A lot of news at the moment concerning matters pertinent to this blog, with Christian Porter announcing yesterday he will not contest the election, Greg Hunt universally expected to follow suit with today’s last parliamentary sitting day of the year, and voter identification legislation scuttled after a deal between government and opposition.
• Annabel Hennessy of The West Australian reports a nominee has already come forward for Liberal preselection in Christian Porter’s loseable northern Perth seat of Pearce: Miquela Riley, a former naval officer and current PwC Australia manager who performed a thankless task as the party’s candidate for Fremantle at the March state election. Other potential nominees identified are Libby Lyons, former director of the Australian Government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency, and Alyssa Hayden, who held the state seat of Darling Range from 2018 until her defeat in March and was earlier in the Legislative Council from 2009 to 2017.
• The most widely named successor to Greg Hunt as Liberal candidate for the Victorian seat of Flinders is Zoe McKenzie, an NBN Co director and former chief-of-staff to Abbott-Turnbull government Trade Minister Andrew Robb. The Age reports other potential starters are Mark Brudenell, chief-of-staff at Latitude Financial and former adviser to Malcolm Turnbull as both Communications Minister and Prime Minister, and Simon Breheny, former Institute of Public Affairs policy director.
• A deal between government and opposition has resulted in the abandonment of plans to introduce voter identification at the coming election. In exchange, Labor has agreed to support a bill that will halve the expenditure threshold at which third parties will have to file disclosure returns, over the objections of critics who argue the associated red tape will discourage charities from political campaigning. It appeared unlikely the voter identification bill would have gained the required votes in the Senate, with Jacqui Lambie having announced yesterday she would vote against it.
• Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats are pursuing a High Court action against recently enacted legislation that will prevent parties other than the main ones having words like Liberal and Labor in their name. Absent a favourable outcome, this will presumably result in formal challenges against the Liberal Democrats and the New Liberals, the latter of whom have withdrawn their application to change their name simply to TNL.
Kate,
It’s the day the Greens Music died!
Fascinating and fantastic
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-29/nas-campanella-on-preparing-for-parenting-while-blind/100634702
Hopefully it was the method and not the mandate which was the problem
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-03/bhps-vaccine-mandate-unlawful-fair-work-commission-finds/100673390
Albo today. We don’t think, we know…….
https://twitter.com/i/status/1466647210846679040
“Sounds like WeWantPaul doesn’t want Labor to get elected either and is happy to also continue to take cheap potshots at them from the sidelines, just ignoring the vast majority of the electorate that don’t have the secure, well-paying job that he has, and who think it important that the bills they have to pay are taken into account by political parties. Not to mention the jobs they need to have to make the money to pay the bills.”
***
To me, WWP sounds like someone from the Labor Left who is ripping their hair out in frustration over the direction of their party. They’re not alone I don’t think. When Labor does things like this it causes many in the Labor Left to become disillusioned. They feel betrayed and let down because they really want Labor to be so much better than this. Labor should be better than this.
I used to feel that way towards the end of my time voting for Labor. Eventually I realised that I wasn’t voting for the party that best represented my views. Knowing that I could still preference Labor above the Coalition made moving to the Greens a pretty easy decision in the end.
I didn’t know this.
Over a decade of climate wars, I think many of us are exhausted, seeing the Greens carry on still to this day is not helpful.
We have to get many people on board, otherwise nothing will ever get done until it is too late.
What Labor is proposing is a good start as it takes the dead hand of the LNP on the energy transition. Of course more should be done, but we need actually have a government that will actually listen in the first place.
Would Ned Kelly have been an anti-vaxxer?
There is a consortium of 4 in Victoria invested into the reconfiguration of and the expansion of (including to accommodate other renewable energy resources) the energy distribution network
This consortium is in negotiation with the Victorian government – a few points still to be negotiated but delayed due to the focus of government on the Pandemic
This will be a landmark project
The current source of energy for distribution dictates that the current supply asset is not fit for purpose into the future
As I have offered, the “Greens” presenting as they do are the uneducated telling their fellow uneducated what they do not know
They simply have no comprehension of the real world
Banging on as they do including complaining that they cannot afford to buy a home (and for a reason which is obvious I would suggest – they are unemployable)
Confirmed by the fact they are on this site as they are (24/7 – so what do they do for a living?)
