Before proceeding with the latest preselection news, I have a still-active post with daily updates on the progress of Tasmanian state election count; a live results feature that I can’t promote often enough, since it remains by some distance the most detailed source of results data available; and a lengthy plea for cash from Friday from which I’m still vaguely hopeful of squeezing another donation or two.
On with the show:
• The long-awaited Liberal National Party Senate preselection has allocated top position on the Queensland ticket to James McGrath while relegating Amanda Stoker to third, maintaining an impressive bipartisan run of preselectors never getting anything right. Michael McKenna of The Australian relates that McGrath secured a sweeping 212-101 win from the “biggest ever turnout for a State Council Senate vote”. The second position is designated to the Nationals, and is duly a lock for Matt Canavan.
• Paul Starick of The Advertiser reports that Leah Blyth, who has the backing of the South Australian Liberal Party’s conservative faction to replace the retiring Nicolle Flint in the Adelaide seat of Boothby, may be poleaxed by the Section 44 of the Constitution. Blyth’s efforts to renounce a dual British citizenship even this far out from the election could fall foul of extended processing times arising from COVID-19, although others quoted in the report express doubt that it will really be a problem. Rival contenders include Rachel Swift, moderate-aligned proprietor of a health consultancy firm, and Shaun Osborn, a police officer who ran in the seat of Adelaide in 2019. However, Osborn is hampered by the optics of putting a man forward to replace Flint, whose experiences have been a key element in Liberal efforts to parry suggestions that disrespect for women is particularly a problem on their own side of politics.
• John Ferguson of The Australian reports dissension within Victorian Labor over the likelihood that former state secretary Sam Rae will secure preselection for the new seat of Hawke on Melbourne’s north-western fringe. The report says a draft preselection agreement reserves the seat for the Right faction Transport Workers Union, which remains associated with party powerbroker and former Senator Stephen Conroy. While Conroy evidently backs Rae, “other parts” of the Right are said to favour the position going to a woman, specifically Natalie Hutchins, the Andrews government Corrections Minister and member for the seat of Sydenham.
• Matthew Denholm of The Australian reported last week that “wholesale ALP federal intervention” loomed for the party’s Tasmanian branch, “barring a shock win for the party” at Saturday’s state election – which, for those of you who have just joined us, didn’t happen. The concern is that Left unions use their excessive weight within the branch’s affairs to do foolish things like deny preselection to Dean Winter, who was able to achieve his thumping win in Franklin on Saturday only because the national executive intervened to give him a place on the ticket. This would appear to be relevant to Labor’s preselections for the federal seat of Bass and Braddon, which it lost at the 2019 election, and also to the fate of twice-defeated state leader Rebecca White. The aforesaid Left unions are apparently keen on replacing her with David O’Byrne, who was outpolled in Franklin on Saturday by the aforesaid Dean Winter.
• The Liberal Party has done tellingly extensive research for its submission opposing the registration of a party under the name New Liberals, which included CT Group polling indicating that 69% of respondents believed a party thus named sounded like it had a connection with the other Liberal Party.
poroti says:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 11:10 am
You better tell Alpha Zero.
C@tmomma @ #891 Wednesday, May 5th, 2021 – 11:09 am
Thought there was never any real doubt on that, just politically motivated noises from the political class?
Bucephalussays:
How are we comparing to NZ?
____________________________
Australia Pfizer/BioNTechOxford/AstraZeneca 2,260,615 8,970
New Zealand Pfizer/BioNTech 232,588 4,863
This is NZ Modelling (what was promised) v current rollout:
From https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-data-and-statistics/covid-19-vaccine-data#by-day
Here is Australia v planned rollout:
Australia planned to have 10 Million doses delivered by the 10th of May (they’ve got to do a lazy 8 Million doses in 5 days to hit that milestone).
The NZ program has been slower to proceed, but there wasn’t a high level of BS with what was announced…
PM talking about disaster recovery plans.
“Boots on the ground and a beating heart on the other side of the table.”
I wonder who created that phrase for him.
