Miscellany: seat entitlements, electoral reforms, by-elections latest and more (open thread)

Winners in losers in the carve-up of House of Reps seats between the states, Gerard Rennick’s Senate preselection under challenge, latest by-election developments, and more.

Recent electoral developments at the federal level:

• The population statistics that will be used next month to calculate state and territory House of Representation seat entitlements have been published, and as Antony Green reports, they establish that New South Wales and Victoria will each lose a seat, putting them at 46 and 38 respectively; Western Australia will gain one, putting it at 16; and the others will remain unchanged at Queensland 30, South Australia 10, Tasmania five, the ACT three and the Northern Territory two. The vagaries of rounding mean the total size of the House will be down one to 150. Redistributions will duly be required in three states – Antony Green has a further post looking at the specifics in Western Australia, where the new seat seems likely to be in the eastern suburbs of Perth.

• Matthew Killoran of the Courier-Mail reports a view that right-wing Liberal National Party Senator Gerard Rennick will “narrowly see off” challenges to his third position on the Queensland Senate ticket from Nelson Savanh, who works with strategic communications firm Michelson Alexander and appears to be an ideological moderate, and Stuart Fraser, director of a private investment fund.

• Jamie Walker of The Australian reports speculation that Pauline Hanson will shortly retire from politics, with her Senate vacancy to be filled by her chief-of-staff, James Ashby, who first came to public attention when he brought sexual harassment allegations against Peter Slipper, then the Speaker and Ashby’s boss, in 2012. Hanson spoke to The Australian of her frustration at being sidelined by a Labor government that prefers to negotiate with Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock to pass contested legislation through the Senate.

• The Guardian has launched an Indigenous Voice poll tracker. Meanwhile, academic Murray Goot has things to say about Newspoll’s recent result and The Australian’s presentation of it.

• Paul Sakkal of the Age/Herald reports the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters will shortly recommend donation and spending caps and bans on false information in political advertisements, which have the broad support of the government and the relevant minister, Special Minister of State Don Farrell. Labor’s new draft national platform says it will work towards reducing reliance on donations and move to an expanded public funding system, much of the impetus coming from Clive Palmer’s extravagant electoral spending. Donation caps are opposed by Climate 200 and the Australia Institute, which argue that donor-funded campaigns provide the only opportunity for new entrants to take on incumbents. Donation caps at state level of $6700 a year in New South Wales and $4000 in Victoria were seen as inhibiting teal independent efforts to replicate their successes at federal elections.

• This week’s federal voting intention numbers from Roy Morgan have Labor’s two-party lead out from 55.5-44.5 to 56-44, from primary votes of Labor 35%, Coalition 33.5% and Greens 13.0%.

State by-elections latest:

• The Victorian Liberals will choose their candidate for the Warrandyte by-election on Sunday. Rachel Baxendale of The Australian reports the outcome is “far from clear”, with 22-year-old law student Antonietta Di Cosmo di Cosmo reckoned as good a chance as any out of the field of nine candidates. Conservative allies of Deakin MP Michael Sukkar are reportedly split between former Institute of Public Affairs executive director John Roskam and former Pentecostal pastor Nicole Ta-Ei Werner, while the opposing factional claim is divided between KPMG director Sarah Overton, tech business founder Jason McClintock and former Matthew Guy staffer Jemma Townson. Meanwhile, The Age reports Labor MPs are pressing for the party to field a candidate. Confirmation of a date for the by-election is still a while off, with outgoing member Ryan Smith not to formally resign until July 7.

• In Western Australia, Josh Zimmerman of The West Australian reports Labor’s administrative committee has confirmed party staffer Magenta Marshall as its candidate to succeed Mark McGowan in Rockingham on July 29. Rather surprisingly, the Liberals have committed to field a candidate in a seat McGowan won in 2021 by 37.7%.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

1,896 comments on “Miscellany: seat entitlements, electoral reforms, by-elections latest and more (open thread)”

Comments Page 1 of 38
1 2 … 38

  6. Security fears over Johnson’s notebooks: Boris Johnson’s 25 notebooks from his time in office are being withheld from him by the government after a review by the security services found pages of highly sensitive material. Officials have advised that the sensitive passages should only be viewed by people with the highest level of security clearance.

