A federal intervention into the New South Wales branch of the Liberal Party is set to end a long-standing preselection impasse and ensure the re-endorsement of three sitting members who would otherwise have faced strong opposition in rank-and-file ballots: Mitchell MP Alex Hawke, whose machinations as a leader in the centre right faction have been widely blamed for the deadlock; Farrer MP and Environment Minister Sussan Ley; and factional moderate Trent Zimmerman in North Sydney.
The New South Wales branch has also been directed to “rectify the circumstances that candidates have not been selected and endorsed in other House of Representatives seats” by March 25. According to Max Maddison of The Australian, the upshot of this is that the following candidates will be rubber-stamped without a rank-and-file ballot: Alex Dore in Hughes, where he will run against party renegade and United Australia Party member Craig Kelly in the face of fierce opposition from the local membership; cardiologist Michael Feneley in Dobell, held for Labor by Emma McBride on a margin of 1.5%; disability campaigner David Brady in Warringah, where he will run against independent Zali Steggall; Franchise Council of Australia director Maria Kovacic in Parramatta, held by retiring Labor member Julie Owens on a margin of 3.5%; banker Pradeep Pathi in Greenway, held for Labor by Michelle Rowland on a margin of 2.8%; and Jerry Nockles, former chief-of-staff to Senator Jim Molan, in Eden-Monaro, which Kristy McBain retained for Labor at a by-election held in July 2020 by 0.4%.
Further preselection news:
• Labor’s Victorian Senate preselection is moving towards resolution after the failure of legal action by Right faction unions associated with Bill Shorten to overturn the takeover of the process by the party’s national executive. Sarah Martin of The Guardian cites multiple sources within the party saying this is likely to result in the defeat of factional powerbroker Kim Carr, who has served in the Senate since 1993. Possible challengers for a position that is reserved to the Left include Linda White, the former national secretary of the Australian Services Union; Ryan Batchelor, a former staffer to Julia Gillard and the executive director of the McKell Institute; and Josh Bornstein, an industrial relations lawyer and Maurice Blackburn partner who appears to have reconsidered his earlier decision to withdraw over past social media posts criticising figures within the party and union movement.
• Anthony Byrne, member for the safe Labor seat of Holt in south-eastern Melbourne, announced on Thursday that he will retire at the election. According to The Age, there are two candidates for the preselection linked with the Right faction Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, which has traditionally controlled the seat: its national assistant secretary, Julia Fox, and Stephen Parnis, an emergency physician. Other Right faction contenders cited by Greg Brown of The Australian include Helen Cooney, director of Rest Super, and Liberty Sanger, director of Maurice Blackburn and wife of former MP David Feeney, along with Jo Briskey, political co-ordinator of the Left faction United Workers Union.
• The Age reports Ross Lyman, head of supply and operations at McWilliam’s Wines and a former army commando who served in Afghanistan, will run against independent Helen Haines as the Liberal candidate for Indi.
• James O’Doherty of the Daily Telegraph reports the mayor and deputy mayor of Fairfield, Frank Carbone and Dai Le, are considering running as independents against Kristina Keneally in the western Sydney seat of Fowler, either individually and directing preferences to each other or with one supported by the other. Carbone polled nearly three-quarters of the vote in a two-horse race against a Labor candidate at the mayoral election in December, and Le polled 25.9% of the vote as an independent state candidate in Cabramatta in 2019, and 42.4% as the Liberal candidate in 2011.
Poll latest:
• Roy Morgan released its second set of federal voting intention numbers in a week on Thursday, having conducted a fresh poll to ascertain any effect from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the previous poll having been conducted entirely before then. All we are provided with is a two-party result of 56.5-43.5 for Labor, no different from the previous poll, with no primary votes or state breakdowns.
• Market research firm Momentum Intelligence has published a report gauging voting intention and political views of professionals in specific industry sectors, which finds Labor strongly favoured among those in the legal services sector, but the Coalition preferred in, ascendingly, aviation, accounting services, defence and national security, financial advice and wealth management, real estate services and mortgage lending, from sample of mostly around 300. The full report can be downloaded here.
It is warming to see coastal councils forking out millions upon millions to pour concrete on dunes to ensure that the houses of the wealthy do not fall into the sea as the dunes erode.
