This week should see the fortnightly federal voting intention poll from Roy Morgan, the regular fortnightly Essential Research poll which is scheduled to feature neither voting intention numbers nor leadership ratings, and possibly the more-or-less monthly Resolve Strategic poll from the Age/Herald. Until then:
• Tom McIlroy of the Financial Review reports the Centre Alliance will push for an inquiry into the government’s voter identification bill when it comes before the Senate, to which it will presumably progress swiftly after coming before the House of Representatives today. Three further electoral bills come before the House on Tuesday: to reduce the thresholds beyond which those who spend money on their own election campaigning are required to lodge annual disclosures; to provide for measures deemed desirable under emergency conditions such as pandemics, including greater flexibility with postal and pre-poll voting; and to require security assessments and such like for the computer systems and software used to conduct the Senate count. Two notable bits of detail include bringing forward the deadline for receipt of postal vote applications from the Wednesday before the election to the Tuesday, and requiring the Australian Electoral Commission to publish the Senate vote data files within seven days of the return of the writs, having presumably been allowed to play it by ear in the past.
• A preselection vote on Saturday to determine the successor to Victorian Liberal Senator Scott Ryan, both in respect to the vacancy arising from his imminent retirement and the third position on the Coalition ticket at the election, was won by Greg Mirabella, Wangaratta farmer and husband of Sophie Mirabella. James Campbell of the Herald Sun reports Mirabella won the final round by 165 votes to 141 over Simon Frost, staffer to Josh Frydenberg and former state party director. Incumbent Sarah Henderson comfortably won the ballot for the top position, with the second reserved for Bridget Mackenzie of the Nationals. Other unsuccessful candidates were Emanuele Cicchiello, former Knox mayor and deputy principal at Lighthouse Christian College, and Ranjana Srivastava, an oncologist who also contested the preselection for Casey.
• A dispute within the New South Wales Liberal Party affecting preselections for Warringah, Hughes, Gilmore, Eden-Monaro, Dobell and Parramatta reached a new pitch at a meeting of its state executive on Friday night, which resolved to close nominations on December 3 with plebiscites likely to follow in February. However, James Massola of the Sydney Morning Herald reports the issue could be settled next week by a deal between Scott Morrison and Dominic Perrottet, potentially through the federal executive choosing candidates with plebiscites. Broadly speaking, the dispute pits centre right powerbroker Alex Hawke against the combined forces of the moderates and the hard right, with the former wanting candidates to be promptly installed by the state council and the latter wanting party plebiscites at the cost of delaying the process until February. One aspect of this is that Scott Morrison, who is close to Hawke, is backing state MPs (specifically Holsworthy MP Melanie Gibbons run in Hughes and Parramatta MP Geoff Lee’s for the federal seat of the same name) for preselection in federal seats while Dominic Perrottet, from the hard right, would sooner avoid the resulting state by-elections.
• Dominic Perrottet’s concerns apparently do not extend to the done deal of Bega MP Andrew Constance contesting preselection for Gilmore. However, Constance’s field of competition has now expanded to include Jemma Tribe, a charity operator and former Shoalhaven councillor, and Stephen Hayes, a former RAAF officer and staffer to Christopher Pyne. They join Shoalhaven Heads lawyer Paul Ell, who by all accounts has strong support in local branches, while Constance is favoured by Alex Hawke and the centre right.
• Sharon Bird, who has held the Illawarra seat of Cunningham for Labor since 2004, has announced she will retire at the election. With the seat seemingly the preserve of the Right faction, candidates to succeed her reportedly include Misha Zelinsky, Fulbright scholar and assistant national secretary of the Right faction Australian Workers Union, who aborted a planned challenge to Bird’s preselection before the 2016 election; Alison Byrnes, an adviser to Bird; and Tania Brown, Wollongong councillor and an administrator at the University of Wollongong.
• Labor’s candidate for north coast New South Wales seat of Page, which was held by Labor through the Rudd-Gillard period but now has a Nationals margin of 9.4%, is Patrick Deegan, who works for a domestic violence support service and also ran in 2019.
What connections did Aspen and/or those engaged by it to promote its business have to the Liberal Party?
I’m sure that, if you looked at their Board of Directors, you’d find the answer to your question.
Jaeger (from early this morning)
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/16/the-big-switch-how-my-electricity-deal-ended-up-costing-me-more
Very interesting, but he didn’t actually reveal how the electricity company’s bait and switch actually happened.
