas, the government is now scrambling to tidy up the legalities around a confusing and ad hoc system of applying for exemptions, reveals Karen Middleton.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/law-crime/2020/09/26/travel-restrictions-clouded-legal-uncertainty/160104240010476
    On a hectic day, the decision to put private security guards in hotel quarantine seemed to emerge from nowhere. The inquiry has narrowed that decision down to a series of texts and six minutes of nothing explains Michael Bachelard.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victoria/the-six-missing-minutes-at-the-heart-of-the-hotel-quarantine-mystery-20200925-p55zdn.html
    Josh Taylor outlines Dan Andrew’s testimony to the hotel quarantine inquiry yesterday.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/25/daniel-andrews-tells-inquiry-jenny-mikakos-responsible-for-victoria-hotel-quarantine-program
    Meanwhile The Saturday Paper reveals that almost four months after Victoria’s second wave of Covid-19 broke out, following failures in the state’s hotel quarantine system, there has been a string of further positive cases among staff at quarantine hotels – again involving private contractors.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2020/09/26/exclusive-new-covid-19-cases-among-staff-hotel-quarantine/160104240010474
    Just because we are governed by clowns it doesn’t mean we have to laugh writes John Lord.
    https://theaimn.com/just-because-we-are-governed-by-clowns-it-doesnt-mean-we-have-to-laugh/
    The Reserve Bank is unlikely to achieve its inflation target for at least half a decade, with leading economists predicting prolonged low interest rates could lead to households taking on risky levels of debt and overheating the stock market.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/inflation-to-miss-rba-target-for-half-a-decade-say-top-economists-20200925-p55z4a.html
    According to demographer Liz Allen, Population growth is on track to be at its lowest level since World War I while the nation’s fertility rate – the number of children a woman will have over her lifetime – is likely to fall to its lowest rate on record. Shane Wright explains what this, and other things, will mean for our long term economic future.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/we-re-in-deep-strife-fertility-wipe-out-set-to-derail-covid-19-recovery-20200922-p55y4z.html
    The Joint Strike Fighter has been plagued by problems since it was just a sketch on a paper plane, when in 2002 John Howard jumped the gun and committed to buying them. But the F-35 still has its champions in Australia with some wanting to buy 200 to get ready for a war with China. This is more of a work scheme for aircraft maintenance personnel than a cost-effective contribution to the defence of Australia, writes Brian Toohey.
    https://www.michaelwest.com.au/king-of-lemons-australia-swindled-by-lockheed-martin-and-its-joint-strike-fighter/
    Anthony Galloway writes that Scott Morrison will warn world leaders against seeking to profit from the pandemic if they find a vaccine and he will raise the alarm on disinformation campaigns.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/humanity-a-severe-judge-morrison-to-use-un-speech-to-urge-nations-to-share-vaccine-20200925-p55z7w.html
    Rick Morton writes that, according to new analysis prepared by the sector’s peak body, the government’s proposed changes to higher education funding will cut $2 billion a year from university research budgets.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2020/09/26/coalition-cut-2-billion-year-university-research/160104240010465
    The AFR’s Jill Margo writes that a growing number of scientists are calling on the government to invest in monoclonal antibody therapy and create the next CSL.
    https://www.afr.com/policy/health-and-education/the-vaccine-alternative-no-one-is-talking-about-20200924-p55yqb
    The Australian’s Jamie Walker tells us that Pauline Hanson’s One Nation sank $500,000 into a deeply troubled investment fund that has been likened to a multi-­million-dollar Ponzi scheme, blowing a hole in the party’s finances ahead of next month’s election in her home state of Queensland. What a pity!
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/pauline-hansons-one-nation-likely-to-take-big-hit-on-bad-investment/news-story/663ca9e4c97a5652d56ad919f1e9e8e2
    Nick Bonyhady reports that the Electrical Trades Union says the solar industry’s employment and safety practices don’t match up with its progressive reputation.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/labour-standards-a-fault-line-in-union-s-embrace-of-renewables-20200923-p55ydu.html
    Far from being a pipe dream, the likes of Telstra, TPG and Optus are confident they can use 5G technology to lure a bigger chunk of homes away from the NBN.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/nbn-v-5g-the-broadband-battle-is-about-to-heat-up-20200924-p55yz5.html
    Gerry Georgatos, who works at poverty’s coalfaces, argues that on average each year, 5% of Australia’s street homeless die on the streets.
    https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/australias-homeless–third-highest-rate-and-street-homeless-deaths-increasing,14344
    Canberra’s religious schools have attacked Labor over its stance on school funding models and the recently passed gay conversion legislation. Barr has told them they are talking rubbish.
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6941964/blatant-propaganda-catholic-christian-schools-blast-labor-over-gay-conversion-ban-and-funding-models/?cs=14225
    Greg Sheridan thinks Trump and Biden are courting civil war on Ruth Bader Ginsberg replacement.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/trump-and-biden-court-civil-war-on-ruth-bader-ginsberg-replacement/news-story/26a08cdf57fe4781fa485a023348c472
    Time is starting to run out for Donald Trump in his war against the opinion polls, getting on for just one month before the U.S. Presidential Election on 3 November writes Lee Duffield.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/donald-trump-doing-it-tough-down-in-dixie,14348
    Jonathan Freedland believes Donald Trump’s plot against democracy could break America apart.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/25/donald-trump-democracy-america-conservatives-power-us
    Tom McCarthy says that the attorney general, William Barr, has been giving misleading statements on election integrity, and, critics say, has a deep sense of mission about re-electing the president
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/25/bill-barr-donald-trump-election-steal-fears
    Boris Johnson is delaying the inevitable again – and watching as Covid-19 surges writes Polly Toynbee..
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/25/boris-johnson-covid-19-surges

