Before we proceed to a brief summary of electorally relevant current events in federal politics, please note the other quality content that it’s pushing down the order: a guest post from Adrian Beaumont on the threat of US debt default and other international events, a post on a Tasmanian poll with a summary of recent events in that state, and a detailed analysis of results from last year’s federal election in thirteen seats in inner Melbourne.
• The Fadden by-election has been set for July 25, with nominations to close on June 23. As was covered in the previous post, a Liberal National Party preselection that has attracted five nominees will be conducted today. Phillip Coorey of the Financial Review reports that Anthony Albanese would rather Labor forfeit the by-election for a seat the LNP holds on a 10.6% margin, but must reckon with a local branch “agitating to run a candidate”.
• The New South Wales Liberal Party will hold its preselection this weekend to fill the Senate vacancy resulting from the death of Jim Molan in January. The field have candidates has narrowed to three: former state Transport Minister Andrew Constance, former state party president Maria Kovacic and Space Industry Association chief executive James Brown. The Sydney Morning Herald reports the latter has a long list of high-profile backers including John Howard, Julie Bishop and Dave Sharma.
• The Byron Shire Echo reports comedian Mandy Nolan will again run as the Greens candidate for the Byron Bay and Tweed Heads region seat of Richmond at the next federal election. Nolan added 5.0% to the party’s primary vote share last May to outpoll the Nationals, although preferences from right-wing minor parties pushed the Nationals candidate ahead of her at the final exclusion.
Enough Already,
China knew Ruzzia was going to invade Ukraine when Putin went to China to announce the ‘No Limits Partnership’ between the two countries. THAT’S when China should have discussed peace. 😐
Rusty Groupy Stooge @ #349 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 3:22 pm
No, it isn’t. You just don’t like what it is telling you.
China is a sponsor of Russian aggression. Simple. Putin would not have embarked on his misadventure unless he had at least the nodding concurrence of Xi. Xi is an imperialist and a militarist. For him, Russia is a probe to be used to gauge the commitment of the West to their common defence.
The democracies have to stand up for themselves and for each other….as they did in the era from 1945 until the withdrawal of Russian forces from Eastern Europe. We have to accept this, like it or not. We have to hope that Trump and his Republicans fail. The postwar Pacific and Atlantic settlements are still young. They need to be re-affirmed and strengthened despite the stupidities of the reactionaries everywhere.
Player One says:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 3:37 pm
Rusty Groupy Stooge @ #349 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 3:22 pm
This index is worthless.
No, it isn’t. You just don’t like what it is telling you.
It’s telling us nothing. It is another way of saying we are bulk commodity exporters. Big deal. We know that. It does not explain anything or predict anything. It does not tell us about the wider economy. It only tells us about exports. Exports are not the whole economy: nothing like it.
C@tmomma @ #344 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 2:58 pm
And what do you do when both of those parties are offering the same inadequate policies?
Indeed. Which explains why the minors and independents are doing so well. So perhaps you could stop moaning when they try to improve – albeit marginally – said policies, which are in direct contradiction to the science you claim to understand.
C@tmomma @ Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 3:27 pm:
“Enough Already,
China knew Ruzzia was going to invade Ukraine when Putin went to China to announce the ‘No Limits Partnership’ between the two countries. THAT’S when China should have discussed peace. ”
===============
C@tmomma, exactly. Beijing didn’t want peace. It wanted Moscow to swallow up Ukraine swiftly and (for the rest of the world) painlessly. Now Moscow has failed at that, it wants to cut Moscow’s losses and lock Ukraine’s in. Beijing is an enemy of Ukraine, of international law and of human rights. Anyone who supports any of these three things needs to accept this fact about Beijing and treat it accordingly.
RGD
“ Australia has a very bright future…. Exceptional.”
————
The trouble is Australia has always had a very bright FUTURE.
Rusty Groupy Stooge @ #354 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 3:44 pm
Well, nothing that would mean anything to you in your neoliberal dreamtime.