  7. Daniel Ellsberg, one of the most prominent whistleblowers in history, having leaked the Pentagon Papers revealing that the U.S. government was misleading the public about the status of the Vietnam War, died Friday at age 92. Ellsberg had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in February.
    “At one point he said, if he were to have a gravestone, that he would say: ‘He became a part of the anti-Vietnam and anti-nuclear movement,’” Robert posted. Ellsberg worked for the Pentagon after earning a doctorate in economics from Harvard, then spent two years in South Vietnam with the State Department, and then joined the RAND Corporation as an analyst focused on nuclear and military strategy.

  9. Insiders Sunday, 18 Jun

    David Speers joins Patricia Karvelas, Anna Henderson and Katina Curtis to discuss a week when the culture and safety of women in parliament was again under the spotlight, plus rising fears of a recession despite jobs growth.

    GUEST : Bridget Mckenzie – Shadow Minister For Infrastructure And Transport

  12. The corridors of Parliament House run for 22 kilometres, sweeping past more than 4000 rooms across two floors.

    They are the highways and back roads for 227 politicians and their staff as they march to the chambers and scurry between offices.

    The walls, could they talk, would surely lay bare the political machinations of this building – the Machiavellian horsetrading over policy, backroom deals to salvage careers, and plotting by ambitious ministers.

    But what of the uglier secrets? The hushed murmurings that exist in the space between rumour and common knowledge, often passed between women as warnings about those to avoid in the building.

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/secrets-and-lies-if-the-walls-in-parliament-house-could-talk-20230616-p5dh4l.html

    In this day and age the walls shouldn’t have to talk; there’s apparently plenty of CCTV cameras all over parliament house which means these uglier secrets shouldn’t be shrouded in mystery.

  13. An unseemly week, which started with the Coalition claims that Labor frontbencher Katy Gallagher had weaponised former political staffer Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation, ended with the Liberal Party down a senator amid questions over its handling of complaints about one of its own MPs in the last parliament. It was an own-goal some Liberals quietly acknowledged on Friday.

    “The Gallagher issue should have been pursued, but it could have been done in a more measured way,” one senior Liberal says.

    By Thursday evening, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton had booted Van from the party room, saying he’d become aware of other allegations against the senator, setting journalists on a search to verify their existence.

    But the question remained why it had taken a crossbench senator to surface an allegation under parliamentary privilege for the Liberals to investigate one of their own when the allegations against Van were known by some within the party’s ranks.

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/secrets-and-lies-if-the-walls-in-parliament-house-could-talk-20230616-p5dh4l.html

    A good question to add to that of who leaked the Higgins text messages.

