Once again, the latest haul of federal preselection news is dominated by both action and inaction on the Liberal Party front:
• Matthew Denholm of The Australian reports the Tasmanian Liberal executive has delayed until March preselection votes that were scheduled for Braddon on November 12 and Bass for November 18 amid a conservative push to oust Bridget Archer from Bass. Candidates will also be required to sign an agreement not to speak out against the party line, which was likely prompted by Archer’s outspokenness on issues such as the party’s push in parliament for a royal commission into child sex abuse.
• A report on the above matter from Benjamin Seeder of the Burnie Advocate draws my attention to the fact that Liberals preselected Susie Bower, who was also the candidate in 2022, in the central Tasmanian seat of Lyons back in April. Bower is chief executive of the Bell Bay Advanced Manufacturing Zone and a former Meander Valley councillor. Brian Mitchell has held the seat precariously for Labor since 2016, Bower reducing his margin in 2022 to 0.9% with a 4.3% swing that was partly a correction after a troubled Liberal campaign in 2019.
• A Liberal preselection will be held tomorrow for Russell Broadbent’s seat of Monash in regional Victoria, where the 72-year-old incumbent faces challenges from Nathan Hersey, mayor of the Shire of South Gippsland, and Mary Aldred, head of government relations for Asia Pacific at Fujitsu. Aldred is the daughter of the late Ken Aldred, who held various federal seats for the Liberals from 1975 to 1996. While her father was a figure of some controversy, The Age reports Mary Aldred is “viewed as a moderate”, in common with Broadbent.
• The Australian’s Feeding the Chooks column reports displeasure among Liberal National Party members at the time being taken to begin preselection proceedings for the Gold Coast seat of McPherson, which will be vacated at the next election on the retirement of Karen Andrews. Mentioned as possible contenders are Ben Naday, former migration agent and federal ministerial adviser; Leon Rebello, solicitor at King & Wood Mallesons; and David Stevens, managing director of a private strategy and investment consulting firm and Howard government cabinet policy unit adviser.
• Canberra CityNews reports the Liberals have preselected Joanne van der Plaat, Cooma lawyer and former president of the Law Society of New South Wales, as candidate for Eden-Monaro. Van der Plaat was chosen ahead of Vanessa Cheng, a management consultant.
There is also the following to relate on the polling front:
• This week’s Roy Morgan poll has Labor leading 52-48 on two-party preferred, in from 53-47 last week, from primary votes of Labor 31.5% (down one), Coalition 35% (steady) and Greens 13.5% (down one-and-a-half). The poll was conducted last Monday to Sunday from a sample of 1371.
• SEC Newgate’s regular bi-monthly Mood of the Nation survey finds 32% rating the federal government’s performance as good, down four points from August, with poor steady at 36%. Expectations about the state of the economy three years from now have taken a hit, with the positive rating down eight from the last survey to 50% and negative up six to 34%. The question of whether Australia is headed in the right direction, on which opinion was evenly divided through 2022, is now running 63-37 against. Of the mainland states, small sample state breakdowns have consistently found optimism highest in Western Australia and lowest in Queensland. Queensland was targeted with an elevated sample of 603, of whom 27% rated the state government’s performance as good compared with 43% for poor. The poll was conducted October 18 to 23 from an overall sample of 1610.
• The Australian reports Newspoll found the most favoured options for helping with the cost of living were, in order, subsidising energy bills (84%), subsidising fuel prices (81%), cutting government spending to reduce inflation (77%), personal tax cuts (73%) and cash payments to low-income families (56%).
• Kos Samaras from RedBridge Group offers further results from its poll last week showing 34% consider the Albanese government has the right priorities compared with 50% who disagree, while 30% believe “the Coalition led by Peter Dutton” is ready for government and 50% think otherwise.
Mavis at 10.32 am
Have a look at this 5 min video: https://www.portrait.gov.au/stories/the-hon-michael-kirby-ac-cmg
Kirby is interviewing the artist who painted his portrait for the National Portrait Gallery, Ralph Heimans.
Note the phrase about Kirby looking at the viewer, an analogy for him directly addressing readers of his reasons for judgment, by striving for clarity. His first big High Court case, Wik Peoples v Qld, was instructive, as he set out his reasons with great clarity, simplifying the complexity of a historic case.
He was polite, but direct almost to the point of ridicule regarding the approach of Brennan CJ. The first sentence that follows includes Brennan’s convoluted formulation. The second is Kirby’s riposte.