Bucephalus
Piss poor performance from your Team Blue clowns .They had a down hill run by having access to 1,000,000 doses a week of locally manufactured vaccine. Now remind us again how many millions of inoculations behind schedule the incompetent Minister of Health and his boss have put us ?
lizzie @ #902 Wednesday, May 5th, 2021 – 11:17 am
And what does it mean … if anything ❓
Morrison can’t quite control his ministers. He calls it a “pause”, but every minister (and the ABC) calls it a ban.
lizzie
As Poorlene once said “Please explain?” . What on earth is Scrott on about ? Someone in a coma would do according to Scotty 🙂
poroti @ #901 Wednesday, May 5th, 2021 – 11:13 am
Yes. Funny that. Sheesh, I can still remember like it was last year (oh wait, it was 😆 ) when I first read about the cytokine storms that children suffered from when they contracted COVID-19 and what came back from the so-called adults in the room was, the usual spin of, we don’t even know if it’s COVID-19 causing it! I tell you, if an adult suffered like that they would believe it was real. Poor kids. Not to mention the Long Covid that a lot of teenagers and young adults seem to be suffering from as well. ME and probably MS and Parkinsons down the track as well is my semi-educated guess, considering how COVID-19 targets neurones.
Greg Hunt’s line was “underpromising and overdelivering”.
Nobody forced him to say that, or to subsequently underdeliver on (what turned out to be) his overpromising.
poroti
It was in the middle of bluster about how people were often too proud to ask for help, but he had fixed this by going through the man’s son. Nothing on what was actually achieved.
lizzie says:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 11:17 am
PM talking about disaster recovery plans.
“Boots on the ground and a beating heart on the other side of the table.”
I wonder who created that phrase for him.
One thing is certain: Morrison would not come up this language all-own-his-own. It’s also a completely different idiom from daggy dad goes to Bunnings and then gets pissed and pours beer over himself.
Morrison is a parody.
KayJay @ #907 Wednesday, May 5th, 2021 – 11:20 am
The Empathy Coach probably suggested the phrase to Scotty from Hands On Ministries.
What it means? I care about you poor homeless people who have been subject to the vicissitudes of Global Heating. And that’s about it. Money? Hah! In yer dreams!
Murray Watt is right up there in my estimation.
Nsays: Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 11:34 am
One thing is certain: Morrison would not come up this language all-own-his-own. It’s also a completely different idiom from daggy dad goes to Bunnings and then gets pissed and pours beer over himself.
Morrison is a parody.
********************************************************************
Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them.
With Morrison it is all three.
Even among other men lacking distinction in the Lib party he inevitably stands out as a man lacking more distinction than all the rest, and people who meet him are said to be impressed by how unimpressive he is …..
Alpha Zero says:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 11:17 am
And the reasons for the gap between the original schedule and the current rate has been adequately explained ad nauseum.
You don’t set stretch targets for yourself? Don’t have leadership who ask you for stretch targets? Not willing to bit off more than you can chew and chew like hell?
KayJay @ #905 Wednesday, May 5th, 2021 – 11:20 am
I am guessing it refers to the ancient Aztec ritual of human sacrifice, which was to extract the still beating heart of the person and offer it to the gods.
Even given the other disgusting things Liberals get up to across the tables in parliament house, this one seems a little extreme.
Bucephalus @ #915 Wednesday, May 5th, 2021 – 11:36 am
So 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 shouldn’t be a problem then?
Hey, poroti, I believe you are in WA. Are you holding McGowan’s feet to the fire over the continuing delays in the tunneling for the airport rail? How many years late is it going to be now? +2 years? Or is that program delay ok by you?
N @ #911 Wednesday, May 5th, 2021 – 11:34 am
It is EXACTLY the sort of stupid thing he would come up with himself. Typical meaningless salesman talk.
ajm says:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 11:42 am
“So 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 shouldn’t be a problem then?”
I don’t actually give a flyin f^&*. I’d prefer we increased our CO2 emissions.
Bucephalus @ #920 Wednesday, May 5th, 2021 – 11:47 am
Sacrificing people one at a time doesn’t do it for you any more? You want to go for the whole species?
One of the reasons voters are disenchanted with politics is the obvious sense in which so much of it is make-believe. The transparent image making and re-making really means it’s just a kind of fantasy. It’s constructed, just like reality tv. It is not about anything real at all. It is kabuki performed for the benefit and amusement of the players. It’s no wonder at all that voters ignore it. Perhaps that is the main purpose of political marketing – to drive voters into alienation.
Bucephalus says:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 11:47 am
I don’t actually give a flyin f^&*. I’d prefer we increased our CO2 emissions.
One of the more spectacularly idiotic grunts by a Lib in recent times.