After all, how were THEY to know that building their houses on sand adjacent to the ocean was a risk? How were THEY to know that the astronomical growth in the capital value of their houses was built on an addled risk assessment?
How were THEY to know that climate change was actually going to affect THEM?
We all know the lurk here: privatize profits, socialize risks. In all other domains Left commentators are willing to go into bat against this curse. But not in the case of house buyers on flood plains, sand dunes… etc. etc. etc.
Have they, too, been blinded by the Great Australian Curse?
BW,
Lenders Mortgage Insurance is a policy the Lender takes out to protect themselves should the Borrower default on the Loan. In Metro areas this usually for loans above 80% of the value of the property at settlement.
Most Lenders will will lend up to 95% including LMI. At the high end LMI can be brutal. The only benefit is that the Borrower can capitalise the charge and pay it off through the term of the loan.
What can one say about the attitude of this fellow?
I know there are overlays in the Victorian planning scheme for land subject to flooding and bush fire risk. But I think some of the areas that flooded in Lismore and other areas of the northern rivers would not have been covered by an overlay. They just had more rain than could ever have been expected from the historical data.
But some of the land in Brisbane should not have been built on and other areas are still being built on that shouldn’t. Equally the beachside or cliff top homes in Sydney that are going to end up in the sea at some stage must surely have some owners responsibility attached.
SA Voter at 7am re Essential poll Qld numbers…
Two points from me…
1) Even though Labor’s primary vote has ‘crashed’ to 29% – that would still represent an improvement compared to the party’s disastrous 2019 election PV of just under 27! For further reference, 2016 election PV was just under 30%.
2) Might be helpful to regard both ALP PVs of 40% (previous Essential poll) and 29% (this one) as outliers, and split the difference between them: if Labor achieved anything like about 34% PV in Qld, they’d be both over the Moon AND in government! The polling trend remains positive for Labor, which doesn’t need to win Qld, just do better than 2019.
Boerwar @ #1177 Tuesday, March 8th, 2022 – 4:57 pm
Jeez you can be a sanctimonious prick sometimes, Boerwar. One with zero empathy and understanding in this instance. But you’ll keep coming back at your prey like a termagant from the skies, relentlessly and perennially on your quest to prove yourself right. Again. And again and again. I just want to know what deep-seated inadequacy within you makes you do that here almost every day? If it’s not The Greens’ Light Mobile Force, it now seems to be this. You know, trying to be the force that overwhelms all others doesn’t make you right in the end. A fact you don’t seem to be able to acknowledge yourself.
Once Were Liberals… today in Manly.
https://twitter.com/zalisteggall/status/1501035272288432133?s=21
I love it, sprocket_! The lump of coal says it all.
I thought these nuclear powered subs were unsafe? I bet these local residents will be up in arms
Re Imran Khan assisting Russia economically via wheat deal…
How about our ‘strong on national security’ PM push for sanctions against Pakistan for this latest move. Morrison could…
1) Build an allied approach to mild sanctions on Pakistan’s leadership (avoiding worsening the poverty afflicting most of that country’s citizens);
2) Bring the protest against Pakistan’s support for Russia to the attention of the Pakistan public by canning the rest of the current Australian cricket tour in that country.
Will Sotty walk the walk?
sprocket_ at 6:03 pm
The Mad Monk’s red budgie smugglers live on !
ScoMo gasbagging about keeping the country safe, whilst the populace lurches from fires, to pandemic, to floods. Lies versus lived experience.
On the issue of flood prone areas etc.
Wife and I bought a block of land at Lake Macquarie, NSW and after several years of saving for a deposit built our house.
In hindsight so much of the process is based on trust.
At the time it seemed an ordeal….permission from council, the Mines Subsidence Board the local Water Board……what seemed at the time to a young couple as so many hurdles to negotiate
So despite what we saw at the time as hurdles we still accepted that if we secured permissions then it was safe to buy and build.
Hence my use of the term ‘trust”
This was over 40 years ago.
What if the council or other authorities were in the hands of unscrupulous developers?
I don’t blame any people for building today in dangerous areas because at some stage you have to believe that the departments with that authority to give you permission to build are also acting with your interests in mind.
It’s naive but what do you do?
