With the fortnightly cycles of Newspoll and Essential Research in sync for the time being, we would appear to be in another off week for federal polling (although ReachTEL are about due to come through, perhaps at the end of the week). However, there is a fair bit of preselection news to report, with Malcolm Turnbull having told the state party branches to get candidates in place sooner rather than later. That might appear to suggest he at least wishes to keep his options open for an early election, although betting markets rate that a long shot, with Ladbrokes offering $1.14 on an election next year and only $5 for this year.
• With the creation of a third seat in the Australian Capital Territory, the Canberra Times reports the member for Canberra, Gai Brodtmann, will contest the seat of Bean – new in theory, but in reality the seat that corresponds most closely with her existing seat – while Andrew Leigh will remain in Fenner. The ACT Chief Minister, Andrew Barr, said he contemplated running in the Canberra electorate “maybe for a moment”. The other name mentioned is Kel Watt, “a member of ACT Labor’s right faction and lobbyist for the Canberra Greyhound Racing”.
• The Courier-Mail reported a fortnight ago that Jane Prentice, Liberal National Party member for the Brisbane seat of Ryan, is likely to lose preselection to Julian Simmonds, a Brisbane councillor and former staffer to both Prentice and her predecessor, Michael Johnson. Despite Prentice being a moderate and a Turnbull supporter, the move against her has reportedly “outraged” Campbell Newman.
• Elections for administrative positions in the Victorian Liberal Party have seen Michael Kroger easily face down a challenge to his position as president, and conservative young turk Marcus Bastiaan much strengthened, including through his own election to a vice-president position. The Australian reports Bastiaan is “largely regarded as Mr Kroger’s numbers man”, but his use of his new influence to cancel an early Senate preselection process suggests the situation may be more complex than that. According to James Campbell of the Herald Sun, the preselections had been initiated at the behest of Kroger, consistent with Malcolm Turnbull’s aforementioned call for them to be handled expeditiously. The report further says Bastiaan’s determination to delay proceedings suggests a threat to James Patterson or Jane Hume, the two Senators who will face re-election at the next election. However, a report by Aaron Patrick of the Financial Review suggest the bigger threat from the conservative ascendancy is likely to be faced by factional moderates in the state parliament.
• The Toowoomba Chronicle reports John McVeigh, the Liberal National Party member for Groom, has easily seen off a preselection challenge by Isaac Moody, business manager of Gabbinbar Homestead. Moody accused McVeigh of having “betrayed” his constituents by voting yes in the same-sex marriage plebiscite (49.2% of those constituents did the same).
• The Clarence Valley Daily Examiner reports Labor’s preselection for the north coast New South Wales seat of Page will be contested by Isaac Smith, the mayor of Lismore, and Patrick Deegan, who works for a domestic violence support service. Page has been held for the Nationals since 2013 by Kevin Hogan, whose margin after the 2016 election was 2.3%. Smith is backed by Janelle Saffin, who held the seat for Labor from 2007 to 2013 and is now the preselected candidate for the state seat of Lismore.
• The Townsville Bulletin reports that Ewen Jones, who lost the seat of Herbert to Labor’s Cathy O’Toole in 2016 by 37 votes, has again nominated for Liberal National Party preselection in the Townsville-based seat of Herbert.
• The Courier-Mail reported a fortnight ago that George Christensen might face a preselection challenge for his north Queensland seat of Dawson from Jason Costigan, member for the state seat of Whitsunday, but Costigan announced a few days later that he had chosen not to proceed.
zoomster @ #644 Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018 – 11:08 am
I could get $35/ hour for cleaning toilets. If I chose to. You close the door afterwards and leave it all behind. You go home. You have nothing else to do. 🙂
c@t:
Also, I don’t know why you think Teaching is superior to cleaning toilets. I know some very nice people who clean toilets for a living. Not to mention the fact that there are plenty of students who are real little shitheads and dealing with them on a daily basis is inferior to cleaning their toilets at school! Just sayin’
Pick your school.
Which you can do if you are a maths teacher. As Zoomster confirms, there is a shortage of them.
And the pay and conditions and super and holidays are far superior to a job cleaning toilets.
There are nice people teaching, there are nice people cleaning toilets. That has nothing whatsoever to do with the matter.
grimace
There was an article posted here a while ago that pointed out PHONs are not “the people you think they are”.Lots of small business types,well off tradies etc not short of a quid. Your experience would back that up.
