A lean period of polling awaits, given the interruption of Easter and the no doubt related fact that every single pollster in the business unloaded results last week. If you’re desperate, Nine Newspapers has further results from last week’s Resolve Strategic poll finding 56% support for “stronger laws to ban hate speech on the basis of religion and faith”, with 19% opposed; 74% in favour of criminal penalties for “doxxing”, with 4% opposed; and 57% saying there had been a rise in racism and religious intolerance “as a result of the Israel-Gaza conflit”, with 15% disagreeing.
Other news:
• Troy Dodds of the Western Weekender reports that Melissa McIntosh, the Liberal member for the marginal outer western Sydney seat of Lindsay, has secured preselection after the withdrawal of Penrith deputy mayor Mark Davies. The expectation that Davies would have the numbers in conservative-dominated local branches to topple McIntosh had been a source of consternation among the party leadership, with Paul Sakkal of the Sydney Morning Herald reporting earlier this month on “the prospect of a rare federal division intervention in the NSW branch” if the challenge went ahead. McIntosh was promoted from the shadow assistant ministry to outer shadow ministry status in a recent reshuffle.
• Tim Wilson won a Liberal preselection vote for Goldstein last week, setting up a rematch with teal independent Zoe Daniel, to whom he lost the seat he had held since 2016 in 2022. Wilson won the local party vote ahead of Colleen Harkin, research fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, and Stephanie Hunt, lawyer and former staffer to Julie Bishop and Marise Payne. Paul Sakkal of The Age reports Wilson won a second round vote ahead of Harkin “by about 160-130”.
• Amelia Hamer, a former staffer to then Financial Services Minister Jane Hume who has more recently worked for financial technology start-up Airwallex, has won the Liberal preselection vote for the Melbourne seat of Kooyong, which teal independent Monique Ryan won from Josh Frydenberg in 2022. The Australian reports Hamer won the party vote by 233 to 59 ahead of Rochelle Pattison, director of an asset management and corporate finance firm and chair of Transgender Victoria.
• Former state government minister Andrew Constance has again won Liberal preselection for Gilmore, where he narrowly failed in a bid to unseat Labor’s Fiona Phillips in 2022. Constance won a party vote by 80 to 69 over Paul Ell, lawyer, Shoalhaven councillor and long-standing hopeful for the seat who was persuaded to stand aside in favour of Constance in 2022.
• The Australian’s Feeding the Chooks column reports that Margaret Forrest, a commercial and criminal law barrister, has been preselected as the Liberal National Party candidate for the Brisbane seat of Ryan, which the party lost to Elizabeth Watson-Brown of the Greens in 2022.
• Rowan Ramsey, who has held the regional South Australian seat of Grey for the Liberals since 2007, has announced he will retire at the next election.
• Tammy Tyrell, who won a second Senate seat for the Jacqui Lambie Network at the 2022 election, quit the party last week. Tyrell issued a statement saying the move was made on Lambie’s suggestion, saying it had “become clear to me that I no longer have the confidence” of the party.
• I have a page up for the Cook federal by-election, to be held on April 13.
Both parties attract politically nerdy young people but the ALP has a more robust system for developing its politicians.
Finally looking like there’s going to be some significant rain in Victoria in the next couple of days. Hopefully not all at once of course.
If it wasn’t for the Christmas and January deluges things could have got pretty bad here with February and March being nearly bone-dry, other than that chain of short violent storms in February.
gympiesays:
Sunday, March 31, 2024 at 5:29 pm
Entropy:
“From my observations it is the adults in Qld that are seriously deluded not the kids. Who can blame the kids from wanting to escape reality … ”
* * * * * * * * * ** * *
Exactly what I’m talking about, spent the best years of his life playing at politics while everyone else bought a surfboard, no idea.
Labor in a nutshell
=====================================================
Young far right wingers in Qld only join the LNP because the party they really want to join has been banned.
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/uq-lnp-club-president-i-openly-accept-i-would-be-a-nazi-party-member-20170328-gv7xph.html
Irene
“Shoebridge, the Greens new home affairs spokesperson, said Labor had “jumped the shark” with the laws, which he said went further than anything an Australian government had previously put forward.”
Like “children overboard” Irene.
BW @ 2:59
Indeed, I once had cause to read the main English language Asian papers at the time of Chifley’s defeat in 1949. Despite being mainly colonial organs they did not hold back with their joy of the defeat of Chifley and Calwell and their appalling racism. Holt as the new immigration minister was seen as a much more reasonable character.
Speaking of Australian multiculturalism. I caught a snippet of the WCE match … um….why are they so “white”
The Young LNP in all their glory from this Friendlyjordies video in 2019. I doubt they’ve improved from then, probably got worse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DynNUg8uaQ
Nth Queensland being the only place to elect a communist MP to a state parliament.
