Post-Dunkley miscellany (open thread)

The Liberals prepare to choose a successor for Scott Morrison in Cook this evening, an event likely to be of greater interest than the by-election itself.

The Dunkley by-election is now out of the way – if the progress of late counting interests you, the Poll Bludger’s live results page and live commentary post will continue ticking over. Another federal by-election now looms on the horizon for a date to be confirmed, though in the probable absence of a Labor candidate it is unlikely to generate as many column inches:

• The Liberals will choose their candidate for the by-election to replace Scott Morrison in Cook this evening, with a close race expected between Carmelo Pesce, Simon Kennedy and Gwen Cherne, the latter being boosted by an endorsement from John Howard (a fourth contender, Benjamin Britton, appears less fancied). Pesce is the subject of an unhelpfully timed report in the Sydney Morning Herald today relating that he participated in a Sutherland Shire council vote on an apartment development after earlier declaring a conflict of interest with the developer.

• Canning mayor Patrick Hall has withdrawn from the Liberal Party’s preselection for the Perth seat of Tangney, saying a controversy in which he is involved would “reflect poorly on the party and the seat of Tangney”, notwithstanding that he is the innocent party to the alleged incident. This came after Jesse Jacobs, a former council colleague of Hall’s, entered the preselection race despite facing charges of stealing Hall’s election campaign signs, following an incident in which Hall personally performed a citizen’s arrest on Jacobs and his co-accused. Other nominees are Mark Wales, SAS veteran and Survivor contestant; Sean Ayres, a former staffer to defeated former member Ben Morton; Howard Ong, a Singapore-born IT consultant; Melville councillor Jennifer Spanbroek; and Bill Koul, owner of an engineering consultancy.

• Victorian Labor Senator Linda White, whose six-year term began after her election in May 2022, died on Friday at the age of 64. White was a former assistant national secretary of the Australian Services Union, and succeeded veteran Kim Carr in the Left-mandated second position on the party’s Victorian ticket.

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.

1,889 comments on “Post-Dunkley miscellany (open thread)”

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  1. Biden is swinging hard at the Republicans in the State of the Union.

    I am not sure why all the Democratic women are in white – they look like the White lady funeral women.

  2. B.S. Fairman:

    “I am not sure why all the Democratic women are in white – they look like the White lady funeral women.”

    Suffragette white?

  3. Mavis says Friday, March 8, 2024 at 10:29 am

    Kerr claims she did not refer to PC Lovell as “A stupid white bastard”. She does admit to saying, however, he’s “A stupid white cop”. – OZ. Talk about a storm in a teacup.

    That might explain why the trial is set for four days. They’ll need three and a half to decide whether “cop” and “bastard” are synonymous.

    Not forgetting that “bastard” can be a term of endearment in Australia.

  4. B. S. Fairmansays:
    Friday, March 8, 2024 at 1:35 pm
    Biden is swinging hard at the Republicans in the State of the Union.

    I am not sure why all the Democratic women are in white – they look like the White lady funeral women.
    ================================================

    I guess it wasn’t a huge consideration whether they looked similar to a dress code used by an Australian Funeral company that none of them had probably ever heard of.

  5. I was going to say they look like lady lawn bowlers but they don’t play lawn bowls either.
    I dare say it is something to do with the Roe v Wade issue.

  6. citizensays:
    Friday, March 8, 2024 at 1:51 pm
    Perhaps Murdoch could find true love by creating and starring in a new TV reality show “The Geriatric Bachelor”.

    Rupert Murdoch, 92, to wed retired molecular biologist Elena Zhukova, 67

    It will be the billionaire’s fifth wedding, five months after he stepped down from his News Corp media empire

    EDIT: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/mar/07/rupert-murdoch-elena-zhukova-engagement
    ==============================================

    Will spy agencies from around world be asked to supply candidates?.

  7. Oh the irony. The founder of an anti-science media organisation to marry a scientist.

    According to reports Murdoch found his previous fiancée’s religious views hard to handle.
    The new one best be careful.

  8. B. S. Fairman @ #1855 Friday, March 8th, 2024 – 1:47 pm

    I was going to say they look like lady lawn bowlers but they don’t play lawn bowls either.
    I dare say it is something to do with the Roe v Wade issue.

    Lawn bowlers of both genders wear colorful uniforms these days, identifying the club/team they belong to.

