I guess we’re not getting a Morgan poll tomorrow, so a stand-alone post is required to note recent developments. To wit:
• Antony Green has crunched the numbers from the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ latest state and territory population figures and concluded that yet another new seat will need to be created in Queensland next year, again at the expense of New South Wales. Queensland will thus have boomed from 26 seats to 30 in little over a decade, having earlier gained Blair in 1998, Bonner in 2004 and Flynn in 2007. New South Wales lost Gwydir in 2007.
• The Australian Electoral Commission has announced that the finalised new federal boundaries for Western Australia will be gazetted on December 18, and maps published henceforth.
• Possum reckons “it’s time to rethink political demographics”, and explains why across a two-part epic here and here.
• A constitutional crisis is brewing in Canada that has some excited observers invoking the example of Australia in 1975. The election on October 14 saw Stephen Harper’s Conservative minority government re-elected, but again requiring the support of Bloc Québécois. However, Bloc Québécois has now signed an accord with the Liberal Party and leftist New Democrats due to dissatisfaction with the government’s handling of the financial crisis. Harper reportedly plans to ask that Governor-General Michaëlle Jean prorogue the parliament so it will not sit until the budget is presented in January. This would avert a sitting on December 8 at which Harper’s government would likely be defeated on a no-confidence motion, and allow him time to pick apart the Liberal-Bloc-NDP deal. This raises the question of whether Jean ought to grant a prorogation to a Prime Minister who might not have the confidence of the House.
UPDATE (5/12/08): Jean agrees to prorogue parliament until January 26. Ben Raue at The Tally Room expresses his displeasure, and proposes reforms to the appointment of prime ministers (citing the practice in the Australian Capital Territory), the scheduling of parliament and the timing elections. I am a little more sympathetic to Jean’s decision, on account of the Liberals’ evident state of disarray – although I can buy the idea that it’s not the Governor-General’s role to make such judgements.
1,278 Comments
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200 Gary
When the less than intellectual political press gallery is that far ahead of you, you really have to question your skills as a politician.
It’s like Grattan is giving her daughter the speech after she’s just scraped enough marks to go to university or something.
Also – is Bishop still in charge of the Libs policy review?
Yeah right…
ShowsOn and Dario
So Rudd’s chief of staff gives Bidgood a drssing down for taking th photo ….but not yous you still want to defend Bidgood
Yous ar past being over partisan , you ar out of step with Labor
Not surprising seeing your defense of Bidgood is quite out of strp with normative decency standards anyway
Instead of simply saying th guy made a stupid callous decision , you’ve continued to defend him , and with th support i’d guess of few in community ….and certainly not th Federal Labor party
I haven’t mentioned Bidgood once in this thread. All I have done is demonstrate that your ‘rules’ for determining when it is acceptable to take a photo of someone are completely incoherent, because they are contradicted by some of the most famous photos of all time.
NO WAY! Are you suggesting that thinking logically is no longer a core left policy!?
I thought the left invented reason and rationality.
Quote any post of mine from this thread that defends Bidgood’s actions. I haven’t even MENTIONED his actions in this thread. You’re boxing at shadows as usual Ronster, and are completely missing the point of my posts.
A spokesman for Kevin Rudd said the actions of the MP were “deeply offensive”. It is understood Mr Bidgood was called into the Prime Minister’s office and ordered to apologise to parliament and write a letter of apology to the family. It is also reported Bidgood got prior dresing down from Rudd’s Chief of staff
Well who agrees with Kevin Rudd vs who still defends Bidgood’s actions?
Guys , no evasions , simple choise
A bit of advice from Germany’s conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel to the Canadians about running a coalition government.
Basically it seems, strap yourself in, don’t sit in the middle and hold on tight for an interesting ride.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081204.wcoalition04/BNStory/International/home
“discombobulated”
Greatest word to have ever been published in the media.
Harper to meet G-G in less than an hour.
