As best as I can tell, we have a lean weak ahead for opinion polling (at federal level, at least), as media outlets hold their fire ahead of the resumption of parliament next week. In lieu of that then, here’s a fresh new post-about-nothing – except perhaps for the following preselection news of the past 24 hours:
• The WA Liberals’ state council has overturned the result of last weekend’s local preselection vote in the new seat of Burt, at which Liz Storer, a Gosnells councillor linked to a rising religious conservative faction centred around state upper house MP Nick Goiran, defeated Matt O’Sullivan, who runs mining magnate Andrew Forrest’s GenerationOne indigenous employment scheme. Gareth Parker of The West Australian reports that state council will now determine the matter for itself, on the basis that the 25 branch delegates that determined the vote were insufficient in number. State council otherwise confirmed last week’s locally selected candidates, including Ben Morton who has deposed Dennis Jensen in Tangney. Also decided was a fiercely contested preselection for the state seat of Bateman, in which members of neighbouring seats sought the safer of two berths as set by the redistribution. This resulted in a victory for Dean Nalder, Transport Minister and member for abolished Alfred Cove, over the existing member for Bateman, Matt Taylor. Like the decision in Burt, this represented a defeat for the Goiran faction.
• The Toowoomba-based seat of Groom will be contested for the Liberal National Party by state MP John McVeigh, who won a preselection vote yesterday ahead of David van Gend, a local general practitioner noted for socially conservative views. This will necessitate a by-election in McVeigh’s state seat of Toowoomba South, which McVeigh held on a margin of 8.9%.
• Another important Liberal National Party preselection will be held today in Wide Bay, the seat of retiring former Nationals leader Warren Truss. The candidates are Damien Massingham, chief executive of Tourism Noosa; Tim Langmead, director of external relations at Fortescue Metals; and Llew O’Brien, a police officer. Steven Scott of the Courier-Mail reports Massingham is supported mostly by Liberals, and in particular by Attorney-General George Brandis; Langmead’s backers include Matthias Cormann, along with Fortescue Metals boss Andrew Forrest; and O’Brien is (ahem) supported by Truss.
shiftaling @790:
[Asha where did you read about the rail backflip?]
On here, two pages back. Don’t think there’s been any sort of official announcement, just something someone (Lizzie?) mentioned hearing Scott Morrison saying on the radio.
Malcolm Turnbull may well has his failings, but at least he has a better appreciation of art than his predecessor
[A bust of Winston Churchill and a portrait of the Queen are among the artworks given the flick by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull upon taking office in September last year.
He might not be pushing for Australia to be made a republic this early in his prime ministership, but Turnbull was quick to remove any reminders of the monarchy from his office when he took over from Abbott in September last year. According to Senate documents, Abbott, a devout monarchist, had a 1954 portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on his wall. It was removed by the republican Turnbull in September, and returned to its home in the National Museum of Australia in October last year.
It was one of a total of 19 artworks that were removed in September last year, including a bust of Winston Churchill by Oscar Nemon, an oil painting by Churchill himself, and an ink drawing of Robert Menzies. Turnbull took down several pieces from the Parliament House collection, along with artworks on loan from the National Gallery of Australia, including two works by Sidney Nolan and one by Margaret Olley. Work by indigenous artists Lucy Yukenbarri, Jean Baptiste Apuatimi, Maria Butcher and Angeline Pwerle Ngala were also removed.
A total of 15 pieces of art from the Parliament House Art Collection were installed in the new Prime Minister’s suite in September last year, including several works by indigenous artists including Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula, Queenie McKenzie, Esme Timbery and Robyn Djunginy.
While Abbott chose to have artworks of his political heroes decorating the prime ministerial suite, the pieces installed for Turnbull do not pay homage to past politicians.]
From Crikey newsletter
Labor $3.50 at Sportsbet now
Raaraa
Thanks for the good wishes on baby Alexander’s arrival and I was sorry to hear about your mother.
Tee-hee-hee.
[Vocational Education Minister Scott Ryan has been left red faced for giving a speech to a national training organisation that not only lifted – without attribution – quotes directly from the association’s own journal, but also praised the “current” work of an entity that no longer exists.