I’m actually quite impressed by this person’s candour. Of course people like him would have been among the 10%+ of the German adult population who joined the party, and for precisely the reasons he identifies. The real shame in this is the grovelling apology he felt he had to offer to a journalist in pursuit of a non-story about inconsequential social media chit-chat.
gv7xph.html
gollsays:
Sunday, March 31, 2024 at 5:57 pm
Irene
“Shoebridge, the Greens new home affairs spokesperson, said Labor had “jumped the shark” with the laws, which he said went further than anything an Australian government had previously put forward.”
Like “children overboard” Irene.
——
Yes another LNP policy supported by Labor.
From the Autocrat’s Playbook..be everywhere all at once, all the time and spreading the Neo Fascist’s line:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/29/world/europe/czech-republic-sanctions-russian-influence-europe.html
Who have they bought in Australia? One local councillor in WA from news last week that we heard, and Rod Culleton too?
“Nth Queensland being the only place to elect a communist MP to a state parliament.”
The Hanlon ALP Government abolished his Seat in the Gerrymander of 1949.
At the time he was still slowly recovering from being brained by a police baton in 1948.
Far-left politics in North Queensland were particularly interesting in the 1940’s. There’s Fred Paterson, the elected Communist MP for Bowen from 1944-50, then Frank Barnes based in Bundaberg from 1941-50, and also Tom Aikens, based in Townsville, who managed to last from 1944 all the way to 1977 as an MP.
Australia once had a Communist Party controlled government- admittedly a municipal council in the NSW Northern Coalfields in the mid 40s
“Red Kearsley”
https://www.jstor.org/stable/27508799
Were the Barnes brothers left?
Frank was into Social Credit, while Lou called himself “King O’Malley Labor”
(I knew Lou’s son who was a psychiatrist in Sydney”
Like I have said many times before, Scott Morrison is delusional, or evil, or both:
‘Humility keeps you real’: Scott Morrison tells podcast he was always wary of power’
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/mar/29/humility-keeps-you-real-scott-morrison-tells-podcast-he-was-always-wary-of-power
Calling Tom Aikens far-left is a bit of a stretch – Aikens might have been economically left in his day, but was a right-wing weirdo on social issues, especially in later years. The modern figure who most comes to mind as being similar is Bob Katter.
William, Why does the Cook by-election page say the seat is on a 19% margin when it is actually around 12%? Please correct it to show the 2022 margin rather than the 2019 margin, Cheers.
“Bombshell” Barnes was a Bundy Publican with a grudge against the cops. He died from Kidney Disease, some say that affects the brain’s ability to think rationally.
Tom Aikens had been mentored by Paterson in Townsville, he ended up a reactionary dumping buckets for Joh.
@OC
I’m honestly not really sure, I’m not really familiar enough with the Social Credit movement to classify it as left or right, other than it seemed to be a major international movement in the Commonwealth from the 1930’s to the 1950’s, even lasting in New Zealand until the 1980’s.
All I know is that it was too far for Queensland Labor to tolerate the Barnes Brothers so they split from the party and ran their own party in 1944 and won their seats of Bundaberg and Cairns.
C@tmommasays:
Sunday, March 31, 2024 at 6:46 pm
Like I have said many times before, Scott Morrison is delusional, or evil, or both:
‐————
At last. You agree with me. That Labor supported a delusional and evil man who produced the AUKUS and cruel asylum seekers detention policy.
Shows how easily Labor is fooled by any Liberal.
Must follow their policies. If voters want those policies they will vote Liberal or National.
Not Labor.
Paterson was able to control Aikens while he was still in Parliament [ what I was told] but he moved to Sydney either soon after of some time before the 1950 State Election.
Bjelke Petersen eulogised Paterson in Parliament following his death in 1978.
Paterson had predicted after the 1947 Election that the [new] Member for Nanango [J.H. Bjelke Petersen] was the only person in the House less likely than himself to ever become Premier of Queensland.
@Rebecca
I see. I don’t know much about Tom Aikens either, only that he was expelled from Queensland Labor for apparently being too sympathetic to the Soviet Union in 1940. Which I suppose lines up with what was the situation at the time, with the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact in place from 1939-41, that must have caused big personal political problems then.
I’d be interested to know if there’s a book out there detailing the situation about why things seemed to be so volatile in Labor in North Queensland in the 1940’s. I feel this is something I’d like to learn more about.
]Major Douglas’] Social Credit was [left wing] Socialism for bushies, a competitor for Labor Parties in rural areas of Qld from the 30s to the mid 50s.
@Gympie
I suppose that’s correct. Bjelke-Petersen mainly became Premier because Frank Nicklin’s successor Jack Pizzey died suddenly of a heart attack only 6 months into the job, aged 57 and JB-P came out on top in the resulting political chaos.