  14. Good morning Dawn Patrollers

    The risk is real, but it’s not a recession we have to have, writes George Megalogenis who says that if or when it comes, it will have its epicentre in one of two places: Melbourne or Sydney. The rival capital will get pulled into the downturn, but the landing might not be as hard. He explains the nightmare scenario facing Anthony Albanese’s government being that the Reserve Bank’s shock therapy of higher interest rates to fight inflation will eventually break the housing sectors of our two largest capitals, and their respective states, and condemn them to a synchronised crash.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/the-risk-is-real-but-it-s-not-a-recession-we-have-to-have-20230615-p5dgzf.html
    For pretty much all of Australia’s modern history, our strategy for getting more prosperous was to be a “net importer of [investment] capital” from the rest of the world. But four years ago, that was turned on its head, and we became a net exporter of investment capital, laments Ross Gittins.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/out-of-balance-there-s-not-enough-investment-in-australia-20230615-p5dgyk.html
    Businesses appear focused on paying shareholders rather than buying or building new equipment and technology, creating a profound productivity and inflation problem, writes Christopher Joye.
    https://www.afr.com/wealth/personal-finance/the-lucky-country-has-become-the-lazy-country-20230609-p5dfgn
    The AFR tells us that a sharp slide in sales is forcing retailers to accelerate discounting and promotions amid warnings that the downturn in consumer spending could be deeper than during the early 1990s recession.
    https://www.afr.com/companies/retail/fear-factor-grips-retailers-as-spending-slows-20230614-p5dgiy
    Peter Hartcher says that the venomous politics over the Higgins texts has poisoned the parliament.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/venomous-politics-over-higgins-texts-poisons-the-parliament-20230615-p5dgt9.html
    David Crowe puts it to us that Anthony Albanese has grounds to go into federal parliament on Monday and demand answers from Peter Dutton about who knew about serious claims of sexual harassment and assault against Liberal senator David Van and whether they took any action to investigate. But, he says, the lesson of the last week is to handle this dangerous material with care. Crowe invokes Wile E Coyote in describing Dutton’s position.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-lesson-of-the-week-handle-dangerous-material-with-care-20230616-p5dh4s.html
    NineFax reports that David Van is under mounting pressure to quit federal politics, with Peter Dutton leading his party’s calls for the embattled Liberal senator to go after a third allegation of sexual harassment surfaced and the Victorian branch cut off its resources to him.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/dutton-calls-for-liberal-senator-david-van-to-resign-from-parliament-20230615-p5dgvt.html
    Lisa Visentin looks back at an unsavoury week in parliament in which she raises the question of why it had taken a crossbench senator to surface an allegation under parliamentary privilege for the Liberals to investigate one of their own when the allegations against Van were known by some within the party’s ranks.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/secrets-and-lies-if-the-walls-in-parliament-house-could-talk-20230616-p5dh4l.html
    Paul Bongiorno is concerned that Trump-style politics are emerging in the Australian parliament.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2023/06/17/trump-style-politics-show-parliament
    “The Coalition’s women problem is writ large in a here-we-go-again moment that returns parliament to its darkest days”, writes Paul Karp who says that talking up the grossness of politics is a losing strategy, and one that has already backfired for the opposition
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/17/the-coalitions-women-problem-is-writ-large-in-a-here-we-go-again-moment-that-returns-to-parliaments-darkest-days
    The way that complaints by Brittany Higgins and Lidia Thorpe erupted reflect their lack of belief that the political system would take them seriously, writes Lara Tingle.
    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-17/brittay-higgins-lidia-thorpe-parliament-assault-allegations/102488220
    Australian politics has a reputation for combativeness, but even seasoned watchers were shocked at how the last week played out. By yesterday, politicians across the political divide were in private agreement: it had been one of the worst weeks in politics in recent memory, writes Amy Remeikis.
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/17/australias-politicians-agree-on-one-thing-it-was-a-shocking-week-in-parliament
    “As a female former Liberal MP, the party’s groupthink around sexual harassment dismays but does not surprise me”, declares former NSW upper house Liberal party MP. Catherine Cusack who simply declares that the Liberals have a women problem.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/17/as-a-female-former-liberal-mp-the-partys-groupthink-around-sexual-harassment-dismays-but-does-not-surprise-me
    Karen Middleton reveals that Kimberley Kitching set up an inquiry intended to expose an incident in Linda Reynolds’ office – although she didn’t know what was alleged to have happened.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2023/06/17/the-late-labor-senator-the-heart-the-higgins-saga
    “When will the Liberals break free from the repeated cycle of sexual abuse allegations?”, wonders Paul Kelly in his article which is largely an attempt to justify his masthead’s role in the Higgins saga.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/fight-for-the-moral-high-ground-as-brittany-higgins-lidia-thorpe-amanda-stoker-sexual-abuse-claims-reverberate-around-canberra/news-story/14c9dcd20fdebb504fbfc91e5c36c4e4?amp
    In its legal form, as DPP v Lehrmann, the case has now exited the criminal justice system, unable to be resolved. Yet since Higgins first levelled a criminal allegation, which Lehrmann continues to deny, it has also been prosecuted ferociously in the court of public opinion. That court remains very much in session, writes Karen Middleton who surveys the whole mess.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2023/06/17/beware-the-man-with-nothing-lose