  9. UK Voting IntentionVia @PeoplePolling , 7 Mar. Changes w/ 25 Jan. :

    LAB: 46% (+1)
    CON: 18% (-2)
    RFM: 13% (+1)
    LDM: 10% (=)

  10. B.S. Fairman:

    “I dare say it is something to do with the Roe v Wade issue.”

    You are correct. Like I said, suffragette white.

    To quote one news article: Congresswomen wore white to the State of the Union address to highlight the fight for women’s reproductive rights across the US… The white is a nod to the suffragette movement, where women wore white in their fight to win the right to vote.

  11. Steelydansays:
    Friday, March 8, 2024 at 2:11 pm
    That really Sux. I was hoping Kerr was not a hater…no role model their by the looks of it.
    ======================================================

    Yep. she obviously hates her mum and her partner who are both white. Plus three quarters of her own genetic identity too.

  12. I’m laughing at Mike Johnson. He’s nodding and clapping half the time in agreement with Biden then doing big eye rolls when he remembers his dominatrix will be watching.

  13. Sceptic
    Will her music be remembered in 15 years from now NO.. just like the rappers etc music that doesn’t last 6 months.
    ——————–
    Taylor Swift’s music will be remembered in 15 years because she is an established singer that already has nearly a 20 year career across pop and country.

  14. Holden – If you put those numbers into Electoral Calculus, the tories come out with 23 seats. That is before tactical voting!

  15. Entropysays:
    Friday, March 8, 2024 at 2:17 pm
    Steelydansays:
    Friday, March 8, 2024 at 2:11 pm
    That really Sux. I was hoping Kerr was not a hater…no role model their by the looks of it.
    ======================================================

    Yep. she obviously hates her mum and her partner who are both white. Plus three quarters of her own genetic identity too.

    ——————————————————————————-
    No just white men like so many loons on the left do.

  16. Marrying Murdoch is a good investment. Estimates of the final cash sum Jerry Hall will receive range from £50m-£250m. Anna Murdoch received £1.4bn, and Wendi Deng somewhere between these.

    If you can bear to pretend to be turned on by his droopy man boobs and blotched, pre-cancerous skin, you’re in for a big reward. My advice to all future contenders (and there will be more) is to look beyond your dark feelings of vomit-inducing self-disgust and think of the beachside condo!

  17. Over in the cricket Smith has failed once again. I would suggest they have to get an actual opener for the opener position.

  18. The Tories have systematically ruined the UK over almost half a century now and it finally looks like the penny has dropped with the punters.Some of it can never be fixed,the damage is done. Taking notice of right wing media and Murdoch scum has been a crucifixion for most people.Took a long time to realise though.

  19. The Malaysian prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, was spot on when he called out Western leaders for not doing more to prevent Israel’s killing campaign in Gaza, while opposing Russia’s war against Ukraine and expecting other countries to do the same.
    However, one hypocrisy does not justify another. Dr Anwar also criticised Australia and other ASEAN countries for pushing back against China’s territorial push in the South China Sea. This is in spite of explicit rulings by the international court against China’s claims.
    Anwar also said the world should not “dictate” to China whether it had the right to invade Taiwan, endorsing Beijing’s position that the island’s future was a purely internal Chinese matter.
    If Dr Anwar and other non-Western leaders want the world to stand up for the people of Palestine, they too should not remain silent when it comes to the rights of the people of Ukraine or Taiwan.

  20. Thursday, March 7, 2024. Investigation into logging on Kangaroo Island, SA, under way after release of ‘horrific images’ of dead koalas
    Logging stopped as Australian Agribusiness Group says its teams have resolved to increase efforts ‘on the protection of the local animal population’ and that they ‘are operating well beyond what is considered best practice for wildlife management’.
    Well. Killing koalas wilfully is considered well beyond best practice. The Australian Agribusiness Group says.
    What is wrong with these people, the loggers, who would have been able to see koalas clinging to trees as they were falling to the ground.

    Hope they receive a big fine.
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/07/investigation-into-logging-on-kangaroo-island-under-way-after-release-of-horrific-images-of-dead-koalas?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

  21. Steelydansays:
    Friday, March 8, 2024 at 2:33 pm
    Entropysays:
    Friday, March 8, 2024 at 2:17 pm
    Steelydansays:
    Friday, March 8, 2024 at 2:11 pm
    That really Sux. I was hoping Kerr was not a hater…no role model their by the looks of it.
    ======================================================

    Yep. she obviously hates her mum and her partner who are both white. Plus three quarters of her own genetic identity too.