N @ #922 Wednesday, May 5th, 2021 – 11:49 am
Precisely. The problem for the practitioners is that eventually these tactics smash hard into the reality of people’s lived experience. That’s when politics get really interesting and I think we’re about there.
ajm says:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 11:45 am
N @ #911 Wednesday, May 5th, 2021 – 11:34 am
lizzie says:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 11:17 am
PM talking about disaster recovery plans.
“Boots on the ground and a beating heart on the other side of the table.”
I wonder who created that phrase for him.
One thing is certain: Morrison would not come up this language all-own-his-own. It’s also a completely different idiom from daggy dad goes to Bunnings and then gets pissed and pours beer over himself.
Morrison is a parody.
It is EXACTLY the sort of stupid thing he would come up with himself. Typical meaningless salesman talk.
Nah. Morrison is very fucking stupid. Very stupid.
I believe Promo is in FNQ touring a naval facility. He apparently instructed his entourage of Melissa Price and Warren Entch that today was going to be ‘daggy bogan day’…
porotisays:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 11:20 am
“Piss poor performance from your Team Blue clowns .They had a down hill run by having access to 1,000,000 doses a week of locally manufactured vaccine. Now remind us again how many millions of inoculations behind schedule the incompetent Minister of Health and his boss have put us ?”
I don’t actually care because by the time of the next election the vast majority of Australians will be vaccinated and the Government will have achieved that and all the ALP will be known for is carping about the Government response without having done one positive thing to help. Whine, whine, whine – everything from the ALP is whine.
Meanwhile the Victorian ALP Government continues to f^&^* up HQ – they finally sacked some staff who should have been sacked but weren’t until the media outed them. (Being Public Servants – they probably aren’t sacked – just have a nice fully paid holiday without burning leave credits and then slid sideways into another cushy position.)
Bucephalus @ #911 Wednesday, May 5th, 2021 – 11:36 am
1. We bet heavily on a single vaccine provider
2. We didn’t bother putting adequate fallback mechanisms in place to cover issues with that vaccine
3. We also didn’t bother investing in domestic mRNA vaccine production at the start of the pandemic
I suppose you could describe those things as “adequately explained”, but the explanation is far from adequate. This degree of laziness, incompetence, arrogance, and lack of foresight shouldn’t be acceptable.
Putting all our eggs in one basket was a “stretch target”?
Sourcing enough vaccine, from multiple providers, to fully vaccinate our population 3-4 times over would have been a stretch target. And provided some safeguard against one basket turning out to be full of rotten eggs.
Look at the US situation; on track to have a billion-dose surplus by the end of the year, while we can’t even get through Phase-1b.
N says:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 11:53 am
“Nah. Morrison is very fucking stupid. Very stupid.”
He’s that stupid that he managed to become the PM. I’d like to be that stupid. Unfortunately I aren’t and Mrs B won’t let me go in to politics because we’ve seen it up close and personal. Meanwhile you are N.
sprocket_ @ #926 Wednesday, May 5th, 2021 – 11:53 am
They must be really worried about losing seats in North Queensland. A good omen I reckon.
I think stupid is the wrong word. Self-serving, contractional, single-minded are all more appropriate.
a r says:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 11:54 am
“1. We bet heavily on a single vaccine provider” – pretty sure there are two. Plus there was the one in Queensland that got shut down. But you make up your own story.
Bucephalus says:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 11:57 am
N says:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 11:53 am
“Nah. Morrison is very fucking stupid. Very stupid.”
He’s that stupid that he managed to become the PM. I’d like to be that stupid. Unfortunately I aren’t and Mrs B won’t let me go in to politics because we’ve seen it up close and personal. Meanwhile you are N.
Indeed.
Morrison is PM. What a fuck up. What an absolute fuck up. He is the fruit of a political culture that rewards ignorance, deceit and stupidity. He is a dumb fuck. We are all the lesser for it.
Bucephalus
Vaccine number claims , stretch targets or bullshitting people ? So hard to decide when it is Morrison and Hunt doing the talking 😆
Bucephalus @ #929 Wednesday, May 5th, 2021 – 11:57 am
He listened to advice and showed discipline when he won. Now he thinks he can wing it and get the same result. My popcorn supply chain is in place.
@dave
“ U.S. Proposes G-7 Coordination to Counter China’s Might”
____
More delusional madness.
The G7 is a relic best consigned to history.
Now it’s going to be recycled and rebadged as another ‘counter China’ pact where countries talk about and strategise against China rather than engaging with China.