Last Thursday Senator Ryan delivered the keynote address to Group Training Australia’s national conference in Adelaide.
GTA is the body representing Australia’s largest employer network of apprentices and trainees.]
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/minister-scott-ryan-embarrassed-after-giving-speech-with-parts-lifted-from-obsolete-2014-article-20160411-go3raz.html
MTBW@781
I see too many of these examples these days, both in the private and the public sector.
It seems many like to hire executives and highly-ranked project managers, but not enough lower and middle-tier staff, and leaving those staff overworked.
In the old days, they would say “too many chiefs, not enough Indians”. Not sure if that is un-PC these days, so I tend to say, “too many chef, not enough wait staff”.
Raaraa
Agree with you!
http://www.clara.com.au/
Did anyone call the number of the page to see what the fuss was about?
791
A B
AB, land tax will turn out badly for tenants. There are countless examples.
Also have a look at the experience referred to as “the tragedy of the commons”…
BK
Congratulations to you and your family on the birth of your grandson Alexander is a lovely name.
Icelandic PM is first cab off the rank. Several more are lined up.
[millions of records on offshore accounts as the scrutiny intensified around officials from other countries, including Ukraine’s president.
Icelandic leader Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson stepped aside Tuesday amid outrage over revelations he had used a shell company to shelter large sums while Iceland’s economy was in crisis.]
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2016/04/06/iceland-pm-resigns-over-panama-papers-leak.html#sthash.GsC5AuCo.dpuf
Asha @ 801
Don’t worry I’m expecting it any minute now
Raaraa,
Please add my best wishes for your mum’s recovery.
And congrats to BK for the new little one.
Grandchildren are amazing.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-11/clive-palmer-former-pup-mps-label-palmer-a-bully/7309338
[Two former MPs from the Palmer United Party have spoken out to criticise the party’s leader Clive Palmer.
Senator Glenn Lazarus, and former Queensland MP Alex Douglas have spoken to Four Corners about their time working with Mr Palmer.
Both consider him to be a bully.]
I should have said, grandchildren are amazing because babies are amazing little miracles.
When you are a parent, you are too stressed dealing with the reflux, the vomiting, the 20 loads of extra washing each week, and just the general lack of sleep to appreciate the wonder to quite the same extent.
So, I quite liked my own babies, but there was always a level of stress that is not there with the grand kids!
BK
Congratulations on the new grandson! And please congratulate the parents on the excellent choice of name! Not that I’m biased.
shiftaling@799
[I have a feeling that their run ins with the miners and the gambling lobby have left Labor with little appetite for caving to special interests.
If they have the numbers to do it in Parliament, I think they might be a bit more tenacious this time around]
This time I hope the general public are a bit more savvy about scare campaigns from vested interests.
I presume you can only cry wolf so many times. The mining industry has had a big downturn, despite the Libs repeal of the MRRT, and power bills have basically doubled, despite the repeal of the carbon tax.
Whyalla is now about to be wiped out because of the poor management of the local steel industry – noting to do with taxes and workers.
Hey, STFU is back!
Scrolling begone!
Big thanks to Techno-Wizard Musrum. 🙂 🙂 🙂
BK
Congratulations!
So two boys now. How many grandchildren in total?
[Douglas and Milko
816
I should have said, grandchildren are amazing because babies are amazing little miracles.]
I love the smell of new babies. There is nothing like it.
I once asked a senior paediatrician coming up to retirement if he had ever lost the thrill of seeing and holding a healthy newborn, and with a big goofy grin on his face this otherwise staid conservative man said: Never. 🙂
Congrats to BK and family.
Sympathies to Raaraa and family. Lost a loved aunt to a drawn out battle with cancer a year or two back, and a good friend of 40 years is currently dealing with breast cancer. Not fun. 🙁
All the best to both of you.
Good evening all,
I find the comments by Lazarus and Douglas re Palmer a bit of a cop out.
I have no time at all for Palmer but both of the gentlemen now putting shit on him were very happy to ride on the back of his money and profile at the time they teamed up with him. Then all of a sudden they realise how bad he is. Complete bullshit.
