There is a post below from Adrian Beaumont on the unfolding drama in British politics and another one here relating the last scraps of counting for House of Representatives seats. As for this post:
• Both sides now have their front benches in place, the announcement of the Albanese government’s front bench last Monday resulting in promotion to cabinet rank for Murray Watt and and Clare O’Neil, respective beneficiaries of Left and Right vacancies caused by the electoral defeats of Terri Butler and Kristina Keneally. Anne Aly of the Left and Anika Wells and Kristy McBain of the Right have been promoted to the outer ministry, filling vacancies created by the promotion of Watt and O’Neil and the relegation of Shayne Neumann to the back bench as his Left faction sought to achieve gender balance.
• Peter Dutton’s shadow ministry was unveiled yesterday. The Nationals’ relative electoral success resulted in them gaining a sixth position in cabinet, their new entrants being Susan McDonald in resources and northern Australia, Perin Davey in water and Kevin Hogan in trade and tourism. Seven Liberals won promotion to shadow cabinet: Jane Hume in finance and public service, Andrew Hastie in defence, Julian Leeser in attorney-general and indigenous Australians, Jonathan Duniam in environment, fisheries and forestry, Ted O’Brien in climate change and energy, Michael Sukkar in social services and NDIS and Sarah Henderson in communications. Angus Taylor was rewarded for his record of integrity with Treasury and Alan Tudge is definitely in education now. Stuart Robert (Liberal) and Andrew Gee (Nationals) have been demoted to the outer shadow ministry, Alex Hawke, Linda Reynolds and Melissa Price (Liberal) and Keith Pitt (Nationals) are relegated to the back bench, and Marise Payne is now shadow cabinet secretary after apparently having “asked not to be considered for a prominent role”. Others formerly present and now absent: Scott Morrison, Josh Frydenberg, Ken Wyatt and Greg Hunt.
• The Australian reports Scott Morrison is “expected to weigh up his future in the coming months, but is understood to be in no immediate rush to quit politics”.
UPDATE: A discussion of various matters relating to the election between me and Ben Raue of The Tally Room:
My point being that if China did something comparable to what we do routinely, it would be perceived as a hostile and aggressive act.
Has the story from the High Court about citizenship been reported on the ABC?
John in Highgate 6003:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-06-08/high-court-finds-immigration-detention-of-brendan-thoms-legal/101134452
https://www.pollbludger.net/2022/06/07/cabinet-and-counter-cabinet/comment-page-13/#comment-3935368
+1
The end of the culture wars ? Sure, but only inside the Liberal Party.
The Liberal Party currently holds 42 of 58 seats in the Coalition – the Nationals held all 16 seats in 2022.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEATS 2019 2022 Outcome
MODERATES 15 6 -9
CENTRE RIGHT/MORRISON CLUB 24 18 -6
RIGHT FACTION 16 13 -3
NON FACTION ALIGNED/FACTION UNKNOWN 5 5 SAME–
T0TAL 60 42 -18
SENATE SEATS 2019 2022
MODERATES 7 7 SAME
CENTRE RIGHT/MORRISON CLUB 8 8 SAME
RIGHT FACTION 12 8 -4
NON FACTION ALIGNED/FACTION UNKNOWN 2 2 SAME
T0TAL 29 25 -4
The Centre right faction of the Liberal Party dominates in terms of representation in the House of Representatives (18) despite losing 6 seats in 2022.
The Centre Right has an equal number of members in the Senate (8) to the Right wing of the Party (8).
The Centre Right has a total of 26 party room seats compared to 21 for the right faction and 13 for the moderates.
The Liberal moderates representation in the Senate remains unchanged after the 2022 election. They hold 7 Senate seats after Birmingham (moderates leader), McLachlan and Payne were re-elected.
With Dutton leading the Party from the Right and Ley deputy leader from the Centre-Right, I don’t see the culture wars ending any time soon except inside the Coalition. Moderate leader Birmingham will remain the party go to man for press conferences the centre right and Right don’t want to do and other moderates like Archer will just have to suck it up or cross the floor occasionally and leave themselves vulnerable to rejection at pre selection time in 2025.
Dutton and Ley will fire off on ICAC, transgender issues, religious freedom, climate change, Indigenous recognition in the Constitution, rekindle the history wars in education and the ‘evil’ Chinese. etc etc etc. Please do Dutton.
Or, was the question about this High Court decision, which I can’t find anywhere on ABC online, for whatever that’s worth.