    “Menzies is dead. It’s time for the Liberals to forge a new path”, writes Victorian shadow minister for education, Matthew Bach.
    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/menzies-is-dead-it-s-time-for-the-liberals-to-forge-a-new-path-20230616-p5dh2i.html
    Annika Smethurst and Rachel Eddie report that a senior group of Liberal women have demanded Victorian leader John Pesutto apologise to dumped MP Moira Deeming and reinstate her to the parliamentary party, claiming she had been “silenced” without basis. Have fun, ladies!
    https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/liberal-women-demand-dumped-mp-moira-deeming-be-reinstated-20230616-p5dh54.html
    Under the leaden sky of a brutal Canberra winter, the realities of a second year in office are sinking in for the prime minster as challenges pile up, writes Phil Coorey who says the gloss is coming off for Albanese’s government.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/the-gloss-comes-off-for-albanese-s-government-20230615-p5dgpw
    Australians will be promised thousands of new homes under a surprise federal move to spend $2 billion in the next two weeks to fund new work by the states while escalating a political clash on the housing crisis, reports David Crowe.
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/pm-offers-2b-for-new-homes-ups-pressure-on-greens-on-housing-crisis-20230616-p5dh9d.html
    ABC’s Canberra bureau staff have held a fiery closed-door meeting with senior news management following the decision to make the network’s political editor, Andrew Probyn, redundant. People close to the matter, who asked not to be named so they could speak freely, said the broadcaster’s director of news, Justin Stevens, and his deputy, Gavin Fang, each addressed staff for 30 minutes to justify the decision that has shocked the newsroom.
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/abc-staff-in-fiery-closed-door-meeting-with-news-bosses-20230616-p5dh6n.html
    The shock redundancy of Andrew Probyn has put a spotlight on the quiet revolution under way at the ABC to move away from traditional broadcasting on television and radio, writes Manda Meade in here weekly media roundup. She reserved plenty of space to lash The Australian.
    https://www.theguardian.com/media/commentisfree/2023/jun/16/abcs-quiet-revolution-behind-sackings-as-viewers-switch-off-tv-and-tune-into-tiktok
    Rachel Lane looks at what is facing the taskforce to review the fees and funding arrangements for aged care.
    https://www.smh.com.au/money/super-and-retirement/equitable-and-balanced-new-taskforce-set-to-shake-up-aged-care-20230616-p5dh3q.html
    So this is it: the open casket of conservative politics, a coffin of thought in which John Howard and Tony Abbott are nestled alongside Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson. The group calls itself the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship. It is a global collective of anti-globalists, funded by a Dubai-based investment vehicle and a British billionaire, reveals the editorial in The Saturday Paper.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/editorial/2023/06/17/coffin-thought
    Overshadowed by PwC’s scandal of peddling inside information to help multinational companies avoid tax is the bigger ongoing scandal of multinational companies dodging tax. Treasurer Joe Hockey’s “Google tax” – the thing PwC sought to exploit confidential information about – was supposed to stop international corporations ripping off Australia by whisking Australian revenue away to tax havens. It didn’t. It still hasn’t, complains Michael Pascoe.
    https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2023/06/17/michael-pascoe-netflix-ikea-tax/
    Consulting firm PwC pulled off a remarkable feat as Adani pushed to open its Carmichael Coal Mine — it got paid by both the miner and its government overseer. Rod Campbell reports on the maestros of conflicts of interest.
    https://michaelwest.com.au/pwc-and-the-adani-mine-triple-dip-a-conflict-of-interest-surely-not/
    As Australia plans its inquiry into the pandemic response, there is still no evidence key recommendations to deploy the National COVID-19 Health Management Plan are in place, six months after its release, explains Rick Morton.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/health/2023/06/17/whats-next-australias-covid-19-response
    Veteran Queensland Liberal MP Warren Entsch organised for a billionaire Liberal National Party donor to jump the queue and fly to the Torres Strait to have a Pfizer Covid jab, lobbied for him to be given citizenship, and arranged a private dinner for him with then-prime minister Scott Morrison. The Australian reveals that Entsch then later secured a $304,000 donation from Soviet-born property developer Alex Sekler just ahead of last year’s federal election, which was used to bolster his campaign to hold the marginal seat of Leichhardt.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/lnp-mp-warren-entsch-gets-billionaire-sovietborn-donor-pfizer-jab-on-torres-strait/news-story/a39050896959a26e4df73835808d306b?amp
    As fallout from the PwC scandal continues, universities emerge as another sector exploited by the largest consultancy firms, explains Tim Moore.
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/education/2023/06/17/the-big-four-consultants-have-captured-universities
    Former Hillsong leader Brian Houston did not cover up his father’s sexual abuse of a child and actually told tens of thousands of people, including an annual church conference attended by the police commissioner, a court has heard, writes Georgina Mitchell.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/brian-houston-told-thousands-of-people-about-his-father-s-child-sexual-abuse-court-told-20230616-p5dh6b.html
    Are Tory MPs as deluded as Boris Johnson? It’s a tough act to follow, but they’re doing their best, writes Marina Hyde.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/16/tory-mps-boris-johnson-partygate-report
    To save their own skins, Trump and Johnson are destroying something precious: our faith in the law, posits Jonathan Freedland.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/16/donald-trump-boris-johnson-law-silvio-berlusconi