Rusty Groupy Stooge @ Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 3:41 pm:
“China is a sponsor of Russian aggression. Simple. Putin would not have embarked on his misadventure unless he had at least the nodding concurrence of Xi. Xi is an imperialist and a militarist. For him, Russia is a probe to be used to gauge the commitment of the West to their common defence.
The democracies have to stand up for themselves and for each other….as they did in the era from 1945 until the withdrawal of Russian forces from Eastern Europe. We have to accept this, like it or not. We have to hope that Trump and his Republicans fail. The postwar Pacific and Atlantic settlements are still young. They need to be re-affirmed and strengthened despite the stupidities of the reactionaries everywhere.”
==============
RGS, I completely agree. I would add that Brazil, India and Indonesia should be brought fully on board with us as well.
Rakali @ #357 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 3:50 pm
Are we there yet?
I have no idea why I do it to myself but I looked on News.com.au just before.
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/chroming-what-is-the-dangerous-drug-craze-threatening-the-lives-of-young-people/news-story/8763e8cb7e055cfb167cfa23912982c1
Here the “journalist” describes “chroming” as a “dangerous new drug craze” that kids are trying.
New? Kids have been engaged in solvent abuse since there were solvents probably. The federal government has spent literally millions on dollars on petrol sniffing alone.
It is like when a kid discovers Led Zeppelin and think they discovered a “cool new thing”.
B.S. Fairman @ Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 3:54 pm:
“It is like when a kid discovers Led Zeppelin and think they discovered a “cool new thing”.”
=============
That was 15-year-old me in 1987…
PO
Are we there yet?
————
It’s guaranteed once the population reaches a few hundred million.
Rakali says:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 3:50 pm
RGD
“ Australia has a very bright future…. Exceptional.”
————
The trouble is Australia has always had a very bright FUTURE.
The mark of the reactionary is their attraction to the imaginary brightness of past….to the fading light of the receding past. If we believe in ourselves and in each other we can embrace the future. The Reactionaries believe the worst about us. They are defeatist and they are cynical. They are stale baccy in the corner of the mouth, working up some spit.
Player One says:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 2:53 pm
frednk @ #338 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 2:30 pm
Economic complexity Doesn’t mean much does it?
Not to those who don’t understand its benefits, no. Nor to those who don’t care that that their current level of prosperity is largely due to luck and is neither equitable nor sustainable. But to those that value longer term resilience, prosperity, opportunity and equity it does.
So says the economic illiterate; who if we are to believe; generates no exportable goods and has retired to a eco-resort somewhere in NSW.
Here the “journalist” describes “chroming” as a “dangerous new drug craze”
…
Even I know what it is, and I am long past “knowing about new crazes”.
Cat
I fought my first bushfire as a 14 year old back in 1976 but that’s by the by.
I get that you support the growth policies of the government. I don’t, they are not sustainable.
None of the political parties including the Greens have workable policies with regard to the sustainability of our civilisation. The Club of Rome and it’s report on”The limits to Growth ” nailed this back in 1972.
If only the ALP still had intellects of the quality of Barry Jones and Don Dunstan still in it I would have retained my enthusiasm for the party but it doesn’t. And yes I know Barry is still around.
You keep up the “good fight “, I can no longer be bothered with it because the planet will still be capable of supporting complex life for the next billion years or so. It’s survived 13 or 14 mass extinction events since Cambrian explosion, it will get over the current one we are imposing upon it.
B.S. Fairman @ #361 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 3:54 pm
I thought this week’s ‘crazy new young person’s thing’ was doing nangs? I gotta keep up. 😀
Oh, and ‘chroming’ was going on in the 1970s, fyi.
RGS
“ The mark of the reactionary is their attraction to the imaginary brightness of past….to the fading light of the receding past. ”
————+
Neither the past nor the future exist. What we need is a very bright PRESENT! 🙂
RP,
Built your bunker yet? 🙄 😆
Player One says:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 3:52 pm
Rusty Groupy Stooge @ #354 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 3:44 pm
Player One says:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 3:37 pm
Rusty Groupy Stooge @ #349 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 3:22 pm
This index is worthless.
No, it isn’t. You just don’t like what it is telling you.