Even when I look at the government’s “energy made easy” web site and cross compare to what’s on the retailers’ web sites, there’s a lot of disparities – and a lot of cheap plans that show up on the former but not on the latter.
What’s in the Religious Discrimination Bill? Read it yourself…
https://www.ag.gov.au/system/files/2021-11/religious-discrimination-bill-2021.PDF
I was in the wilds of SW WA when 9/11 occurred; the news was passed on by the radio listeners in our group. Ansett went bust the following day, which made getting home after the tour “interesting”.
2011: Japan earthquake and tsunami
2004: Boxing Day Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
2003: Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
2001: 9/11 attacks
1986: Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
1980: Mt St. Helens eruption
Some interesting information in this article:
Corruption and Patronage Are the Norm in the Australian Labor Party
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/11/adem-somyurek-australian-labor-right-alp-corruption-nepotism
If you mapped out where the children of Labor Right MPs are employed, the result would be a political dynasty more incestuous than the Habsburgs. For example, former consumer affairs minister Marlene Kairouz put her own mother and sister on the payroll. She also added the daughter and nephew of legislative council president Nazih Elasmar, as well as the husband of her colleague Kaushaliya Vaghela.
In turn, Vaghela hired MP Cesar Melhem’s son as an electoral officer. Meanwhile, former minister for finance Robin Scott employed Vaghela’s daughter — just as he had employed Vaghela before her. It’s all very cozy — and these practices occur at all levels of the Australian Labor Party.
You’ve got to wonder what, with ~10% of the vote, possesses rabid Greens supporters like Firefox and Quoll, to think they can turn up and say, ‘Labor must…’?
“Huh?…. Surely you are not a member of the “Libs and Labs are just the same” mob, are you?…”
***
They are two sides of the same coin. Labor is most certainly a big part of the problem. They constantly team up with the Coalition again and again from everything to giving tax cuts to the rich to fracking Beetaloo. We Greens want Labor to stop working with the Coalition so often and work with us instead.
With 23% of the Greens jumping ship it still leaves plenty left over to wallow in their impotent sanctimony.
Perhaps they can join their exalted leader Bob Brown in his retirement and start tilting at wind power
Corruption and Patronage Are the Norm in the Australian Liberal Party
There, fixed it for you. Seeing as how you never mention the Liberal Party. 😐
nath, I recall discussions with MPs on both sides who had employed family members as staffers, in the days before it was frowned upon in Canberra.
Their rationale was invariably “They are the only ones I can trust.”
Quoll:
“Ten years and five days ago now since Clean Energy Bill gained assent”….
It’s also 11 years since the Greens reached the top of their historical primary vote: 13% (in 2010).
Now, they sit on a 10% primary vote (down 3%).
“You’ve got to wonder what, with ~10% of the vote, possesses rabid Greens supporters like Firefox and Quoll, to think they can turn up and say, ‘Labor must…’?”
***
Awww. Love you too, Cat. 🙂
*deleted double post*
PB likes posting my comments twice! The blog wants more of the same apparently. 😉
Yeah, I reckon Labor should organise a convoy to Bob Brown’s place to demand he support more Wind Energy. 🙂
Agreed; there are more questions than answers.
It sounded like you can select a new provider – but not the plan? That’s nuts.
I’ve looked at switching providers and/or plans, but something stinks.
sprocket_ says:
Tuesday, November 23, 2021 at 9:58 pm
nath, I recall discussions with MPs on both sides who had employed family members as staffers, in the days before it was frowned upon in Canberra.
Their rationale was invariably “They are the only ones I can trust.”
____________
They are also the ones you want to get on the property ladder 🙂
You mean the Bob Brown who said this?
“However … this Robbins Island wind farm is an aileron too far.
“Firstly, the Tasmanian public, including the people of the North-West of the island, has not been properly informed of the private deals, or public impacts or cost-benefit analyses (economic, social, cultural and environmental) of this, one of the biggest wind farm projects on Earth.
“Mariners will see this hairbrush of tall towers from 50km out to sea and elevated landlubbers will see it, like it or not, from greater distances on land.
