Before we proceed, please note a) the post below on electoral developments in California, Canada and Germany courtesy of Adrian Beaumont, and b) the fact that tomorrow is the day of the by-election for the Northern Territory seat of Daly, where the Country Liberal Party is defending a margin of 1.2%.
Now to the week’s big item of federal election news, which is that Kristina Keneally is set to be parachuted from her current position in the Senate to the western Sydney seat of Fowler, which will be vacated with the retirement of Chris Hayes, who holds it on a 14.0% margin. The Australian reports this will be accomplished by fiat of head office, without a ballot of local party members.
Moving Keneally to the House of Representatives resolves a difficulty arising from the 2016 double dissolution, at which three of the four elected Labor Senators were allocated full terms of six years, which will expire in the middle of next year. This includes two members of the Right – Sam Dastyari, whom Kristina Keneally replaced after his resignation in February 2018, and Deborah O’Neill – and Jenny McAllister of the Left. Since factional arrangements reserve second position on the ticket for the Left, either O’Neill or Keneally faced delegation to third position, which has not been a winning proposition for Labor at a half-Senate election since 2007. As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, the power of O’Neill’s backers in the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association appears likely to secure her the top spot, although The Australian cites unidentified Keneally supporters saying she was confident of beating her.
The use of Fowler as a backstop for Keneally comes with the substantial difficulty that the electorate boasts the nation’s highest proportion of non-English speakers, in large part owing to the presence within it of the Vietnamese enclave of Cabramatta. As such, Labor appeared to have a promising successor lined up in Tu Le, a 30-year-old lawyer and daughter of Vietnamese refugees. By contrast, Keneally lives in a $1.8 million property in Sydney’s northern beaches. Le had the backing of Hayes and, according to another source cited by The Australian, would have won a rank-and-file ballot if one were held. The ABC reports senior front-bencher Tony Burke shares Hayes’ displeasure at the development, although it also notes that others in the Right felt Hayes “had no right to try to act as a kingmaker or name his replacement publicly”.
In other Labor preselection news, Tom Richardson of InDaily reports the South Australian Senate vacancy created by the death of Alex Gallacher last week is likely to be filled by Karen Grogan, national political coordinator with the United Workers Union and convenor of the state branch’s Left faction. According to the report, a Senate seat was set to pass from Right to Left in the factional deals arising from the abolition of the federal seat of Port Adelaide at the 2019 election. Gallacher’s death may have had the effect of preserving Steve Georganas’s position in the seat of Adelaide, which might otherwise have been used to create the requisite vacancy by providing a refuge for Right-aligned Senator Marielle Smith.
Also from South Australia, the Australia Institute has published a Dynata poll of state voting intention, although it was conducted back in July from a modest sample of 599. It suggests Steven Marshall’s Liberal government might struggle at the March election, recording 38% support to 34% for Labor, 10% for the Greens, 5% for SA Best and 12% for the rest.
poroti
We were neck and neck with NZ up until recently. Boy are the NZ obsessed going to be ever so disappointed.
(not that the race is over)
torchbearer,
Adelaide sounds great. For retirees. 😀
Biden with a surprisingly tough Covid plan. Them thar ‘freedumb fighters’ will be mighty ‘angried up’
.
Path out of the Pandemic
PRESIDENT BIDEN’S COVID-19 ACTION PLAN
Requiring All Employers with 100+ Employees to Ensure their Workers are Vaccinated or Tested Weekly
Requiring Vaccinations for all Federal Workers and for Millions of Contractors that Do Business with the Federal Government
Requiring COVID-19 Vaccinations for Over 17 Million Health Care Workers at Medicare and Medicaid Participating Hospitals and Other Health Care Settings
Calling on Large Entertainment Venues to Require Proof of Vaccination or Testing for Entry
Requiring Employers to Provide Paid Time Off to Get Vaccinated
https://www.whitehouse.gov/covidplan/
Cat
William is right.
Labor did parachute a candidate in. That causes problems. You just said as much yourself. You said use the person the local branch had nominated to fix it.
Stop thinking a critique is an attack on the party with malice.
Victoria 334 cases and 1 death:
VicGovDH (@VicGovDH)
Reported yesterday: 334 new local cases and 0 cases acquired overseas.
– 39,027 vaccines administered
– 42,998 test results received
– Sadly, 1 person with COVID-19 has
Q: Adelaide sounds great. For retirees…..
There is a lot of truth in that , as there are more career opportunites for the youngsters elsewhere…HOWEVER if a young person wants to own a good home in this lifetime, it is a good option.
You can laugh, we all end up retirees eventually!
The Age 10/09
The Victorian government has begun shifting vaccines from other parts of the state to Melbourne’s north and west, but Health Minister Martin Foley yesterday acknowledged more needed to be done.
