The fortnight before Christmas

Another pre-Christmas election theory, a court ruling brings some clarity to Labor’s preselection process in Victoria, and the latest on New South Wales’ looming bonanza of state by-elections.

Seemingly nothing doing on the polling front this week, though I would have thought we were due the monthly Resolve Strategic poll from the Age/Herald. That may yet come – perhaps even very shortly – given the publisher’s unpredictable past treatment of it. I need a new post sooner than that though, so here are some relevant recent developments:

• Anthony Albanese has reportedly told his party to be prepared for the possibility that Scott Morrison will call an election for December 11 after he returns from the Glasgow climate summit early next month. Andrew Clennell of Sky News describes this as a “ploy”, and says the genuine view within Labor is that the election will most likely be held in March. Kevin Bonham notes that the proximity of this date to Christmas and New Year would complicate the protracted process of Senate counting, and that it would not allow time for new laws requiring registered parties to have at least 1500 members to take effect.

• The Victorian Supreme Court has thrown out a legal challenge against the Labor national executive’s takeover of the Victorian branch’s federal preselection process. This had been pursued by the factional bloc of the Right associated with Bill Shorten, which The Age reports is considering an appeal. Assuming the ruling holds, it confirms the preselection of former state party secretary Sam Rae in the new seat of Hawke, and allows the party to proceed with other federal preselections that have so far been in limbo.

• The Sydney Morning Herald reports that candidates for Liberal preselection in Hughes are likely to include Jenny Ware, moderate-backed director of legal services at Georges River Council, and that there is also likely to be a factional conservative in the field. This complicates matters for Melanie Gibbons, who will quit her state seat of Holsworthy to run, and has the backing of Scott Morrison.

New South Wales by-election latest:

• There is now a fifth state by-election on the way in New South Wales, and the first in a Labor-held seat, after Jodi McKay announced her intention to resign five months after losing the leadership to Chris Minns. This will create a vacancy in her seat of Strathfield, which she held at the 2019 election by a 5.0% margin. Anton Rose of Inner West Courier reports potential preselection candidates include Sravya Abbineni, multiculturalism adviser at NSW Government Health and former staffer to McKay; John Faker, mayor of Burwood; and Jennifer Light, the party’s national assistant secretary.

• The Nationals have preselected Nichole Overall, a local historian, communications consultant and freelance writer, to succeed John Barilaro as the party’s candidate in Monaro.

• In addition to the previously noted Gail Giles-Gidney, the mayor of Willoughby, the Sydney Morning Herald reports candidates for the preselection to succeed Gladys Berejiklian in Willoughby will include Tim James, factional conservative and executive general manager of the Menzies Research Centre.

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.

2,419 comments on “The fortnight before Christmas”

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  1. Morning all. I hope the Senate succeeds in this quest to force ATO head Chris Jordan to reveal which companies kept Jobkeeper funds.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-19/tax-commissioner-facing-senate-investigation/100552272

    One of the great myths of Australian politics and finance is that there is a right to privacy over income. Ethically there is no such thing. Privacy rights relate to personal matters such as health, relationships etc. Most countries do not give privacy over income.

    Australian law may have invented such a right for individuals, but it seems quite far fetched to extend that to companies. There are many cases where there is a public interest in knowing what companies make, for good policy making. The level of income may determine eligibility and obligations for many matters, and needs to be known. Chris Jordan has some explaining to do.

  2. What was really shocking to the staffers was pork going into a safe seat…

    “Additional documents tendered on Tuesday included the transcript of a previously secret hearing with former NSW government strategy adviser Zach Bentley.

    Mr Bentley told the ICAC he believed Mr Baird’s chief of strategy Nigel Blunden “queried why we were giving funding to a clay target association in … a relatively safe seat”.

    Mr Bentley also said he had communications with an “abrupt” Mr Maguire during the relevant period, describing phone calls in which the former MP said words to the effect of, “get the effing thing sorted. You know, I really need this for my electorate”.

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/secret-berejiklian-maguire-relationship-was-quite-shocking-ex-staffer-tells-icac-20211019-p591f6.html

  3. Buce

    I’m sorry, I can’t see what you’re seeing.