Yep.
marquelawyers
@marquelawyers
The Scott government:
– can airlift Warnie’s body from Thailand quick-smart
– can’t get soldiers to Lismore because it’s raining
HT to Aaron Dodd for this cracker
BREAKING: Australia’s new nuclear submarines have been tentatively called “Morrison class” submarines. A Royal Australian Navy spokesman stated it was because of their new stealth technology that renders them completely undetectable in a crisis.
Snappy Tom,
Would Scott Morrison commit the ultimate apostasy and demand the Australian Cricket Team return to Australia?
Alpha zero, re your post at 15:04 hrs when checking in to a Amsterdam hotel the receptionist (Loverly lady by the way) warned my wife and i about the cyclists who think they own the city and never give way to pedestrians.
The first Hawkesbury flood to cause material damage to the Invaders was around 220 years ago. Parts of the Nepean/Hawkesbury floodplains have flooded numerous times since then.
And house buyers are STILL shocked to find themselves flooded out of house and home.
”
citizensays:
Tuesday, March 8, 2022 at 3:06 pm
Greensborough Growler says:
Tuesday, March 8, 2022 at 2:53 pm
This is the M5 tunnel today.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1501037776329867264
Secretly designed to enable those future subs to access their underground maintenance facility.
”
Citizen
Don’t reveal the secrets to enemy.:-)
‘martini henry says:
Tuesday, March 8, 2022 at 6:15 pm
Alpha zero, re your post at 15:04 hrs when checking in to a Amsterdam hotel the receptionist (Loverly lady by the way) warned my wife and i about the cyclists who think they own the city and never give way to pedestrians.’
————————————————–
1. Never ever collide with a cyclist in Holland. The burden of proof and the assumption of guilt is against the car driver.
2. Get yourself a bike.
sprocket_ @ #1208 Tuesday, March 8th, 2022 – 6:07 pm
You know, this image, minus the submarine, says everything about the Coalition’s failed policies as regards Climate Change. They have advocated vociferously for years and even in their latest ad campaign, that Solar Panels on roofs are all you need to do as a citizen to salve your conscience that your bit is done and your government gives you cover to thus move right along and thank you for doing so. They’ll allow some big solar farms to be built and that big dam battery to be built, and then, tickety boo, everyone can get back to their lives believing that their job is done.
But that photo gives the lie to that and the ad campaign. All those solar panels on roofs were not enough. We have to do more and we have to do it asap. And the first step on that journey is kicking this mendacious, self-serving federal government out and the new federal government has to prosecute the deals done with mates at a federal ICAC in order to teach the Coalition a lesson that they’ll never forget. That is, you cannot throw science overboard and replace it with religion or mammon.
And hopefully it will serve to keep them out of power for long enough to get our country back from these rapacious bastards, and do what’s right for our planet too.
Boerwar, Back in the old days when you could travel overseas i found the easiest and best way to see a city was by walking the streets.
I think they’re way ahead of that.
(“Abandoned”? Does Ukraine have any subs?)
A top-secret, abandoned Soviet submarine base that was hidden from the public for decades is now a museum. Take a look inside.
https://www.insider.com/inside-an-abandoned-secret-soviet-submarine-base
If the new subs will fit under the bridges, perhaps they should build the secret base in Parramatta?
(It’s a lot easier to turn a museum into an underwater secret base.)
For the people that need a quick go-to peer reviewed research study when some climate change denialist says “these rains are unprecendented!”
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-70816-2
“The results of this study suggest that changes in flood and extreme precipitation intensities in response to global warming are significant and robust when aggregated over different climate regions. Regionalization of the changes decreases the large noise of extreme events at local scale, leading to more robust results. The increase in extreme precipitation and the expected decrease in total precipitation in dry regions supports “it never rains, but it pours” pattern in these regions. The results show a clear connection of the flood and extreme precipitation changes with spatial and seasonal water availability, pointing to a larger increase for the regions and seasons with higher water (moisture) availability. Limited climatological water availability in dry environments may offset extreme precipitation increases, while in water-abundance conditions amplified atmospheric moisture convergence can intensify the effects of extreme precipitation. This suggests that attention should be paid not only on how much water the atmosphere can hold, but on how much water is available in the first place.”
The word to describe them is “expected”.
No good kicking Pakistan. IMO it will be lucky to survive as a democracy.