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  7. Holdenhillbilly says: Saturday, September 26, 2020 at 7:11 am
    “Pauline Hanson’s One Nation sank $500,000 into a deeply troubled investment fund that has been likened to a multi-­million-dollar Ponzi scheme, blowing a hole in the party’s…”

    All together now…1…2…3…aaaawwww…
    Greed and zero business knowledge strikes again.

  8. This guy is a Duke University Law student and founder of The Trump Administration Accountability Project:


    Robert J. DeNault
    @robertjdenault
    Ahead of hearing at 2nd Circuit tmrw, Manhattan DA says they are investigating why “between 2004-2014, Trump faced billions in liabilities and yet somehow had money to purchase ‘five houses, eight golf courses and a winery,’ including land in Scotland, for $400 million in cash.”

    More: in motion supporting its investigation, DA points to public reports that Trump’s money spree was “facilitated by ‘unconventional’ borrowing beginning in 2012.” This is for the second round of Trump’s appeal to block the DA from obtaining his tax and accounting records.

    “Reports allege that in 2012, Trump Org entities paid $48 million in satisfaction of $130 million debt related to Trump Tower Chicago. The Trump Org *claimed publicly* it purchased the rest of the debt and that it remains on Trump books as a debt from one subsidiary to another.”

    Note that DA wrote Trump Org “claimed publicly” it bought rest of the debt. This debt has long been the source of scrutiny by news outlets and other financial experts. It made no sense. Did something else happen behind closed doors?

    Manhattan DA has gone to great lengths to maintain secrecy of its probe. It subpoenaed Deutsche Bank docs a year ago—no one knew until August 2020. In motion, it points to specific public reporting to explain and justify its work in order to avoid revealing anything. And yet…

    There are hundreds—if not thousands—of reports about Trump’s finances. The ones the DA is choosing to cite directly to support its investigation aren’t random. They are breadcrumbs.

    DA showing what the investigation is targeting without breaking secrecy or revealing its hand.

    DA is pointing to 8 reports about specific instances of possible Trump financial crimes.

    Want to understand better? Read my piece from May explaining what might be hiding in Trump’s Deutsche Bank records (which NYT reports Manhattan DA *already has*).
    What Congress Might Find in Trump’s Deutsche Bank Records
    https://forensicnews.net/2020/05/08/what-congress-might-find-in-trumps-deutsche-bank-records/

    Safe to say DA is focused on tax fraud, bank fraud, and other types of financial crimes. But revealing those crimes may include *finally* unraveling how Donald Trump secured $2 billion in loans from Deutsche Bank—the world’s Russian laundromat—when no other bank would touch him.

  9. Josh Frydebudget and The Artful Dodger are going to leave behind a real economic clusterfrackup:

    Lucy Battersby explains how the insolvency industry fears government rules keeping failing businesses alive during the COVID-19 economic crisis could lead to a massive wave of phoenixing and create a stockpile of non-viable businesses. This is a bit of a worry.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/fears-over-the-growing-stockpile-of-zombie-companies-20200916-p55w6i.html
    Anne Davies describes “phoenixing” and the effects that it has.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/sep/25/phoenixing-how-unscrupulous-dealers-rise-debt-free-from-the-ashes-of-failed-companies

    As the Phoenixes preen their feathers and lick their lips.