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2022/jun/08/court-rules-minister-cant-strip-dual-nationals-of-australian-citizenship-for-suspected-terrorism
Matt Kean (NSW energy minister) at odds with the Feds on their recent conversion to bring nuclear power generation onto the discussion table, which looked like right of the top of the list of the ‘let’s try this wedge on those lefties’ to me.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/08/chasing-unicorns-nsw-liberal-minister-rejects-federal-opposition-push-for-nuclear-power
Snappy Tom
“One challenge – I read/heard somewhere that ‘electrifying’ a railway (via overhead wires) quadruples the cost compared to just building a railway and running diesels on it. Some sort of enormous cost increase like that. This is why we have such a small proportion of our lines electrified, we just don’t have the traffic to warrant the enormous expense.
Maybe someone could develop a battery-electric locomotive with quick change batteries so the swapped out battery can be charged while the train continues on fresh batteries?….”
Firstly electrifying railway does NOT quadruple the cost. More like add +25%. IF mainline costs $20 million/km, electric cattenary might add $5 million/km. Still adds up to a lot on Australian distances.
Battery electric trains are already on the way for passengers, but they don’t really work for freight – too heavy loads.
India’s central bank has raised the country’s key interest rate to 4.9% as inflation rises above the ‘upper tolerance level’.
Yes, the HC decision about stripping the Australian born man in Syria. Amazing it’s not on the ABC.
”Has the story from the High Court about citizenship been reported on the ABC?”
Yes, on Radio National.
Far less outrage on bludger post-election.
Afternoon Briefing are discussing the High Court case now.
Watermelon says:
Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at 3:32 pm
My point being that if China did something comparable to what we do routinely, it would be perceived as a hostile and aggressive act.
___________________________________
No it wouldn’t. Not as long as those jets kept within international boundaries.
The problem is not who is flying planes or sailing ships, it is the deliberately aggressive and dangerous actions by the Chinese military against aircraft and vessels of other nations exercising freedom of navigation rights.
If an Australian aircraft or shift did to the Chinese military what they did to us, their government would squawk for years in every forum and threaten to nuke us.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2022/jun/08/australia-live-news-update-energy-emergency-talks-anthony-albanese-indonesia-interest-rates-labor-coalition
Have the shoppies changed ..?
We’ll soon find out.
Rex Douglas 2 at 4:21 pm
A stab in the dark but perhaps something to do with having a PM and government with ‘far less outrage’ inducing speech and behaviour ?
This was posted at the Guardian:
New local government minister Kirsty McBain, is on ABC Afternoon Briefing, and is asked about whether the new government will give more territory rights to pass assisted dying laws in the ACT and NT, through the repeal of laws that restricted territory rights.
She says she is looking forward to working with an expanded crossbench to bring forward a private member’s bill or private senator’s bill to repeal the laws.
She said she has had initial discussions with ACT chief minister Andrew Barr and is hoping to have a discussion with NT chief minister Natasha Fyles.
When it comes to a vote, she says it will be a conscience vote for Labor:
But when that allows then territories to make decisions which may be against the faith of some of our members, you can see how they end up conflicted and that’s why if that private or private member’s or senator’s bill comes forward, the Labor Party would allow a conscience vote so it doesn’t go against somebody’s personal, religious or cultural beliefs.
_________________________________________
I disagree that the Federal Parliament vote should be a conscience vote. This is about the rights of citizens in the Territories to self-determination and that should not be a conscience vote.
By all means, the Territory decision going to whether VAD is to be permitted, should their rights be restored, can be conscience votes. But the issue of the right of the people of the ACT and the NT should not be.
I suspect it is the Catholic “mafia” at work in the ALP who have pushed this line. The only consolation is a purely political one, is that Labor giving a conscience vote will further divide the Coalition as it tries to work out whether to oppose (and potentially defeat the measure) or to also allow a conscience vote (which would avoid even more damaging open splits in the Coalition).
In the same vein as this morning’s RBA discussion.
TPOF:
Agreed.
Is this something the government has the power to reverse?
There are some caveats.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/as-legal-as-garlic-high-times-in-thailand-as-marijuana-is-decriminalised-20220608-p5ary0.html
Asha @ #720 Wednesday, June 8th, 2022 – 4:43 pm
If it is a funding issue, which I think it is, with the loss of archivists positions and journalists now expected to manage records and archives, then yes, surely.
Socrates at 4.08
“…electrifying railway does NOT quadruple the cost. More like add +25%…”
Thanks, I thought I’d find out here!
Socrates re rail electrification…
Tragic that NSW & VIC electrified when/how they did – with British 1500v DC. 25kv 50HzAC only became the benchmark a couple of decades later.