It is riven socially and politically. The population is 221 million. In 1980 it was a mere 78 million. Pakistan now only has around 3.5 hectares per person. Most of that is desert and/or mountains. The average age is somewhere in the young twenties so you can probably add another 20 or so million people over the next 20-30 years. Pakistan cannot feed itself now, having to buy staples from from abroad. As climate change kicks it is likely that staple crop yields per hectare will fall in Pakistan as temperatures increase. There are early signs that the monsoon is being perturbed by climate change. One to three bad years of dry or missing monsoons and of low Indus flow rates and irrigation-based food production would be in diabolical trouble. On top of all of the above Pakistan has been mining its groundwater well beyond sustainable levels and the future for glacier meltwater is bleak.
‘martini henry says:
Tuesday, March 8, 2022 at 6:26 pm
Boerwar, Back in the old days when you could travel overseas i found the easiest and best way to see a city was by walking the streets.’
——————————–
Yep. Same. We walked all over Amsterdam without being remotely threatened by cyclists.
Jaeger at 6:27 pm
Parramatta ? I have an even more cunning plan. Base them in the Kalgoorlie Super Pit. Russkiy of Chinese submarines and sub hunting ships will never find them.
Thank goodness.Begone you traitors.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/the-dlp-65-years-after-the-split-has-too-few-members-to-survive-20220307-p5a2k1.html
BW: “Pakistan cannot feed itself now”
We’ve talked about this BW. The crop yields of Pakistan are increasing, not falling, and they’re increasing faster than population growth. Now if you wanted to talk about Pakistan’s energy security, fair enough. That is the cause of much that ails them.
https://www.fao.org/pakistan/our-office/pakistan-at-a-glance/en/
“Pakistan is also amongst the world’s top ten producers of wheat, cotton, sugarcane, mango, dates and kinnow oranges, and is ranked 10th in rice production. Major crops (wheat, rice, cotton and sugar cane) contribute around 4.9 per cent, while minor crops contribute 2.1 percent to the country’s total GDP.
Livestock sector contributes 11 per cent to the country’s GDP (60.5 per cent in agriculture sector) and employs approximately 35 million people. Fisheries and forestry sectors each contribute an estimated 0.4 per cent to the GDP (2.1 per cent in agriculture sector).”
Pakistan, like much of the region around it, is corrupt and has massive inequality. But that has nothing to do with either their food production, nor their population. They can feed their population. They don’t for a number of reasons, none of which has anything to do with availability.
You’re making stuff up because you have the feels. You don’t want to kick Pakistan? Stop making up stuff about it.
The Lismore Library could do as an occasional sub bunker. I would call it a cunning plan or perhaps even a subterfuge.
All its books and stuff have been destroyed. Not even Putin would think of bombing a library.
Mavis was right. Putin does have portable crematoriums that he is using on the battlefield:
https://www.rawstory.com/europe-not-afraid-vladimir-putin/
Pi says:
Tuesday, March 8, 2022 at 6:48 pm
BW: “Pakistan cannot feed itself now”
We’ve talked about this BW. The crop yields of Pakistan are increasing, not falling, and they’re increasing faster than population growth.
————————————-
The fact of the matter is that Pakistan cannot feed itself now.
https://www.globalhungerindex.org/pakistan.html
As population grows further and as yields decline due to temperature increase Pakistan will be even less able to feed itself in the future. This is especially so since at least part of late production increases are based on unsustainable ground water extraction. Add another 20-25 million over the next 20-30 years. Add to that likely glacial meltwater reductions. Add to the mix a couple of unwelcome trends in the monsoon over the past decade and Pakistan is probably headed for climate-accelerated upheavals. A bit like the Arab Spring, now that I come to think of it.
Boerwar @ #1218 Tuesday, March 8th, 2022 – 6:18 pm
And apparently the first settlers were told by the local Aboriginal people told them the place flooded all the time!
Today has been crazy in Sydney. I can’t believe the Roseville Bridge flooded.
Has Steve777 been around? From memory he lives on the north shore somewhere. Hope all PBers have kept safe today.
BW: “The fact of the matter is that Pakistan cannot feed itself now.”
Your logic is akin to saying Australia can’t house its people now because there’s homelessness, and the problem is only going to get worse because of climate change. It’s a made up narrative.
https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america
By your rationale America can’t feed its people because of its poverty.