    Firstly:

    ‘(1) This section applies in respect of a person:
    (a) who ceases to be a member while proceedings for a serious offence are pending against the person, or
    (b) who ceased to be a member if proceedings for a serious offence are instituted against the person for conduct that occurred when the person was a member.’

    So the person specified was a member whilst proceedings were underway/imminent and then resigned.

    Section 4 says if they’re guilty they are no longer eligible, must repay any money they’ve received and get refunded whatever funds are left in their account.

    https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1971-053#sec.19AA

    It seems very clear cut.

  4. Sprocket

    Interesting re the Dubbo grant.

    I still don’t understand why Maguire was so desperate to fund a shooting club. There must be more to this. I doubt its a huge vote winner. People in the country like shooting more than in cities, but it is still a minority. Who got the money? Who got the contract to build it? Was the price excessive? Was there a kick-back?

  5. Look the details of how Trump presided over reduction of Coal consumption in US while Biden is presiding over in increase in Coal consumption

    “For at a time when even arch rivals can agree on just one issue — reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and coal in particular — demand for the dirty, black energy source is soaring and consumption is roaring back to life.

    In what must be the ultimate irony, given US President Joe Biden is leading the push for lower carbon emissions and to remove coal from electricity generation, American power plants are on track to burn 23 per cent more coal than last year.

    According to Bloomberg data, it’s the first rise in eight years.

    It’s a feat his predecessor Donald Trump couldn’t deliver on. Despite years of promises and pledges to return coal to its former glory, Mr Trump presided over a 36 per cent decline in coal-fired electricity generation.”

    https://amp-abc-net-au.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/100546402?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a6&usqp=mq331AQIKAGwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16346727163340&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.net.au%2Fnews%2F2021-10-18%2Fglobal-energy-crisis-could-cost-us-all-as-stagflation-returns%2F100546402

  6. You’ve gotta wonder what those in the Right of the Vic ALP were thinking in mounting a legal challenge to the post -Somyurek. Federal intervention. If they were successful- or ultimately are on appeal- it would seem to follow that preselections for the coming Federal and State elections would be tainted by the lingering effects of the Somyurek branch stacking and help achieve its objectives. How could that be a reasonable outcome and how could the Right justify seeking it? I don’t know the inside story of course so I’d guess there is more to it.

    ————————
    “Several proxy wars then pitted Shorten-aligned forces against those close to Mr Marles. The most public example was the battle to select a candidate for the new north-western federal seat of Hawke. Sam Rae, a former state secretary of Victorian Labor and ally of Mr Marles, was selected as the candidate by the national executive panel.

    A Right faction source said the Supreme Court judgment had “destroyed any delusions that Bill has any influence in the Victorian branch”.

    “His ambitions to return to the leadership are now dead in the water,” the source said.”

    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/labor-dissidents-mull-appeal-after-court-supports-branch-takeover-20211019-p59152.html

  7. ‘Socrates says:
    Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 7:24 am

    Sprocket

    Interesting re the Dubbo grant.

    I still don’t understand why Maguire was so desperate to fund a shooting club. There must be more to this. I doubt its a huge vote winner. People in the country like shooting more than in cities, but it is still a minority. Who got the money? Who got the contract to build it? Was the price excessive? Was there a kick-back?’
    ————————
    Perhaps all of those things. The shorter answer might be simple. It was part of the warp and weft of what might be called ‘clean’ corruption: a government ‘rewarding’ political success. Apart from that gun culture is a significant chip in struggle for rural and regional electoral votes: witness the growth of a party that starts its name with “Shooters”.

  8. I assume that this Global Times story has been inserted because the Comrades know that the opposite is true.
    The consistent story I hear from real people in this space is that it is far less comfortable for foreigners to be in China than it was 15 years ago. 15 years ago there was hope for a more liberal, open and democratic China. For the past 15 years the trends for foreigners working in China have been towards suspicion, harassment, being followed by the tools of the Comrades, and silence-making.

    https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202110/1236742.shtml

  9. Jen Psaki renders Peter Doocy ( Faux WH reporter ) momentarily speechless with a simple question

    An interesting exchange between Pasko and Doocy (aptly named for Faux reporter)


    When Psaki asked Doocy, “What was the number-one cause of death among police officers last year, do you know?”

