Midweek mélange

New fronts open in the Liberal Party’s internal warfare as it scrambles to prepare for an election looking increasingly to be in May.

As we wait for the 2019 polling machine to get cranking, a review of recent happenings:

• Indigenous leader Warren Mundine is to be installed as the new Liberal candidate for the marginal seat of Gilmore in southern New South Wales, supplanting the existing candidate, Grant Schultz, by decree of the party’s state executive acting at the behest of the Prime Minister. Schultz promptly quit the Liberal Party when the news broke yesterday and announced he would run as an independent. Schultz’s dumping was also blasted by Shelley Hancock, member for the corresponding state seat of South Coast, who spoke of “one of the darkest days of the Liberal Party”. A local real estate agent and son of the late Alby Schultz, former member for Hume, Schultz was preparing a challenge to the preselection of incumbent Ann Sudmalis last year, and was the only remaining nominee after she announced her retirement in September. Mundine was national president of the ALP in 2006 and 2007, but quit the party in 2012 and moved ever further into the conservative orbit thereafter. It is expected the seat will be contested for the Nationals by Katrina Hodgkinson, former state member for Burrinjuck and Cootamundra.

• Following Kelly O’Dwyer’s retirement announcement on the weekend, it appears accepted within the Liberal Party that it needs to pick a woman to succeed her. Katie Allen, a paediatrician and medical researcher who ran unsuccessfully in Prahran at the November state election, has confirmed she will nominate. Michael Koziol of The Age reports other names being discussed include Caroline Elliott, state party vice-president and daughter of businessman John Elliott, and Margaret Fitzherbert, who lost her upper house seat for Southern Metropolitan region at the state election. Senator Jane Hume has reportedly encouraged to put her name forward, but announced yesterday she would not do so.

• Anne Webster, founder of young mother support organisation Zoe Support, was chosen as the Nationals candidate for Mallee at a local preselection vote on Saturday. Webster will succeed one-term member Andrew Broad, who announced his impending retirement last month after he became embroiled in the “sugar baby” affair. Rachel Baxendale of The Australian reports Webster won in the second round of voting over Birchip accountant and farmer Bernadette Hogan and Mildura police domestic violence taskforce head Paul Matheson, with three other candidates excluded in the first round.

• Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie has announced she will not contest the lower house seat of Indi, contrary to expectations she would do so if independent incumbent Cathy McGowan announced her retirement, which she did last weekend.

• Two notable independents have emerged to challenge Tony Abbott in Warringah: Alice Thompson, a KPMG manager who worked in the Prime Minister’s Office under Malcolm Turnbull, and Susan Moylan-Coombs, founder and director of indigenous advocacy organisation the Gaimaragal Group.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

1,977 comments on “Midweek mélange”

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  1. Quoll, who were you thinking of when you wrote this?:

    “A self-proclaimed cheer squad going on about how great they are?”

  2. “Mundine was already leading the high life on the lower North Shore with Hendo’s daughter in 2o13 so he would have been an odd senate candidate.”

    Mildy curious as to whether he shacked up with Hendo junior before, at about the same time, or after his dummy spit in March 2012, following the Carr selection to the casual vacancy. He was certainly active in the party and keen for another senate tilt in March 2012.

  3. “The “Mahogany Ship” is interesting because unlike many other legends, something certainly did exist there. There was an old wreck in the dunes between Warrnabool and Port Fairy that was eventually covered with the shifting sands in the late 19th Century.”

    I know a bloke whose family have been in the area since the mid-1830s (they were close behind the Henty’s). His family folklore is that the ship was there, but some the other early settlers/invaders stripped metal and some timber from it and then set it alight. A few branches of my family tree were in the area since the late 1830s/early 1840s, but none were in Warrnambool until later.

    Not detracting from his achievements, but Cook would have had Tasman’s charts showing van deimens land as well as dutch charts showing much of the west and dutch, english and spanish charts showing the north of Australia to cape york as well as eastern PNG. The east coast had to be somewhere between.