“The majority also rejected Brennan CJ’s reversion doctrine in Mabo [No. 2] that `the scheme of the 1910 [Land] Act and the 1962 [Land] Act is such that, with respect to the grant of the limited interests thereunder by the Crown, the necessary consequence is the acquisition by the Crown of a reversion expectant on the cesser of that interest, thereby generating for the Crown that full and beneficial ownership which is necessarily inconsistent with subsisting native title’. To Kirby J, `[i]mporting into the Land Acts notions of the common law apt for tenurial holdings under the Crown in medieval England, and attributing them to the Crown itself, piles fiction upon fiction. As it is not expressed in the legislation, I would not introduce it.’
Kirby J regarded the Wik Peoples’ primary argument for the survival of their native title as `simple and correct’:
`Pastoral leases give rise to statutory interests in land which are sui generis. Being creatures of Australian statutes, their character and incidents must be derived from statute. Neither of the acts in question here expressly extinguishes native title. To do so very clear statutory language would, by conventional theory, be required. When the Acts are examined, clear language of extinguishment is simply missing … The extent to which the two interests could operate together is a matter for further evidence and legal analysis. Only if there is any inconsistency between the legal interests of the lessee (as defined by the instrument of lease and the legislation under which it was granted) and the native title (as established by evidence), will such native title, to the extent of the inconsistency, be extinguished.'”
http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/IndigLawB/1997/43.html (article by Philip Hunter)
Mrs BK and I just got back after five hours of preparing for, providing morning tea of country-baked cakes and hot drinks, cleaning up and hanging around with a few drinks from the bar and a lot of laughs.
We hosted more that 100 MGs on the 100th year of the anniversary of the fist model. They all enjoyed themselves immensely.
My daughter even made a cake in the form of an MGB.
Soc, some talk 15y ago that dropping south road UG or cut/cover would relink suburbs cut by this loud and busy road with the potential for a tram ring route on the newly less congested south road which would increase the connectivity of places like torrensville. The sum effect would be greatly increased land values along these transport corridor (now much quieter, less polluted and more resident friendly). And that a smart system would tax that land value increase to help pay for the project.
I used to live in mile end. Not far from south road. God awful thing. And I understand it has only gotten worse.
Jet skis are up there with petrol powered leaf blowers – a public nuisance that should be regulated out of existence.
C@t
Your comment earlier about vaccinations and science.
Just appeared in the Age breaking news.
Hundreds of children exposed to tuberculosis at US daycare.
In my view we could look at a Tuvalu style internal refugee program for South Australians which would also be environmentally responsible as well.
We subsidise the buggers anyway – just redirect the subsidies , say $100K to every South Australian who is prepared to migrate permanently from SA and drop the subsidy $10K every year for the slow learners who dont get the message that Hindmarsh’s white settlement hasnt worked. Ban all new housing and migration to SA.
Overtime we could return SA to its natural state and stop the farce that we can support 1.4 million in the driest part of the continent.
laughtong at 2.39 pm
Regarding health science and a lack of managerial and political commitment to its application, note:
‘At a state parliamentary budget estimates hearing in New South Wales two weeks ago, the state’s chief health officer Kerry Chant revealed NSW had no statewide statistics on hospital-acquired Covid deaths.
“We don’t actually know the exact mortality associated with Covid,” Chant said. “All I can confirm is that we are conscious of taking every step we can to minimise the risk of transmission.”
Asked about ongoing protective measures, Chant urged people who were ill to stay home and especially not visit hospitals or aged-care or other health facilities. Her only advice on masks was not that people should wear them, but to be kind to those who do.’
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/health/2023/11/11/what-the-latest-covid-19-wave-means-australia#mtr
‘Only a few state-and-territory jurisdictions are collecting data on hospital-acquired Covid-19 and there is no national database. Victorian data from last year, made public through a freedom-of-information request recently, revealed 10 per cent of patients who contracted Covid-19 in hospital were dying from it.’ (ibid.)
Singapore is still doing testing properly. It knows it has over 500,000 active Covid cases currently, yet it still leads the world with a per capita death rate of 320. The best rate in Aust is the Cave, WA = 465.
Singapore is a fine city, as they say in the classics. A fine for everything. And a fine attitude to masks.
BK:
How wonderful!
When I was in Adelaide recently I got caught up in a vintage car procession in the hills. People had deck chairs on the side of the road with eskies watching them driving past. Do you know what that was? I couldn’t see any signage or anything showing the procession, but the cars were directed into a church. It was on a Sunday.
Andrew_Earlwood says:
Sunday, November 12, 2023 at 9:10 am
Regardless of the ‘Save The Whales’ idiocy, offshore wind farms along the East Coast of Australia is the motherlode of bad political ideas.