It’s telling us nothing.
Well, nothing that would mean anything to you in your neoliberal dreamtime.
I don’t trouble myself with ideology. Oh no. I have neither bricks already made nor a barrow in which to push them; and keep neither mud nor straw, as my legal friend would say.
There is no need for the spurious. I have eaten already and have no interest in P1’s empty calories: for custard, cream or thin pastries. I had an apple. I had two. I had fish. I had coffee. I do not eat marshmallows. I will pass on the sugars. They will make me drowsy and bored.
I would have sardines or herring. I would have oily fish, oils for my heart and for my brain. Oily, small fish, with lemon, red chillies and rosemary. I’d like that. I would have olives and artichokes. I would visit the terrace by the sea at Ericeira, near Lisbon; where the light is familiar and the wind sings of love and adventure.
”
Holdenhillbillysays:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 2:38 pm
NSW: Former Liberal Party state president Maria Kovacic will enter the Senate after winning a preselection for the party’s vacancy on Saturday. Kovacic edged out former state treasurer and transport minister Andrew Constance in the vote, winning 287-243.
”
Constance can’t get a trick or in this case he can’t win a trick.
Rakali says:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 4:32 pm
RGS
“ The mark of the reactionary is their attraction to the imaginary brightness of past….to the fading light of the receding past. ”
————+
Neither the past nor the future exist. What we need is a very bright PRESENT!
How zen.
For all the diff, I am happy today. I am happy. I ask for nothing else. There is no Murdoch here in my chamber. There is no cynicism. There is no malice. There is no revenge. There is no deceit. There is no contumely. There is no profit-and-loss. There is no righteous indignation. There is peace and there is ample accomodation. I must turn up the room heater. The sun is in its timely decline and the building is cooling, the olden walls hold no heat. Crows call out, for no reason. They holler from the salmon gums.
frednk @ #365 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 4:07 pm
Oooh, this still burns you people, doesn’t it? Someone who actually walks the walk instead of just talking the talk.
Constance biggest claim to fame and his popularity was his disgust at the Morrison government handling of the Black Summer bushfires. I suspect there is still bad blood in certain circles that he was not a team player at that time.
There is already a lot of bitching coming out of the hardcore Conservatives of the Liberals that a moderate is replacing one of theirs.
Player One says:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 5:03 pm
frednk @ #365 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 4:07 pm
So says the economic illiterate; who if we are to believe; generates no exportable goods and has retired to a eco-resort somewhere in NSW.
Oooh, this still burns you people, doesn’t it? Someone who actually walks the walk instead of just talking the talk.
I think of you as a primary producer. You’re part of the bucolic economy and are in fact an exporter in the same way that tourist/ hospo operators are usually exporters. Like farmers and graziers, foresters and fishers, they attract dollars from other parts to their district. Good luck to you. I love the scrub. Who does not like some bush? You’re committed to defending your investment in land and to warding off the risks present in the climate. I get that. I wish you well with it, though you do not need any encouragement from those of us who dwell within sight of the Swan. I might come one day and paint what I see.
You’re a constituent in the bulk commodity sector known as tourism. In that respect, you are an exemplar of the lack of complexity of which you like to complain.
Good on Maria Kovacic for getting the vacant NSW Senate spot – she has overcome the inbred mysoginy and factional bastardry which is the culture of the NSW Chapter.
This from a few months ago..
Ms Kovacic resigned as the NSW Liberal president this week to nominate for the Senate spot, suggesting a level of confidence that she has sufficient support to prevail when Liberal members vote in late May.
But suspicions of a cross-factional deal have infuriated some Liberals, who have begun an internal smear campaign against Ms Kovacic, questioning her family’s ethnic heritage.
The source of the message is unknown and the ABC has sought to contact Ms Kovacic, but Liberal Party rules prevent candidates in preselection contests talking to the media while engaged in the process.
The message has been viewed as the opening salvo in a bitter factional fight, with former foreign minister Marise Payne expected to announce her retirement this year, opening another casual vacancy to be filled by the Liberal Party.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-21/liberal-infighting-deepens-over-nsw-senate-spot-maria-kovacic/102251590
”
RPsays:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 4:30 pm
Cat
I fought my first bushfire as a 14 year old back in 1976 but that’s by the by.
