Monday miscellany: Senate resignations, preselections, campaign finance latest (open thread)

Simon Birmingham calls it a day, Labor’s Tasmanian Senate ticket sorted, and campaign finance reform stalls in the Senate.

Newspoll has not reported on its more-or-less usual three-weekly schedule, but the usual weekly Roy Morgan should be along later today, followed by the usual fortnightly Essential Research poll tomorrow. In other developments:

• Simon Birmingham, Shadow Foreign Minister and Senate Opposition Leader, announced last week he will retire from parliament by the end of the year. As well as creating a vacancy for his South Australian Senate seat, his departure has resulted in the Senate leadership going from a leading moderate to a factional conservative in Western Australian Senator Michaelia Cash.

• Labor in Tasmania has confirmed its Senate ticket will be headed by Left faction incumbent Carol Brown followed by Right-aligned newcomer Richard Dowling, adviser to state Labor leader Dean Winter and former director of public policy with Meta. Matthew Denholm of The Australian reports Jessica Munday, Left-aligned secretary of Unions Tasmania, withdrew after recognising she lacked support, but now hopes to fill the casual Senate vacancy created by Anne Urquhart’s looming bid for the lower house seat of Braddon. Munday was subject to a party disciplinary process earlier this year after featuring a poster for Labor-turned-independent member David O’Byrne in her yard during the March state election campaign.

• Lachlan Leeming of the Daily Telegraph reports three candidates have nominated for preselection to succeed retiring Nationals member David Gillespie in Lyne: former Berejiklian-Perrottet government minister Melinda Pavey; Alison Penfold, senior adviser to Gillespie; and Forster-based accountant Terry Murphy.

• Hawkesbury councillor Mike Creed has been preselected as Liberal candidate for the Sydney fringe seat of Macquarie, held for Labor by Susan Templeman on a post-redistribution margin of 6.3%.

• The flurry of legislation the government was able to pass through the Senate last week did not include its campaign finance reform bill, which was pulled from the notice paper after a failure to land an agreement with the Coalition. Michelle Grattan at The Conversation reports the Liberals sought to “insert a potential legal time bomb” in the form of a provision that would likely mean the entire bill would be invalidated if the High Court found against any of it in the seemingly likely event of a High Court challenge. The Liberals also pushed for higher donation caps and disclosure thresholds and less generous caps for peak bodies, being specifically concerned about the ACTU. The responsible minister, Don Farrell, says consultations will continue over summer, seemingly with both the Coalition and the cross-bench.

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.

1,203 thoughts on “Monday miscellany: Senate resignations, preselections, campaign finance latest (open thread)”

Comments Page 2 of 25
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  1. Socrates:

    Monday, December 2, 2024 at 8:15 am

    ‘So an old, male Liberal candidate…’

    Old at 59. That’s an interesting perspective.

  2. Mavissays:
    Monday, December 2, 2024 at 12:21 pm
    Socrates:

    Monday, December 2, 2024 at 8:15 am

    ‘So an old, male Liberal candidate…’

    Old at 59. That’s an interesting perspective.

    It’s all relative young fella and depends if you ascending or descending the party you feel inclined to support.

  3. So Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter Biden.
    In doing so, he has trashed the reputation of the Democratic Party, the party that propelled him to the presidency, for the next generation – certainly beyond his remaining lifetime and most likely his son’s also.
    Even Stalin did not intervene in his son’s legal woes, rather allowing him to die in prison (and saving the Soviet Union from the fate a hereditary North Korean dictatorship in the process).
    MAGA will be the theme for the next 100 years!

  4. This article is all about how we are doing better than the ABC is reporting …

    https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/abc-news-misleads-on-the-economy-and-risks-pushing-more-australians-into-poverty,19221

    Bad, bad, ABC 🙁

    But wait … there’s also this …

    November was another successful month for economic progress and poverty alleviation. Total private and public construction hit a 10-year high with investment at $289.5 billion for the year to September.

    Inflation was 2.1% for the second consecutive month.

    That’s within the Reserve Bank’s optimum band for the third month.