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As I mentioned a couple of nights ago, except where locations exist whereby Nimbyism is limited, better in the current political context to exhaust the low hanging fruit on land and with solar before taking on yet another unnecessary political battle.
Lars Von Trier says:
Sunday, November 12, 2023 at 2:41 pm
In my view we could look at a Tuvalu style internal refugee program for South Australians which would also be environmentally responsible as well.
We subsidise the buggers anyway – just redirect the subsidies , say $100K to every South Australian who is prepared to migrate permanently from SA and drop the subsidy $10K every year for the slow learners who dont get the message that Hindmarsh’s white settlement hasnt worked. Ban all new housing and migration to SA.
Overtime we could return SA to its natural state and stop the farce that we can support 1.4 million in the driest part of the continent.
_______________
Firm but fair Lars.
Lars Von Trier @ Sunday, November 12, 2023 at 2:41 pm
nath @ Sunday, November 12, 2023 at 3:10 pm
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Statler and Waldorf ‘keeping the rest of us honest’ with this witty repartee about SA, eh Mavis?
What a waste of space that crap was.
Citizens groups could also offer to pick up a SA environmental refugee whilst they re-settle.
People right here on Pollbludger could help. Yabba for one could put up Socrates in his Turkish bordello style granny flat.
Any takers for Katich ?
Macarthur says:
Sunday, November 12, 2023 at 3:17 pm
Lars Von Trier @ Sunday, November 12, 2023 at 2:41 pm
nath @ Sunday, November 12, 2023 at 3:10 pm
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Statler and Waldorf ‘keeping the rest of us honest’ with this witty repartee about SA, eh Mavis?
What a waste of space that crap was.
_________
Well well well. Macarthur has come back and continues his goes at me. What’s next, purity tests on Ukraine again?
laughtong @ #655 Sunday, November 12th, 2023 – 2:39 pm
I would guess that TB vaccination is not in the routine vaccination schedule in the US
In Australia only some states went that path and stopped several decades ago
NSW had the wonderful policy of mandatory 2nd yearly Chest X-rays but this stopped in the early 80s
Nath, in the words of Francis Urquhart, “You might very well think that; I couldn’t possibly comment”
Featherweight.
I feel you’re a little bitter MacArthur . Feedback – it’s an unattractive quality.
Maybe consult with C@t about the best way forward for you.
When I was in Adelaide recently I got caught up in a vintage car procession in the hills. People had deck chairs on the side of the road with eskies watching them driving past. Do you know what that was? I couldn’t see any signage or anything showing the procession, but the cars were directed into a church. It was on a Sunday.
_______
Confessions
It would have been the annual Bay to Birdwood run.
https://baytobirdwood.history.sa.gov.au/
People in NSW can now be fined up to $100,000 if they religiously vilify someone, with the government amending existing anti-discrimination laws. The changes make it illegal by a public act to incite hatred or serious contempt or to severely ridicule a person or group because of their religious belief, affiliation or activity. Vilification is defined as abusively disparaging speech or writing.
Premier Chris Minns said it was an important election promise to fulfil. “The NSW government supports a peaceful, multicultural society. There cannot be room for hatred which sows the seeds of mistrust and intolerance,” he said on Sunday.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8420713/big-fines-on-the-books-for-religious-vilification/?cs=14264
Lars, feedback: your pop psychoanalysis hasn’t added up to being worth a Gloria Jeans coffee yet. Keep trying.
Holdenhillbilly @ #668 Sunday, November 12th, 2023 – 3:28 pm
Christ, there are several posters on this blog who may be in some difficulty.
If it’s illegal to show ‘serious contempt’ for the religious, how do atheists get around that?
Macarthur, you are just being kept around as an amusing joke. An obsessive who can’t comment on what they are obsessed over. It’s deliciously devilish of the boss. I admire his sadistic flourishes.
Smart move by Minns re religious vilification. Gives Labor a slice of religious voters it might not otherwise get.
BK
Compliments to your daughter on the MGB cake! Very talented.
nath @ Sunday, November 12, 2023 at 3:44 pm:
“Macarthur, you are just being kept around as an amusing joke. An obsessive who can’t comment on what they are obsessed over. It’s deliciously devilish of the boss. I admire his sadistic flourishes.”
===============
Well, ‘The Good Place’ (end of season 1 and start of season 2) is up there on my all time favourites, so who’s to say there’d be no payoff for me in such a piece of virtual community ‘Grand Wizard’ architecture?