“Its eye-catchiness will divert from every coastal scene on the western Bass Strait coastline.“
https://reneweconomy.com.au/greens-founder-brown-speaks-out-against-tasmania-wind-farm-43310/
“They are two sides of the same coin. Labor is most certainly a big part of the problem.”…
Oh dear… how naive of me, I thought that you were a mature Greens supporter. But you are either an immature one or are a member of the Liberal party in disguise. Attacking Labor is what the Liberals do, in case you haven’t noticed.
I must come to this website a bit more often, to have a better understanding of where each one of the regulars really stands.
“Yeah, I reckon Labor should organise a convoy to Bob Brown’s place to demand he support more Wind Energy.”
***
Just don’t mention the fact that the ACT Greens have used their power to setup wind farms – we wouldn’t want Laborites to know the truth now, would we. That truth being of course that voting Greens gets real results.
Worked out whether you support Adani or not yet, love? You’ve only had a few years to think about it…
That’s right sprocket.
Bob Brown and the Greens, fake progressives and NIMBYs, hiding behind a tree.
I wonder if Morrison will be condemning death threats against Mark McGowan and his children?
I guess we know the answer to that one, those two charged tonight are amongst those who Morrison wants preferences from at the next election.
Firefox says:
Tuesday, November 23, 2021 at 9:45 pm
you can join the 12% of Greens voters abandoning them and voting ALP – how good would that be!”
***
Tell Murdoch he’s dreamin’, Sprockets!
There’s about as much chance of me playing full-forward for the Western Bulldogs as there is of that happening.
Bullies could do with a full forward with Bruce’s knee.
And you should think about taking a longer view. The Greens only win seats off Labor governments – not Labor oppositions. As you can’t/aren’t really trying/ can’t compete with Voice candidates to win Liberal voters, a Labor government is your best shot at actually winning HofR seats and holding a balance of power.
Mind you, the German experience is that leads to a split between the fundies and the govt is to do stuff tendencies, but it’s still your best shot and at the very least you could give up the contortions currently required to align your ideological and tactical positions. (That would be a relief for us all).
I actually saw a boat out the window today which had its own little wind power generator stuck onto the back deck. Going nuts it was as well. Hmm, maybe a convoy of wind-powered boats to Bob Brown’s place? 🙂
“I must come to this website a bit more often, to have a better understanding of where each one of the regulars really stands.”
***
Allow me to ignore your petty insults and bring you up to speed. The Labor Right detest the Greens and the progressive left with a passion, perhaps even more so than they hate the Liberals. They would rather team up with the Libs than the Greens, as many of the hard right Laborites here will tell you.
As for Labor teaming up with the Coalition, you need only open your eyes and observe proceedings in the Parliament to know that’s the truth. From everything from giving tax cuts to the rich, to leaving people on JobSeeker in poverty, to Adani, Beetaloo, and all the way to the asylum seekers that Labor loves to forget, they team up all the time.
You can shoot the messenger if you like but it won’t change the reality that Labor and the Coalition work together all the time.
Labor faces yet another such test tomorrow. Will they team up with the Coalition to reaffirm their support for fracking the Beetaloo Basin? Or will they join with the Greens and independents to protect the planet?
Firefox: “We Greens want Labor to stop working with the Coalition so often and work with us instead.”
Labor MPs are elected to work for the People of Australia, not to work with anyone in particular in parliament!… Had the voters been disappointed with how Labor represents them, they would have abandoned the party long ago, but they haven’t… Oh, and Labor doesn’t control the media, hence their 30%+ (primary vote) popular support is genuine, as it is the 10% of the Greens.
The 3:1 ratio should make you reflect…. hopefully.
Michael Wooldridge
Consultant acting for Aspen and central to Aspen winning a Federal Government contract of $1.4 billion
And who is Wooldridge – and his sister?
As described by Counsel Assisting today, Aspen were contracted to provide adequately trained and prepared “surge staff”
Well, it appears that the “surge staff” they did have on their books knew how to party – and spread the virus
Sutton had every right to expect that the $1.4 billion provided to Aspen (and how many others?) by the Federal government would mean that adequately qualified and trained “surge staff” would be immediately available (which is what this Company associated with Wooldridge was paid to provide)
And what was Wooldridge paid by Aspen?
What were the circumstances of Wooldridge’s exit from the Parliamentary Liberal Party (and the Ministry no less)?
Align all this to the Royal Commission and the independent inquiry into another federally controlled Aged Care business where there were over 30 deaths and what do you have?
