Australia General Discussion

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Don't know the backstory, but holy crap: O'Farrell's resigned after being caught lying to a corruption inquiry.

It's shocking... he's a genuinely good guy.

Basically a dodgy character sent him a $3000 bottle of wine that he said last night he 'had no recollection of'.

Then they found a thank you note hand-written by the Premier... so yeah.


...this means, after Colin Barnett, Katy Gallagher (Chief Minister of the ACT), who's been in office for just under 3 years, is the longest-serving head of Government in Australia. 

Honestly, why lie about these sorts of things? On another note, who's going to be the next Premier? Will be interesting to see if O'Farrell resigns his Parliamentary seat too.

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I suspect this was a genuine mistake on his part, rather than a deliberate lie, however lying under oath is lying under oath, and that's what's brought him down - not that he accepted a bottle of wine. I suspect he won't have the book thrown at him, perhaps a plea bargain, or even if not, a not especially heavy sentence.

I hope it was a genuine mistake too. As you said though, lying under oath is lying under oath.

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Former treasurer Costello on the deficit tax - I agree with him - it's a stupid idea.

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The far-left strikes again...

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I'm pretty sure Pyne called him a c___. If you listen it doesn't sound like grub at all.

I did have a listen, and I cannot believe anyone in the HoR would use such a word!

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I'm starting to think Dennis Napthine, despite delivering a supposedly brilliant budget is completely ed. I mean in 2013, the Libs couldn't even manage 2PP win here in Victoria and recent polling has Labor at 61% to the Libs 39%. I really think Dennis will be our first one timer in ages, which is good.

All I'm hoping for is that Geoff Shaw loses his seat.

I'm sure he will lose his seat, look at how successful Thomson and Slipper were last federal election.

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Happy New Senate Day! PUP will literally be the wild card to the government's passing of any legislation.

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Troy Buswell, disgraced former Treasurer in the WA State Government, has announced his retirement from the state Parliament.

While I wish him the best for his post-political life, especially given that he has bipolar, I'm glad he's retiring - haven't been a fan of him for years, and he was a major embarrassment to the government. I mean, chair sniffing, bra snapping, an extra-marital affair, becoming transport minister after getting nine speeding tickets in three years, driving whilst impaired and causing thousands of dollars in damage, I could go on...

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Things are all up in the air in Victoria again over Geoff Shaw.  Napthine will be moving to expel him from Parliament today (Thursday), but Labor's going to oppose it.

The turnaround from both sides is rather remarkable from this period in June.  However, to me, it rather makes sense.  Remember, in June the question was whether Shaw's expenses scandal was grounds enough to expel him - the Parliament resolved that is wasn't.  Now the question is whether he should be expelled because of a comment made in a newspaper interview and the premier's opinion on the sincerity of his apology statement.  Expulsion on those grounds would be a very slippery precedent.

What's the point, the election is only two months away, let the people of Frankston decide Mr. Shaw's fate, should he choose to run again as an independent.

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Things are all up in the air in Victoria again over Geoff Shaw.  Napthine will be moving to expel him from Parliament today (Thursday), but Labor's going to oppose it.

The turnaround from both sides is rather remarkable from this period in June.  However, to me, it rather makes sense.  Remember, in June the question was whether Shaw's expenses scandal was grounds enough to expel him - the Parliament resolved that is wasn't.  Now the question is whether he should be expelled because of a comment made in a newspaper interview and the premier's opinion on the sincerity of his apology statement.  Expulsion on those grounds would be a very slippery precedent.

What's the point, the election is only two months away, let the people of Frankston decide Mr. Shaw's fate, should he choose to run again as an independent.

That's really the issue here.  It's fairly clear that Napthine was just trying to avoid a by-election in June, but now that holding one is no longer possible he's totally in favor of removing Shaw.

He wasn't trying to avoid a by-election - he was trying to avoid a motion of no-confidence and triggering an early election.

Doesn't a motion of no-confidence require a majority to succeed? Shaw's absence means the numbers would have been 43-43, without the Speaker's vote, although 44-43 in Labor's favour if there had been a Frankston by-election, which Labor would have likely won.

Which leads me to another question - Can the Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly vote in motions of no confidence?

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Things are all up in the air in Victoria again over Geoff Shaw.  Napthine will be moving to expel him from Parliament today (Thursday), but Labor's going to oppose it.

The turnaround from both sides is rather remarkable from this period in June.  However, to me, it rather makes sense.  Remember, in June the question was whether Shaw's expenses scandal was grounds enough to expel him - the Parliament resolved that is wasn't.  Now the question is whether he should be expelled because of a comment made in a newspaper interview and the premier's opinion on the sincerity of his apology statement.  Expulsion on those grounds would be a very slippery precedent.

What's the point, the election is only two months away, let the people of Frankston decide Mr. Shaw's fate, should he choose to run again as an independent.

That's really the issue here.  It's fairly clear that Napthine was just trying to avoid a by-election in June, but now that holding one is no longer possible he's totally in favor of removing Shaw.

He wasn't trying to avoid a by-election - he was trying to avoid a motion of no-confidence and triggering an early election.

Doesn't a motion of no-confidence require a majority to succeed? Shaw's absence means the numbers would have been 43-43, without the Speaker's vote, although 44-43 in Labor's favour if there had been a Frankston by-election, which Labor would have likely won.

Which leads me to another question - Can the Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly vote in motions of no confidence?

A majority of course, but not an absolute majority (50% + 1), an exception would be in France, or in countries like Germany which have constructive votes of no confidence.