“I’d be interested to know if there’s a book out there detailing the situation about why things seemed to be so volatile in Labor in North Queensland in the 1940’s.”
Fred Paterson was a brilliant organiser, the meatworks at Alligator Creek and The Ross had reopened in 1941, containerisation on the wharves was still 20 years away and a large U.S. Army presence from 1942-45.
Paterson spent his last 28 years in Sydney, unsure if he ever fully recovered from his 1948 bashing, but there would have to be Oral Histories of his recollections?
North Queensland. Look for “Red North” by Diane Menghetti. Sugar workers were a major factor.
From Megiddo to Armageddon.
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/witness/2024/3/20/praying-for-armageddon-evangelicals-the-us-and-the-middle-east
Cheers, Spence. Will keep an eye out for that one.
The book about Tom Atkins was called majority of one.. Tom started off left of Labor then by the time he was defeated in 1977 he could be called Tory Tom.. he voted to send Albert Patrick Field to the senate
Saturday Night Live has a take on Stormy Daniels case.. with all your favourites portrayed.
And a special cameo at the end.
https://youtu.be/K1K8s-tQGqY?si=cRMR_7QEqZdFvFqV
@Mick Quinlivan
Thanks for that too.
Managed to find both of them, so that’s some reading material over the Easter holidays to get through.
“… Tory Tom.. he voted to send Albert Patrick Field to the senate. ”
The Labor Party put up Mal Colston.
At least some in the Government thought Colston wasn’t a fit and proper person to represent Qld in the Senate.
By 1997[?] the Labor Party held a similar belief.
gympie says:
Sunday, March 31, 2024 at 7:28 pm
“… Tory Tom.. he voted to send Albert Patrick Field to the senate. ”
The Labor Party put up Mal Colston.
At least some in the Government thought Colston wasn’t a fit and proper person to represent Qld in the Senate.
______________________________________________________
Bullshit. Labor could have put up Jesus Christ arisen and the hypocrite Joh Bananas would still have played his nasty game. That’s what right-wing hypocrites do. Talk the talk and walk in a different direction. You must know the drill pretty well, given where you come from politically.
Aikens may have dropped the bucket on Colston, he definitely dropped one on Kevin Hooper not long before he was voted out.
Wiki would have the details, but there was also a fight in the Lobby between Aikens and Ted Walsh, another big mean bloke, that resulted in plenty of blood spatter on the walls, all of it Aikens.
Scotty quoted by C@t @6:46. “Humility keeps you real’: Scott Morrison tells podcast he was always wary of power’
He was so wary that he only got himself sworn into 5 ministries, not the whole lot.
”
Boerwarsays:
Sunday, March 31, 2024 at 4:02 pm
Ven
Is being a womanizer morally bad? Is being a nymphomaniac morally bad?
”
Yes. It will lead to many situations which will tear family apart or cause intense damage to family and society relationships.
I agree with Ven at 7:44pm.
If someone actively cheats on their partner, especially when married, how can they be trusted on other crucial issues? People like Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Barnaby Joyce, if they can simply toss the oaths they said to their wives at their weddings over the side just for their own pleasure, what else would they be willing to break trust and promises for?
TPOFsays:
…
“Bullshit. Labor could have put up Jesus Christ arisen and the hypocrite Joh Bananas would still have played his nasty game. That’s what right-wing hypocrites … ”
* * * * * * * ** * * * *
Joh asked Tom Burns to provide 3 names for the Senate Vacancy, Burns insisted on Colston.
It was pointed out by at least one pundit that Burns could have [and should have] supplied Colston’s name and that of 2 Communists. Burns and Whitlam may have been enemies by that stage too.
The crazy thing is that Labor had selected Colston at the unwinnable #3 spot on the 1972 Senate Ticket, they didn’t want him, yet ended up stuck with him for 23 years.
That’s Politics, Labor style.
Kirksdarke said:
“People like Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Barnaby Joyce, if they can simply toss the oaths they said to their wives at their weddings over the side just for their own pleasure, what else would they be willing to break trust and promises for?”
That may have been true up until the Family Law Act 1975, but Marriage Vows were rendered meaningless after that.
@gympie
I think most people even nowadays interpret marriages as essentially “I will not have sex with other people without your consent.”
And if that agreement breaks down then it’s a more honourable option to divorce that marriage rather than go ahead with it behind their existing partner’s back.
Maybe in rich people land where most of them probably have mistresses that might not be the case? I don’t know.
Kirsdarke
Remember reading years ago about some big businessman in the US who would not tolerate philandering by his executives.
“If they can lie to their wife at breakfast about why they were late home last night what will they lie to me about?” he said.