Socrates @ #604 Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018 – 10:12 am
Socrates @ #600 Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018 – 10:09 am
Socrates
We probably are not fundamentally disagreeing, but there are a number of factors to consider
First the class and social background of those who fail to reach university as well as their fundamental ability. this data includes people of known educational disability as well as those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.
Now without checking out all the studies, you must first ensure that they have adequate controls for family background and social status and for educational ability. Let us take my twins for example. Same social background, but if one had the disadvantage of being deprived relatively of oxygen in utero, one twin may with the best effort in the world never achieve the same as her sister, whether she goes to university or not.
Second, we are really talking about fees here. When I was young it was not an issue and even until quite recently fees were not a major burden. However once they get to the $10,000 mark they become a significant debt, that many may struggle to repay.The difference in salary then needs to be considerably higher to compensate.
Third we are assuming the courses DO equip kids with essential skills that ensure better paid careers. I query for example whether the units taught in say hospitality and event management courses could not be acquired more quickly on the job or indeed whether academic creds matter relative to being a good looking girl or boy on the reception desk.
Of course one final but unrelated thing is that we as a society need to decide just what we want from university training. Is it to develop a general “liberal arts” understanding of the world in Oxbridge/ivy league tradition or is it to provide professional certification. I think we are trying to ride two horses at the same time.
Similarly whereas in 1990 it made sense to keep kids at school and uni to keep them out of the jobs market, these days faced with an aging population and a decline in the ratio of workers to dependents, it is likely that we would be better placed to get kids into the workforce as early as possible.
I must admit I look forward to the day when we have self cleaning toilets.
Thats one automation I will certainly welcome.
C@tmomma @ #645 Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018 – 9:07 am
It will be a good basis on which to judge the overall TPP movement in Perth. The seat covers the inner eastern suburbs north of the river and includes both affluent and poor suburbs.
C@
And I get $60 an hour as a casual teacher. I arrive, the work is given to me, I give it to the kids, I sit there and play on the laptop they provide to me free of charge, I put the work back in the teachers’ pigeonholes, I go home. And I don’t break out in skin rashes afterwards.
C@tmomma @ #651 Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018 – 9:11 am
I did contract cleaning while I was at school and uni. You’re dreaming if you think you could get $35 an hour in all but the most exceptional of circumstances.
Bill Shorten
Thank you @TimHammond1 for your service to Perth and to Labor.
I know this was a very difficult decision for Tim to make, and I respect his choice – as we all should.
He wants to be there for his wife and children more often. That’s something all of us feel very deeply, and none of us can argue with.
I’ve met Hammond a few times and he’s a genuinely good guy. Big loss, but he’s got his priorities right.
Stephanie Peatling
So often in politics – and in other worlds – it’s women who quit because of the conflicting demands of work/family. It’s so important when men talk about the pressure and the decision to prioritise family.
Mueller warned of a presidential subpoena if Trump refuses voluntary interview: ‘This isn’t a game’
Special counsel Robert Mueller warned President Donald Trump’s legal team that he was prepared to subpoena the commander-in-chief for testimony, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
At the March 5 meeting, then-Trump attorney John Dowd was angered by the veiled threat.
“This isn’t some game,” Dowd reportedly argued. “You are screwing with the work of the president of the United States.”
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/05/mueller-warned-presidential-subpoena-trump-refuses-voluntary-interview/
Robert Mueller isn’t playing. As the Trump team were engaged in tense discussions with the Special Counsel, they tried to claim that the president didn’t have to speak to Mueller, the Special Counsel replied that he could subpoena the president.
The Washington Post reported, “In a tense meeting in early March with the special counsel, President Trump’s lawyers insisted he had no obligation to talk with federal investigators probing Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. But special counsel Robert S. Mueller III responded that he had another option if Trump declined: He could issue a subpoena for the president to appear before a grand jury, according to four people familiar with the encounter.”
zoomster @ #646 Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018 – 11:08 am
I do. I think teaching is ‘superior’ to a whole host of jobs, because if done well it can have a positive effect in peoples’ lives.
And what Don says about ‘niceness’ or otherwise being irrelevant.
adrian
Which may be why I prefer it!!