Dare I stay up!?!
“discombobulated”’
Yeah. I tried to Google it to find out what it meant and it crashed my computer.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/alcohol-ads-must-go-della-bosca/2008/12/04/1228257229300.html
Surely this outweighs any economic benefits to be gained from advertising?
This is an interesting economic analysis by George Megalogenis. The comments are well worth a read too.
http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/meganomics/index.php/theaustralian/comments/number_crunchers_missed_turn/
This here doesn’t help the Coalition’s latest attack on Labor re the refugee/boat people issue.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/arrests-crack-peoplesmuggling-ring-20081204-6rp9.html
This will all be forgotten in another week.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/04/2438390.htm?section=justin
Harry Jenkins as Speaker concluded his investigation as stated on security matters , and of course found security had not been interferred with
But it does not change th fact Rudd dressing Bitgood down , nor fact Rudd’s chief of Staff dressing him down , nor fact Rudds spokesman said the actions of the MP were “deeply “offensive” nor fact Bidgood was called into the Prime Minister’s office and ordered to apologise to parliament and write a letter of apology to the family
Defenders arguments of Bitgood’s actions ar in tatters ….proved BY Rudd’s reactions alone , apart from common decency
Whilst th event may be forgotton in a week newswise , am not sure that his photo action/religous comments will be when pre selection s arise in 2010…. i wouldn’t pre select him on either ground
Amigo FINNS
Tonite have done my Amigo “bit of good” ….’Bitgood’ defenders have surrendered….in silence , but I did not address a curious “psephology” post tonite this being a politcal site & tinking you with th Macchu Piccu ‘knowledge trees’ inspirations could psephologicaly unravel for me :
“More money means more people buy alcohol, more people buy alcohol , the more they want to have sex..”
Did thought th first two conditions were quite irrelevant to th third
Canadian GG agrees to Harper’s request to prorogue Parliament:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/12/04/harper-jean.html
As expected.
What an utter shambles the Opposition are:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/05/2438417.htm
I note that the responsible shadow minister in the Senate refused to vote in support of his own Cabinet’s decision.
About Bidgood and that photo. The person who doused himself with petrol to protest would have wanted the photo taken to aid in his protest. Instead the story is now about the photographer not the protester, all for political point scoring.
Amigo Ronnie, are u emulating the Cat woman by bloggin at 2am?
i am also thinking about my Maccu Picchu “Knowledge Tree”, because i wonder how long can it last?
President Elect Obi has made big splash on his economic team, security team etc. Of which, basically, the old Clinton Teams in disguise. But we forgive him, especially his wise decision and now arm-in-arm with Hillary.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/her-majesty-queen-noor/hillary-clinton—a-champ_b_147699.html
But I am not forgiving him for making NO splash at all on his Environment Team, CC, Kyoto etc. This should be his next big splash, else we will put him under the bus as per usual.
btw: Diog’s silence on this issue is also deafening. And where is Amigo GG?
ltep @ 215,
from a story on Canadian English google news …
We must remember this is only a reprieve for Harper, his troubles are still very much with him
Ronster
Bidgood’s photographic escapades will be forgotten as an error of judgement and taste in a few days. His comment that the GFC was an Act of God will haunt him forever to his political grave. Imagine how the poor bastards in his electorate who are losing their jobs feel about being part of divine retribution.
If the Ruddster had a genius solution which would fix the GFC with the flick of a switch, Bidgood would oppose Rudd fixing it. The Opposition are going to make mincemeat of him and Labor. Turnbull is going to ask “What credibility does a Party have on the economy if one of it’s members thinks God caused the GFC and we’re entering the “end of days” predicted in Revelation?”
Finns
Obi’s not even POTUS yet! Let’s wait until he gets there before we apportion blame. Anyway, under Ron’s agreement with me, the failure of the world to change it’s emission enough to avert global warming falls squarely in Hillary’s lap. Obi can take a little bit of the blame if he doesn’t cut US domestic use. I’m still using 20% reduction by 2020 based on 1990 emissions as my gold standard. We’ll compare Obi and Rudd.