    Great! So why isn’t the RBA cutting interest rates? Here’s why …

    Unemployment was 4.13% in October, stretching the record number of months below 4.3% to 35. The underemployment rate fell to 6.24% — the lowest in 18 months.

    The RBA is refusing to cut interest rates until unemployment goes up. How high? How many Australians have to suffer to satisfy the RBA? Who knows? – they’ll let us know after it gets high enough for them.

    And the Labor government is complicit in this. Labor even tried to abolish their own power to intervene, so they could walk away from any responsibility. Luckily, the crossbench stopped them. Can you believe that? A Labor government deliberately putting working Australians out of work and into abject misery?

    Bad, bad, Labor 🙁

    If you want to change the country, you have to change your vote.

  5. goll:

    Monday, December 2, 2024 at 12:25 pm

    ‘It’s all relative young fella…’

    That’s the nicest thing someone has said to me for many a moon.

  6. Meher B
    I have mentioned this before…

    Our daughter worked at St Paul’s hospital in Vancouver for two years and during that time, 2009, 2010 the government saw fit to close down mental health facilities & emergency housing, monitored share housing.
    Our daughter said some perished in the snow.

  7. I didn’t expect Biden/ Harris to pardon a family member …, I guess their focus really is Main St/ Wall St, rather than rustbelt

    I guess even the outgoing Prez knows the USSC has his back for official acts?

  8. ScromoII:

    Monday, December 2, 2024 at 12:28 pm

    ‘So Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter Biden. In doing so, he has trashed the reputation of the Democratic Party…’

    True. The Jan 6 rioters’ anticipated pardons relative to Hunter’s sins are inconsequential.

  10. “If you want to change the country, you have to change your vote.”

    And if Albo is bad, then Dutton is worse, and Bandt is just fantasyland.

  12. Player One

    The RBA has its hands tied regarding a cut in interest rates. We have an element of stagflation in our economy.

    When energy prices fall, no problems at all with all the investment in wind turbines and Bowen promising to get renewables up to something like 90% by 2030, we get your rate cut.

    Yep, if you want to change the country before it’s too late, change your vote!

  13. scromoll: “So Joe Biden has pardoned his son, Hunter Biden.
    In doing so, he has trashed the reputation of the Democratic Party, the party that propelled him to the presidency, for the next generation – certainly beyond his remaining lifetime and most likely his son’s also.”
    ——————————————————————————
    The word “hyperbolic” has fainted from exhaustion through its efforts to apply itself to this statement!

    Biden’s pardon of Hunter certainly tarnishes any remaining good reputation that he and his family retains. And it will make it a little difficult for Dems to criticise any pardons Trump gives out to his supporters, the Jan 6 rioters, or even to himself.

    But it all will be well and truly forgotten by the time of the next major elections in 2026.

    What it shows, yet again, is that the Dem machine simply has to stop manipulating their primary and conference processes to get the Presidential candidates they’d like to have.

    Hillary was a disastrous choice.

    Biden as a transitional candidate looked like a major success until he dug his heels in and demanded to be allowed to run for a second term. And now his pardoning of Hunter adds icing to the cake.

    And Kamala’s poor results suggest that the party might have been better having a quickfire fashion show at the conference and allow the delegates to pick the person they thought had the best chance.

    The American democratic process is rather weird, but some unique aspects of it can work quite well, eg: the Senate’s ability to kibosh ridiculous Cabinet picks by the President, as I hope we are going to see in action over the next few months.

    And another aspect of it that works reasonably well is the primary system which, at its best, is a Darwinian way of testing out would-be candidates under enormous pressure. This is well understood by Martin O’Malley, who tried unsuccessfully to run against Hillary in 2016 after Biden was told not to run by Obama and the machine bosses. That’s one reason he might make an ok chair of the DNC, although I note that others are now favoured.

  15. VCT Et3e says:
    Monday, December 2, 2024 at 12:48 pm
    I didn’t expect Biden/ Harris to pardon a family member …, I guess their focus really is Main St/ Wall St, rather than rustbelt

    I guess even the outgoing Prez knows the USSC has his back for official acts?