Adam Bandt
Great respect to Tim Hammond for making such a big call. Your kids are lucky to have you as their dad. Sorry to see you go. https://twitter.com/joshgnosis/status/991486198378975232
Ellen Coulter
Greens leader @CassyOConnorMP moving no confidence motion in Premier over political donations, saying Tasmanians went to the polls not knowing which vested interests gave how much money to the Liberals. “Have you sought forgiveness for allowing your soul to be bought?” #politas
Barney in Go Dau @ #614 Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018 – 10:34 am
Totally.
At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, without a civil society (thanks to those who have introduced that term into this ongoing thread) they wouldn’t be prospering, at all or as much. Police forces, fire brigades, security from the streets to the national borders, transport, regulated consumer standards, everything from up to the high court and down to the keeping to the left on the roads is paid for by the taxpayer.
It shits me no end that people like the unlamented Kerry Packer goes to Parliament and boasts his aim is to pay as little tax as possible, and got away with it.
And it shit me no end that people like Twiggy Forrest seem driven by the same aim, and assuage themselves and /or the collective by glamour donations to a public cause of their own choosing, which may well have merit, but should be in addition to their fair share of tax paid, not instead of.
The successful mining super profit tax campaign by the industry is a foreshadow of where we are heading.
It was interesting to read that the BCA road tested their tactics in the SA election.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/may/02/business-council-accused-of-building-26m-election-war-chest
#BREAKING: The California Supreme Court just abandoned its old test for determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor and adopted an approach that favors employee status https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/calif-supreme-court-changes-test-for-who-is-an-employee https://twitter.com/jonsteingart/status/991011594657304581/photo/1
Teaching produces something.
Somewhere along the way society stopped putting value in such jobs and instead rewarded jobs that screwed people over to the enrichment of the few.
But hey, we all know big corporations are there for the common good; because they say so. I must just be a lunatic lefty commie pinko socialist gramscian marxist anarchist revolutionary class warrior.
TIm Hammond is a loss to Labor. One of the new breed of young smart and media savvy MPs.
Some nark will be here or elsewhere shortly to describe it as a blow to Shorten.
I guess whether there is a by election will depend on whether Turnbull rushes to the polls post budget.
As for it being a guide to other things I wonder if the Libs would even run a candidate in a by-election. It’s a seat they can’t win and word is they can’t afford the bill.
Perth 2016 election result 2PP
ALP 53.3
Lib 47.7
Primaries interesting
Lib 42.31
ALP 37.36
greens 17.07
That is f’ing great news (similar things happening in the UK). But then again, I am a lefty pinko socialist class warrior…..
I would have liked to see Mr Hammond remain in parliament until the next election. Its a big call but probably the best one for him and his family. Seem he was well respected across all the divides. The byelection will be unfortunate but it gives someone a chance to build a local profile before the general plus a data point on WA at the federal level.
Did one case against Tim.
Very good lawyer. Good luck to him.
Being a federal politician a zillion miles from Canberra is cruel and discriminatory against young parents
BREAKING: The California Supreme Court just abandoned its old test for determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor and adopted an approach that favors employee status
Hollis v Vabu established something like this in Oz a few years ago now.
Shellbell
Thats why I am for politicians using the internet to engage with their workplace much more.
Enables them to stay in their local area and not have us lose out on talented people in parliament helping serve the community.
The problem is how long until it is practical to do this.
guytaur @ #677 Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018 – 11:42 am
I am for everyone using the internet for their workplace more.
The problem is the internet.
Wow! Just getting through BK’s links and I am stunned by the “Leading Australian Education expert (according to the SMH anything) thinking that a chemist is a tradesperson:
But John Hattie, chair of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, said reform should go even further so that the senior curriculum offered “just as much rigour” in vocational areas such as cooking and panelbeating as it did in academic pursuits.
………..
“The biggest barrier is the upper year 11 and 12 curriculum which is so favoured toward tertiary entrance.
“Fixing up secondary school and allowing kids to achieve ‘excellence’ even if they want to be a panelbeater or a barista or a chemist is something that we’ve never had on the table in Australia.”
Whether he is talking about a chemist, or mistakenly a pharmacist, does he not realise that either of these occupations require specialist STEM university degrees?