  4. poroti @ #1749 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 12:45 pm

    BiGD

    Pegasus and Rex are commenting on how they would like to see a Shorten led labor government to govern.

    That’s not how our democracy works.

    10%, or about, doesn’t allow you to dictate policy.

    It also sure as hell does not mean the ‘10%’ cannot go about “commenting on how they would like to see a Shorten led labor government to govern.”

    Never said it did, but the normal form is to reject and say this what the Greens want.

    I suppose it does give an insight to their garden parties.

  5. According to the WA Health Department, in 2017, three girls aged 13 or under gave birth, with a similar figure for 2016.
    In total in 2017, 91 women aged 16 or younger gave birth and the youngest registered mother was 12.
    A dozen 12-year-old girls have given birth in WA since 1980.

    I was pretty surprised by those figures, they’re higher than I expected.

    I haven’t seen any mention of the father in this case. I wonder if he’s also under age (or is this an immaculate conception)?

  6. “Pegasus and Rex are commenting on how they would like to see a Shorten led labor government to govern.”

    You are being generous.

    It is a pity they don’t comment on how they would like the LNP to govern, because, you know, they are the ones in power.

    But they NEVER do. It’s free kicks to the LNP and critercise Labor all the time.

  7. There is a theory that Cook had the old Portugese charts of Australia.

    There was a severe earthquake in Lisbon in 1755 than destroyed (flooded) the Portugese map rooms. The Dutch had stolen a few charts.

    When the Endeavour was damaged at Trinity Beach, Cook chose to continue to Cooktown to safe anchorage. Standard practice when exploring was to back track to last known safe harbour. This is cited as proof that Cook was working from existing charts

  8. PeeBee @ #1755 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 4:53 pm

    “Pegasus and Rex are commenting on how they would like to see a Shorten led labor government to govern.”

    You are being generous.

    It is a pity they don’t comment on how they would like the LNP to govern, because, you know, they are the ones in power.

    But they NEVER do. It’s free kicks to the LNP and critercise Labor all the time.

    You need to spellcheck more often.

  9. Just reflecting on the difficulties the heat wave is causing with power supply in some areas and the way we know the Liberals and Murdoch will try to spin it to disadvantage Labor. All Shorten has to do is turn it right back on them, by pointing out that this what you get when you don’t have an effective policy to deal with climate change. Labor has one, the Liberals don’t. It’s as simple as that.

  10. billie @ #1756 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 4:55 pm

    There is a theory that Cook had the old Portugese charts of Australia.

    There was a severe earthquake in Lisbon in 1755 than destroyed (flooded) the Portugese map rooms. The Dutch had stolen a few charts.

    When the Endeavour was damaged at Trinity Beach, Cook chose to continue to Cooktown to safe anchorage. Standard practice when exploring was to back track to last known safe harbour. This is cited as proof that Cook was working from existing charts

    Indigenous Australian history is far more interesting.

  12. Darn @ #1758 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 5:03 pm

    Just reflecting on the difficulties the heat wave is causing with power supply in some areas and the way we know the Liberals and Murdoch will try to spin it to disadvantage Labor. All Shorten has to do is turn it right back on them, by pointing out that this what you get when you don’t have an effective policy to deal with climate change. Labor has one, the Liberals don’t. It’s as simple as that.

    The old clapped-out coal-fired power stations in Victoria should have been replaced by now.

    Lib-Lab Govts of past decades are to blame.

  13. Looks like Labuschagne and Head can pack their bags for the Ashes.

    P.S. I’m liking the new woman, Kristen something, sorry haven’t caught her surname yet, doing special comments on the ABC.

    She knows her cricket.

  16. Cooler conditions here in Gisborne and Melbourne thankfully.

    Re an earlier comment from PuffTMD (?????) re the IPA.

    I still recall the absolute surgical takedown of the IPA’s droog Chris Berg at Senate Estimates by Doug ‘Doogie’ Cameron a few years ago. Berg and one of his minions swaggered into the chamber and later skulked out tails between legs after being utterly owned by Dougie.