    Then she waited.

    Silence from Doocy.

    “COVID-19.”

    That was something of an understatement, actually. COVID-19 wasn’t just the leading cause of death for police officers on duty last year, it is also the leading cause of death for policy officers on duty this year, and in both cases it is more than four times as common as the number-two cause of death.

    Psaki also offered up a litany of statistics showing the effectiveness of vaccine mandates, and the degree to which the claim that large numbers of officers will quit has been overstated. “If you look at Seattle as an example, which I know has been in some of the reporting, 92% of the police force is vaccinated, as are 93% of firefighters. Ninety-nine percent of Seattle’s 11,000 employees have submitted vaccine verification or an exemption request.”

    Doocy bravely/foolishly plowed on. “Public safety, though. All these other problems: Terror, murder, robberies, kidnappings. Is there any concern that if police forces shrink or if the size of the ready military force shrinks, that the United States or localities may not be equipped properly to deal with that?“

    “Peter, more than 700,000 people have died of COVID. Again, it was the number-one cause of death among police departments and police officers. It’s something that we should take seriously. Departments are trying to save people in their departments, people who work for them, we support that effort, and there’s been success across the country in that regard.”

    Terror? The U.S. is currently experiencing about a 9/11’s worth of COVID-19 deaths every two days. Murder? A year’s worth of homicide deaths from COVID-19 about every 12 days, at the current rate. Kidnapping? Abduction by strangers is extremely rare—you’d have to go to the state level to express the frequency of COVID-19 deaths relative to that.

    https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2059073

  10. Socrates @ #1 Wednesday, October 20th, 2021 – 6:08 am

    Morning all. I hope the Senate succeeds in this quest to force ATO head Chris Jordan to reveal which companies kept Jobkeeper funds.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-19/tax-commissioner-facing-senate-investigation/100552272

    One of the great myths of Australian politics and finance is that there is a right to privacy over income. Ethically there is no such thing. Privacy rights relate to personal matters such as health, relationships etc. Most countries do not give privacy over income.

    Australian law may have invented such a right for individuals, but it seems quite far fetched to extend that to companies. There are many cases where there is a public interest in knowing what companies make, for good policy making. The level of income may determine eligibility and obligations for many matters, and needs to be known. Chris Jordan has some explaining to do.

    I suspect there is a real legal reason for Jordan refusing to release the information. Secrecy provisions in relation to the ATO prevent release of a lot of information to many, including ministers. The object is to encourage people not to withhold information about their financial affairs from the ATO for fear it will become public or used by politicians to attack them. There are some very narrowly defined exceptions but Jobkeeper probably doesn’t , at least explicitly, fall within them. The Tax Commissioner could well end up committing a criminal offence if he releases the information.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if this was one of the reasons administration of Jobkeeper was given to the ATO.

  11. The Age reporting on the Hawke pre-selection indicated that Marles and Conroy were allied.

    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/former-party-boss-wins-labor-preselection-for-new-seat-of-hawke-20210615-p5812r.html

    In the power vacuum created by Mr Somyurek’s forced exit from the Labor Party, Mr Marles and Mr Shorten have emerged as pre-eminent figures in the Victorian branch.

    Mr Marles – who is aligned to factional heavyweight Stephen Conroy – has boosted his powerbase if he were to have a tilt at the Labor leadership after the national executive endorsed a candidate loyal to him in Hawke.

    If a candidate close to Mr Shorten had taken the seat it would have enabled the former party leader to reassert his influence.


  12. sprocket_says:
    Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 7:22 am
    Latest US polling shows how polarised they have become…

    https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3825

    However there is another polling which says that Two-thirds of voters say GOP isn’t doing enough to control pandemic, including 31% of Republicans

    Here was the data on whether voters thought the following were doing enough to control the pandemic:

    President Biden: 48% yes, 41% no
    Democratic officials: 44% yes, 44% no
    Republican officials: 26% yes, 64% no

    https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2059067

  13. Yeah, think ‘The Age’ is pretending to know more than they do.

    Given the toxic relationship between the paper and the ALP, I’d take anything the paper says about the ALP with a pinch of salt.