Gee it’s frustrating reading posts by Greens supporters. To implement policies you need to be in government. Which in turn requires an election to be won.
Labor got smashed in western Sydney in 2019. OK, demographics has a bit to do with it, but former heartland Labor seats like Lindsay and Banks are now fairly solidly Liberal. Do people seriously think that an aggressive, ambitious policy on climate change will win back seats in western Sydney? Or that anything other than about 5% of the electorate here will ever vote for the Greens agenda? By trying to pull Labor to unpopular positions on the left, and with the LNP and their media cheer squad using that to conflate Labor and the Greens policies, the Greens are enhancing the prospects of an LNP victory. People in western Sydney are mainly working class and socially conservative, they don’t want the Greens woke agenda. People in a democracy are entitled to form parties and promote whatever policies they want, I’m sure Greens supporters mean well, but they should reflect on the practical outcome their party is producing.
I shudder at the thought of what the Greens in the senate could mean for an Albanese government, if he can get across the line. It’s easy to see how the Greens might wreck a Labor government and give us a swift return to LNP rule. Is that what Greens supporters would like to see?
Simon Katich @ #907 Friday, December 3rd, 2021 – 4:37 pm
It’s an Unknown Known, to be sure. However, I’m just going on the hysteria and havoc Morrison and Murdoch’s media would create if Labor had gone with something more adventurous. I think keeping Labor’s figures roughly what they were at the last election and in line with what a lot of the states have ambitions to do is simply sensible politics. As I have said multiple times now, this number isn’t set in concrete and is able to be modified if circumstances change. Labor being the good Keynesians they are. 🙂
“These are the kinds of voters that Labor has to win in order to win government. The Greens have the luxury of advocating for policies that these voters don’t support. Labor does not.
I can say from personal experience, rhetoric about the house burning down wins people who already agree with me over – but for the average voter, it’s a turn-off. Talk about jobs and opportunities on the other hand, and you can get the conversation going.”
***
Coal is a dying industry. Propping it up is doing a disservice to those who work in it.
As for a plan for jobs, have you heard of the Green New Deal?
You can read all about it here: https://greens.org.au/archive/greennewdeal
WeWantPaul says:
Friday, December 3, 2021 at 3:49 pm
So I will play along. Labor takes this very soft incremental policy to the election and them backflips or is dragged to good policy by greens and / or indies.
When does the winning hearts and minds thing happen and how does it work such that they aren’t destroyed 2 1/2 years later by those voters who trusted the election winning message.
Seems like a deliberate strategy to recreate the Gillard carbon tax disaster.
But tell me how it will work this time?
We are fucked. Reform is not possible in this country. The schism in the Labor-positive plurality; the strength of the reactionary brand-build; the relentless anti-Labor campaigning by the splitters and their hapless/witless sympathisers ….these signify renewed defeat for Labor.
At best we have a 1/6 chance of winning any given election from Opposition. I think we will lose the next one too, giving us a win record of 3/20 since WW2.
If the Greens had a skerrick of integrity they would back the Statement from the Heart without qualification.
Firefox says:
Friday, December 3, 2021 at 5:09 pm
….have you heard of the Green New Deal?
As a branded product, this will fail. It will fail 9 times out of 10. We are fucked in this country. Absolutely fucked.
“Poor old Adam Bandt taking a shellacking over on his twitter feed today……”
***
It’s like that every day for the Greens. You should (shouldn’t actually) read some of the vile comments the far right leave on their posts. SHY in particular cops a hell of a lot of abuse.
Parramatta Moderate
Very sensible. I think you live in the real world, not fairyland. 🙂
“FFS yes call it a jobs and infrastructure plan, even sleepy creepy Biden got that far, fund it fully and bingo there is even a risk you be a leader.”
***
Yep, just need someone like Bernie Sanders to make it happen. That’s where the Greens come in.
Who appoints to the Fair Work Commission?