    Great stuff.

    The IPA like the CIS will always struggle for relevance.

  17. Rex Douglas says:
    Friday, January 25, 2019 at 5:06 pm

    …

    Lib-Lab Govts of past decades are to blame.

    And the Greens always there to back the Liberals always their as the spoilers.

  18. Mavis Smith @ #1738 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 3:22 pm

    DaretoTread:

    I’m not quite with you. A D-notice is ‘a government notice issued to news editors requiring them not to publicise certain information for reasons of national security.’ How does that work with Vietnamese and Turkish workers at Ford?

    Mavis
    I assume it was to prevent much more widespread cashes between migrant groups. My source is reliable – it was the IR expert called in to help settle the dispute – he told my MBA IR class so I think it is credible. He did not go into lots of detail as you can imagine, but enough to let us know that such things happened – he was trying to tell us about the range of IR problems we might encounter.

    My take at the time was that racial tensions were rather more significant than the general population knew and the government had taken action to stop the spread of such tensions. I am not sure of the date but it would have been in either the Fraser or early Hawke years. They probably did the right thing in slapping on the D notice, but it also makes it clear that there are often things we are not told.

  20. How interesting.

    Ms D’Ambrosio said the state had lost an “extraordinary” 1800MW of power capacity due to the outages and picked up on the warning from Australian Energy Market Operator chief executive Audrey Zibelman that the ageing coal generators were like “old cars”.

    “Those generators are ageing, they are becoming less reliable. That has become more and more obvious in the last few days. Its important we continue to build our energy supply. Renewable energy is the way of the future,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.

    “The reality, and we need to come to terms with it, is our summers are getting longer, hotter and more extreme because of climate change. We have a 20th century energy system for a 21st century climate.”

    The power was predominantly cut in what an energy analyst called “the goat cheese belt”.

    “The power cut [was] happening in many high-income places,” he said.

    “Presumably the choice of these suburbs was no accident. If the power was cut in poorer suburbs it would most likely affect many pensioners and those that can’t afford to lose power, like those on life support.”

    But lower income suburbs were far from immune from the rolling blackouts. Thousands of households lost power in suburbs including Pakenham, Cranbourne East and Narre Warren South.

    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/blackout-ahead-for-130-000-homes-as-power-system-falters-20190125-p50tn7.html

  22. frednk @ #1766 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 5:12 pm

    Rex Douglas says:
    Friday, January 25, 2019 at 5:06 pm

    …

    Lib-Lab Govts of past decades are to blame.

    And the Greens always there to back the Liberals always their as the spoilers.

    Greens have been telling Lib-Lab Govts this for years.

    “Those generators are ageing, they are becoming less reliable. That has become more and more obvious in the last few days. Its important we continue to build our energy supply. Renewable energy is the way of the future,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.

  23. Rex Douglas @ #1771 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 1:23 pm

    frednk @ #1766 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 5:12 pm

    Rex Douglas says:
    Friday, January 25, 2019 at 5:06 pm

    …

    Lib-Lab Govts of past decades are to blame.

    And the Greens always there to back the Liberals always their as the spoilers.

    Greens have been telling Lib-Lab Govts this for years.

    “Those generators are ageing, they are becoming less reliable. That has become more and more obvious in the last few days. Its important we continue to build our energy supply. Renewable energy is the way of the future,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.

    I hardly think that would have been fresh news to them. 😆

  24. A_E

    Gary Foley charts Mundine’s drift to the right. .
    .
    .
    Warren Mundine : The White Sheep of the Family?
    by Gary Foley
    August 2013

    At his stage I should declare my interests and advise the reader that Warren is a distant relative of mine, and that this has tempered this article to the extent that I am treading cautiously in an attempt to not offend too many members of my extended family…………….
    http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/essays/tracker/tracker26.html

  25. Dutton takes a high tone on ‘incorrect statements’. Snigger.

    Wintour’s comments on Court’s opposition to same-sex marriage prompted a lively debate on Friday among senior Liberals, some of who accused the visiting editor of interjecting into matters where she is not welcome.