    After a bruising week, Donald Trump remains a fighter but what his tenacity means for his fellow presidential aspirants is an open question, explains Farrah Tomazin.
    https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/twice-impeached-twice-indicted-republican-frontrunner-trump-will-never-drop-out-20230616-p5dh14.html

    Cartoon Corner

    This from Steve Price deserves to be in this section. “Tough times call for tough leaders” and Anthony Albanese should be very worried as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton calmly works his way towards the big job.
    https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/steve-price-opposition-leader-peter-dutton-is-the-right-fit-for-pm/news-story/fe7d2a632d8ea40d4a4463c1c34c8e02
    David Pope

    David Rowe

    Matt Davidson

    Fiona Katauskas

    Matt Golding



    Simon Letch

    John Shakespeare


    Alan Moir

    Jon Kudelka
    https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/sites/default/files/styles/cartoon/public/Cartoons/kudelka_jun17.jpeg
    Maria Ercegovac

    Andrew Dyson

    Richard Giliberto

    Leak

    From the US

















  15. “Support for easing Ukraine’s pathway to NATO membership is growing within the alliance, increasing the likelihood that the proposal becomes official during a major gathering next month.

    NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has privately suggested that allies agree Ukraine could join NATO after the war without following a Membership Action Plan, which is a series of military and democratic reforms an applicant nation must make before accession.

    Removing the MAP hurdle speeds up Ukraine’s bid to become an ally, but doesn’t provide any timeline or guarantees that Kyiv will eventually receive unanimous approval for its membership.

    That falls short of Ukraine’s wishes to join right away but goes further toward making them eventually come true. President Joe Biden is “open” to the plan and told Stoltenberg as much during their discussion in Washington on Tuesday. As NATO’s most important member, U.S. support goes a long way to waiving the MAP requirement during the alliance’s July summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.”

    https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/16/europe-ukraine-joining-nato-00102416

  16. I think there’s a word for what the PM is doing today with his injection of $2 Billion directly into Social Housing, as he goes around The Greens grandstanding.

    Gazumped. 😀

  18. I think there’s a description for what the PM is doing today with his injection of $2 Billion directly into Social Housing, as he goes around The Greens.

    Panicked/shamed into it.

  20. Is it just me or has the Paul Bongiorno opinion piece in the Saturday paper gone partially AWOL.All I can see is the forward.