C@tmomma says:
Sunday, November 12, 2023 at 10:19 am
How many people here have actually experienced an East Coast of NSW windstorm? Those things can strip paint. Of course, you would want to harness that for a free supply of energy. Too bad if you don’t want to look at something far off into the distance while you are at the beach. I find Jetskis’, noise and visual pollution, much more offensive, but no one is saying, ‘Ban Jetskis!’
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I agree and wind farms either on land or sea (and I’m a surfer) pose no visual problems for me whatsoever but I do think picking low hanging fruit in the current political paradigm, except where there are no objections from those needing their sea views more than electricity, makes sense.
I think that if other renewable power sources continue to expand and become cheaper whilst coal and gas power stations reach the end of their life over the next decade then there will then be potentially less objections to ocean wind farms (which as you say make so much practical sense) as consumers become more accepting of them. They don’t seem to be problematic in Europe so I think the issue is often more ideological than genuinely visually challenging. If this wasn’t the case then Europeans too would object to them.
Replying to Dr Doolittle
Saturday, November 11, 2023 at 10:45 pm
A complete PDF copy of Rethinking Europe’s Future can be downloaded here https://zlibrary-au.se/book/23044057/1fac5c
Dr D
“ Singapore is a fine city, as they say in the classics. A fine for everything. And a fine attitude to masks.”
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We’re here at the moment and thoroughly enjoying it. Clean, manicured, modern, friendly, comfortable (except for the heat and the fact that it’s very expensive nowadays for Australian tourists) and aesthetically pleasing.
Another city that is adapting, it’s building many undercover pedestrian tunnels and links between buildings allowing people to move many places (in the CBD at least) without being exposed to the weather extremes. Singapore has really bounced back after covid. Other restrictions notwithstanding, it’s an easy place to live and visit and I can see why the residents allow the government’s curtailments of some freedoms.
Thanks BK, yes those dates align.
Oh ffs !
God botherers abound…
Holdenhillbilly @ #668 Sunday, November 12th, 2023 – 3:28 pm
2GB and News Corp have just had their business model made defunct.
See, this is why the progressive Independents are the saviours of our polity.
Daughter on a year sabbatical travelling currently in Cuba
Heads back to Singapore in June – July to take up a head of department at her school ,
Expat package looking at accom in holland village.when she returns.
So our Singapore trips continue,we have been there over 40 times now
We love it
When in Singapore Mr Money and entourage chooses to stay at the Raffles Hotel?
Ouch:
Any takers for Katich ?
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I’ll take expressions of interest. Send them to larsisaknob@hotmail.com
Keep in mind I bake and can make the best baklava this side of Ionnina.
Wow that’s a bit humiliating for Broadbent.
And the Hamer niece in Kooyong.
It’s the Liberal hereditary peer revival in Victoria?
They just need a Shipton granddaughter now and the renewal is complete?
Is Hastie being serious here …?
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2023/nov/12/australia-news-live-israel-hamas-war-pro-palestine-rallies-penny-wong-anthony-albanese-peter-dutton-china-trip
Veteran Liberal MP Russell Broadbent loses Monash preselection battle to Mary Aldred
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-12/russell-broadbent-monash-member-loses-preselection/103084618
its acknowledged by climate scientists that the Goyder line is moving south in SA – it basically defines rainfall level. Climate refugees as well as existing water problems increasing will be a reality in SA in the next 20 years.
Why spend money on extremely expensive infrastructure when de-population is likely.
Why not get started early with the evacuations and get ahead of the curve/line.
Interesting that the person sulking about alleged bigotry on this board against them earlier is happily advocating for the forced relocation of a segment of the population.
LVT: “its acknowledged by climate scientists that the Goyder line is moving south in SA – it basically defines rainfall level. ”
Source?
https://www.southernflinders-midnorth.com.au/narrate/n_goyder.htm
Scroll to end – references a report about it moving 100km by 2070.
In 2006 they were saying it was unlikely the more recent reports reckon it likely.
I presume the reference is to this article from 2015.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-02/goyders-line-climate-change-wheat-wine-grapes/6919276
Which should be stated that it’s a news article, not a peer-reviewed journal article, and only one “climate scientist” is mentioned.
Of course it’s real in South Australia and elsewhere. In Germany where they previously made Riesling ( a cool climate wine) they are now switching to growing olives.
https://insidestory.org.au/south-of-the-goyder/#
G’day guys, a Newspoll out tonight?
@Democracy Sausage
The last Newspoll was released last week, so the next one would be due in about 2 weeks time.