    “I thought it was a bit tacky actually, to be honest,” home affairs minister Peter Dutton said on Today on Friday.

    “Somebody coming here to criticise, to make a statement that wasn’t factually correct anyway, is pretty shabby. I mean, she thrives on media and attention … Good luck.”

    https://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/how-julie-bishop-schooled-anna-wintour-on-australian-fashion-20190125-p50tnq.html

  27. Barney in Go Dau @ #1772 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 5:24 pm

    Rex Douglas @ #1771 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 1:23 pm

    frednk @ #1766 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 5:12 pm

    Rex Douglas says:
    Friday, January 25, 2019 at 5:06 pm

    …

    Lib-Lab Govts of past decades are to blame.

    And the Greens always there to back the Liberals always their as the spoilers.

    Greens have been telling Lib-Lab Govts this for years.

    “Those generators are ageing, they are becoming less reliable. That has become more and more obvious in the last few days. Its important we continue to build our energy supply. Renewable energy is the way of the future,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.

    I hardly think that would have been fresh news to them. 😆

    So why are we still relying on the broken-down old filthy generators that contribute to this warming climate ?

    Why haven’t they been replaced ?

  28. I’m have recently retired from the workforce and had contributed to Super for 40 odd years, as part of my retirement savings I do have a small share portfolio (about 20% of my retirement best egg).

    Once Bowen advised the response to Robert G letter it makes perfect sense. If all the shareholders o& a company were all zero tax retirees all the tax paid by companies would be refunded to these shareholders and government would have no tax collected. How is that sensible?

    If you don’t have any tax to pay, you are not entitled to the tax credits being refunded.

    Restructure your super if you have to but this free kick implemented by Howard in 2000 has to go. Dividend imputation ala Keating needs to be kept in its original form.

    Just on removing stamps duty, don’t agree with replacing with land tax – why should I be disadvantaged to pay on something if I choose not to move places. Not convinced, happy to be proven wrong, that removal of stamp duty would be good for the real estate market. Would be another trigger for an unsustainable property prices in my opinion.

  29. poroti,

    Interesting article by Foley. The attendance of Macklin at his wedding explains a great deal.

    In February this year 450 close personal friends turned up at Luna Park in Sydney (an appropriately Monty Pythonesque venue) for the wedding of Warren and Elizabeth. Sadly I have to report to readers that my invitation appears to have been lost in the mail, but I am told that among those who were in attendance were Tony Abbott, Twiggy Forrest, Jenny Macklin and Marcia Langton along with a large contingent of other right-wing luminaries and their acolytes. The mere thought of the business and networking opportunities on that day just boggles the mind…


  30. Rex Douglas
    …
    So why are we still relying on the broken-down old filthy generators that contribute to this warming climate ?

    Why haven’t they been replaced ?

    Because the Greens were always there to team up with the Liberals to prevent it.

  31. Rex Douglas @ #1776 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 1:31 pm

    Barney in Go Dau @ #1772 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 5:24 pm

    Rex Douglas @ #1771 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 1:23 pm

    frednk @ #1766 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 5:12 pm

    Rex Douglas says:
    Friday, January 25, 2019 at 5:06 pm

    …

    Lib-Lab Govts of past decades are to blame.

    And the Greens always there to back the Liberals always their as the spoilers.

    Greens have been telling Lib-Lab Govts this for years.

    “Those generators are ageing, they are becoming less reliable. That has become more and more obvious in the last few days. Its important we continue to build our energy supply. Renewable energy is the way of the future,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.

    I hardly think that would have been fresh news to them. 😆

    So why are we still relying on the broken-down old filthy generators that contribute to this warming climate ?

    Why haven’t they been replaced ?

    Because the market hasn’t built replacements yet.

  32. The Greens, replace Yallourn campaign and transition to renewables

    7 January 2019: http://www.latrobevalleyexpress.com.au/story/5838808/greens-target-yallourn/

    The Victorian Greens are targeting Yallourn as the next coal-fired power station to start closing in 2020 as part of a transition towards 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030.