In the Westminster system, the speaker only votes to break a tie.  By constitutional convention, the speaker always votes to maintain continuity within the house.  So, in this case, the speaker would vote with the government.

And as far as avoiding a by-election and/or a MoNC go, they're both part of the same larger game.

It's all theoretical now, but the Liberals really have done a foolish thing by firing up this charade once again instead of actually campaigning on their own policies and contrasts with Labor.

Thought the Speaker would vote with the government, just wasn't sure if Victoria had any certain provisions or amendments to the Westminster system.

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Tasmania could introduce extremely draconian smoking laws...

I don't smoke myself, and wouldn't personally (don't mind the smell, but don't want heart attacks or bad teeth) but this is clearly a recipe for disaster...

Restricting access to tobacco is a bad idea in my opinion, considering it will just create another black & grey market alike, could result in more people turning to illicit drugs, and opens up the scary avenue for restricting/banning alcohol and fast food. While tobacco is VERY different to say, a bucket of fried chicken or a pint of beer, in that there's second-hand smoke, it still seems absurd to deny adults the right to buy and use tobacco.

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Tasmania could introduce extremely draconian smoking laws...

I don't smoke myself, and wouldn't personally (don't mind the smell, but don't want heart attacks or bad teeth) but this is clearly a recipe for disaster...

Restricting access to tobacco is a bad idea in my opinion, considering it will just create another black & grey market alike, could result in more people turning to illicit drugs, and opens up the scary avenue for restricting/banning alcohol and fast food. While tobacco is VERY different to say, a bucket of fried chicken or a pint of beer, in that there's second-hand smoke, it still seems absurd to deny adults the right to buy and use tobacco.

That's an article from 2012!

It was re-posted by a couple of Facebook pages I follow this week though, so I just assumed it was recent. My bad!

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A truly great politician, Dr. Bob Such from the SA House of Assembly, passed away on Saturday from a brain tumour.

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R.I.P.

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I personally think Fiona Simpson or Tim Nicholls would have been better choices for the new LNP leader - Springborg (and for that matter, Langbroek), have had their goes.

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R.I.P. Malcolm Fraser, and I'm also very shocked - this article states he had a brief illness.

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Joan Kirner, the first female premier of Victoria, has died.

R.I.P. Premier Kirner, here's a clip of her from 1993, signing I Love Rock 'n' Roll on Australian TV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGyD2hn7d3Y

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Alan Bond has passed away, following major heart surgery. R.I.P.

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Western Australian Liberal MP Don Randall has died, suspected heart attack.

He was one of the MPs who moved the spill motion against Abbott in February.

RIP. He was only 62. Too young to die.

On to the topic of a potential byelection... Canning is a mostly Liberal-friendly seat with some areas of Labor strength in Mandurah and Armadale. Right now it's on a 12% margin, but was only on a 2% margin in 2010 due the popularity of ALP candidate Alannah Mactiernan (now MP for Perth), so it's not out of reach for Labor. However, they'd need a literal perfect storm to win it, and the federal ALP isn't doing well enough for that. Not to mention that their best candidate won't be able to run. I'd guess a small (5-6%) swing away from the Libs in a byelection, but not enough to threaten them.

As for ChopperGate, I think it makes Abbott less likely to call an early election, simply because it has reduced the momentum he was getting from Shorten's "woes" in recent weeks.


Meanwhile, in the NT, CLP Speaker Kezia Purick has quit the party. This means the government only has 12/25 seats in parliament and has lost its majority.

R.I.P. Mr. Randall, gone way too soon I was definitely shocked when I read the news earlier today.

Regarding the upcoming Canning by-election, there is a chance Labor could win it, but I think the Liberals will hold with a reduced margin (Labor last won it in 1998).

The redistribution should also change the area a bit, as the new seat will likely incorporate Armadale with Gosnells, and newer areas to the west/northwest, pushing the rest of the remaining Canning into rural areas.

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I think Turnbull is fairly likely to be swapped out for leader, in the case there would be such a challenge.

Why, the F*k would they nominate turnbull for leader, can't they find anyone new or someone they didn't kick out of the leadership before.

Turnbull faces that old vexation of being terribly popular with the general public, and terribly unpopular with the Liberal caucus and core voters.  Unfortunately for him, the later is who determines if he gets the job.

As a Liberal core voter, I can definitely vouch for being one of the "lose with Abbott rather than win with Turnbull" crowd.

Also, I'm not sure if anyone else has mentioned this on another board, but the draft redistribution proposal for WA has been released. The 16th seat, based in southeastern Perth, is proposed to be called Burt, after the Burt family.

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Joe Hockey is setting up a Parliamentary Friendship Group with Labor's Katy Gallagher about the push for an Australian Republic.

Very interesting to see Hockey make such a public push for this now, but also encouraging from the point of view of the republican movement and the momentum that its been trying to build as of late.

I was discussing this with my dad (who used to be a Labor supporter, hasn't been a fan of any party since around 2005) earlier today, and he thinks Hockey's push might be a prelude to a leadership move, post-Canning by-election.

Thoughts?

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Hockey is politically very close to Abbott and it's commonly accepted that if Abbott goes as PM he'll go as Treasurer. Few would seriously consider him an alternative leadership prospective.

Didn't think he would toss his hat into the ring, should a spill occur. I think if one does occur, Turnbull, Bishop, and possibly someone else (Morrison?) will be the choices alongside Abbott.