    Journalists have this weird disassociation: they believe that politicians lie, but they don’t believe that politicians lie to journalists.


  14. ajmsays:
    Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 7:43 am
    Socrates @ #1 Wednesday, October 20th, 2021 – 6:08 am

    ———————–
    ——
    I wouldn’t be surprised if this was one of the reasons administration of Jobkeeper was given to the ATO.

    IMO
    The real reason could be that he is afraid of loosing his job rather than any privacy laws

  15. Right faction source said the Supreme Court judgment had “destroyed any delusions that Bill has any influence in the Victorian branch”.

    “His ambitions to return to the leadership are now dead in the water,” the source said.”
    ________________
    I wouldn’t be writing off Shorten. If Albo wins and then stumbles, he will make a move.

  16. Following Scomo’s conversion to net zero maybe the OECD will give Scomo cover to extract more tax revenue from the wealthy down the track. He’d have considerably more than the Nats to deal with….It’s sad that the ALP proposed most of these types of tax reforms in 2019 and that they proved, at the time, to be electoral poison (as did emissions reduction policy of course). I can understand why the ALP dumped its 2019 tax policies of course but it’s unfortunate that modest and sensible attempts to make the tax system more equitable (endorsed by that hotbed of Marxism, the OECD) won’t fly in Australia.

    “To help pay for all the debt run-up dealing with the pandemic, the OECD said all nations faced either increasing current taxes or finding new sources of revenue.

    “If taxes are to rise, it might be necessary to look to other bases, such as housing, capital gains, inheritance or wealth. Recent international efforts to establish a minimum global corporate tax could also enable more revenue to be raised from corporate taxes,” it said.”

    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/migration-rethink-hike-on-the-cards-for-post-pandemic-recovery-20211019-p5916r.html

  17. Raf Epstein @Raf_Epstein·

    Vic Covid # today between 1750-1900

    Vic will hit 70% 2nd dose (16+) today

    Those arguing Vic should open faster like NSW.. comparisons are useful

    2021 with vax

    NSW 67K cases, Vic 49K

    NSW 479 deaths, Vic has had 161

    Good luck to both states

  18. zoomster says:
    Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 8:00 am
    Yeah, think ‘The Age’ is pretending to know more than they do.

    Given the toxic relationship between the paper and the ALP, I’d take anything the paper says about the ALP with a pinch of salt.
    ———-
    Perhaps – in fact I tend to take most things media says about anything with a grain of salt. Often when they report on issues/situations that I have direct personal knowledge of I find that they don’t really get it right. Not surprising. Most journalists are generalists, cranking out stories in a hurrry.

    However what I still don’t get is why people associated with the Right faction in the ALP commenced these legal proceedings. That seems to be undisputed . The consequence if they were successful would be that preselections would be conducted on the pre-intervention system (and might still be if they get up on appeal). That would mean that the tainted influence of the Somyurek inspired branch stacking would affect the preselection process. How could that be an outcome that would be desirable – let alone worth spending squillions of dollars on by going to the Supreme Court?

  19. zoomster says:
    Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 7:38 am

    max

    I’d treat that report rather dubiously. For example, Sam Rae worked in Senator Conroy’s office and Conroy and Shorten have been close allies for decades.
    _________________
    zoomster might not be up on all the recent developments of the past 5 years:

    That left Shorten and Conroy to create an alliance of their two sub-factions — based around student friendships, traded favours and people knowing where some metaphorical bodies were buried — the Short-Cons (how these Goodfellas tragics loved that nickname!)….

    Somyurek and the Mods were offered a chance to grow their mum ‘n’ dad state faction when the Short-Cons came apart spectacularly, as mutual suspicion between the two groups as to who would double-cross first brought on a double cross and the AWU undermined the Conroy group (it’s too complicated for this article).