    The Replace Yallourn campaign includes a timetabled schedule for all Latrobe Valley coal stations to start switching off units in the next few years and be completely decommissioned in the next decade.

    The Greens also plan to introduce legislation to stop the government from investing in new fossil fuel projects and will push power stations to include clean technologies for the rest of their operating lives.

    Instead, the Greens want to turn the Latrobe Valley into a centre for large scale storage by investing $300 million in a battery three times the size of South Australia’s Tesla battery.

    Greens member for Brunswick Tim Read was speaking on behalf of the Greens energy spokeswoman Ellen Sandell who raised the issue several weeks ago at Parliament’s first sitting since the November state election.

    “For the Valley to put all its long-term hopes into coal – then it faces disappointment down the track. Coal will go the same way as landlines. We need to prepare for the future,” Mr Read said.

    “Our plan is to take charge and take control, invest in renewables and storage in the Latrobe Valley and then replace Yallourn.

    “We are not talking about merely closing Yallourn but replacing it, rather than just shutting our eyes and leaving it to the market.”

    Mr Read said part of these policies was to return a large part of the energy sector into public hands and push the government to immediately design a worker transition program for Yallourn.

    He accused the government of leaving Hazelwood workers in the lurch without a pre-prepared transition scheme in 2017 after ENGIE closed the station at short notice.

    He said the Greens had been calling for a transition plan long before Hazelwood was closed.

  33. MDB, including SH-Y’s response

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/25/murray-darling-basin-authority-should-be-broken-up-to-protect-system-review-finds

    The agency in charge of Australia’s most important and complex river system should be broken up as part of a major overhaul to protect the Murray-Darling basin and save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, the Productivity Commission says.

    The government released the Productivity Commission’s five-year review of the management of the Murray-Darling basin late on Friday afternoon. The report warned of serious risks in Australia’s long-term $13bn plan for the basin, which is designed to reset the balance between the environment and consumptive uses through to mid-2024.

    It said the dual roles of the Murray-Darling Basin Authority – a manager of the basin plan, on the one hand, and a regulator that enforces compliance on the other – were often in conflict. Those conflicts would only worsen in the next five years, the commission said.

  34. lizzie @ #1703 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 5:18 pm

    How interesting.

    Ms D’Ambrosio said the state had lost an “extraordinary” 1800MW of power capacity due to the outages and picked up on the warning from Australian Energy Market Operator chief executive Audrey Zibelman that the ageing coal generators were like “old cars”.

    “Those generators are ageing, they are becoming less reliable. That has become more and more obvious in the last few days. Its important we continue to build our energy supply. Renewable energy is the way of the future,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.

    “The reality, and we need to come to terms with it, is our summers are getting longer, hotter and more extreme because of climate change. ………………⏩

    https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/blackout-ahead-for-130-000-homes-as-power-system-falters-20190125-p50tn7.html

    Interesting indeed.
    I watched the interview and I was quite impressed with the lady in question.
    Sadly – earlier in the day – my ageing trigger finger was caught out when one
    Mr. Geo.😈 Brandis Esq 😈 popped up unheralded, unannounced and unwanted on my TV screen.
    He managed to get out 4 (maybe 5 words) before I made a headlong dive (really I tottered over) to pick up the remote (to mute the sound) to prevent brain damage should his comments trigger the self destruct brain HE belt in my head.

    Goodnight all. Cricket –📺🏏 💤

  36. Jobs and growth

    https://newmatilda.com/2019/01/25/doomed-fallacy-jobs-growth-part-3/

    As neoliberalism took hold of our economy, industry propagandists invaded public and private spaces, from billboards, to bus shelters to portable devices. Under their pervasive influence, we acceded to work harder, borrow more money, and buy more stuff. The failure of spending to fulfil us only led to more consumption, causing more dysfunction, requiring more remediation, creating more work.

    It’s bad for people. But it’s good for business. The treatment worsens the disease, while the river of profit swells. This is the philosophy that gave us ‘jobs and growth’.