They are both just as bad as Palmer.
Labor members who ride in Parliament n the back of labor funding and support and then leave and sit on the cross bench are weak bludgers,liberals and Nats who do it are bludgers ( although I care very little about them ) and Lazarus and Lambie and Douglas are also bludgers.
For Lazarus, a former rugby league international, to claim Palmer is a bully is nothing short of gobsmacking.
Lazarus , Lambie and Douglas are all guilty of hypocrisy any time they attack the character of Palmer.
I have now had my rant for the day so a great evening to all.
Cheers
People who put their name next to a political party and campaign on the policies and profile of that party and then walk away and continue to sit
Thanks BK, D&M.
[Treasurer Scott Morrison: “ASIC already has the powers of a royal commission and more.”]
To which my counter-argument would be:
[“You weren’t saying that about the Fair Work Commission.”]
[Hey, STFU is back!]
Yay!
[Peter Brent @mumbletwits 45m45 minutes ago
Malcolm has morphed into Kevin 2013.]
I believe it was victoria who only this morning said something similar.
Mr Baird’s office also employs a record number of staff on the highest public service salary band, with 10 earning between $152,983 and $291,215.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/record-staff-numbers-in-mike-bairds-office-as-wages-bill-hits-56m-a-year-20160411-go3ihe.html#ixzz45VRw8I00
Good to see Baird believes in executive government, how many of the record number will be IPA stooges.
DDT
7 grandchildren – 3 male (the last three) ad 4 female
BK,
I have just caught up with earlier posts so congratulations to you and your family.
Cheers.
Randall Wray and Pavlina Tcherneva evaluate income guarantees and job guarantees:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1009629
BK@828
Congratulations to all concerned with the new arrival BK.
Looks like you have me beaten on grandchildren. 3 female, 2 male and not expecting any more.
I had a great time Sunday afternoon taking the 2 youngest granddaughters (2 & 5) to a park. 😀
sceptic,
Not exactly IPA stooges but coves by way of Rupert, and especially this guy:
Clive Mathieson, Imre Sauszinsky and Nigel Blunden. Who next? Miranda Devine?
In breaking news, Turnbull comes clean.
http://www.chaser.com.au/2016/turnbull-says-sorry-regrets-giving-impression-he-ever-cared-about-climate-change-gay-marriage-education/
I have just been reading through the posts since lunch and I would just like to thank Hugoaugogo, lizzie, Airlines, MTBW and others for understanding that I am just a regular bloke (yes male) that has a different political view to many on this site. I wont be going away, this is where I get my polling information from and where I throw my two bobs worth in. Got to go Monday night football, I will be back later to check on what the polls are doing and maybe to add some sensible argument to what ever you lefties have the wrong of at the time.
[Morrison will be speaking at the event to be held in Sydney on Saturday, April 23, alongside Christian author Eric Metaxas, conservative News Corp columnist Miranda Devine and Indigenous leader Noel Pearson.]
http://www.buzzfeed.com/robstott/sco-mo-no-no-no#.vddE4maYXK
I didn’t realise Pearson was religious. I’m sure I’ve heard him say at one point that he isn’t.
Don’t laugh when you read this:
[Just three weeks out from his first budget and Treasurer Scott Morrison is knuckling down to the task.
He’s cleared his diary of distractions, sending Assistant Treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer off to Washington in his place for this week’s G20 and International Monetary Fund meetings.
[‘As we prepare for the budget, this is where I need to be,’ Mr Morrison told reporters in Sydney on Monday.
He even had to cancel his weekly chat with Sydney’s 2GB radio host Ray Hadley, such is his busy schedule.]
http://www.skynews.com.au/news/politics/federal/2016/04/11/morrison-misses-us-trip-to-focus-on-budget.html#sthash.mj5tfabD.dpuf
GG:
The Shovel have done something similar with Turnbull too.
rhwombat,
“I note that ESJ did a drive by…”
With a pop-gun?