    Conroy got his revenge in magnificent fashion, announcing his retirement from politics while Shorten was on an overseas trip — pretty much at the actual moment Billy Bob was flying over the Canadian tundra, thousands of kilometres from a phone.

    https://www.crikey.com.au/2020/06/17/unions-victorian-labor-somyurek/

  20. Kezza,
    My take on your experience with the Dutch boys’ dislike of the National Anthem is that it may not be so much ‘anti- Queen or English’, but rather a distaste for the obsequious reaction , almost deification, of British royalty at that time.
    The Royals in Holland were /are treated with a great deal of public affection, as they are in the Scandinavian countries , but in a much more egalitarian manner.
    There also may have been an unconscious resentment that if they were brought here as kids(they had no say in leaving their homeland) they had to stand for a ‘foreign’ queen. While most new immigrants go through the polite motions of singing anthems, etc., I don’t know any who identify with British Royalty unless they were part of the Commonwealth.
    Those boys may just have been showing solidarity to their roots, plus enjoying the notoriety of rebelling.

  21. I’ve just realised that William did me over again this morning with exquisite timing, so here we go again!
    ____________________
    Good morning Dawn Patrollers

    The federal government is considering a rethink of the size and mix of the nation’s migration program amid warnings the living standards of ordinary Australians will fail to keep up with much of the developed world in the wake of the pandemic.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/migration-rethink-hike-on-the-cards-for-post-pandemic-recovery-20211019-p5916r.html
    Australia has a big immigration shortfall. But migrants have also been papering over rigidities in the domestic job market, explains Jo Masters.
    https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/migration-is-not-a-substitute-for-a-more-flexible-workforce-20211018-p5910g
    Sally McManus argues that the federal government must prioritise working people’s financial security. She says that an economic recovery based on exploding casualisation and record numbers of Australians in multiple jobs is no recovery at all.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2021/10/20/sally-mcmanus-insecure-employment/
    Ross Gittins says that as we emerge from the pandemic, the keys to making life in Australia better rather than worse are to face up to all the change being forced upon us, and to unite in finding solutions that share both the costs and the benefits as fairly as possible.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/problems-abound-but-we-could-yet-emerge-as-winners-20211019-p59173.html
    In this frank assessment, Shaun Carney says, “Turnbull had his Snowy Hydro 2.0 and Gillard her NDIS while this Prime Minister has an election win and a range of props.”
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/morrison-is-a-man-of-the-people-but-with-no-firm-policy-convictions-20211019-p59197.html
    Lucy Cormack tells us that yesterday ICAC heard Gladys Berejiklian wanted a multimillion-dollar grant request for her boyfriend’s Wagga Wagga electorate accelerated and planned to back the proposal before it was presented to the government’s expenditure committee. Piece by piece, Counsel Assisting is building the case.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/berejiklian-wanted-grant-request-for-maguire-s-electorate-accelerated-inquiry-told-20211019-p59181.html
    Gladys Berejiklian expressed an “inclination to support” a $5.5m grant for a shooting complex in Wagga Wagga which her then-secret boyfriend Daryl Maguire had been personally lobbying for, the Independent Commission Against Corruption has heard.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/19/shooting-club-grant-for-55m-went-from-low-priority-to-urgent-in-weeks-icac-hears
    The Australian reveals that Gladys Berejiklian’s legal costs will be covered by taxpayers during her appearances at the Independent Commission Against Corruption, after she received approval for ex gratia payments to pay for a team of lawyers including two of the nation’s top barristers.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/icac-inquiry-taxpayers-to-cover-legal-costs-for-gladys-berejiklian-and-daryl-maguire/news-story/72beb322b3d72133bfa8d4f80afe6805
    As the Independent Commission Against Corruption prepares to put the former NSW premier in the witness box again, it’s time to weigh up its reputation, writes the AFR’s legal editor, Michael Pelly.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/gladys-berejiklian-case-puts-icac-on-trial-20211018-p590um
    Almost half of $60.2bn in federal government grants awarded over the past four years did not go through a competitive open tender process, a new report on grant spending has found. Sarah Martin tells us that the auditor general on Tuesday published an “information report” on the $60.2bn worth of government grants awarded under the GrantsConnect program, which is the centralised reporting mechanism administered by the Department of Finance.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/19/25bn-in-coalition-grants-made-through-closed-process-with-no-competitors-report-finds
    “How to justify making grants not recommended by the relevant department? Easy – just say you do. That’s what is disclosed by Freedom of Information requests into the wealth of federal government not-recommended-but-given grants”, says Michael Pascoe.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2021/10/20/michael-pascoe-pork-barrelling-rorts/
    Michelle Grattan reports that Anthony Albanese has referred Labor MP Anthony Byrne to the finance department to investigate his employment of taxpayer-funded staff who didn’t turn up to his office.
    https://theconversation.com/albanese-asks-finance-department-whether-byrne-breached-official-rules-over-staff-170204
    Nationals MPs are being told a federal plan to slash carbon emissions to net zero levels by 2050 will deliver a “great positive” for the economy despite new modelling that shows a hit to coal prices from global action on climate change, writes David Crowe.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/pm-assures-net-zero-an-economic-positive-as-nats-debate-coal-price-20211019-p591cm.html
    Failure to stand up to the Nationals makes Liberal leaders the real villains, says Jack Waterford.