Perhaps they should look at Europe (starting with Germany) and elsewhere
Vaccination is THE answer – along with face masks, physical distancing where able and personal hygiene
The drop off in the use of public transport in Melbourne and the numbers wearing face masks and complying with QR registrations is its own commentary
Oh dear. briefly has morphed into Debbie Downer again.
Breifly’s had a bad morning and now the country’s in trouble again.
Read the Labor policy document. The interesting bit is the policy not the reduction aim. It is the interesting the parties that campaign on anger have gone ape-shit over the target and not discussed the merit of the policies.
Rewiring the Nation
The ALP will establish a public Rewiring the Nation Corporation and invest $20 billion to modernise
Australia’s electricity grid.
Power to the People
The ALP will invest $200 million to install 400 community batteries around Australia, providing battery storage for up to 100,000 households.
Solar Banks
The ALP will commit $100 million for the development of shared ‘solar banks’ to provide access to the benefits of rooftop solar for people who rent, live in an apartment, or cannot afford upfront installation costs.
Public sector emissions
The ALP will commit to reduce Australian Public Service emissions to net-zero by 2030.
There are others including investing in the training of people for the clean energy sector.
It’s a good strategy, clean easy to articulate policies, let the angry ant act like angry ants.
Firefox says:
Friday, December 3, 2021 at 5:00 pm
WWP sounds like someone from the Labor Left who is ripping their hair out in frustration over the direction of their party. They’re not alone I don’t think. When Labor does things like this it causes many in the Labor Left to become disillusioned. They feel betrayed and let down because they really want Labor to be so much better than this. Labor should be better than this.
Absolute fucking rubbish. I am from Labor’s left. I am discouraged by the successes of Labor’s enemies on the Right and their side-kicks in the Greens. FF is trying to verbal Labor. We can speak for ourselves. The Greens are not – as they imagine themselves to be – voices from the Left. They are the self-indulging dummy-spitters of Australian politics.
I think Chris Bowen had one too many triple shot coffees again today. 😀
Firefox says:
..
Yep, just need someone like Bernie Sanders to make it happen. That’s where the Greens come in.
What do the Greens really offer. Stunts and anger. It must be tiresome maintaining that anger with nothing to show for it.
C@tmomma says:
Friday, December 3, 2021 at 5:22 pm
Oh dear. briefly has morphed into Debbie Downer again.
nath says:
Friday, December 3, 2021 at 5:24 pm
Breifly’s had a bad morning and now the country’s in trouble again.
The Splitters are campaigning for the Reactionaries…once again. Morrison is back on the road to another win.
Bludging Bloos says:
Friday, December 3, 2021 at 5:29 pm
…
The Splitters are campaigning for the Reactionaries…once again. Morrison is back on the road to another win.
It’s a good solid policy document. Did you really expect anything else from the Greens. Senseless anger really is all they have at the moment they have no policy to articulate. Boo too low really is nothing.
Boerwar @ #958 Friday, December 3rd, 2021 – 4:04 pm
He’d have to be jabbed below knee
frednk says:
Friday, December 3, 2021 at 5:32 pm
Cheers, frednk.
It’s Friday. I have a headache. I shouldn’t bellyache too!
“Absolute fucking rubbish. I am from Labor’s left. ”
***
*image may differ from actual product*
Others may observe The Artist in a slightly different light to that in which he seeks to paint himself. 😛
If 43% is such a bad number then we’re looking at PM Bandt 2022 ?
Bludging Bloos says:
Friday, December 3, 2021 at 5:34 pm
It’s Friday. I have a headache.
______
Let me guess. The Greens are to blame for that too.
Bludging Bloos @ #950 Friday, December 3rd, 2021 – 5:29 pm
If you think that then you are blind to the reality that things have changed immeasurably since 2019. The old tricks from both ends of the political spectrum aren’t working with the electorate anymore. Open your eyes!
fred,
Bandt is feeling the heat.
The Teal Independents will steal votes and preferences, the Labor Climate Change Plan has been a huge success and Bandt may now be under pressure to hold his own seat.
It’s lovely to see your opponents floundering.
Firefox
I am on the same page as you when it comes to the coal industry. But to pretend that people are going to vote to lose their jobs on the vague promise of replacing them with unspecified future jobs is delusional.