________________
Foley doing exactly the same thing as the Federal Govt but at a local level.
He better not be shifting them from my part of the state.
frednk,
I’m waiting for the ‘White Female Privilege’ attack. You’d think, by the way some go on that a White Woman can never be good enough. 😆
So far we have the ‘parachuted in’ attack when political parties do it all the time in the Lower House. The Greens don’t do it because they only have one seat in the Lower House.
Taylormade @ #108 Friday, September 10th, 2021 – 9:07 am
Maybe if YOUR federal government hadn’t stiffed Victoria of vaccines it wouldn’t have had to be done?
And writers, artists, foodies and wine lovers.
Just on SA house prices and amenity, some good bargains to be had in Elizabeth..
Victoria @ Friday, September 10, 2021 at 8:47 am
Ventilation is a critical issue. We need engineering solutions and I am not even an engineer 🙂
Here is an interesting article on ventilation:
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/09/coronavirus-pandemic-ventilation-rethinking-air/620000/
Edit: spelling
lizzie @ #111 Friday, September 10th, 2021 – 9:09 am
I thought that was just about every other state and territory as well, in its own unique way? You live in Victoria don’t you? Where there’s a wine industry, some of Australia’s top restaurants and most talented artists?
sprocket_ @ #112 Friday, September 10th, 2021 – 9:10 am
Lol.
C@t
I only meant that Adelaide has benefits too. I just find it too hot for comfort.
Not sure which idiots are demanding that Victorian Chief Health Officer publish a plan for getting out of lockdown when the projected peak is 6 weeks away when there will be 18,000 active cases (2,000 cases active now). They are not helpful!
Fearful of Sydney getting out of lockdown, expect a massive wave as South-west Sydney is punished for eastern suburbs partying
As shadow Immigration minister Kristina Keneally would be more familiar with the problems the Fowler electorate face than the average eastern suburbs resident. Surely her experience as Premier is a bonus
I have a tracker on my computer which flips the internet connection everytime I try to pay for AVG virus scanning software
billie
Thank you. That’s a good observation.
Much better than saying someone is a concern troll for pointing out a sensitive issue made worse by the Liberals.
Sydney has the advantages and disadvantages of a big city.
Adelaide has the advantages and disadvantages of a small one.
From the UK:
The original Gainsborough:
C@tmomma @ #115 Friday, September 10th, 2021 – 9:13 am
Having grown up in Elizabeth in the days when it was largely housing trust, it has its issues.
Good train line and bus services to the ciy though. We lived there again 1990-2002 and it was considerably improved and pockets being gentrified.
NSW easing restrictions in Albury as Victoria tries to get Victorian home is just a FU daring Victoria to close border to Albury region. Means NSW women will have to travel to Wagga to give birth rather than Wodonga, where they have choice of NSW or Vic birth certificate
ABC News
@abcnews
· 18h
Vaccination rate would be halved if Australia had relied on Pfizer, PM says
Mike Carlton
@MikeCarlton01
The duplicitous prick is still trying to wriggle out from under. No one ever suggested we should “rely on Pfizer.” Competent governments…Canada, for example…went for a suite of vaccines.
_______________________________
The big mistake Morrison made was that he, his mother, and mother-in-law had the Pfizer vac, which in part caused the hesitancy for A-Z, the view of many most likely being that if the prime minister took Pfizer it must be the best, not dismissing the bad press A-Z got due to clotting.
Ouch!
C@tmomma says:
Friday, September 10, 2021 at 9:02 am
guytaur @ #97 Friday, September 10th, 2021 – 8:58 am
Cat
Right William was wrong in his political observation. Got it.
Yes he was. It was stupid, politics of envy and reverse discrimination stuff I would have expected better of from someone who has a supposedly sophisticated political take on things.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Absolutely correct C@tmomma. William was almost nath-like. He should suspend himself, or you could make him apologize to you again.
Oh and FredNK and Cat.
If I am truly the Green you label me as. Pointing to Labors electoral weakness and problems is being partisan loyal. Not concern trolling
To be concern trolling I have to pretend I am a Labor person.
About virii, mind blown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-NxodiGPCU
Christ. Don’t you guys have anything better to do than squabble over a meaningless and irrelevant point?
ABC NEWS 7.30 tonight.. Outbreak
Interesting (intentional ) choose of title..
This series of programs has had more research & been more informative than everything else the ABC has done combined
billie
‘Means NSW women will have to travel to Wagga to give birth..’
They can go to Albury hospital, which is the main hospital servicing Albury/Wodonga.
If anything, it’s an inconvenience to Wodonga women.