”
Kirsdarkesays:
Sunday, March 31, 2024 at 7:57 pm
I agree with Ven at 7:44pm.
If someone actively cheats on their partner, especially when married, how can they be trusted on other crucial issues? People like Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Barnaby Joyce, if they can simply toss the oaths they said to their wives at their weddings over the side just for their own pleasure, what else would they be willing to break trust and promises for?
”
Kirsdarke
After Bill Clinton was impeached in HOR (for basically cheating on his wife), he was not convicted for that in Senate.
At the end of his second term, Clinton signed to repeal of glass-steagall act into law.
IMO, glass-steagall act was one of the legislations that kept Financial institutions excesses in check.
Economic experts GFC would have been prevented if glass-steagall act was not repealed.
Did Clinton signed the repeal into law as a sign of gratitude(quid pro quo) for not being convicted of impeachment? We really don’t know. I think that was one of the last acts as President and one of the worst (probably the worst) decisions he made. His relationship with Hillary Clinton never improved after that affair.
As you have posted Trump, Joyce and Johnson can never be trusted because of their philandering. Some say Trump is even compromised because of his philandering. Otherwise why is he so subservient to Putin?
‘Kirsdarke says:
Sunday, March 31, 2024 at 7:57 pm
I agree with Ven at 7:44pm.
If someone actively cheats on their partner, especially when married, how can they be trusted on other crucial issues? People like Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Barnaby Joyce, if they can simply toss the oaths they said to their wives at their weddings over the side just for their own pleasure, what else would they be willing to break trust and promises for?’
————————-
Is it morally OK to be a womanizer or a nymphomaniac if one is in an open relationship or if one is not married or in a permanent exclusive relationship?
”
Kirsdarkesays:
Sunday, March 31, 2024 at 8:09 pm
@gympie
I think most people even nowadays interpret marriages as essentially “I will not have sex with other people without your consent.”
And if that agreement breaks down then it’s a more honourable option to divorce that marriage rather than go ahead with it behind their existing partner’s back.
Maybe in rich people land where most of them probably have mistresses that might not be the case? I don’t know.
”
Kirsdarke
Why do they lie? Because they know are doing something wrong. It will jeapordise so many things in their life.
@Rossmcg
Yeah, exactly. Incidentally that’s probably the few things I agreed with my late conservative grandmother about. She grew up in the Menzies personality cult, she adored Malcolm Fraser for casting down Gough Whitlam’s government (even though she voted for him in 1972), she loved John Howard and Tony Abbott’s governments, but she turned hard on Barnaby Joyce when his adultery became public, and also hated Donald Trump and Boris Johnson for similar reasons.
I heard a quote somewhere that was something like “Cheating in a marriage is not simply one bad decision. It is a long series of bad decisions that amounts to a great amount of personal treachery” or something like that.
”
Boerwarsays:
Sunday, March 31, 2024 at 8:20 pm
‘Kirsdarke says:
Sunday, March 31, 2024 at 7:57 pm
I agree with Ven at 7:44pm.
If someone actively cheats on their partner, especially when married, how can they be trusted on other crucial issues? People like Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Barnaby Joyce, if they can simply toss the oaths they said to their wives at their weddings over the side just for their own pleasure, what else would they be willing to break trust and promises for?’
————————-
Is it morally OK to be a womanizer or a nymphomaniac if one is in an open relationship or if one is not married or in a permanent exclusive relationship?
”
Why do you think Trump, Joyce and Johnson married the women they had relationship with in their 50s?
@Ven
I’m afraid I don’t know enough about Clinton to comment on that, only to say that my first conscious memory that was in exposure to politics was when I asked my family why Clinton and Lewinsky were in the news so often and they’d smirk and say I was too young to know about that.
And yes, exactly the point on your post at 8:24pm.
@Boerwar
If the married partner consents to that open relationship, then yes, I think that would be morally acceptable. Unfortunately for those cases they often break down because of the naturally human reactions to that, but all speed for those couples who can make it work.
Kirsdarkesays:
at 8:09 pm
@gympie
“I think most people even nowadays interpret marriages as essentially “I will not have sex with other people without your consent.””
Okay.
Since the FLA [1975] one Party can end the Marriage on a whim, for no stated reason, and not only be no worse off financially, let alone suffer a penalty, but actually profit from breaking a Legal Agreement.
Not much of an incentive for the other Party to ever want to start a family.
Kirsdarke
And there are other issues. A veteran politician whose wife stayed home and raised the kids could be looking at a punishing property settlement.
Some might look at dodgy sources of money.
Johnson is reputed to have seven children with various mothers and even while PM it was reported that he was relying on personal donations.
Not to mention the possibilities of being compromised if maintaining an extra marital relationship while still married.
@gympie
I’m talking about the moral and social consequences of cheating in marriage, not the legal ones.