McIntyre seems to have folded. there were certainly a lot of fanciful comments about this matter by the usual suspects at the time.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/sbs-and-scott-mcintyre-settle-over-anzac-day-tweet-sacking/news-story/fc7a6db6ba5fb7d866b8128257de04f4
Tony Burke is going right off on Sky News. Good stuff.
[McIntyre seems to have folded.]
As was explained at length here at the time he didn’t really have a case.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-11/how-the-act-borders-were-determined/7304358
[A quick glance at a map of the Australian Capital Territory shows, for the most part, a squiggly, convoluted borderline, with the city of Canberra pushed well into its north-eastern corner.
The experts say there’s a perfect explanation for the odd shape – and it all comes back to water.
Historian and author Matthew Higgins knows the border better than just about anyone, after conducting an epic bushwalking trek along much of its rugged backbone.]
[McIntyre seems to have folded.]
As was explained at length here at the time he didn’t really have a case.
Isn’t Tony Burke on 7.30?
fess,
Tell Guytaur he backed another loser.
Doyley, 822
I’d like to give (mostly Lazarus) the benefit of the doubt here – it’s entirely possible that the both of them thought that Palmer would be a good force that’d align with their beliefs (especially since, regarding Douglas, he was a big hit in Queensland). Their resigning shows that PUP was not what they thought it to be, as opposed to their only using it for profile. Besides, it’s not like Alex Douglas got anything out of it.
Apparently Shorten has gone with the Zinger that “We have an ill-fitting Treasurer” on The Project.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-11/east-timor-to-negotiate-maritime-border-with-australia-at-un/7316674
[East Timor is taking Australia to the United Nations to solve the dispute over its maritime border under international maritime law.
The island nation has long argued current arrangements mean it is missing out on billions of dollars in revenue from offshore oil and gas fields.]
William in today’s Crikey on Tasmanian Senate preselections. Looks like some stellar talent to be elected to represent that state. Not.
[The selection of a full complement of Senate candidates is a significant event in Tasmania, where scarcely a street corner fails to house a Senator’s electorate office, thanks to the constitution’s requirement of equal representation for the states regardless of their population.
For a compact Tasmanian party branch to determine the occupants of four or five of these offices entails a formidable concentration of power in a small number of hands.
This is particularly true if the branch is under the sway of a ruling faction, which is certainly how things appear for the Tasmanian Liberals after the events of the weekend.
The power of the right, and in particular of Senator Eric Abetz, was already evident during last September’s leadership contest, when only one out of seven Tasmanian Liberals was so much as suspected of supporting Malcolm Turnbull.
The exception was Senator Richard Colbeck, whom Turnbull went on to promote to the outer ministry in the Tourism and International Education portfolios, partly compensating Tasmania for Abetz’s dumping from cabinet.
The most explicit signal of Abetz’s power on Saturday was his own success in winning top position — no surprise perhaps, since his is the only name that would mean much to observers outside Tasmania.
But the more significant fact of the Senate ticket, apart from an absence of women to match the state party’s all-male House of Representatives contingent, is that the only Tasmanian of ministerial rank was relegated to No. 5.
Colbeck’s list of offences, as conservatives might perceive them, is actually rather modest: the mere likelihood that he supported the current Prime Minister in a leadership contest, in common with the majority of his colleagues nationally, and his reported willingness to countenance a conscience vote on same-sex marriage.
But it seems this was enough to have him shunted from the top of the ticket, as he was at the election in 2013, to a loseable position three years later.
As well as Abetz, those above Colbeck include two hitherto lower-placed colleagues — Senate President Stephen Parry at No. 2, and David Bushby at No. 4 — Bushby is best remembered for miaowing at Labor’s Penny Wong during a committee hearing.
At No. 3 is newcomer Jonathan Duniam, a 32-year-old political staffer described by local observer Greg Barns as the “ideological love child” of Abetz.]
[Greensborough Growler
Posted Monday, April 11, 2016 at 7:24 pm | PERMALINK
Apparently Shorten has gone with the Zinger that “We have an ill-fitting Treasurer” on The Project.]
I saw that interview. He must have been practising that line as it was in response to Morrison’s claim that Shorten wears ill fitting suits.