Biden: that red ‘hotline’ phone ringing on your desk? That the late 19th century wanting its geopolitics back.
Of course, the Morrison government clapping from the sidelines represents another trashing of the successful diplomatic triumphs of bringing America, China and Russia together with the middle powers in the Asia-Pacific via APEC and also the amazing achievements of Peter Costello (of all people) and Kevin Rudd to turn the G20 into the premier geopolitical forum – one which put us front and centre as a player and a forum that had ALL the relevant world powers at the table.
Ultimately the world will need to resolve ‘the rise of China’ issue by either talks or a cold or hot war. The use of The Quad and now the G7 pushes the dial dramatically towards the war option.
World gone mad. War without end.
Bu
“I don’t actually give a flyin f^&*. I’d prefer we increased our CO2 emissions.”
Yes. Your preference was never in doubt. I know you don’t care what the Greens think (and I empathise with you here). However, your stance puts you at odds with market forces. Capitalism is killing of fossil fuel industries.
The near-total obliteration of the WA State Liberals can be attributed to Morrison, of course. He is a dumb fuck. He won’t be welcome by the voters in this State. Queenslanders are wise to him. The rest of Australia will catch on.
“Matiu Bush, general manager of COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria’s Infection Prevention and Control program, refused to take a mandatory COVID test and breached infection control protocols. Despite being warned by health staff that e-cigarette mist could promote viral spread, a frontline medical officer defiantly vaped inside a quarantine hotel. Then there was the airconditioning fiasco. Outside air running into the Parkroyal hotel at Melbourne Airport, where an outbreak happened in January, was switched off every night for 10 to 14 hours to “save energy” — in high summer. The stuffy conditions and contaminants, including viral particles, built up in rooms overnight, creating a transmission hazard.”
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/editorials/victorias-treacherous-hotel-quarantine-failure-exposed/news-story/d3a97eb7696eaed88567891574338daf
A President or Prime Minister who works hard and worries about his country tends to lose weight during his term in office. I notice that Morrison is porking up nicely. In profile he now wears a very fat shirt.
Are Morrison, Entsch and Price the twerker dancers for today?
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/apr/14/twerking-among-top-brass-the-inappropriate-dance-routine-the-australian-navy-tried-to-hide
N says:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 12:04 pm
“The near-total obliteration of the WA State Liberals can be attributed to Morrison”
No, that was purely self-inflicted.
GG, I recall Clive Palmer put on a twerking exhibition prior to the last election – maybe they can rope him in to the display?
Kakuru says:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 12:04 pm
N
“I don’t actually give a flyin f^&*. I’d prefer we increased our CO2 emissions.”
Yes. Your preference was never in doubt. I know you don’t care what the Greens think (and I emphasise with you here). However, your stance puts you at odds with market forces. Capitalism is killing of fossil fuel industries.
I was quoting the Lib, Bucaphalus. My life work, savings and daily living have been destroyed by climate change. The greenhouse effect reduced me to destitution. I have to rebuild. It’s not easy.
The grunting of Bucephalus in favour of CO2 is just idiotic. It’s just marginally more idiotic than the political strategies of the Greens, which keep the idiot Libs in power.
Bucephalus @11:49
I don’t actually give a flyin [fig?]. I’d prefer we increased our CO2 emissions.
I think that this is the real attitude of most Liberals and Nationals. While the official position now is to be seen to accept the science rather than outright denial, I don’t think that the position has really changed since 2008 when one Liberal Member of Parliament said to Phil Coorey: “at the [2007] election we supported an ETS because we were staring at an electoral abyss. We had to pretend we cared.” (SMH, 28 JULY 2008). Of course now after a decade of furious campaigning and disinformation from the political Right and their business and media allies, an ETS is no longer politically doable in Australia.
And I think, like Bucephalus, many “liberals” would actually like to increase emissions just to annoy lefties, environmentalists, communists, latte drinkers, inner city trendies, the ABC, climate scientists and other class enemies.
N says:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 12:01 pm
“He is the fruit of a political culture that rewards ignorance, deceit and stupidity.” How is the ALP travelling? Outside of WA there doesn’t appear to be an ALP Government sailing upright.
Sprocket,
He had the moves.
https://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/videos/clive-palmer-twerking/20030/
lizzie
He looked to have trimmed down a bit for a while but that photo says he is now back in a very good paddock.
lizzie says:
Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at 12:05 pm
Churchill – just to name one.