For me the whole KK pre-selection in Fowler is not so much about what it will do to the 2PP in Fowler but what it will do in marginal seats like Lindsay across NSW and QLD, where 2GB and Daily Telegraph negative front pages with her face on it on it, on an almost daily basis during the campaign proper and consuming oxygen from the Labor message. Hell, if she got pre-selected you could even bet money on Palmer using her in his campaign.
Her reputation is such, that she is electoral kryptonite in NSW. The sooner Sussex St realises this electoral reality the better Labor will be as a whole! I don’t think NSW Labor should be giving a coalition voter wanting to register a protest vote an opportunity to “come back home”
You must be new here. Welcome! 😉
Jaeger
😆
We already know she’s fibbing.
KK will be a welcome addition to the House and hopefully Tu Le – who, at 30, has her career in front of her – will not be lost to the service of the party in future. Politics is a very tough business at every level. It is always about winning and losing. For every winning candidate, there will always be those who lose for one reason or another. There’s really very little room for sentimental considerations. It is what it is. The rules allow the party to pre-select a candidate without reference to a local ballot. This is in done in the interests of the party as a whole and ultimately in the service of all those whom Labor seek to represent in Parliament.
Of course, it’s also true that for nearly everyone, a political career is a very poor choice. The politician’s is a dog’s life. We should not wish it on anyone.
Lead in today’s SMH domain section actually –
Here’s what’s happening in Sydney. Bondi is hot property atm. Even Borat has moved in. So, 5 million pocketed in 2 years, without improvements, for this six bed with pool.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/north-bondi-house-sold-in-2019-for-6-3m-resold-by-30-year-old-for-11-235m-1087169/?utm_campaign=strap-masthead&utm_source=smh&utm_medium=link&utm_content=pos5&ref=pos1
Alberta’s rising COVID-19 cases due to faulty modelling and government inaction, experts say
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-covid-19-modelling-1.6168948
“District Court COVID-19 Update
Jury trials and in person appearances, will resume from Monday 13 September 2021 in the following regional District Courts:
• Armidale/Tamworth;
• Lismore/Grafton;
• Coffs Harbour;
• Albury/Griffith;
• Port Macquarie; and
• Wagga Wagga.
The four square metre rule and the mandatory wearing of face masks..”
I wonder if you can avoid jury duty by refusing to go into courtroom on account of risk of being indoors?
Greg Rudd says:
Friday, September 10, 2021 at 9:50 am
For me the whole KK pre-selection in Fowler is not so much about what it will do to the 2PP in Fowler but what it will do in marginal seats like Lindsay across NSW and QLD, where 2GB and Daily Telegraph negative front pages with her face on it on it, on an almost daily basis during the campaign proper and consuming oxygen from the Labor message.
The next federal election will be about many things, but the re-litigation of the past is not likely to be top of the list. If the election is fought on covid/health and Morrison’s uncanny ability to stuff things up, then Labor will win no matter whether KK is running for the Senate or the House. If the LNP can shift the narrative to the economy and “freedom”, then they will probably pull off another dejecting win.
Back in the day when I was an old man shouting at the Brexit clouds, I pointed out that the EU environment rules had forced Britain to clean up all the shit that they were sending into the sea.
Sure enough:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2021/sep/08/martin-rowson-on-the-easing-of-effluent-discharge-rules-cartoon
Guytaur,
Have you noticed that no one cares where Green candidates live? Their candidate for Fowler could live in Broome and no one would notice, comment on or even care. It’s because they are irrelevant. As is most of your narking commentary on my erstwhile state representative.
Prasinopohilia…..political condition, Green-loving.
My mother-in-law is in ‘superlockdown” after a newly arrived inpatient in her Aged Care Facility is a potential close Covid contact, from the current St Vincent’s Darlinghurst outbreak (geriatric patients and staff, small numbers, so far).
We have been in correspondence with management (excellent) about Rapid Antigen Testing.
This is what they are working from, from the Communicable Diseases Network Australia (health.gov.au)
https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2021/08/phln-and-cdna-joint-statement-on-sars-cov-2-rapid-antigen-tests_0.pdf
I think the obsession with KK’s time as premier is very much a bubble concern.
The ALP will need to be ready with clear arguments – but her being parachuted in against a local person will be a greater burden in the electorate than anything involving an Obeid.
The Libs will try, because most politicians/political tragics are equally locked within the d’bubble.
Adelaide, a nice place but a bit far out of town.
If Labor are to win the next election, it won’t be in NSW.
TPOF @ #149 Friday, September 10th, 2021 – 10:16 am
Why? Morrison’s incompetence hits everyone, everywhere. Gladys’s does/will do the same, but has hit NSW especially hard.