None of this actually has anything to do with the budget, but you know how it is …
• The ALP’s national executive, which was empowered by the recent national conference to select candidates for 25 New South Wales seats, announced the candidates for 10 seats on Saturday. In the western Sydney seat of Blaxland, sitting member Michael Hatton has been dumped in favour of another member of the Right, Transurban executive and former Bob Carr staffer Jason Claire. Hatton has held the seat since replacing Paul Keating at a by-election held in the wake of the 1996 election defeat. Others who had designs on Blaxland included constitutional expert George Williams, Bankstown mayor Tania Mihailuk and Electrical Trades Union chief Bernie Riordan. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Mihailuk had been “likely” to win, possibly explaining Hatton’s decision to lodge disciplinary charges against her for “failing to properly manage her branch affairs”.
• The national executive has also chosen Penrith mayor David Bradbury (said by Brad Norington of The Australian to have “historical links” to the Transport Workers Union) to make his third successive run against Jackie Kelly in Lindsay. Joe Hildebrand of the Daily Telegraph reports that Bradbury’s win has greatly displeased the National Union of Workers, which had thrown its weight behind 23-year-old school teacher May Hayek. Others to get the nod in Coalition-held seats included human rights lawyer George Newhouse, who will run against Malcolm Turnbull in Wentworth (where the redistribution has cut Turnbull’s margin from 5.6 per cent to 2.6 per cent); former ministerial staffer Greg Holland, who will make his second run against Danna Vale in the long-lost seat of Hughes (which fell in 1996, and now has a post-redistribution margin of 8.8 per cent); Belinda Neal, former Senator and wife of state Industrial Relations Minister John Della Bosca, who will attempt to unseat Jim Lloyd in Robertson (margin now 6.9 per cent); and ambulance officer Tim Arneman, who suffered a 68-vote defeat in Port Stephens at the state election, and now faces Bob Baldwin in Paterson (6.8 per cent).
• Two incumbents have emerged from the national executive process unscathed: Julia Irwin in Fowler and Jennie George in Throsby. A highly fancied bid by former national party president Warren Mundine to unseat Irwin fell foul of the party’s affirmative action targets, after a number of defeats by female candidates in other seats. The irony of an indigenous candidate being squeezed out on affirmative action grounds was widely noted. The Australian Jewish News reports that both Rudd’s office and Melbourne Ports MP Michael Danby told the paper to keep quiet about the challenge to Irwin, a vocal critic of Israel, the former saying that “the best way to ensure her survival is for you guys to cover it”. According to Kerry-Anne Walsh of the Sun-Herald, Jennie George’s endorsement followed a “faction deal made between the Left and Right” that would “raise eyebrows”.
• Mark Davis of the Sydney Morning Herald reports that affirmative action supporters in the New South Wales ALP’s Left have revolted against the factional leadership’s decision to deliver the number two Senate position to Doug Cameron, former national secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union. Seven women have nominated against Cameron for the factional ballot, including management consultant and 2003 state election candidate Imogen Wareing. The first and third positions on the ticket are reserved for the Right; it is anticipated that Ursula Stephens will be demoted from her number one position in 2001 to number three, making way for state party secretary Mark Arbib.
• A factional row has erupted in the New South Wales Liberal Party after its nomination review panel rejected country vice-president Scott McDonald’s Senate preselection nomination. The move safeguarded Left faction member Marise Payne’s third position on the Coalition ticket, behind Helen Coonan and the Nationals’ John Williams (who replaces the retiring Sandy Macdonald). Background to the dispute was provided by Imre Salusinszky of The Australian:
As part of its general reassertion of authority following the years in exile that began under former premier Nick Greiner, the Right has had its eye on the spot occupied by Marise Payne, who hails from the Left faction. Desperate to avoid predictably bad headlines in the Fairfax newspapers and on the ABC about right-wing “extremists” controlling the party, Howard told Heffernan to work the numbers for Payne. Heffernan went at the task the only way he knows: like a bull at a gate. At a fiery meeting last month, he tried to curtail the preselection process entirely and moved that the state executive simply re-endorse the sitting team. When this failed, Heffernan took the fight to the party’s nominations review committee, of which he is one of three members. The committee threw out the nomination of the Right’s challenger to Payne, state vice-president Scott McDonald. Designed to vet candidates on the grounds of character or ethics, or because their candidacy could damage the party, the committee operates as a “black box” and does not give reasons for its decisions. But it is understood the issue was a conflict of interest, McDonald having already spoken against Heffernan’s motion on the executive. The move has upset the NSW Right like nothing else done in the name of its Dear Leader. Meanwhile, the Left, for once, finds itself supporting Howard and Heffernan.
• Controversial Right faction powerbroker Alex Hawke has thrown his hat in the ring to contest Liberal preselection for Mitchell, where incumbent Alan Cadman proposes to run again despite a universal perception he is past his use-by date. Also in the running are Australian Hotels Association deputy chief executive officer David Elliot and state party vice-president Nick Campbell, described by Irfan Yusuf at Crikey as “the NSW Right’s main number-cruncher”.
• Western Australian Liberal Senator Ian Campbell, who lost his cabinet position in March on the flimsy basis that he had been at a meeting with Brian Burke, has announced he will quit politics in the coming weeks. The party moved quickly to fill the vacancy with Mathias Cormann, who last week defeated incumbent Ross Lightfoot to take the number three position on the ticket for this year’s election. Since the position filled by Cormann does not expire until 2011, the number three position is again up for grabs. According to Robert Taylor of The West Australian, “party insiders said it made sense to shift Mr Cormann into the Senate immediately and search for a strong number three given that Mr Cormann’s dominant presence in the last preselection discouraged many people from nominating”. Names of potential aspirants have yet to surface in the media; however, Campbell last month dismissed speculation that he might be about to resign as “wishful thinking” from those hoping to fill a vacancy, naming Cormann and Nick Bruining, a financial journalist who ran unsuccessfully for the state upper house in 2001.
• The ABC reports a field of nine candidates will seek preselection for the Liberals’ Tasmanian Senate ticket, which will be held “next month in Launceston”. They include two incumbents, John Watson and Richard Colbeck (who were number two and number three in 2001), along with “former state MHA David Fry, former Liberal staffer David Bushby, former political staffer Guilia Jones and Don Morris, the chief of staff to Senate Preisdent Paul Calvert”. The number one candidate from 2001, Senate President Paul Calvert, is retiring.
• In the seat of Newcastle, Labor member Sharon Grierson will face a challenge from David March, president of the party’s Merewether West branch, at a preselection vote to be held on May 26.
• In South Australia, Labor has announced candidates for the Liberal-held seats of Barker (Karen Lock), Grey (Karin Bolton) and Mayo (Mary Brewerton).
393 Comments
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Mark said: “Cain and Gough they wanted a better world and did not attack the lower classes to achieve their aims…”
Didn’t they?
Who paid the price of 17 per cent interest rates, and the measures subsequently required to pull the joint off its trajectory to a banana republic?
Who paid for the fire-sale of Victoria’s assets, and the following Kennett squeeze to avoid a default on Victoria’s debt?
Bill
I am new to this forum but it certainly appears that your emotional attachment (or perhaps detachment) with this AOG is getting in the road of a good discussion here.
Bill Weller
“We do not need an extreme religious party that believes God will help those who believe so why bother with Global Warming or the poor or health. In fact their beliefs would have them not need to get into politics as God will look after them. How do i know? I was a member of an AOG church for several years”
I just had a look on the website and could find no evidence of this. I have also recently been reading Senate Hansard (ok.. a political tragic I know!!) for bills that Natasha D, Bob Brown and Steve Fielding have made this year and I actually found FF to be far more environmentally aware (and well left of Liberals) on all issues raised. I also suggest that their almost repetitive calls for petrol tax abolition and recent concerns about CPI calculations and rising grocery bills does indicate concern for those struggling financially. I believe your argument is somewhat unfounded here.
I am also rather perplexed about this comment:
“Pity FF has no support from traditional Christians. I would bet most members of FF belong to a Pentecostal church of some description”
I am puzzled that you would no any religious affiliations of members of FF (or any party for that matter). It is also a rather bold statement to claim that they have no support from “traditional Christians” (also unsure what that might mean). I try to look past any individual’s convictions when I am studying policy. Their policies make sense.
I think that casting any negative pall over an individual or party on the basis of religion is perhaps as bigoted as supposing that Bob Brown’s homosexuality or Julia Gillard’s choice not to have children might somehow disqualify a party from support. I’m not sure that a lot of readers on this forum would support that.
Finally, your comment here regards unions and Rudd:
“GOOD! why doesnt he come honestly and tell the YR@W and the ACTU that he doesnt need them. Oh thats right he does. The work my Union with other lefty Unions could remove Howard due to the IR policy.”
Your final sentence does seem to sound like bully-boy type threats, which are precisely the type of tactics that I believe the Australian public is well and truly sick of.
I’d like to see more of the types of comments that Ray described to be typical of your discussion, Bill.
Black Jack – just what do Cain and Gough have to do with 17 percent interest rates? Are you aware that Bolte had a higher percentage of borrowing than Cain? Just a couple of thoughts. Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story Black.
errata ” no any religious affiliations” should, of course be, “know any religious affiliations” *embarrassed grimace*
Better still Black Jack listen to Cain himself. Also listen to Kennett being interviewed then tell me, which one wins the award for being most arrogant. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/summer/2006/premiers/20070108.htm
Gary – The Whitlam Govt’s policies resulted in high interest rates, high inflation and consequent high unemployment. That’s what I meant. The electoral thrashing the ALP got in 1975 was a result. As I recall it was wiped out in Tasmania, thanks to a brilliant decision to cut tariffs by 20 per cent in one go.
The problem with Cain-Kirner was that they could not pay for their debt (unlike Bolte). Their mistake was that they had thought that the 80’s boom would continue indefinitely.
It didn’t. Revenue plunged. At the end of its day, the Kirner Government was not far from being unable to meet payroll.
In the present debate on trades education, it is relevent to recall that the old state-owned utiities used to provide thousands of apprenticeships. When they were sold, the apprenticeships went too.
Who lost ? Not the big end of town.
Generic Oracle with me what you see is what you get. If i believe that something is wrong in my mind i will say it. Its my personal opinion mixed with people i talk to on a regular basis. FF has little support with the blue collar workers i communicate with mainly as they see the connection with them and the AOG. ( and dont most people have horror stories of family breakups and personal breakdowns due to this church ) YR@W in Kingston has the support of traditional churches ( Catholic Anglican Lutheran Uniting Baptist etc) yet not from the extreme AOG COC CRC etc. These groups have to continually re-invent themselves by changing their name to attract members and the beautiful dollar. I love seeing AOG ministers and Ex AOG now FF leader living in luxury. Said same group believe and told my wife that her cancer ( Shes had it most of her life ) is due to her or her parents being evil when she was in the womb. This sort of extreme radical Christianity is not what we need in government. FF has huge connections with AOG as was seen in the SA State Election. I was a church attender at Southside ( now The Edge ) Coastlands ( formally Southside ) for many years and before that at Kings Park Community church so i do know what i am talking about
Bill
Your experience is what it is and I respect your views on the basis of what you have experienced. However, this is a political website and I don’t think that any of your experiences have anything at all to do with Senator Steve Fielding and the way he is working in the Federal Senate.
It is as nonsensical as presuming that Eddie Maguire is a drug addict because is a member of an AFL club, just like Ben Cousins from AFL club West Coast, recently found to have a drug addiction.
To suggest, somehow, that Steven Fielding or other members of FFP are somehow less than honest because some AOG ministers can’t keep their pants on, when apparently he doesn’t even attend an AOG church is just absurd. I have seen nothing at all remotely radical about FFP.
Finally, their polling in the last four elections (state and Federal) would suggest that their primary vote far outstrips the total memberships of all the churches you have listed, which suggests that they are striking a chord beyond those with religious convictions. In addition, both major parties consider them far from “extreme”, often call them politically “centrist” or “centre-right” and have no problems courting preferences.
I must admit I find no problem with them at all politically and do think your personal views have tainted your political awareness here.
Can you see how I think your connections here lack a degree of rationality??
I too recommend the Latham Diaries as a good insight into federal politics. I would also recommend “Education of a Young Liberal” by an ex-Liberal (forget his name).
What’s interesting is that although both books are from “opposite” sides of politics they have the same sort of despair of the “hackification” of our system.
Actually there a lot of books by insiders of Australian politics and they are all kind of the same, can they all be “crazy”?
Black Jack – “The Whitlam Govt’s policies resulted in high interest rates, high inflation and consequent high unemployment.” Are you certain of these facts? Just what was the inflation rate and interest rates during Whitlam’s time? Obviously you studied this and have the numbers, don’t you?
I can tell you when Howard became treasurer in 1977, the budget deficit was $3.2 billion, inflation 8 per cent, the unemployment rate 6.3 per cent and the growth rate 1.6 per cent. When he surrendered the Treasury keys to Paul Keating in March 1983, the budget deficit was $4.3 billion, inflation was 11 per cent, unemployment was 10.2 per cent and growth was a negative 0.4 per cent. Hmm, not such a good record is it?
Oh, I can also tell you the 1982-83 recession, over which Howard presided, was the worst since the Great Depression, according to former Reserve Bank governor Ian Macfarlane. Hmm, another poor look really.
Generic Oracle Says:
To suggest, somehow, that Steven Fielding or other members of FFP are somehow less than honest because some AOG ministers can’t keep their pants on, when apparently he doesn’t even attend an AOG church.
I never suggested that but financial is something i was hinting on. Votes bigger than AOG membership? Yes that is true and my research has found that this was due to people not knowing the link between FF and AOG many thinking that it is just a Christian family party. As for FF members not being AOG members there are also a minor amount of mainstream churches that have embraced the beliefs of AOG and this was seen in the last State and Federal election with candidates from mainstream churches who have pentecostal leanings.
When the FF and other extreme religious groups push the Extreme radical Greens barrow its promoted by the media and believed wrongly by many. When people come out saying the same thing about FF its all hush hush and its a shock.
Having been in both camps ( not FF but AOG ) i know whats radical and extreme
Gary Bruce, you and Hugo are like a tag team. I agree with you both that the probabilities favour there being little movement in the opinion polling trends of late (that is, no “bounce” for JWH). Mr Rudd will continue to do well as long as he keeps projecting the persona of a “safe pair of hands”. That is why I am watching very carefully how he revamps workplace relations policy (he spoke to Rio Tinto yesterday and has travelled to the Pilbara today), as I accept that will be one of the important battlegrounds in the forthcoming election (but management of the economy remains the paramount issue). Oh…by the way, I am so pleased we agree Hendy and Mighell are extremists. Whether one of them pretends not to be an extremist, is of no moment. What matters is that whoever is in government puts into practice policies not affected by extremist positions.
But as I have posted many times !
As the poll results come closer together for the major parties the interest will be on the minor parties ( FF, Greens Dems etc ) not only could FF or the Greens or both could win the balance of power in the Senate but in the Marginal lower house seats our votes will be crucial !. In Kingston we have A large AOG church ( The EDGE ) which produces a big FF vote and due to its large monetary resources will push its promotion well and i hope it keeps to clean politicking in good spirit. We also have large Green voting areas coupled with that my Union links and YR@W support it should be a good honest tussle and as interesting as the Major one. Just because i see FF as radical and extreme doesnt mean that members are not decent people. EG . I think Mr Richardson is a good MP for the area and will be a great guy ( when we meet) but his stance ( Libs stance ) on IR, nuclear and Global warming sucks big time.
The rumor is that a nuclear power plant is destined for Kingston and when i wrote to the local paper asking this it surprisingly wasn’t published ( everything else ive written has been )
david charles – “Oh…by the way, I am so pleased we agree Hendy and Mighell are extremists.” So am I David, for what it’s worth.
So we have you on one hand wanting to see changes to Labor’s IR policy so as to capture the middle ground, and obviously believing this will help Labor, and we have Bill Weller saying such a change would be bad for Labor electorally. Says it all really.
Bill!
“There’s a rumour that a nuclear power plant is destined for Kingston”
Is this the Green’s version of the perennial rumour that the Nationals use in NSW? That is: “if Labor is elected they have decided to move X aboriginal community into the town.”
I am amazzed not only how often this disinformation is used but also by how many people believe it. So much for the informed choice of the electors.
You’re in a marginal Coalition Electorate.
-Rumour successfully disproved-
Rumour is a rumour im saying what i have heard
Mad Mark still has his loyal defenders. Breathtaking.
He was a nutcase, his view of society in the Latham Diaries was the jaundiced bitterness of a self-deluded megalomaniac who couldn’t understand why everyone didn’t think he was as great as HE thought he was, and his policy ideas veered between third way pap, the lunar right and the just plain loopy.
Latham was the Wilson Tuckey of the ALP, and it is sick-making to hear people still defending the creep.
Let the record note that I agree with Bill for once! Since the Howard government is committed to nuclear power, it follows that nuclear power plants will be built in SOMEONE´S electorate, and since the government won´t (and at present can´t) say where they will go, it is perfectly legitimate for every Labor and Green candidate to ask every sitting Liberal and National to rule out that it will be built in THEIR electorate, which of course they can´t. This is not the same thing as scaremongering about Indigenous or immigrant people moving in next door. Nuclear power plants are inherently bad things to have in your neighbourhood – ask anyone in Chernobyl. Australia does not need nuclear power, and if the Howard Government wants to take us down that road, they will have to wear the political costs. If I were Bill I would letterbox every home in Kingston saying “Kym Richardson has not ruled out a nuclear power station at Port Noarlunga”, which is an absolutely true statement, and one which Richardson fully deserves.
Leopold Says:
He was a nutcase, his view of society in the Latham Diaries was the jaundiced bitterness of a self-deluded megalomaniac who couldn’t understand why everyone didn’t think he was as great as HE thought he was, and his policy ideas veered between third way pap, the lunar right and the just plain loopy.
Latham was the Wilson Tuckey of the ALP, and it is sick-making to hear people still defending the creep.
Yeh the USA went down that road and they got Bush
You think having Kym Richardson as your federal represenative is bad, try having the most boring, useless, lazy,out of touch member in the history of the lower house-fran bailey! Rob Mitchell 4 McEwen in 07! Oh and anyone who defends Latham deserves all the criticizm in the world!
Gary – I thought you also eschew extremism and want to see policy that is in the middle ground. For what it is worth, I do not follow what you added to the discussion by juxtaposing what I said in my previous post with the reasonably held opinions of Bill Weller.
Unlike yourself David I see Rudd’s IR policy as being in that middle ground. You are correct I do “eschew extremism and want to see policy that is in the middle ground”. My point re Bill Weller and yourself is that we all see things differently and there is no pleasing everyone. Hence Rudd will displease people no matter which way he goes. That middle ground is not so cut and dried as we’ve seen right here on this blog. A fair point to make I would have thought. Sorry if I didn’t make that clearer earlier.
I can fully understand Rudd moving to middle ground as Howard did to defeat Keating. But i just have a gut feeling it could backfire on Rudd. What is the history of a Government being defeated while the economy is doing well? How much swing does a government get on polling day?
Poll just got released showing that Howard would lose Bennelong if an election were today on a swing of 6%. Despite the supposedly bad news, I imagine Howard would take comfort in this. The polls will tighten by the time the campaign and the benefits of incumbency should see him pull through on election day.
That said, it still all means he’ll have to campaign in his electorate to ensure he pulls through and that will take away precious campaign time elsewhere. This, of course, was Labor’s real goal in fielding Maxine McKew, and she appears to be doing a very good job in fulfilling that goal.
I also agree with Adam and Bill Weller re: the nuclear issue. How could Howard not see the risk in pursuing his nuclear agenda!?! … The very electorates where a Nuclear Power Station will be ideally built are in the very ones he needs to maintain … those on the edges of the big cities! Labor will have a field day with this. Any Liberal MP who refuses to rule out a nuclear power station in his or her electorate faces an electorate backlash… any Liberal MP who does undermines the whole agenda – Labor can rightly accuse the Coalition of being a pack of NIMBYists.
Actually, the 6% swing against Howard in Bennelong that Galaxy is reporting is quite bad news for Labor. If uniform, that means there only getting a 6% swing right now, which would translate into 53 – 47 for Labor on 2PP, a collapse of 4% on Newspoll and 5% on AC Nielsen. Okay, I know it’s a small sample in one electorate and has little bearing on the general trends… but still… Labor won’t be happy with this poll.
Yes but Pseph – whilst here you say “if uniform”, your 11:11pm post tells us that you don’t think Bennelong will swing uniformly with the nation.
After all, Labor needs to capture 16 seats and Bennelong is the Coalition’s 15th most marginal. You are somewhat dismissive of Labor’s chances of winning the seat. Whilst you would presumably be less dismissive of Labor’s chances of winning government.
Thus, the underlying assumption here is the Bennelong will swing less than the nation as a whole.
yeah…couldn’t extrapolate that one nationally…
I think it’s safe to assume that the size of the swing (as it looks at the moment at any rate) will vary wildly across the country – even now it looks like Labor will make big/ some gains in SA and Qld, much less so in WA. From looking at the seats on Adam Carr’s excellent election guide, Labor could win several seats which have margins over 5%, while the government may well hold a few with tiny margins.
I suspect that election night might end up being very exciting, with results from the West decideing the outcome, a la The West Wing. However, Labor having to win a few seats in WA to form government is not a scenario that bodes well for a Labor victory. The maths in any event are against an ALP victory – 16 seats are a lot to have to win.
But as the next few months might end up being the most hopeful time I have for the next three years, I’ll continue to believe that Labor can win.
Three marginals are now conspicuous for the failure of one side or the other to nominate a candidate:
* Parramatta, a notional Liberal seat with a sitting Labor member, no Liberal candidate
* Richmond, a Labor marginal with no National candidate
* Page, the most marginal government seat with no Labor candidate
I think this rather suggests the limits of the three parties´ambitions. The Libs and Nats don´t expect to win anything from Labor, except possibly in WA, and don´t even think they can win a seat which is notionally theirs. And Labor don´t think they are going to win much in rural NSW.
except Eden-Monaro of course.
The Tasmanian Libs have chosen their Senate ticket: Richard Colbeck, David Bushby and Don Morris – three white males, one a small business advocate, the other two “political staffers.” Let´s see what all you critics of Labor´s candidates have to say about that.
I think much of the talk here about nuclear power is perhaps premature and ill-informed.
There is nothing that works quite so well in an election year as a big scare.. GST, Interest rates, oh, and a nuclear power station over the back fence.
On the scale that Australian government and its bureaucracy work, I’d suggest we are two elections away (at the earliest) before such discussions. Australians also seem to be very parochial and ignorant when it comes to issues like water recycling and nuclear power.
I was once anti-nuclear. Strongly so. I used to educate our adolescents in the same mindset. However, I looked up and saw a planet. A planet which uses nuclear power whether Australians vote on it or not.
The danger argument, I found to be ludicrous. Living next to a coal fired power station was far more likely to affect health. Hydro schemes have well documented environmental issues (3 Gorges anyone?? Aswan maybe?). As do wind, wave and tidal power. I am a strong advocate of Geothermal power as a realistic option, but we need some diversity in power generation.
Ideally, what I’d like to see is Australia offering “full service” or “cradle-to-grave” nuclear for the rest of the world and using the potentially ridiculous profits to develop the best alternative energy technologies in the world and then sell those to other countries. We could even do this without becoming nuclear ourselves.
There is still significant opposition in Australia, perhaps understandable, about becoming the world’s nuclear waste dump, however, we live on the same planet. Any concerns we have about putting it near human populations (even 300-600km from people) pale into insignificance when you realise that countries already dump waste very near huge populations around the world and in some cases with little or no regulation. That is our planet they are wrecking.
I’d be far happier to mine yellowcake, sell it to overseas buyers on non-proliferation treaties on condition that a measurable quantities of waste is duly returned for adequate disposal to ensure continued supply. We bury it in some of the oldest, most geologically stable rocks, in the middle of a tectonic plate (not an edge like the pacific rim and parts of Europe).
If you wonder what sort of equity energy resource providers make, I’ll just mention that the locals in Dubai were living in tents swimming for pearls 70 years ago.
We could give them their nuclear, take their money and then develop technology that proves to them they don’t need nuclear anymore.
An idealist? Perhaps. A pragmatist? Certainly. Oh, but don’t give me the tired old claptrap that we don’t want it in our backyards. If you are serious, then turn your power off and never turn it on again. Either way it goes our lifestyle HAS to change in the next decade.
John Watson has been dumped – who will succeed him as longest serving Senator in the next parliament?
Political staffers and other hacks are only inherently bad when they have no prior experience in life. If it’s just straight out of Uni to working as pollie staffer, that’s not much of a life and it’s just the ‘grind’.
Same goes with union bosses. No one gives a shit if they’re a union boss if they pulled the hard yards before entering the political arena. Why people like Clyde Cameron were perfect.
Adam that’s very interesting. Watson appears to have a personal vote, based on past results. Some of the female candidates look (very much from a distance) likely to have more appeal than the staffers they have picked, who don’t come up on a quick google search as having much profile.
In most states I would say that would mean absolutely nothing – people don’t vote for major parties based on who their senate candidates are. However, in Tasmania that’s not the case. I doubt this will make a huge difference, but it might knock half a percent of the Lib vote, making it that little bit more difficult for them to win three seats, making the balance of power in the Senate that bit more interesting.
Adam,
The closing date for nominations in Parramatta has been extended because the Libs are hoping to recruit a star candidate. They definitely think they can win it.
Of course Adam would/should know that the Liberals in Parramatta are having a full preselection very soon.
In NSW they deferred selections until after the state election (for good reason although the results may not have been as good as hoped). I think the fact that they are still to select doesn’t necessarily reflect their ambition on the seat, but rather reflects more their respect for their internal processes and the choices of the local branches.
I think Australia should use nuclear power. But I’d be more than happy for the opposition to use the NIMBY factor associated with nuclear power stations to win government.
Infact, I can see the advert in my mind: a map of Australia with 35 nuclear logos progressively sprouting up around capital, and other major cities.
Page is curious, but it may reflect fact that Labor’s vote has held up well on the NSW north coast, a combination of the green left constituency and real battlers, there may not be much room to increase Labor’s vote. Bennelong may be similar. Bennelong is a test for Labor’s ability to win the private sector professional-managerial group who saved Howard in 1998, Howard’s IR push is targetted to this group, but so is Rudd’s broadband plan.
Mr Speaker,
I am not a teacher any more. I escaped from the madness. This will mean in a few short years I will not know anything abut the terms that replace “my bad†and “wasupâ€.
Generic oracle,
I don’t know about AOG specifically, but there is no doubt about the connection between Family First and the new mega-churches. The Family First booth worker I spoke to in the Victorian election told me that six members of his church were candidates and that 500 0r 600 of the 800 members of his congregation had volunteered to help with the election. Other parties can only dream of numbers like that.
Bill,
You are continuing to be unreasonable in your comments about the SDA. If the SDA leadership is not militant enough for the membership, the membership would elect a new leadership. Unions work in accordance with the wishes of their own members, not those of outsiders.
Gary Bruce,
I basically agree with you on IR. I cannot for the life of me understand this desire for Labor to distance itself from the unions. It’s IR policy is a winner. Dumping unAustralian Workplace Agreements is a winner. Why Kevin Rudd is worried about what The Australian thinks is a mystery to me. The danger to Labor is not its IR policy but its uncertainty about what its IR policy is.
Mark,
As Adam keeps reminding us, it is impossible for Labor to get control of the Senate and almost impossible for the coalition to lose control, which is why I again predict a double dissolution if Labor wins, which in turn is why the Greens, if they have any smarts, should preference Labor in every seat.
which in turn is why the Greens, if they have any smarts, should preference Labor in every seat.
And why Labor should preference the Greens in the Senate if they was smart
Chris Curtis Says:
Generic oracle,
I don’t know about AOG specifically, but there is no doubt about the connection between Family First and the new mega-churches. The Family First booth worker I spoke to in the Victorian election told me that six members of his church were candidates and that 500 0r 600 of the 800 members of his congregation had volunteered to help with the election. Other parties can only dream of numbers like that.
Thats what i got here in SA as well. One booth had FF candidate openly paying booth workers? What candidate would love an election budget that would cover that?
Chris Curtis Says:
Gary Bruce,
I basically agree with you on IR. I cannot for the life of me understand this desire for Labor to distance itself from the unions. It’s IR policy is a winner. Dumping unAustralian Workplace Agreements is a winner. Why Kevin Rudd is worried about what The Australian thinks is a mystery to me. The danger to Labor is not its IR policy but its uncertainty about what its IR policy is.
Thats the thing Rudd is starting to show a timidness towards IR and Big Business that is worrying the union movement. But as ive been saying its all been going that way and the YR@W + unions will be caught in this anti worker push
Bill – as always you make some salient points, but then ruin it all with some uni-Left circa 1973 comment at the end. Re IR – even if Labor does backslide to some degree on AWAs (which on balance of probabilities is probably likely), to describe the ALP IR policy as “anti-worker” is just silly and hyperbolic. For the record, Labor will: re-introduce unfair dismissal protection, encourage collective bargaining and maintain the Award system – can you explain how this will be “anti-worker”?
Workchoices has to be totally ripped up as was promised. No part of it should be left. If that happens i will be the first to say that the ALP is friends of the worker. I do hope this election promise will be fulfilled
Hugo the YR@W rank and file with the average unionist see Rudd as going back on his promise and see him as another pollie of little substance. Why do you think the polls are moving back to Howard. IR / union is what is keeping Rudd in front atm.
The biggest issue for most workers after IR is tarriff protection.
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