  10. “Socratessays:
    Saturday, September 26, 2020 at 6:52 am
    Morning all. Joel Fitzgibbon continues to defend the indefensible.”

    Fitzgibbon is simply expressing the views of the majority in his electorate. If he is gone, the replacement will be a Nationals/Liberal who will be far, far worse.

    At this stage, going to the backbench is the best option for Fitzgibbon. The ALP has clear renewables policies, and policies on fossil fuels that do not involve stopping their extraction and export overnight, but the replacement will happen with the ALP over time, whereas it will never happen with the Coalition.

    The Greens are welcome to go on the attack in the Hunter (just as they did in Northern Queensland in the lead up to the last Federal election), but if the ALP is defeated and the Coalition wins, will they take responsibility for that?…. No, they won’t…. they never do….

    So, calm down with this Fitzgibbon brouhaha… it can only help the Coalition!

  11. This story is almost as tragic as Hanson’s One Nation losing that $5ook.

    The Vatican has finally sacked a cardinal (and quickly) for committing the gravest of sins. He allegedly misappropriated Vatican funds to give to his brothers over a luxury house investment in London 😀
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54289839

    Speaking of corruption, I see Josh is planning an insolvency-led recovery. Certainly a novel approach.

    Have a good day all.

  12. Far from being a pipe dream, the likes of Telstra, TPG and Optus are confident they can use 5G technology to lure a bigger chunk of homes away from the NBN.

    Well of course they would feel that given the Malcolm Turnbull Mess it competes against.

  13. Earlier, I heard part of Morrison’s recorded speech to the UN.

    Against my inclination (aka prejudice) I must admit that it was well-written, well delivered and obviously well rehearsed. Compliments to his speech writer. I’m sure that foreigners listening would be impressed.

    If only I could believe in the PM’s sincerity.

  14. lizzie,
    However, the question is, was anybody listening? Maybe it was only really meant for a domestic audience and I’m sure the social media crew already have it distributed to Morrison’s legions of fans. (Now where the hell is that sarcasm emoji! 😆 )

  15. The VicLibs now have the bit between their teeth and are racing away at the head of the pack to blame Andrews for “hundreds of deaths”. MegaGeorge has a more balanced view.

    Victoria’s willingness to adapt, although not perfect, contrasts with the approach of the Morrison government in its direct line of responsibility, aged care. There hasn’t been an equivalent reimagining of the Commonwealth’s privatised system where up to 100 residents a week were being killed by COVID-19 at the peak of the Victorian outbreak. Remember, aged care has been at the epicentre of both coronavirus waves in Australia and is linked to 60 per cent of all deaths in NSW, and 80 per cent of the much larger toll in Victoria.

    https://www.smh.com.au/national/why-the-other-premiers-all-want-daniel-andrews-to-succeed-20200925-p55zbx.html

  16. Good Morning

    Socrates nailed it.
    Even Morrison is doing the same policy of boosting coal as Fitzgibbon

    Lizzie and Cat

    At least Morrison can use his marketing of facts to make Australia look good on the world stage. Thanks to the sacrifices of particularly Victorians.

    That does give Australia moral authority to speak on sharing the vaccine. Thanks to agreeing with unions in the form of Sally McManus Morrison is even looking good on the economy.

    I am happy his marketing is for equality in health on the world stage. Given vaccine nationalism it may be the most important international intervention Australia makes this decade

  17. Expect an announcement today (tomorrow).

    President Trump has told people around him that on Saturday he plans to nominate federal appeals court Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a nominee, who if confirmed, would ensure a solid conservative majority on the high court for years to come, according to people familiar with the matter.

    Democrats have little chance to block the nominee, but a bitter Senate battle looms in the weeks ahead of the Nov. 3 election, the results of which Trump has said may end up before the high court.

    Barrett’s confirmation would replace a liberal icon with a deeply conservative jurist whose views suggest she might vote to further limit abortion rights, an issue that animates conservative Republicans and evangelical voters.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/name-supreme-court-trump/2020/09/25/618d6eac-fc53-11ea-b555-4d71a9254f4b_story.html

  18. Alpo

    The question for Labor is why is Fitzgibbon in Shadow Cabinet?