I get that you support the growth policies of the government. I don’t, they are not sustainable.
None of the political parties including the Greens have workable policies with regard to the sustainability of our civilisation. The Club of Rome and it’s report on”The limits to Growth ” nailed this back in 1972.
If only the ALP still had intellects of the quality of Barry Jones and Don Dunstan still in it I would have retained my enthusiasm for the party but it doesn’t. And yes I know Barry is still around.
You keep up the “good fight “, I can no longer be bothered with it because the planet will still be capable of supporting complex life for the next billion years or so. It’s survived 13 or 14 mass extinction events since Cambrian explosion, it will get over the current one we are imposing upon it.
”
It is first time in”KNOWN ” history that a species on earth thought/ thinks they have conquered/atleast control the nature.
You should be very respectful of the nature because nature controls us. You may or may not believe in God. But you should believe nature. It is all around us.
“Oooh, this still burns you people, doesn’t it? Someone who actually walks the walk instead of just talking the talk.”
But, are you?
Are you actually producing anything, while you rail against Australia not producing anything?
Like, for instance, goat’s milk, cheese, etc. Or perhaps harvesting vege produce? To feed to your clientele?
Does their experience at your “resort” enable them to learn how to garden sustainably, etc.
We don’t know.
All you appear to be doing is worrying about a catastrophe, instead of projecting a solution.
Surely, you must have a solution in mind.
And I see Susssan Ley is quick out of the blocks lauding Kovacic’s selection as NSW Senator.
Can there be a hidden message to the Duffer Dutton in this?
“Maria is not just a community leader in Western Sydney, she is an accomplished businesswoman with more than 20 years of experience across the commercial, public and not-for-profit sectors,” Ms Ley said in a statement on Saturday afternoon.
“As Deputy Leader of the Liberal party, one of my key priorities has been to get more women elected into our party room as quickly as possible.
“The only way we can address – and rectify – the gender imbalance in our parliamentary ranks is by preselecting more women and I am thrilled that my home division, the New South Wales branch, has chosen to do that today.”
Fun fact: Maria Kovacic was the failed Liberal candidate for Paramatta in the 2022 election – and not even the then party leader cosplaying with the locals did any good..
These Russian soldiers illegally occupying Ukraine truly are ‘dogs of war’, let off the leash to indulge in violence and vandalism, including arson, even in cities they have occupied for months and which they officially claim as their own:
“A brawl among Russian occupation forces in the temporarily occupied city of Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast resulted in a shooting and a residential house going up in flames.
[Petro Andriushchenko, Advisor to the Mayor of Mariupol:] “Overnight the occupiers ‘celebrated’ the explosions occurring all around Mariupol, in the Tsentralnyi district (Novoselivka) and on the Left Bank (Vechirnii [Evening] Market neighbourhood), in their usual manner: there was gunfire, a brawl, and a fire.”
According to Andriushchenko, the brawl resulted in a private residential house in the Tsentralnyi (Central) district of Mariupol being burned down.”
=====================
Drunken, violent savages. And Beijing asks Europeans to pressure Kyiv into handing over their citizens in Russian-occupied parts of their country to these brutes. 😡
”
sprocket_says:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 5:18 pm
Good on Maria Kovacic for getting the vacant NSW Senate spot – she has overcome the inbred mysoginy and factional bastardry which is the culture of the NSW Chapter.
This from a few months ago..
Ms Kovacic resigned as the NSW Liberal president this week to nominate for the Senate spot, suggesting a level of confidence that she has sufficient support to prevail when Liberal members vote in late May.
But suspicions of a cross-factional deal have infuriated some Liberals, who have begun an internal smear campaign against Ms Kovacic, questioning her family’s ethnic heritage.
The source of the message is unknown and the ABC has sought to contact Ms Kovacic, but Liberal Party rules prevent candidates in preselection contests talking to the media while engaged in the process.