  22. LukeM says:
    Saturday, June 17, 2023 at 7:53 am

    I think there’s a description for what the PM is doing today with his injection of $2 Billion directly into Social Housing, as he goes around The Greens.

    Panicked/shamed into it.
    ————————————————-
    A hearty congratulations to the Federal Labor Government.

    $2 billion in social housing accelerator funding direct to the states and territories.

    This was always part of Labors’ comprehensive housing package.
    But the Greens can’t stop this element.
    Do they congratulate Labor for this iniative? No.
    Do they resort to claiming that they made Labor do it anyway? Yes.
    Was this always part of Labor’s housing package? Yes.

    Dutton, Littleproud and Hanson must be pissing themselves laughing.

    Today is another day on which the Greens are stopping 75,000 homeless people from gaining access to social housing. Yet it is the Greens who talk about ‘shame’. Butter would not…

    The Greens’ notion that the delays in the commencement of construction of social housing, being enforced by Dutton, Littleproud, Hanson and Bandt on every single day, somehow do not count may show inexperience in how governments actually get stuff done, of how policy is implemented.

    Massive spends cannot simply be switched on on day one. They take lead time to get initiate, implement and get right.

    It doesn’t matter where those 75,000 are in the housing queue. The access of each and every one of them is today, being delayed for another – whether they might be the first to go into social housing. Or the last.

  23. Thank you as always BK – we are eternally in your debt.

    Do you think Phil “Space” Coorey is now at the stage of repeating “the gloss is off” at four week intervals in the hope that one day he might be right? He is to political analysis what Malcolm Mackerrras is to psephology*.

    * the man who has called twelve of the last four Coalition election victories.

  24. Grime,
    I can access the Bongiorno opinion. However, you have to scroll down through the Opinion section to find it under his name and today’s date.

  26. ‘Under the leaden sky of a brutal Canberra winter, the realities of a second year in office are sinking in for the prime minster as challenges pile up, writes Phil Coorey who says the gloss is coming off for Albanese’s government.
    https://www.afr.com/politics/the-gloss-comes-off-for-albanese-s-government-20230615-p5dgpw‘
    ————————————————-
    If you can’t kill the honeymoon you can always chip away at the gloss.

  27. C@tmomma @ #24 Saturday, June 17th, 2023 – 8:20 am

    Grime,
    I can access the Bongiorno opinion. However, you have to scroll down through the Opinion section to find it under his name and today’s date.

    Yeh Nah this is a weird one,John Hewson opinion on one side and Polly Hemming on the other are fine but click on Mr Bongiorno and just the forward with space below taken up by
    Most read across The Saturday Paper
    1
    News
    Exclusive: More soldiers willing to testify against Ben Roberts-Smith
    By Karen Middleton
    2
    Editorial
    Peta and the wolves
    etc.

  28. ”
    “As a female former Liberal MP, the party’s groupthink around sexual harassment dismays but does not surprise me”, declares former NSW upper house Liberal party MP. Catherine Cusack who simply declares that the Liberals have a women problem.
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/17/as-a-female-former-liberal-mp-the-partys-groupthink-around-sexual-harassment-dismays-but-does-not-surprise-me
    ”

    “Liberals have a women problem”
    “Liberals have a women problem”
    “Liberals have a women problem”
    “Liberals have a women problem”
    “Liberals have a women problem”

    That above phrase keeps echoing in Australian politics and Australian daily life.
    It is not just non-Liberal parties say that. Liberal and ex-Liberal women repeatedly said that.

  29. “Conservative allies of Deakin MP Michael Sukkar are reportedly split between former Institute of Public Affairs executive director John Roskam and former Pentecostal pastor Nicole Ta-Ei Werner.”

    A wicked dilemma.

  30. Thanks BK

    “ David Crowe puts it to us that Anthony Albanese has grounds to go into federal parliament on Monday and demand answers from Peter Dutton about who knew about serious claims of sexual harassment and assault against Liberal senator David Van and whether they took any action to investigate. But, he says, the lesson of the last week is to handle this dangerous material with care. Crowe invokes Wile E Coyote in describing Dutton’s position.”