    He is holding Labor back and destroying a coherent environment policy.
    Remember Martin Ferguson. Et Al. Fitzgibbon looks from outside being his way or the highway

  19. It would be interesting to have some indepth analysis on Hunter and in particular the electors’ views on coal.
    My gut feeling at the time was that the big swings against Joel were in the rust bucket areas of the electorate which rank among the most under-privileged areas in the nation and where there has been no coal mining for decades. I have relatives in Cessnock who were angered that Labor’s policies were aimed at the middle class (increased child care funding for workers) rather than the under class.
    In short if Joel thinks he will be saved by supporting coal, he doesn’t understand the cause of the anger in his electorate.
    I may be wrong which is why analysis would be interesting

  20. Meanwhile Lindsey Graham was on Hannity this week literally begging for financial support for his campaign for re election.
    The same Lindsey who said in 2016, that Obama shouldn’t nominate a new justice in February as it was an election year, and now doesnt think it applies.

    Wondering what the Lincoln Project have in mind for dear Lindsey……..

    Rick Wilson
    @TheRickWilson
    Although I am in the
    @ProjectLincoln
    secure undisclosed location, I may have just given it away by laughing so loudly it could be heard in neighboring states.

    It regards Lindsey.

  21. Andrew Leigh
    @ALeighMP
    · 22h
    In March, billionaire Solomon Lew tearfully called Frydenberg to ask the govt to introduce JobKeeper https://afr.com/politics/federal/tearful-lew-spoke-to-treasurer-after-standing-down-12-000-20200331-p54fq6.
    His firm got around $45m in JobKeeper. It just announced huge profits & $57m dividend. Lew will personally get over $20m.
    https://afr.com/companies/retail/solomon-lew-s-premier-investments-in-profit-bonanza-20200924-p55yvx #auspol

  22. Barney in Tanjung Bunga
    It is what it makes Labor appear to the electorate. Mordor Media love it, just as they did with Marn Fer’sun. I can assure you their enthusiasm is not due to love of Labor.

  23. Barney in Tanjung Bunga @ #38 Saturday, September 26th, 2020 – 8:56 am

    guytaur @ #35 Saturday, September 26th, 2020 – 6:51 am

    Barney

    I did not say was.

    I said Fitzgibbon is stopping Labor having a coherent environment policy

    And I asked for the evidence for your statement and you provide something that you admit is not Labor policy.

    How can one person override many?

    Fitzy is demonstrating exactly how you oppose something you don’t like, while pretending all the while to be a loyal party member. Perhaps he learned the technique from Rudd – Rudd knew how to do it as well.

    Labor as a whole could perhaps learn a few tricks from both of them. Of course, they would also need to learn to do it to the government, and not just to each other.

  24. We can add the relaxing of bank rules re lending, and allowing business to trade insolvent to the list.

    This is seriously the worst govt.

    Meanwhile the wonderful Herald Sun has Daniel Andrew’s on front page with caption, you failed us.

    Michael Stapleton
    @cashflowjedi
    ·
    11h
    Replying to
    @GeorgeBludger
    Tudge…criminal behaviour says Federal Court judge.

    Fletcher…pays 10x value for a piece of land in Leppington.

    Frydenberg…forget debt and deficit.

    Fletcher…NBN better with fibre to the home.

    It’d be funny, ‘cept it’s not.

  25. Victoria @ #45 Saturday, September 26th, 2020 – 9:05 am

    We can add the reading if bank rules and allowing business to trade insolvent to the list.

    This is seriously the worst govt.

    Meanwhile the wonderful Herald Sun has Daniel Andrew’s on front page with caption, you failed us.

    Michael Stapleton
    @cashflowjedi
    ·
    11h
    Replying to
    @GeorgeBludger
    Tudge…criminal behaviour says Federal Court judge.

    Fletcher…pays 10x value for a piece of land in Leppington.

    Frydenberg…forget debt and deficit.

    Fletcher…NBN better with fibre to the home.

    It’d be funny, ‘cept it’s not.

    So, to follow on from yesterday…..this post is,
    REPETITION on a theme.
    ‘This is seriously the worst govt’

    Yes. We know.

  26. And what is absolutely laughable about the Herald Sun newscorpse journos that often appear on sky news, who are pummeling Dan Andrews day in day out.

    They are cheering for the re election of Trump.

    Vomit inducing stuff.

  27. Fitzgibbon surely has to go to the backbench. You can’t have a shadow minister repeatedly undermining their party and leader the way he is.

    I wish he’d just piss off, already. When has ever done anything that was actually to Labor’s benefit? He was a failure as a minister, spent most of the Gillard years white-anting for Rudd and contributing to the “chaos” narrative with some spectacularly unhelpful media appearances, and now just pops up every so often to bitch about climate action, sow disunity, and contradict his own party.

  28. Vic:

    McConnell and Graham soliciting donations is surely an indication of how vulnerable they feel. Considering they’re both from red states it’s incredible really.

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