The message has been viewed as the opening salvo in a bitter factional fight, with former foreign minister Marise Payne expected to announce her retirement this year, opening another casual vacancy to be filled by the Liberal Party.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-21/liberal-infighting-deepens-over-nsw-senate-spot-maria-kovacic/102251590
”
Sprocket
Couple of things
1. “Moderates” are supposed to be the dominant faction in NSW.
2. Kovacic was NSW Libs President. So she must have built some network to her advantage. (Remember Morrison, who was NSW Libs State Director, built network to over throw the Cook 2007 pre-selection to get pre-selected.)
3. Although Constance was supposed to belong to “Moderate” faction, it appears he has more support among Reactionaries wing of Libs.
4. Also, as BSF pointed in earlier post, there appears to be bad blood wrt Constance because he criticised Morrison during 2019 bush fires.
Was Andrew Constance favoured by Lars Von Trier to be the next Liberal Party senator from NSW
Rusty Groupy Stooge says:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 5:17 pm
…..
You’re a constituent in the bulk commodity sector known as tourism. In that respect, you are an exemplar of the lack of complexity of which you like to complain.
Exactly. And if it is true, good luck to her. A person and a country does not have to produce complex technical goods to survive.
Ven
I get the impression the NSW Liberals are in a bigger mess than in Victoria.
Rakali @ #357 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 3:50 pm
Australia has been at the top or near the top of the pile for prosperity and living standards for over a century.
It’s absurd that someone who was rejected by voters at the recent general election can be parachuted in to get a parliamentary vote anyway.
”
frednksays:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 5:49 pm
Ven
I get the impression the NSW Liberals are in a bigger mess than in Victoria.
”
I don’t think so. But Moderates are in fight of their life with Reactionaries. Fortunately for them Reactionaries are divided into far-right and Religious-right.
Interestingly, it is “Moderate” Matt Kean and his ex-girlfriend seem to score some points against the new NSW Labor government.
Also, they selected the correct candidate out of the lot contested for NSW Senate seat.
Space X, people to the space station. It is impressive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMA791wwAKI
ajm @ #386 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 5:58 pm
People living in poverty are the forgotten people who have been left behind.
Channel Seven had a report on the “new social media trend” of train surfing. Again, what is old is new again.
”
Rex Douglassays:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 5:59 pm
It’s absurd that someone who was rejected by voters at the recent general election can be parachuted in to get a parliamentary vote anyway.
”
She was not parachuted but selected by party NSW executive committee, which appears to be relatively large cross-section of NSW Libs.
Greens did that in past.
ajm @ #386 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 5:58 pm
Australia has also been assessed to be one of the countries in the world in the 21st century that will outperform its 20th century GDP and per capita economic performance.
So … Andrew Constance to take Marise Payne’s Moderate Senate spot later on in the year?
”
C@tmommasays:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 6:16 pm
So … Andrew Constance to take Marise Payne’s Moderate Senate spot later on in the year?
”
So will he keep trying till he gets into Federal Parliament? 🙂
Doesn’t he have any shame?
Ven @ #395 Saturday, May 27th, 2023 – 6:18 pm
He said he’s a ‘professional politician’, so of course he will! 😆
US teen murders parents, siblings, claims they were ‘cannibals’ planning to eat him
Authorities in east Texas have jailed an 18-year-old teen for killing his parents and two siblings. Cesar Olalde told police “he had killed his family because they were cannibals, and they were going to eat him”.
https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/us-texas-teen-murders-parents-siblings-claims-cannibals-planning-to-eat-him-2385122-2023-05-27
On chroming:
My avatar features Charlie from It’s Always Sunny huffing spraypaint. The episode the picture is from first aired in 2007. It wasn’t exactly a new joke at the time.
Rex
Have a look at what poverty means in other countries.
B.S. Fairman says:
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 6:09 pm
Channel Seven had a report on the “new social media trend” of train surfing. Again, what is old is new again.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Channel 7 had a report tonight on the Victorian end to native timber logging albeit basically via a negative angle for local communities.
There was no accompanying banjo music however.