    Hmmm, Almost word perfect the sentiments I expressed yesterday morning.

  31. ”
    “When will the Liberals break free from the repeated cycle of sexual abuse allegations?”, wonders Paul Kelly in his article which is largely an attempt to justify his masthead’s role in the Higgins saga.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/fight-for-the-moral-high-ground-as-brittany-higgins-lidia-thorpe-amanda-stoker-sexual-abuse-claims-reverberate-around-canberra/news-story/14c9dcd20fdebb504fbfc91e5c36c4e4?amp
    ”

    So Pompous ponderous, pontificating Paul Kelly now becomes pitiable Paul Kelly?

  32. C@tmomma says:
    Saturday, June 17, 2023 at 8:22 am

    I’d love the first lot of Social Housing in Queensland to be built in Max’s electorate.
    —

    Assuming it is next to public transport and not in a flood plain I think he would welcome that.

  33. It strikes me that the Coalition, as well as continuing to treat women in the most abhorrent way, are still fighting from an outdated combative paradigm rejected by voters at the last election. They are extraordinarily one-dimensional and incapable of adaptation.

  34. Catprog says:
    Saturday, June 17, 2023 at 8:36 am

    C@tmomma says:
    Saturday, June 17, 2023 at 8:22 am

    I’d love the first lot of Social Housing in Queensland to be built in Max’s electorate.
    —

    Assuming it is next to public transport and not in a flood plain I think he would welcome that.
    ===============================================
    There are three lots of housing developments that he is blocking at the moment. He has been extremely active in astroturfing his NIMBIES. But that is in his electorate. We all know that social housing tenants are going to add mightily to the traffic problems in his electorate!

    But when he is being the Shadow Spokesperson he excoriates everyone who does not want break the Consititution on rent freezes and/or caps and spend tens of billions on public housing.

    Chalk meet cheese.

  35. ” Conservative allies of Deakin MP Michael Sukkar are reportedly split between former Institute of Public Affairs executive director John Roskam and former Pentecostal pastor Nicole Ta-Ei Werner.”

    A wicked dilemma.

    Maybe it’ll be voters: none of the above.

  36. Grime says:
    Saturday, June 17, 2023 at 8:31 am

    …
    1
    News
    Exclusive: More soldiers willing to testify against Ben Roberts-Smith
    By Karen Middleton
    ….
    ——————————————-
    I admire Middleton’s reporting in general, but she was an embedded journalist in Afghanistan and apparently failed to detect any whiff of the dozens of war crimes committed by the ADF. IMO, the problem is with the ’embedding’ principle.

  37. ”
    Veteran Queensland Liberal MP Warren Entsch organised for a billionaire Liberal National Party donor to jump the queue and fly to the Torres Strait to have a Pfizer Covid jab, lobbied for him to be given citizenship, and arranged a private dinner for him with then-prime minister Scott Morrison. The Australian reveals that Entsch then later secured a $304,000 donation from Soviet-born property developer Alex Sekler just ahead of last year’s federal election, which was used to bolster his campaign to hold the marginal seat of Leichhardt.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/lnp-mp-warren-entsch-gets-billionaire-sovietborn-donor-pfizer-jab-on-torres-strait/news-story/a39050896959a26e4df73835808d306b?amp
    ”

    Grubby grubby grubby politics.
    Why has Liberal MP Entsch has fallen in the bad books of Murdoch press?

  38. The Greens:

    We will block housing in the suburbs.
    We will block housing in endangered species distributions.
    We will block Labor from building social houses for 75,000.

    The really important thing that holds this meme together is that everything is the enemy of the perfect.

    Labour builds. The Coalition destroys. The Greens block.