    What, then, do we really want? To follow our insatiable investor class into social and environmental calamity? Or to build quality of life on what we really need?
    :::
    We can start by holding politicians and experts accountable for a different set of statistics. GDP and employment do not tell the true story. You can be employed in a growing economy and still be in miserable poverty, if growth comes from population, and rising costs leave wages behind. That was the plight of workers during the First Industrial Revolution.
    :::
    The problem is he doesn’t work for us. Over the last few decades, big business and government have become partners in the exploitation game. To planners and decision-makers, we are now a resource, like the crops and livestock on the plains, and the minerals in the ranges.

    So the next thing we should do is reassert the power of ordinary people. It’s time to remove big money from politics. GetUp has a plan for doing it, which is why they’ve become a target. If you can think of a reason not to do it, you must be a lobbyist, someone who employs one, or a politician on the take. There’s nothing in the current arrangements for anyone else.
    :::
    ‘Jobs and growth’ are not the same as prosperity and wellbeing. They’re a couple of deeply flawed statistics which allow politicians and technocrats to conjure a successful economy from an insider racket. If we aim for what we really want, we can still debate methodology, while we attend to emergencies like climate and water, and revitalise our economy from the country’s vast potential, instead of selling it off to well-connected scammers and dodgy foreign magnates.

  37. Rex, while you are good at dishing out advice, Let’s see if you can take it.

    ‘That reminds me… anyone in the know checked on Boerwars well-being ?’

    You need to grammar check more often.

  38. We still have the greens yapping in the corner; the nice thing is the Liberals have gone silent; so they can no longer team up with the Liberals to undermine Labor policy.

    Labor can now get on with delivering a sane energy policy.

    We are lucky the state labor governments have underpinned the development of solar and wind and a federal Labor government are not be starting from a standing start.

    I’m pretty sure the yappy Greens will not be forming the next federal government; there yapping only matters when the team up with the Liberals.

  39. billie @t 4:55 pm
    There was a severe earthquake in Lisbon in 1755 than destroyed (flooded) the Portugese map rooms.

    The 1755 Lisbon earthquake and subsequent tsunami was a great catastrophe for the city and the nation, but it has allowed all sorts of obviously unverifiable claims to be made about what was lost when the Casa da India, which held the records of Portuguese exploration and colonisation, was destroyed.

    It’s far too convenient to claim that any given piece of evidence *would* have been available if the destruction hadn’t occurred.

  40. That Hatchet job of Mundine by Foley misses a few chronological points. Firstly, Mundine secured preselection for a very winnable senate spot in 2001. Consistent with other states, winnable senate spots in the NSW Party are reserved for either the State Secretary, the most senior union officials and pre-eminent party elders. His then faction – Centre Unity – was entitled to the first and third position on the ballot: the then Party President, Ursula Stephens secured the top spot (which was a significant breakthrough of the glass ceiling itself in 2001) and Mundine won the eminently winnable third spot – another breakthrough. He only lost due to the Tampa and 9-11 effect. This is hardly evidence of of entrenched racism within the party. The reality is that Mundine never seriously pursued a safe, or even contestable lower house seat: he was always hunting a senate position & the party provided him with a great opportunity. He just lacked luck with his timing. Thereafter, his career progressed – he did sit on the powerful National Executive for quite a number of years and had some expectation of another go at a senate position: one wonders whether he would have received the nod over Dastyari in 2013 after Carr retired if he stayed active within the money. Of course by that stage he’d drifted into the orb of Abbott and Twiggy etc – a combination of sex, health concerns, corporate greed and revenge was probably driving him by then.

  41. The Greens Party has supported abolishing stamp duty and replacing it with a land tax for some years:

    March 2017: https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2017/03/pbo-costs-stamp-duty-land-tax-switch/

    The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) has costed a theoretical proposal by The Greens to abolish property stamp duties and replace them with a broad-based land tax, finding a short-term cost to Budgets but a more neutral outcome over the longer-term.
    :::
    Switching stamp duties for a broad-based land tax makes impeccable sense.