    https://johnmenadue.com/failure-to-stand-up-to-the-nationals-makes-liberal-leaders-the-real-villains/
    Phil Coorey writes that the Nationals are handing over their climate demands but many senior members of their party and Liberals say the drawn-out negotiations will be damaging.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/nationals-net-zero-demands-include-a-new-coal-fired-power-station-20211019-p5914w
    The contours of Scott Morrison’s climate policy transition seem apparent – net-zero emissions by 2050 is done and dusted as the new benchmark, the Nationals will finish with truckloads of concessions and the Prime Minister is turning the climate debate into an economic debate, opines Paul Kelly.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/pm-navigates-between-right-and-left/news-story/1969ad810ee5872ea4fb5593384a381c
    The insistence of denialists at The Australian that the 2050 emissions targets are beyond the world’s reach is damaging and flies in the face of science and technological progress, argues Jeremy Webb.
    https://johnmenadue.com/murdochs-climate-denialists-must-bear-heavy-responsibility-for-national-failure/
    “You take the high road and I’ll take the low road, and I’ll be in Scotland before you” headlines this contribution from John Lord.
    https://theaimn.com/you-take-the-high-road-and-ill-take-the-low-road-and-ill-be-in-scotland-before-you/
    COVID exposed our fractured national identity, but state-based loyalties were rising long before, writes politics professor, Judith Brett.
    https://theconversation.com/covid-exposed-our-fractured-national-identity-but-state-based-loyalties-were-rising-long-before-170017
    Australia’s tax commissioner, Chris Jordan, faces an inquiry into whether he “disobeyed a lawful order of the Senate” by declining to release information about jobkeeper payments. The Senate voted last night to refer the issue to the powerful privileges committee, the latest development in a long-running battle between non-government senators and the Coalition over the key pandemic economic stimulus measure.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/19/senate-backs-inquiry-into-whether-tax-commissioner-should-release-jobkeeper-details
    Retail Food Group, the franchising giant, is in the spotlight again. Matthew Elmas tells us about what Michel’s Patisserie put it franchisees through and ended up in a class action being launched.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2021/10/20/michels-patisserie-franchisees/?breaking_live_scroll=1
    With some of the most prominent think tanks on defence and foreign policy receiving funds from companies that rely on war and threats of war, Australians are being fed vested interests masquerading as “independent” opinion, writes Dr Sue Wareham.
    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/transparency-lacking-in-australian-defence-policy,15645
    Vaccinated Melburnians flying home from London next week will be allowed to bypass hotel quarantine and instead self-isolate for a week in a trial using tracking technology.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria-trials-home-quarantine-for-vaccinated-overseas-travellers-20211019-p591av.html
    According to Josh Taylor, Clive Palmer’s United Australia party has spent close to $1.2m on YouTube ads in less than two months, as it racks up millions of views on its videos criticising lockdowns and government responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/20/united-australia-party-spent-12m-on-youtube-ads-in-two-months-since-craig-kelly-named-leader
    A respected community leader accused of pocketing almost $75,000 in taxpayer funds has been handed a temporary medical exemption that deems him unfit to give evidence the day before he was to appear before an anti-corruption commission in Melbourne.
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/ibac-appearance-of-community-leader-accused-of-pocketing-75-000-pushed-back-20211019-p5916l.html
    Paul Sakkal writes about a major win for Anthony Albanese and Daniel Andrews where the ALP’s takeover of its Victorian branch amid branch-stacking allegations has been upheld by the Supreme Court.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/labor-dissidents-mull-appeal-after-court-supports-branch-takeover-20211019-p59152.html
    Alexandra Smith reports that voluntary assisted dying will not go to a final vote in NSW until next year after the state government and Labor agreed to send the bill to an upper house inquiry, delaying any potential reform for months. The rear guard action continues.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/what-has-happened-behind-the-scenes-assisted-dying-vote-delayed-until-2022-20211019-p591ap.html
    Anthony Galloway writes that Australia’s counter-espionage agency has warned Australia’s adversaries may try to infect its telecommunications and energy grids with malicious code to launch damaging cyber-attacks years down the track, as the government readies to pass laws to better protect critical infrastructure.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/asio-warns-foreign-attackers-may-try-to-insert-malicious-code-in-critical-infrastructure-to-exploit-later-20211019-p591cq.html
    In a surprise move, the NSW Labor Party recently adopted a controversial definition of anti-Semitism without open debate after some last-minute changes to the agenda, writes Stuart Rees.
    https://johnmenadue.com/the-sneaky-deal-to-have-nsw-labor-adopt-controversial-anti-semitism-definition/
    John Crace is at his sarcastic best as he writes, “Boris ‘Bertie Booster’ Johnson serves up climate baloney for breakfast”.
    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/oct/19/boris-bertie-booster-johnson-serves-up-climate-baloney-for-breakfast
    Mercedes-Benz has hit back at a $650 million lawsuit filed by a collection of Australian dealers, saying its switch to an agency model is compliant with all Australian laws. But Labor senator Deborah O’Neill has called on the German car giant to roll back its plans or fairly compensate local dealerships for lost business.
    https://www.afr.com/companies/transport/mercedes-benz-hits-back-at-650m-dealer-lawsuit-20211019-p59192
    “Texas schools are being told to teach ‘opposing views’ of the Holocaust. Why?”, explores Franceine Prose.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/19/texas-holocaust-curriculum-schools-hb-3979