Early governors warned of floods. Then the property developers arrived in Sydney …
https://www.smh.com.au/national/governors-phillip-and-macquarie-warned-about-building-in-the-path-of-floods-still-we-don-t-listen-20220303-p5a19i.html
India has been able to feed itself since independence. Democracies rarely have famines (even democracies that may have flaws).
I just happen to be reading ‘Return to Uluru’ by Mark McKenna, having to do with the shooting of an Indigenous man in one of the Uluru caves by Constable McKinnon in 1935. In the rich tradition of murders of Indigenous people by Territory policeman, McKinnon got off. But not quite scot free – he lost a year’s increment in his pay. By one of those coincidences that life sometimes presents us with I knew personally one of the Indigenous men who was a participant in the events described.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/08/indigenous-man-shot-by-nt-police-south-of-darwin-in-critical-condition-in-hospital
Rossmcg @ #1236 Tuesday, March 8th, 2022 – 7:12 pm
That’s the article I was recalling.
BK says:
Tuesday, March 8, 2022 at 11:25 am
Cheers, BK.
BTW…I hope you’re on the mend…
🙂
Pi
You do seem to have trouble with facts that don’t fit your schema.
Pakistan has just bought 2 million tonnes of wheat.
Pakistan has a serious hunger problem.
Pakistan’s wheat imports fluctuate markedly but are higher recently than they were formerly.
The increased yields are based, in part, on harvesting ground water beyond sustainability. Pakistan not only has a serious hunger problem, it is eating the future.
Pakistan cannot feed itself now. QED.
There was no such hesitation to fund a recovery when on February 2019 cattle grazers at Cloncurry who built their farms on a flood plan*, SM immediately flew there along with DF personnel and each farmer(800) received $75000. They were more worthy.
*Not a plan that floods.
Confessions
The only knowledge that is seriously different from the experience of the past two hundred years is climate change variation.
Other than that, house buyers could easily have done some research to find out what they were letting themselves in for.
But still, housebuyers in flood plains are but ignorant and innocent putty in the hands of the unscrupulous.
So we must rescue them financially.
pukka
Exactemundo.
BW: You do seem to have trouble with facts that don’t fit your schema.
You’re projecting.
The US buys foreign energy. “aMeRiCa CaN’t EvEn KeEp ThEiR oWn LiGhTs On!!!”
Apparently commodity traders are in a state of confusion over the Ukraine. FMD it’s a war you morons.
‘Confessions says:
Tuesday, March 8, 2022 at 7:06 pm
Boerwar @ #1218 Tuesday, March 8th, 2022 – 6:18 pm
The first Hawkesbury flood to cause material damage to the Invaders was around 220 years ago. Parts of the Nepean/Hawkesbury floodplains have flooded numerous times since then.
And house buyers are STILL shocked to find themselves flooded out of house and home.
And apparently the first settlers were told by the local Aboriginal people told them the place flooded all the time!’
—————————————
But wait a minute Australians who buy houses on flood plains can’t be faulted for that. They are innocent. Everyone else is to blame and everyone else had better bail them out financially.
Over the next few decades there is going to be a lot of bailing out to do, BTW.
There are around 350,000 houses in Australia built on 1 in 100 year flood plains.
Boerwar says:
Tuesday, March 8, 2022 at 7:19 pm
Pi
You do seem to have trouble with facts that don’t fit your schema.
Pakistan has just bought 2 million tonnes of wheat.
Pakistan has a serious hunger problem.
Pakistan’s wheat imports fluctuate markedly but are higher recently than they were formerly.
The increased yields are based, in part, on harvesting ground water beyond sustainability. Pakistan not only has a serious hunger problem, it is eating the future.
Pakistan cannot feed itself now. QED.
America has zero per cent to do with Pakistan not being able to feed itself ATM.
Boerwar
I was looking for this article again.
The Russia-Ukraine War has Turned Egypt’s Food Crisis into an Existential Threat to the Economy
https://www.mei.edu/publications/russia-ukraine-war-has-turned-egypts-food-crisis-existential-threat-economy
When I found this article….
Egypt’s Quiet Existential Crisis: Overpopulation
https://blogs.worldbank.org/arabvoices/egypt-s-quiet-existential-crisis-overpopulation
Lucky it all has nothing to do with a 50% population increase since 2020 eh.