    _____________________________________________

    I’m really pleased to see Biden do this. It’s a poke in the eye for the Americans who didn’t vote for him. If they want to abandon the last vestiges of decency and honour in the USA by allowing Trump to be elected, at least Biden, of all people, should get a last hurrah.

  16. The inflation rate is 3.5 too high thats what the reserve bank look at.

    2.1 is labors rigged rate by elec rebates but labor has failed to trick the public etc.

  17. Mayne if Labor had some ticker to look into the outrageous rip-off from insurance premiums that filter through the economy, interest rates may have a better chance of falling.

    Maybe the ACCC could intervene to help Albo out before the election.

  18. Meher

    Biden’s pardon of Hunter certainly tarnishes any remaining good reputation that he and his family retains. And it will make it a little difficult for Dems to criticise any pardons Trump gives out to his supporters, the Jan 6 rioters, or even to himself.

    _______________________________________

    Do you think that even matters any more? Once the voters of the USA put a convicted criminal into the White House for the first time ever what the Democratic Party does is of no consequence. The Democrats are not the problem. The problem is the citizenry of the USA.

  20. No surprise to see TPOF championing Biden’s terrible decision to pardon a family member. Clearly standards are just a thing to hopefully keep the other side accountable. #stooge

  22. pied piper

    That’s why we got the energy rebate:-
    1. Pretend to honour an election promise.
    2. Try to fool the RBA.

    Good luck with both 1 and 2.

  26. Player One,

    Swapping wind turbines for trees will NEVER lead to lowering energy prices. But we should get a few more blackouts…

  27. As someone just noted:

    The Republicans have a 34 Count Convicted Felon walking into the White House in January who will pardon all the incarcerated Jan 6 rioters and conspirators and they’re clutching their pearls about Hunter Biden!?! 😐

    Freaking hypocrites.

  28. Centre @ #76 Monday, December 2nd, 2024 – 1:28 pm

    Player One,

    Swapping wind turbines for trees will NEVER lead to lowering energy prices. But we should get a few more blackouts…

    You’re really letting your Hard Right side show recently.

    Oh, and I seem to remember blackouts when the Coalition were in power federally and in the states. They don’t count with the Blue Kool Aid set I suppose?

  29. I thought the Greens liked trees. How much land forest and land space will be cleared to achieve 90% of unreliable, intermittent power?

  30. dave @ #70 Monday, December 2nd, 2024 – 1:18 pm

    No surprise to see TPOF championing Biden’s terrible decision to pardon a family member. Clearly standards are just a thing to hopefully keep the other side accountable. #stooge

    😆 😆 😆

    WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump selected Charles Kushner, who Trump pardoned during his first term, to serve as U.S. Ambassador to France on Saturday.
    (USA Today)

    #naththeconservativestooge

  33. dave: “No surprise to see TPOF championing Biden’s terrible decision to pardon a family member. Clearly standards are just a thing to hopefully keep the other side accountable. #stooge”
    ————————————————————————–
    That’s what whataboutism is all about. You know, “Stalin killed 4 million Ukranians.” “Well Hitler killed 6 million Jews. So stop beating up on Stalin. You’re just mouthing CIA propaganda.”

  34. C@t

    And guess who is shoring up with more gas reserves, and who pays the highest power prices in the country?

    Yep, the State with the worst economy – SA.

  36. “I’m really pleased to see Biden do this. It’s a poke in the eye for the Americans who didn’t vote for him. If they want to abandon the last vestiges of decency and honour in the USA by allowing Trump to be elected, at least Biden, of all people, should get a last hurrah.”

    agreed, standards are out the window so have some fun on the way out. Maybe even re-share those pics of Hunter with his hog out

  38. Centre,

    Actually the single biggest thing the government could do NOW to lower electricity prices (in the NEM states at least) would be to implement a domestic gas reserve policy and to cap domestic gas prices at something far less gougey than $12/Gj

    It’s the gas generators setting the price a lot of the time in the NEM, so the governments electricity bill subsidy is in some ways yet ANOTHER subsidy to the gas industry – neat huh!