I see the media is making a big deal of the $600k cost of Rudd’s overseas trips in the first half of the year. Someone remind me how much it cost to shuttle Howard between Sydney and Canberra every day because the missus wasn’t impressed by the Lodge. I seem to recall it was about $1 million a year. I do know that $100k went on silk wallpaper and imported mattresses for one of the Howard Air 737s.
Hurray for Harps!!!
Juliem public opinion will destroy this subversive attempt to steal the reins of government in Canada now that Harper has until January to survive…
Also there are cracks already forming in the Liberal Party even now on the Coalition agreement….
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081204/opposition_reaction_AM_081204/20081204?hub=TopStories
Cracks in coalition staring to show: Liberal MP
This Friday sitting of parliament is a little less rowdy than the last one.
Looks like Canadians still want Harper in power….
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/12/04/parliament-poll.html
Support for Tories up amid House crisis, CBC-EKOS poll suggests
“According to the poll, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives received 44 per cent of respondents’ support, up from the 37.6 per cent support the Tories received in the federal election that returned them to Ottawa with another minority government just seven weeks ago.
The results suggest support for Stéphane Dion’s Liberals is down two percentage points from the election with 24 per cent of respondents’ support, while the New Democrats are down almost four percentage points at 14.5 per cent support.
Meanwhile, the NDP received 14.5 per cent of respondents’ support, while the Bloc was at nine per cent and the Greens at eight per cent.”
I’m trying to work out Ron’s angle on this… apparently as Labor supporters we are not allowed to disagree with the views of the almighty Rudd on ‘Immogate’. Ron, do you disagree with Rudd on any issue?
According to Ronster, if we disagree with Rudd then that means we are party hacks!
It makes PERFECT sense.
The Liberals just imploded in the Senate.
Yes, I’m totally confused
Details Oz?
Itep linked earlier:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/05/2438417.htm
I doubt the media will focus on it much
David Kirk, Fairfax CEO, resigned today.
The media here are getting slaughtered.
There’s no doubt the government has the opposition shadow cabinet spooked.
Well that’s largely what they’ve been doing for the last 12 years…
I actually agreed with some of he amendments put forward, especially regarding increased transparency.
It was just covered on ABC News, including footage of the division.
I stand corrected. Perhaps the ABC is feeling the spirit of the season?
It’s now the head line story on The Australian website:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24754820-601,00.html
There you go… a nice Christmas present for the ALP
Why would the Libs end the Parliamantary year on such a bad note? It’s just going to raise questions about the leadership team over the Christmas break. They really need a goog, long hard look at themselves over summer. Their discipline is terrible, especially when compared to the iron rule Rudd has over Labor.
Wow, it is the FIRST story on ABC TV1’s Midday Report.
Talk about a stupid way to insert themselves as the headline act for the media Silly Season over the next 5 weeks.
Foot, meet shotgun.
Any sign of leadership problems is grist for the mill as far as the media goes. I’m not surprised.
Julie Bishop performing poorly, Turnbull being ignored. If ever there was a party in trouble this is it.
ho ho ho – I’m really enjoying this Christmas already
Every paper I’ve seen this morning is belting the Libs on a number of fronts
It really is a Merry Christmas
Robb blames Labor for their stuff up in the Senate. Say what?
It’s looking really bad for Turnbull. His “team” is leaking like a sieve. The Opposition opposition are making sure that the journos know the split was a deliberate challenge to Turnbull. Even Dennis has caned him.
Hah ShowsOn and you think the media is biased against Rudd…we Libs never get a thing!
Now it doesnt matter how well Julie performs because the media have got it out for her they’re never going to let up…this in spite of the fact Swan is doing little better if not worse!
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