    The Australian Treasury has already shown that stamp duties on real estate are one of the least efficient taxes going around whereas land taxes are the most efficient source of tax available, actually creating positive welfare gains to the domestic population since non-resident home owners are also taxed (see below chart).

  44. Andrew_Earlwood @ #1788 Friday, January 25th, 2019 – 6:00 pm

    That Hatchet job of Mundine by Foley misses a few chronological points. Firstly, Mundine secured preselection for a very winnable senate spot in 2001. Consistent with other states, winnable senate spots in the NSW Party are reserved for either the State Secretary, the most senior union officials and per-eminent party elders. His then faction – Centre Unity – was entitled to the first and third position on the ballot: the then Party President, Ursula Stephens secured the top spot (which was a significant breakthrough of the glass ceiling itself in 2001) and Mundine won the eminently winnable third spot – another breakthrough. He only lost due to the Tampa and 9-11 effect. This is hardly evidence of of entrenched racism within the party. The reality is that Mundine never seriously pursued a safe, or even contestable lower house seat: he was always hunting a senate position & the party provided him with a great opportunity. He just lacked luck with his timing. Thereafter, his career progressed – he did sit on the powerful National Executive for quite a number of years and had some expectation of another go at a senate position: one wonders whether he would have received the nod over Dastyari in 2013 after Carr retired if he stayed active within the money. Of course by that stage he’d drifted into the orb of Abbott and Twiggy etc – a combination of sex, health concerns, corporate greed and revenge was probably driving him by then.

    So if he’s such a weathervane why did Labor give him so much prominence ?

  45. Pegasus

    Under their pervasive influence, we acceded to work harder, borrow more

    There was a period during the 80s/90s when the ‘business community’ were constantly telling us that Australian workers were over paid, lazy and had too many holidays . Their claim seemed to become accepted as ‘fact’.

  46. “So if he’s such a weathervane why did Labor give him so much prominence ?”

    For over 20 years he was a loyal and faithful servant of the party. Who knows what causes some middle aged men to lurch hard right. What’s your excuse Rex?

  48. Mavis Smith says:
    Friday, January 25, 2019 at 11:58 am
    I’ve heard countless versions of the Pearlfishers duet since the early 1950’s. And I know arguments about “bests” can be a bit tedious. But none has come close to the first time I listened to Robert Merrill and Jussi Bjoerling in 1951. It still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdb94HbyRko
    beguiledagain:
    Yes, that version is a pearler (pun intended). Shame that Bjoerling died so young. He was arguably the best tenor of the 20th century.
    -0-
    TPOF says:
    Friday, January 25, 2019 at 12:48 pm
    beguiled
    I came to it much later, but ditto for me. Something about the tonal harmony of the two singers – and, of course their excellence as lyrical tenors.
    -0-
    If all you psephologists won’t mind this off-topic musical interlude:

    Thousands of Canadians and those in U.S. border states, over two generations, obtained an appreciation of this kind of music from Clyde Gilmour, whose “Gilmour’s Albums” ran for 40 years at noon Sundays on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) radio network. He played the duet many times. Here is how he introduced it:

    “In ancient Ceylon, two pearl fishermen pledge to renounce the alluring princess who almost shattered their friendship. Bjoerling’s silver-trumpet tenor and Merrill’s brown-marble baritone are partnered in a remarkable musical experience.”

    I share your opinion of Bjoerling. In my book, he is slightly ahead of Beniamino Gigli and the German Fritz Wunderlich who also died young, accidentally, at 35 in 1966. Two weeks after he appeared at the Salzburg Festival and a few weeks before his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Wunderlich fell down stairs at a friend’s chateau.

    That does it for tenors. But the most impressive singer IMHO was Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. (1925-2012). The German lyric baritone was ranked the second greatest singer of the century (after Bjoerling) by Classic CD (United Kingdom) “Top Singers of the Century” Critics’ Poll (June 1999). He appeared in Opera, was a conductor and one of the most famous lieder (art song) performers.

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