Petrol-driven sail inflator? 😉
Interesting that the Greens bring up leaving people on Jobseeker in poverty.
Because that is exactly what the Greens voted for.
The fake progressives spin a lie that there’s some, better, third option. But its a furphy.
In Parliament, in the real world, you vote for the legislation before you or you vote for the status quo.
And what did the fake progressives vote for? The status quo. They voted for zero increase to JobSeeker. $0. All so they could pat themselves pn the back and revel in how progressive they imagine themselves to be. For shame.
“Bullies could do with a full forward with Bruce’s knee.”
***
Unlike Gillard, I’m actually not a fan of aerial ping-pong.
The NRL is Australia’s footy code as far as I’m concerned! 😀
I can’t recall the details of Wooldridge’s dishonesty but it was pretty serious. Wasn’t he health minister.?
“Had the voters been disappointed with how Labor represents them, they would have abandoned the party long ago, but they haven’t…”
***
Like they have been for the last three decades?
The Greens have gone from having 0 voters 30 years ago to having 1,482,923+ now. Perhaps you should reflect on that and ask yourself why the Greens have grown so large.
Firefox says:
Tuesday, November 23, 2021 at 10:25 pm
Unlike Gillard, I’m actually not a fan of aerial ping-pong.
The NRL is Australia’s footy code as far as I’m concerned!
Now THAT is a step too far!!
“Interesting that the Greens bring up leaving people on Jobseeker in poverty.
Because that is exactly what the Greens voted for.”
***
That’s a lie. The Greens voted to raise JobSeeker to $80 a day.
Labor teamed up with the Coalition to set it at just $44 a day – below the poverty line. Shame on Labor.
This of course also came after Labor teamed up with the Coalition to give tax cuts to the rich.
“Allow me to ignore your petty insults and bring you up to speed. “…
Crack!… You have lost it… You need better training.
“The Labor Right detest the Greens and the progressive left with a passion”… Some prominent members of the so-called “Labor right”:
a) Kristina Keneally
b) Jim Chalmers
c) Tony Burke
d) Mark Dreyfus
e) Bill Shorten
f) Jason Clare
…. How much do they “detest the Greens and the progressive left”?… You just have no idea what are you talking about…. Did I mention anything about “better training”?
Your pathetic and infantile: reject everything offered by everybody that doesn’t fit with our dreams, has kept you and your mob in the darkness of political irrelevance since you were crated in 1992. 10% primary vote in 29 years?…. Yeah, keep trying….
Now, I give you a second chance: if you are a genuine Greens voter (rather than a member of the Liberal party in disguise), learn to cooperate with the ALP. The more you learn, the better the cooperation.
—————–
P.S. “You can shoot the messenger”…. My bullets are precious, I wouldn’t waste them with you.
Didn’t Michael Wooldridge leave federal parliament in shame over trying to deal another company he was associated with into a lucrative government contract?
Roy Orbison:
To my mind the obvious question that wasn’t asked was: How does Defence explain how an investigation last year into this kid’s allegations conclude that nothing happened, and then this year a 30 minute video of it shows up? With maybe a follow-up question of: Given this, how can there be any confidence in these internal Defence investigations in future?
(Also: why are these referred to Vicpol and not handled by the MPs and military justice? It certainly seems to fit the bill of offences that substantially affect the maintenance of Service discipline.)
Someone mentioned earlier having trouble figuring out whether they should change energy retailers, so this article from The Conversation may help:
https://theconversation.com/i-chose-the-electricity-retailer-offering-the-best-deal-for-my-home-thats-not-what-i-got-171676
Observer @ #1026 Tuesday, November 23rd, 2021 – 9:17 pm
Wait, what? Nobody has any right to expect that throwing money around can make qualified and trained people (or anything else) magically appear out of thin air.
You’ve gotta have accountability, and oversight, and a plan, and independent confirmation that the underlying physical resources actually exist. There’s a whole process that needs to underpin the throwing around of currency. The process is like 99% of what matters. Can’t just splash cash and expect a quality result. Or any result.
Or I guess, everyone has a right to expect whatever they like. But “you took money, therefore you can immediately provide resources in any quantity I need” is an extremely childish expectation. We deserve better from our public officials, if that’s the level they engage at.
The Greens did not vote to raise JobSeeker to $80 a day. The Greens moved an unenforceable motion to that effect in the Senate.