If only we’d copied the Pennsylvania RR with their 11kv 25Hz AC…
Point is that China isn’t sending spy planes to international waters just off our coast and nowhere near their own country. If they did we would, in fact, freak out. And simple fact is that they have a territorial claim on these waters that’s at least as strong as whitey’s claim to the Australian continent. So maybe we should just stay out of it.
TPOF,
I agree regarding conscience votes.
We make laws for the whole of society, not any one religion.
As long as we are not making laws that force a person to do something against their religious beliefs I can’t see how religion has any part to play in the discussion.
Laws like assisted dying and marriage equality offer a choice. You can choose to take advantage of them or you can decline.
That’s your choice.
In no way is it impacting on any religion. Adherents can just choose to ignore these kind of laws.
So to sum up, conscience votes just allow something that shouldn’t be a consideration to become one.
Watermelon @ #726 Wednesday, June 8th, 2022 – 3:06 pm
No they sending their ships.
Also, they might have a territorial claim, but so do Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
They have chosen to occupy and develop islands and reefs in the area of claim before any determination has been made of what belongs to who.
Barney in Tanjung Bunga @ #727 Wednesday, June 8th, 2022 – 4:43 pm
I agree entirely. Irrational beliefs should not impinge on law-making.
Hard to credit this one.
Either allow conscious votes all the time or never.
Can’t have both.
Rex Douglas @ #731 Wednesday, June 8th, 2022 – 3:27 pm
Why would you allow them?
David Rowe.
Look at Littleproud!
Rowe is still dining out.
Snap!
‘Watermelon says:
Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at 5:06 pm
Point is that China isn’t sending spy planes to international waters just off our coast and nowhere near their own country. If they did we would, in fact, freak out. And simple fact is that they have a territorial claim on these waters that’s at least as strong as whitey’s claim to the Australian continent. So maybe we should just stay out of it.’
=========================
Crap. China does what Australia does with respect to sending vessels and planes into international waters to gather data. This includes everything from current speeds and temperature inversion layers through the water column to hoovering up sigint.
Absolutely normal.
The difference?
China is aggressively and with military force grabbing other peoples’ islands.
Is Peter Dutton radioactive?
Labor should immediately legislate to legalize nuclear power generation.
Why?
To kill off yet another Dutton/Bandt wedge.
Is that red wine labelled ‘Rat Poo’ ?
Snappy Tom
“Socrates re rail electrification…
Tragic that NSW & VIC electrified when/how they did – with British 1500v DC. 25kv 50HzAC only became the benchmark a couple of decades later.”
Yes this doomed them ever-after to both higher operating costs and high CAPEX replacement costs due to operating bespoke systems. Unfortunate decision.
Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane all run 15kV or 25 kV AC, which is greatly superior.
Who/what does the black/white chequered tie (?) in the salad roll refer to >
Boerwar
“Labor should immediately legislate to legalize nuclear power generation.
Why?
To kill off yet another Dutton/Bandt wedge.”
There could be some political fallout though 🙂
Jokes aside, in the same way that cost efficiency alone allows renewable power to beat coal and gas now, if you said nuclear power in Australia was legal but permitted no subsidy and it had to be more cost effective than renewable or coal and gas, nuclear power would be just as dead.
Snappy Tom @ #724 Wednesday, June 8th, 2022 – 5:03 pm
The biggest tragedy with 1500 DC in NSW was that the Illawarra and Newcastle was done in the 70’s/80’s while a year after the Blue Mountains was completed (Based upon Woodhead in the UK) 25KV single phase AC became viable but the loco’s weren’t up to it, until silicon diode rectification was developed in the 1960’s
Rex Douglas @ #731 Wednesday, June 8th, 2022 – 4:57 pm
Barnaby does semi-conscious votes. Where do they fit?
Socrates
Exactly my point. Use reality to STFU the chatter classes in the Greens and the lunatic class in the Coalition.
p
That is a ‘sub’ way…
poroti @ #741 Wednesday, June 8th, 2022 – 5:40 pm
Best I can make out it’s
RAT(something)
OO(could be grapes)
ROUG(something)
Socrates @ #739 Wednesday, June 8th, 2022 – 5:41 pm
Brisbane was almost 1500v DC in the 1950’s That is what the SX cars were developed for.
Labor allowing the cross benchers (presumably less the Greens) to put up a private member’s bill on Territory rights is astute, IMO.
Late Riser at 5:47 pm
Looking at the bottle on the pig on the left’s table the ‘rat’ is probably ‘Rate’ as under it is a % sign.
poroti
Rowe always drew Frydenberg with a chequered headband.