As for the Greens’ Green New Deal, the Greens need to answer these questions:
What’s the Green New Deal position on metallurgical coal?
What’s the Green New Deal position on mining other than coal?
What’s the Green New Deal position on the division of water and land between primary production and the environment?
What’s the Green New Deal position on biofuels and forestry?
Unless it has an answer to these questions and valid alternatives for regional areas, then the Green New Deal is just a slogan, and not a particularly good one.
Albo’s “I don’t think, I know” comment is next level trolling of slackmo.
Brilliant stuff.
Well, it’s one more than the meaning of life, Vogon …
FS, was a bit disappointed it wasn’t 42 tbh
Would Ned Kelly have been an anti-vaxxer?
He’d have to be jabbed below knee
————————
Buggered if I know where Captain Moonlite would take a jab.
Simon Katich says:
Friday, December 3, 2021 at 5:56 pm
Would Ned Kelly have been an anti-vaxxer?
He’d have to be jabbed below knee
————————
Buggered if I know where Captain Moonlite would take a jab.
=================
LOL
The ” buggered ” suggests you do Kato
“What’s the Green New Deal position on metallurgical coal?
What’s the Green New Deal position on mining other than coal?
What’s the Green New Deal position on the division of water and land between primary production and the environment?
What’s the Green New Deal position on biofuels and forestry?”
***
All these answers are easily available.
1. Needs to be phased out.
2. Same as above where possible, depends on what it is though.
3. The Greens have already dealt extensively with such issues, particularly in relation to the Murray Darling Basin.
4. Forests need to be protected, restored, and sustainably managed. Support for sustainable biofuels.
All this info and more is widely available online. There is a lot of detail out there on the GND.
The beauty of a target of 43% is that it is less than the 46-50% number come up with by that bunch of economy-wrecking socialists, the Business Council of Australia: https://www.bca.com.au/achieving_net_zero_with_more_jobs_and_stronger_regions
C@tmomma says:
Friday, December 3, 2021 at 5:38 pm
Bludging Bloos @ #950 Friday, December 3rd, 2021 – 5:29 pm
C@tmomma says:
Friday, December 3, 2021 at 5:22 pm
Oh dear. briefly has morphed into Debbie Downer again.
nath says:
Friday, December 3, 2021 at 5:24 pm
Breifly’s had a bad morning and now the country’s in trouble again.
The Splitters are campaigning for the Reactionaries…once again. Morrison is back on the road to another win.
If you think that then you are blind to the reality that things have changed immeasurably since 2019. The old tricks from both ends of the political spectrum aren’t working with the electorate anymore. Open your eyes!
In what ways have things changed? In fact, nothing much has changed at all. Labor will be defending seats on very tight margins in QLD and NSW. The reactionaries and their various clones, cousins, delegates, escorts and reserves are campaigning on their brand strengths. Labor stands alone. The plurality is moored at around 1/3, and is decidedly worse than that in Queensland.
I’d like to think the tide is coming in for Labor. I can’t see it..not yet, at least.
“Absolute fucking rubbish. I am from Labor’s left.”
The last branch I was a member of was controlled by the left. But the same branch had previously been controlled vy the right. All I will say is actual local members didn’t have any say in either branding. Because why would they.
And I don’t know about the poster but the view that because he is of the labor left and i think differently i could not be is hilarious. But pretty consistent across right left and pollbludger branch meetings, i’ve always put it down to noone thinking.
WeWantPaul
It is a good practical policy that can be implemented if Labor get into government, they have a chance.
The greens offer nothing more than anger and hot air. The Liberals are still in denial. The alternatives are as useless as each other.
I must say the Greens a putting a lot of effort into supporting Bludging Bloos’ view of the world.
Rex Douglassays:
Friday, December 3, 2021 at 4:20 pm
Jane Garrett the latest exit from the Andrews Government.
Daniel Andrews will have a fresh and re-invigorated team to govern Victoria for the next decade.
_____________________
She was always on borrowed time after Andrews decided to side with Marshall when he threatened to slit her throat.
This is the sort of laughable crap Sharma sends out.
At least he got the name of the legislation correct.
Firefox
Is the Green position really to phase out all mining? Come on they can’t be that crazy.