    ——————————————————————————-
    No just white men like so many loons on the left do.
    ===============================================

    So are you saying the UK have charged for the wrong crime?. So it is not racism but misandry is her crime. According to you?.

  22. Anwar Ibrahim said that Malaysia had no territorial disputes with China. Good for Malaysia. Anwar could still stand up for what is right. If ASEAN had adopted a unanimous stand against China’s aggressive moves in the South China Sea, it might have sent a stronger message to Beijing.
    I fear that Malaysia and possibly Indonesia and Singapore, see some benefit in cozying up to China, just as some countries are cozying up to Russia, or at least taking only a weak stand against its invasion of Ukraine.
    The United States and Europe should have been arming Ukraine much earlier and with more weapons. The US Congress should also stop fluffing about further aid to Ukraine and European countries should not be in a funk about whether confiscating Russian assets in the West to finance Ukraine is really legal.
    The world appears to have forgotten the lessons of appeasing aggression in Europe in the 1930s. Some leftwing historians speculated it was because the British and French ruling classes were conspiring to make the Nazis into a stronger power to counter communism and the Soviet Union.
    Maybe the main reason was that governments and people in those countries just wanted to have as quiet a life as possible and preferred to ignore what was happening.

  23. Rex Douglassays:
    Friday, March 8, 2024 at 2:49 pm
    How to break the internet But in all seriousness, there’s a reason why reverse racism isn’t a thing. Racism is when prejudice is accompanied by the power to oppress, and is historically rooted.Here’s an excellent piece from Ronnie Gorrie on that: https://t.co/YeqsErhZ1M https://t.co/bZXoHZnxfi— Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) March 8, 2024
    —————————-
    Senator Thorpe should read the Racial Discrimination Act because she is confusing political race theory and the law.

  24. Meanwhile Rupert takes another step in his effort to live forever & keep f**king democracy…

    Rupert Murdoch decided that at 92, it was time to give up the reins of power at his media empire — but it seems he believes age is no barrier for new love, or a new marriage.

    On Thursday, Mr. Murdoch’s office said that he planned to marry his girlfriend, Elena Zhukova, 67, a retired molecular biologist whom he started dating in the summer.

    Combines love & molecular therapist in one
    Edit.. also gets closer to Putin

  25. Sir Henry Parkes says:
    Friday, March 8, 2024 at 2:40 pm

    Anwar also said the world should not “dictate” to China whether it had the right to invade Taiwan, endorsing Beijing’s position that the island’s future was a purely internal Chinese matter.
    If Dr Anwar and other non-Western leaders want the world to stand up for the people of Palestine, they too should not remain silent when it comes to the rights of the people of Ukraine or Taiwan.

    ——————-
    I don’t think China has invaded Taiwan yet. Compared to Israel destroying Gaza. Different rules for different folk.

  26. “Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is engaged for a sixth time, it emerged on Thursday, this time to Elena Zhukova, a retired scientist…

    … Her 42-year-old daughter, Dasha Zhukova, is a Russian-American art collector and philanthropist who was previously married to Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch and former owner of the Premier League football club Chelsea…

    … Murdoch’s new fiancee previously worked as a molecular diabetes specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles, the New York Times reports. Zhukova, who originally hails from Russia and once described her family as being part of the “usual, normal Moscow intelligentsia”, was married to Alexander Zhukov, a Russian-born British billionaire energy investor.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/mar/07/rupert-murdoch-elena-zhukova-engagement

    Another rich Westerner suffering from what has been termed ‘Putin Fascination Syndrome’, exhibited in this case by marrying into the web of Russia’s oligarchy.

    “Нет войне!” He should understand that now.

  27. Irene @ #1887 Friday, March 8th, 2024 – 4:04 pm

    Sir Henry Parkes says:
    Friday, March 8, 2024 at 2:40 pm

    Anwar also said the world should not “dictate” to China whether it had the right to invade Taiwan, endorsing Beijing’s position that the island’s future was a purely internal Chinese matter.
    If Dr Anwar and other non-Western leaders want the world to stand up for the people of Palestine, they too should not remain silent when it comes to the rights of the people of Ukraine or Taiwan.

    ——————-
    I don’t think China has invaded Taiwan yet. Compared to Israel destroying Gaza. Different rules for different folk.

    I don’t think a bunch of Taiwanese terrorists went to China and killed 1200+ innocent Chinese citizens and took more hostage.

    Different rules for different folk?

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