  39. As Donald Trump is told he faces yet another trial – this time for defamation – the White House weighs up the logistics of installing a courthouse next to the oval office. 🙂

  40. Credit rating according to S&P

    Australia: AAA
    Canada: AAA
    Denmark: AAA
    Germany: AAA
    Netherlands: AAA
    Norway: AAA
    Sweden: AAA
    Austria: AA+
    Finland: AA+
    US: AA+
    France: AA
    South Korea: AA
    UAE: AA
    UK: AA
    China: A+
    Japan: A+
    Chile: A
    Spain: A
    Malaysia: A-
    Poland: A-
    Thailand: BBB+
    Italy: BBB
    Indonesia: BBB
    Mexico: BBB
    India: BBB-
    Greece: BB+
    Brazil: BB-
    South Africa: BB-
    Egypt: B
    Turkey: B
    Nigeria: B-
    Pakistan: CCC+
    Ukraine: CCC
    Argentina: CCC-

  42. Mega’s piece does pose the question that both NSW or Vic could fall into recession. What will the Albanese govt do?

    Meanwhile I have been observing property prices in Melbourne town since the interest rate rises, and lo and behold property prices have steadily increased. It is baffling.

  43. Gotta agree with PR Guy

    ——-
    PR Guy
    BREAKING: The Albanese Government will spend an emergency $2bn on social housing in coming weeks to get around stubborn housing roadblocks by the Greens, who the PM says are “happy to promise the world, while organising a petition against every new apartment building”. #auspol

  44. Damn it. We have had some lovely sunny days here in my part of world. This morning is very windy. Grrrr. But it does make me think of Lizzie. She didn’t like very windy weather either.

  45. Ven
    …Grubby grubby grubby politics.
    Why has Liberal MP Entsch has fallen in the bad books of Murdoch press?

    The boss of the Pharmacy Guild (whose name I forget) wants to take over Entsch’s seat. Perhaps Murdoch is attacking Entsch to try and force him out.

  46. Unsurprisingly it has been wall to wall Trump this week in USA political news.

    But seriously. What about Rudy Guiliani, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone etc. They are the main players around Trump who facilitated Jan 6, bullshit Hunter Biden Laptop, and Qanon.

    Trump was ever thus the useful narcissistic evil idiot.

    When are they going to face justice? Sheesh….

  47. The Australian Olympic Team is set to be protected by an unprecedented security detail at the Paris Games after French officials raised fears of drone attacks and cyber strikes. Anna Meares, Australia’s Chef de Mission for Paris 2024, admitted the team would be tailed by a member of the Australian Federal Police at the Games, as part of a beefed-up security contingent in response to concerns over athlete safety.
    While regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Paris has recently been gripped by civil unrest and there are fears that climate activists and anti-government protesters could hijack the Games. Compounding the security issues is that the Paris Olympics, set for July 26 next year, shapes as a huge logistical challenge because athletes will be competing at eight cities outside Paris.
    Surfing will also be staged on an island in Tahiti.
    The French government has already outlined plans to deploy 35,000 security guards and the military to ensure the opening ceremony goes off without a hitch while Meares insisted security was at the forefront of the AOC’s planning as they ramp up their preparations for next year.

  48. The problem is not women. The problem is the Liberal Party as a whole. As an assembly of cynics, Pentecostals and Catholic ultras, they are incurably reactionary. Their beliefs, their polemics and their behaviours are inherently archaic, phobic and exploitative. Nothing better illustrates this than their current attempts to exploit Higgins. They are the scum of political life.

  50. Morning all. Thanks BK for the comprehensive roundup. Quite a lot of thoughtful reads today. Plus some shameless attempts to distance the LNP from its own scandals by the Murdochracy.

    On this:
    “ Australians will be promised thousands of new homes under a surprise federal move to spend $2 billion in the next two weeks to fund new work by the states while escalating a political clash on the housing crisis, reports David Crowe.”
    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/pm-offers-2b-for-new-homes-ups-pressure-on-greens-on-housing-crisis-20230616-p5dh9d.html

    Good, and not a moment too soon. I have several nieces and nephews now in the age group where they are looking for homes. It is tough. The housing crisis is real. The indexing of HECS debts is also savage.

Comments Page 1 of 38
1 2 … 38

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *