Comments on: Brisbane Central by-election preview

By: Alexandra

Alexandra — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 08:58:44 +0000

I voted Erikson. Who can go wrong with such a cool name? He has no chance of beating that fool Grace Grace though.

By: Stephen L

Stephen L — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 06:00:07 +0000

Captain G, I’m going with:

ALP 55%
Greens 25%
Family First 10%
Combined others 10%

Anyone else want to have a last minute guess?

By: jh

jh — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 11:31:32 +0000

Darn @ 22:

I’d suggest given what the ALP currently stand for in regards to IR, it’s EXTREMELY surprising they still have strong ties to the union movement.

By: Captain Gerrymander

Captain Gerrymander — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 11:02:32 +0000

Well this should be interesting. Grace Squared will get in and the Greens will get a strong showing despite its state average at around 8% in contested seats in 2006, this particular seat having a sizeable number of youth and students. The Family First vote would be expected to be quite a bit higher than in Victoria recently, with its state average at around 7% of contested seats in 2006.

Some may view this as a bit of a litmus for the Federal election, though with the absence of coalition, there remains too much speculation about this variable. It seems that many will use this for profile-raising for the ever looming Federal Election.

I expect primaries to go:

Grace Grace 60%
Anne Boccabella 20%
Mark White 10%
The rest/informal 10%

I’m even wondering if the One Nation candidate might be commuting from Gympie, finding a One Nation voter is as rare these days as a public appearance by 10th ranked Australian Idols.

By: Bert

Bert — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 06:45:32 +0000

Only people who get elected without preferences that are not in the Coalition/ALP can be said to truly represent who voted for them. That used to include Bob Brown as he was the party, but not everyone votes for him anymore.

By: J-D

J-D — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 06:15:30 +0000

Of the present Cabinet of eighteen, eight (Howard, Costello, Coonan, Ruddock, Andrews, McGauran, Bishop, and Ellison) were lawyers as the main job on their pre-parliamentary CVs, and another three (Minchin, Hockey, and Turnbull) have it as one of theirs. (Abbott also has a law degree but doesn’t seem to have practiced.)

I don’t see any reason to prefer lawyers to trade union officials.

By: Darn

Darn — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 05:20:53 +0000

Isabella (20)

There have been far more than three politically successful ex trade union officials over the last seventy years. You don’t have to make it to Prime Minister to be successful.

But leaving that aside, the ALP grew out of the union movement so it comes as no surprise that there is still a very close link between the two. The bottom line politically is that anyone – including trade union officials – has the right to seek public office – and the voters have the right to accept them or reject them. On the basis of the current opinion polls it appears that a majority of Australians are about to disagree with your views on this matter and vote for the ALP.

By: Call the election please

Call the election please — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 03:50:30 +0000

Isabella, Ruth Webber was never a union official. Honestly, you could’ve had your pick of other senators just easy.

Also, if the Liberal Party are so concerned about ensuring that the people of Brisbane Central are not represented by a union official they should be offering an alternative.

By: Isabella

Isabella — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 03:46:27 +0000

Darn has chosen three politically successful trade union officials from the last seventy years in a ridiculous attempt to justify the ALP’s obsession with parachuting as many two-bit trade union woodchuck officials into Parliament as possible.

Get real. For every Bob Hawke there have been and continue to be a thousand and one George Campbell/Trish Crossin/Steve Hutchins/Gavin Marshall/Ruth Webbers.

And for what it’s worth, I tend to agree with Paul Keating’s previous assessments of the worth of Darn’s hero ‘John Curtain’ (sic).

By: J-D

J-D — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 03:19:07 +0000

It is true that if you look at the previous occupational backgrounds of Labor Federal and State MPs you find that they are not a representative sample of the Australian population. But _exactly_ the same is true of Coalition MPs.