    Of course the gas cartel would never allow it, so here we are allowing Japan to profit by selling our Gas whilst we pay world prices and actually import gas through our new terminal in Port Kembla despite us being the 5th largest gas exporter in the world

  39. dave says:
    Monday, December 2, 2024 at 1:18 pm

    I’ve not been banned from this place ever. Unlike Nath who was banned at least twice and finally had to weasel back here under another name because “Nath” had become so soiled.

    So I don’t think Nath should be lecturing me on “standards”.

  42. meher baba says:
    Monday, December 2, 2024 at 1:38 pm

    That’s what whataboutism is all about. You know, “Stalin killed 4 million Ukranians.” “Well Hitler killed 6 million Jews. So stop beating up on Stalin. You’re just mouthing CIA propaganda.”

    _______________________________________

    I’m not sure what you are saying here. Are you saying that Biden pardoning his son for what is a hugely minor crime in the US context is of similar reprehensibility as Trump pardoning a huge number of criminals in his first term (including extended family members, one of which is now proposed as Ambassador to France) and who has promised and certainly will pardon many people involved in a violent coup attempt against the USA?

    Anyway, my point is not whataboutism – it is that the vast majority citizens of the USA (anyone who did not vote for Harris) have decreed that there is a new standard in the USA – if you have the power, then wield it. And criminal behaviour is totally pardonable if the US president likes the person – regardless of what they have done.

  43. The pardon of Biden’s son pales into insignificance compared to the pardons Trump might dish out. Biden is not corrupt.

    Yet it will tarnish Biden’s legacy as well. Biden will go down as a good but not great president. He managed the economy well and did not start any foreign wars. So Biden is nowhere near as bad as George W Bush or Trump Term 1.

    But Biden is no Obama either. His foreign policy has been pretty mixed, with major failings over the Afghanistan withdrawal, Ukraine, and Israel in Gaza. He could not see through Putin’s “escalation” rhetoric to limit Ukraine help when it mattered.

    To be fair to Biden, he might have achieved a lot more if Democrat Senators Manchin and Sinema did not undermine him in the Senate while the Dems still had a majority.

  46. I’m happy to stand corrected on economically the worst performing State?

    If I find the measurement and period I’ll get back to you – howzat.

  47. Socrates @ #93 Monday, December 2nd, 2024 – 1:53 pm

    The pardon of Biden’s son pales into insignificance compared to the pardons Trump might dish out. Biden is not corrupt.

    Yet it will tarnish Biden’s legacy as well. Biden will go down as a good but not great president. He managed the economy well and did not start any foreign wars. So Biden is nowhere near as bad as George W Bush or Trump Term 1.

    But Biden is no Obama either. His foreign policy has been pretty mixed, with major failings over the Afghanistan withdrawal, Ukraine, and Israel in Gaza. He could not see through Putin’s “escalation” rhetoric to limit Ukraine help when it mattered.

    To be fair to Biden, he might have achieved a lot more if Democrat Senators Manchin and Sinema did not undermine him in the Senate while the Dems still had a majority.

    “Biden is not corrupt”, from this he obviously is.
    Biden’s legacy will be trying to be re-elected when he was physically and mentally incapable of doing the job.

  48. Pied Piper

    “Pocock watch this week what has Albo sold out for his vote?

    2’significant’concessions says Pocock.”
    =====================================

    So when Barnaby Joyce or one of the Qld LNP MPs does this they are “working hard for their electorate”, but when Pocock does it he has “sold his vote”.

    Pocock has done all this while getting legislation passed. He has not been a spoiler. IF while doing so he has negotiated a better deal for his supporters, then he is being effective.

  49. OC

    Yes failing to stand down from a second term in 2023 will be Biden’s greatest failure.

    In hindsight he gave Harris little chance to win. That is another major failing.

    I should probably drop his mark from 3 out of 5 to 2 out of 5.

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