A meaningless stunt designed only for Facebook likes and shares.
When the real legislation came through the parliament to increase JobSeeker by $50 a fortniggt, the Greens chose to posture and pose and vote against it, and vote for no increase at all.
Again, for Facebook likes and shares.
It’s yet more evidence that the Greens are only concerned with their brand and not real change.
“Like they have been for the last three decades?”…
More ignorance from you. Did you know that the ALP is the single party with the highest primary vote in the Country?…. No, I don’t think you have any idea.
Last federal election, ALP= 33.34%…. next single party: Liberals = 27.99%…
Look, do me a favour, go and do some homework, then come back… I can’t do your training myself, I’m too busy…. Your test will be a single question:
– How do you take the Greens from their current 10% primary vote back to their 2010, 13% primary vote?
“…. How much do they “detest the Greens and the progressive left”?… You just have no idea what are you talking about…. Did I mention anything about “better training”?
Your pathetic and infantile: reject everything offered by everybody that doesn’t fit with our dreams, has kept you and your mob in the darkness of political irrelevance since you were crated in 1992. 10% primary vote in 29 years?…. Yeah, keep trying….”
***
The above is typical of the aggro attitude that the Labor Right has towards the Greens.
Your list is full of centre-right members of the Labor Right Faction. If you think any of them like the Greens you’re absolutely kidding yourself. I’m sure they would tell you the same.
You brought up Shorten, which is good because he provides a perfect example…
Bill Shorten rules out joint climate policy process with Greens if Labor wins power
Bill Shorten has declared Labor will run its own race on climate change, and will “listen” but not replicate Julia Gillard’s joint policy process with the Greens in any minority government scenario after the election.
In an interview with Guardian Australia on the campaign trail this week, the Labor leader rebuffed a recent overture from the Greens leader Richard Di Natale to revive the process that applied in the 43rd parliament where the parties worked together to produce the clean energy package.
“Richard would say that wouldn’t he? So, who cares? Richard is looking for relevance at the moment,” Shorten said. “I don’t blame him for doing that, it’s legitimate, but I’m going to lead a Labor government”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/apr/26/bill-shorten-rules-out-joint-climate-policy-process-with-greens-if-labor-wins-power
Labor’s arrogance and born-to-rule mentality on full display.
I was always of the view that Brown was exceptionally hard working in the Senate and was committed to the environmental matters he championed (and got arrested for!!)
Now you see what you basically scroll past on these sites now – contributions which do not respect the profile Brown had when he was prosecuting the environmental good fight and receiving the publicity he was receiving
The fact is that the Liberals dine out on linking Labor to the Greens
They even did it during Brown’s day – and successfully
Noting how legislation which passed the Lower House on 3 occasions was defeated in the Upper House
And now we have Hanson wagging the Liberal dog
Ironic, hey?
“– How do you take the Greens from their current 10% primary vote back to their 2010, 13% primary vote?”
***
Considering the Greens gained positive swings in both houses at the last election while Labor went backwards, it is for you to tell us how you propose to reverse your negative trend. You’re living in an alternate reality mate. Stop abusing me to make yourself feel better about your party’s fortunes, it’s really not a good look.
Its really the difference between real progressive politics and fake progressive posturing.
Real progressives understand that lasting change is difficult, incremental and hard won. Real progressive politics means changing hearts and minds. It means winning votes. And winning government so change can actually happen.
Fake progessivism is stamping your feet and hectoring the plebs with sanctimonious purity. Its lecturing the unwashed about why they’re wrong. Its running a convoy of Audis to central Queensland to prove your own moral perfection.
All so fake progressives can feel good about themselves.
Hey, Freezie, when you’ve finished with Firefox, can you make a start on Quoll, please?
“Its really the difference between real progressive politics and fake progressive posturing.”
***
Real progressives don’t team up with parties like the Liberals and Nationals to pass their conservative agendas like Labor does.
*deleted double post*
WTF lol
Firefox at 10:25 pm
A good start
But the finish wrecked all that early good work 🙂
Fake progessives believe progress has occurred if they have performed a stunt and issued a tweet.
Fake progressives work hard to prevent any real action on things that matter to real progressvives.
Labor can point to a long list of successes.
Greens can point to a long list of stunts.
Real progressives make progress.
No one could ever accuse the Greens of doing such.