    Cartoon Corner

    John Shakespeare

    David Pope

    David Rowe

    Peter Broelman

    Alan Moir

    Matt Golding



    Cathy Wilcox

    Fiona Katauskas

    Andrew Dyson

    Mark Knight

    From the US









  22. Almost half of $60.2bn in federal government grants awarded over the past four years did not go through a competitive open tender process, a new report on grant spending has found. Sarah Martin tells us that the auditor general on Tuesday published an “information report” on the $60.2bn worth of government grants awarded under the GrantsConnect program, which is the centralised reporting mechanism administered by the Department of Finance.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/19/25bn-in-coalition-grants-made-through-closed-process-with-no-competitors-report-finds

    What is mind blowing ( Kaboom) is that almost half of $60.2bn in federal government grants awarded over the past four years did not go through a competitive open tender process.
    That is the LNP government did $30 bn worth of pork barreling without any concern.
    No wonder Gladys, Barillaro , Birmingham and other LNP types think that it ok to pork barrel.
    That is the reason why Gladys grants to her boyfriend’s electorate without any hesitation and without any guilty conscience.

  23. What are the membership numbers of each Branch – and how many are “stacked”?

    Simply, “branch stacking” is not widespread from my informants who should know

    The comment was “if they wanted to stack branches there are plenty that would welcome numbers, because they only have a handful of members”

    Ditto the Liberal Party

    Which itself will be the subject of I investigation

    Redlich has said that this is only the first of such a line of inquiry – and happens to be the ALP (which has taken steps to address the issue including by Federal intervention)

    And there was a whistle blower (unlike the other side of politics)

    So low hanging fruit first


  24. Boerwarsays:
    Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 8:01 am
    Ven
    Nice post on police statistics, IMO.