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/pretty-damn-critical-education-experts-urge-big-business-to-step-into-the-classroom-20180501-p4zcnk.html
guytaur @ #655 Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018 – 11:13 am
But will that help you lot aim better! (or raise the toilet seat?
Lords of Portland tweet
We were scheduled to appear on Sunrise tomorrow morning but we have decided, as a band, that we do not want to be part of that show at this time. We come from rural Alaska and hold very close to our hearts the indigenous people of our home.
While we are by no means experts in your countries history we know there are problems that, like ours, are yet to be resolved and only being amplified by the recent statements on Sunrise. Uncle Allen Madden will be welcoming us all to our show in Sydney tonight. Love and Respect
+1
Why the hell are all those people jammed into trains or freeways trying to get to Barangaroo of Ooohroo or wherever so they can work in the newest open plan offices when the most openest of newest offices is everyone live at the end of high-speed internet.
Maybe Hattie is thinking of the old “Northern Chemist” English derogatory term for science graduates – cultured people study classics, law or medicine.
Lucky them.
There’s a similar court ruling saying something like this in Aus from a few years ago. My understanding is that it still requires the worker to go via the courts to determine if they are employed under a sham contract. Very costly, particularly for the industries where these contracts are rife and employment is tenuous. Legislation backing this decision up and enforcement through a stronger regulator would make it a reality on the ground.
Rossmcg @ #671 Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018 – 9:33 am
I sense a Brian Trumble Cunning Plan (TM) coming on:
1. State branch demoralised, broke and short on volunteers. Check.
2. By-election in a marginal seat currently held by Labor. Check.
3. Polls showing huge swing to Labor in state. Check.
4. Force demoralised, broke and short on volunteers state branch to put in massive and expensive showing in said by-election.
5. Torch precious financial resources in process of getting flogged in said by-election.
6. Call general election shortly thereafter.
daretotread. @ #680 Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018 – 11:48 am
If anyone could invent self cleaning toilets, it would be the Japanese, if they haven’t already.
Their toilets are a marvel of high tech wizardry.
Mrs Shellbell works open plan at Barangaroo.
It is bloody awesome.
A timely reminder of what Abbott wanted to implement, along with defunding ASIC.
https://www.smh.com.au/money/planning-and-budgeting/coalition-s-poor-record-on-financial-advice-protections-20180430-p4zcey.html
Lest we forget.
Senator Richard Di Natalie gets the rhetoric right
Tao de Haas@TaodeHaas
Richard Di Natale said that Australia had a “tax avoidance system” rather than a “tax system”. Erik Anderson/AAP https://theconversation.com/greens-urge-buffett-rule-to-get-more-tax-from-high-income-earners-95892 #auspol
grimace says:
Wednesday, May 2, 2018 at 10:56 am
…”I disagree. I met a few self described PHON voters while I was door knocking in the 2017 WA state election and I would not describe them as “losers”. Economically they were doing very, very well”…
…
The “loser” bit was a re-quote from Sprocket, and I was agreeing with his general sentiment that One Nation voters were/are anti-government more so than they are against Labor.
I’ve met a few as well, observing them in their natural habitat is far more enthralling than a visit to the zoo.
Exclusive Reachtel Poll for Sky News 52-48 Labor
Shellbell @ #688 Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018 – 11:56 am
for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, but never for lunch
🙂
Primaries LIb 36 Lab 35
There’s a case to be made that anyone who votes for PHON is a loser, whatever.
PPM Turnbull 10 points ahead of Shorten.
Bear this in mind when Ruddock releases his report on Religious Freedom
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/05/01/faith-schools-exposed-over-policies-banning-promotion-of-homosexuality/
I think Australia should do what they do in Germany and require company boards to have employee and union representation. I would in fact go further and require a regulatory agency representative, and a shareholder representative.
JimmyD @ #698 Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018 – 12:25 pm
Yes, are we the most conservative ‘democracy’ on earth?
Maybe the US or UK is more conservative, but depends on your definition of democracy if you want to include the US.
Perhaps they should have board elections on a sort of “electorate basis” . Small shareholders adding to say 5% should get to choose 1/20 board members majority shareholders may have 9 members etc, plus as you say a regulator – BUT these should rotate every three years and never be reallocated to a board with similar membership. So the regulator might be on NAB board for three years and next time in the mining sector and then on a manufacturer etc. otherwise the regulator just becomes part of the “club” and independence disappears.