    Thanks BW
    I thought it is informative but has context when compared to Australian situation. Yesterday I read that same argument wrt Victorian police.


    More than 40 Victoria police staff have been stood down and face losing their jobs after refusing to have the Covid vaccine.

    Victoria police on Monday confirmed 34 police officers and nine protective services officers had not complied with the vaccination order by the state’s chief health officer and by a specific chief commissioner instruction.

    https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/18/victoria-covid-update-pubs-and-restaurants-urged-to-prepare-for-cases-as-reopening-looms?amp_js_v=a6&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#aoh=16346790973936&csi=1&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Faustralia-news%2F2021%2Foct%2F18%2Fvictoria-covid-update-pubs-and-restaurants-urged-to-prepare-for-cases-as-reopening-looms

  25. Zoomster,

    Do you seriously think that Colonel Blimp would take a blind bit of notice of any written law that you innocently point to? If it were on paper, he would chop it up with his cavalry sword and stuff it into champagne bottles. Full or empty.

    In fact, he would be saying that anything involving guns can’t be corrupt. He has personally spoken to generals and pilots.

  26. It’s quite clear that Shorten is left out of the current stability pact in Victoria:

    On Monday, a new “stability deal” was signed between the Socialist Left and three parts of Labor’s Right faction on Monday, representing 70 per cent of the Victorian party.

    The deal is a framework for allocating seats, and under the plan, the new seat of Hawke goes to the group centred around the Transport Workers Union (TWU).

    The preselection for Hawke has become the flashpoint of the factional battle, particularly within Labor’s Right wing.

    It is widely tipped that TWU’s allies, from a group built around former senator Stephen Conroy and current Deputy Leader Richard Marles, will get the seat. Former state secretary Sam Rae is expected to be nominated.

    This has infuriated the other elements of the Right, including the AWU and those close to Bill Shorten.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-06/unions-mount-legal-challenge-to-federal-takeover-of-vic-labor/100118898

  27. zoomster says:
    Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 8:35 am

    Can whoever mentioned Shorten now apologise?

    nath’s getting all hot and bothered again.
    _____________________
    I’m sorry you never heard about the collapse of the Short Cons.

    But basically Marles does not want to bring down Albo. Is happy with Deputy PM, which he can’t be if Shorten is leader, and the TWU (Marles and Conroy) are finished with Bill. Sorry to break it to ya.

  28. Zoomster

    The claim was that Gladys bailed to protect her pension.

    (b) clearly states that if you are a former member and found guilty of a serious offence for something that you did while in office the you lose the pension.

    So the claim is wrong.

    Roy – do you enjoy me living inside your tiny head?


  29. lizziesays:
    Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 8:47 am
    @noplaceforsheep
    ·
    2h
    He doesn’t even coal dust his own face ??


    Wow.
    He wants to show the world that he went into a coal mine and made himself dirty when he did not do that.

    Simply wow.

  30. Buce

    No, it doesn’t. It says that if you’ve bailed because an investigation is in the pipeline into something you did then you lose your pension.

    Both clauses (I would say clearly, but one of them is appallingly worded) are about an investigation which is known to be happening – either charges have been laid or it’s clear that they are about to be.

  31. Migration is not a substitute for a more flexible workforce
    But migrants have also been papering over rigidities in the domestic job market, explains Jo Masters.

    Jo Masters and her paper can GAGF. We learned long ago what “flexible’ is a euphemism for in their shitty greedy world. Employers being able to reduce wages and conditions for their workers and the workers being forced to bend over and take it. How sad it is that employers whose business model is based on exploiting cheaper migrant labour are finding locals unwilling to put up with the pay and conditions offered.

  32. OK, sorry, early morning — what the clauses seem to be saying is that if you’ve bailed before you’re accused, you’re apples.

    If you’ve bailed because you’ve been charged or you are clearly about to be charged, then you lose your pension.

    Gladys is not subject to any charges at present, nor is it clear that charges are about to be laid, so bailing protects her pension.

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