Schadenfreude
John Solomon (38)
Bullshit.
She secured her government, and from what I can tell (apart from being a wanker) he's done a fine job of being speaker.
Julia's Reign
- Thread starter Scotty
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Bullshit.
She secured her government, and from what I can tell (apart from being a wanker) he's done a fine job of being speaker.
Inside Shoulder
Nathan Sharpe (72)
To what high office was Slipper appointed by Abbott?
How did Slipper secure Abbott's interests?
At what point did Abbott's role in public life in Australia come to depend on Slipper?
Gillard needed Slipper so she could renege on her pledge to Wilkie and yet retain the Lodge.
And Abbott? he didnt and doesnt need Slipper....Joolia still does.
What was it that was wrong about what Charger said?
Scotty
David Codey (61)
How eloquent.
Inside Shoulder
Nathan Sharpe (72)
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/slipper-trouble-goes-back-10-years-20120428-1xrn9.html
This is an indictment of both parties: it may only be a relatively small amount of money but Howard did not even need Slipper's vote to stay in government. It may be that the current state of the numbers makes this a more obvious consideration than it would have been in 2002 but the lack of candour with we the public shows how little we matter to the government of any day.
I guess Joolia would have known about this when she appointed him....my suggestion of a benevolent dictatorship is looking like a good option
This is an indictment of both parties: it may only be a relatively small amount of money but Howard did not even need Slipper's vote to stay in government. It may be that the current state of the numbers makes this a more obvious consideration than it would have been in 2002 but the lack of candour with we the public shows how little we matter to the government of any day.
I guess Joolia would have known about this when she appointed him....my suggestion of a benevolent dictatorship is looking like a good option
Inside Shoulder
Nathan Sharpe (72)
So, if Thompson resigns from the ALP Joolia's days could be numbered in the teens:
- Wilkie has said that he will support or bring on a motion of no confidence but its unclear whether he means in the Speaker or in the government - Insiders this morning implied it was the latter;
- Slipper cannot vote on the floor of the house while he is speaker;
- The deputy speaker would only have a casting vote - and there appears to be some doubt about her right to exercise it on a motion of no confidence in the government;
- Will Thompson support Joolia?
- Is he resigning so as to give her a clear run - i.e. out of loyalty to the party?
- Slipper could resign the speakership but that would not help her because she could only sensibly put up one of her own and no one from the Libs will agree to be deputy.
Inside Shoulder
Nathan Sharpe (72)
I think you're right... But Joolia's grip on the levers of control is tenuous and given the way all these pollies carry on god knows which cupboard the next skeleton will come lurching out of
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Gnostic
Mark Ella (57)
This is old news and was the reason for my post above which you didn't like questioning why Abbott (a senior minister in the Howard cabinet) should have questioned Slippers position in the party and pushed for pre-selection to be withdrawn before the last election.
Just a hypothetical question for a moment, if Abbott had formed a minority Government does anybody believe he has the moral or ethical standards to have taken action against Slipper as he has called for against Thompson? I certainly don't and hence my previous statements.
Inside Shoulder
Nathan Sharpe (72)
This was the first i had seen of it. To play the devil's advocate: it was Howard's call - true it is that Howard and Abbott were close and seemed to agree on everything.
I dont - as in he wouldnt have had the standards.
Gnostic
Mark Ella (57)
The thing is at the last election Howard was well and truly gone and it was Abbott's ship to sail. He knew (if he didn't his leadership is bogus) and has no moral ground to stand on here. Julia has even less. For me this just highlights that the next Government wont be the best we can get just the least worst. They are all very very poor options.
Inside Shoulder
Nathan Sharpe (72)
The only problem is that Costello was the natural successor to Howard - but its academic because they all knew.
Annabel Crabb points out that one of the reasons no one took much interest in slipper's family travel allowance issue was that he was a backbencher and they didnt think it "mattered". i have no reason to doubt her analysis.
of ourse "mattered" in this context only means that they didn't think there would be any political price to pay for doing nothing about it.
That shows how morally bankrupt they are: its not about what is right or wrong its solely about whether it will play negatively against them.
Gnostic
Mark Ella (57)
If there was a genuine third option I'd vote for them in a flash. As it stands I don't see how I can vote at all in the next election, my ethics just do not allow me to support any of these contemptable parasites.
Hildebrand summarises Julia's reign
http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-hildebrand-guide-how-labor-destroyed-itself/
http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-hildebrand-guide-how-labor-destroyed-itself/
ChargerWA
Mark Loane (55)
I never used to understand how some countries in Scandanavia basically have a one party system, with the oposition only managing to take power once or twice a century. Thanks to the Gillard government I now get a feel for how this could happen.
Labor has failed to recognise the complete and utter dissapearance of it's heartland voter. There is now a smaller underclass in Australia than ever before and a large proportion of this class have had their consciousness raised that in this great modern country, anyone can be anything. They also recognise that the path to this is economic certainty and growth.
Under Kevin Rudd, Labor was attracting voters by essentially being Liberal light (quite a worthy goal in my moderate opinion). When they knifed Rudd and slipped into bed with the Greens they turned their backs on these people and are now targeting the very smallest population of possible Labor voters, people who vote Labor because they allways have. They won't gain the vote of the eco-left as the Greens have out performed them in this parliarmentary term comprehensively, they won't get the right (obviously), and have completely lost the swing voter in the middle as they are now perceived as being too left.
Pile this dire public perception of their stance on top of the most dishonest PM we have ever had and I doubt they will gain 30% of the primary vote if they take Gillard to the next pole as PM.
Labor has failed to recognise the complete and utter dissapearance of it's heartland voter. There is now a smaller underclass in Australia than ever before and a large proportion of this class have had their consciousness raised that in this great modern country, anyone can be anything. They also recognise that the path to this is economic certainty and growth.
Under Kevin Rudd, Labor was attracting voters by essentially being Liberal light (quite a worthy goal in my moderate opinion). When they knifed Rudd and slipped into bed with the Greens they turned their backs on these people and are now targeting the very smallest population of possible Labor voters, people who vote Labor because they allways have. They won't gain the vote of the eco-left as the Greens have out performed them in this parliarmentary term comprehensively, they won't get the right (obviously), and have completely lost the swing voter in the middle as they are now perceived as being too left.
Pile this dire public perception of their stance on top of the most dishonest PM we have ever had and I doubt they will gain 30% of the primary vote if they take Gillard to the next pole as PM.
This made me laugh, Jools must have banged her her on the desk reading this
'I've come to find Mr Slipper. The Slipper! Slippery Pete! What is his number? I need to hire him'
Peter Slipper may have been sidelined from the prestigious Speaker's position in Parliament, but there is a job for him with a fake dictator if he wants it.
British actor Sacha Baron Cohen - famous for his Ali G and Borat characters - arrived at Sydney Airport this morning dressed as a dishevelled dictator in Qantas pyjamas and demanding to see "Slippery Pete".
Baron Cohen, sporting a thick accent and accompanied by a bevy of women dressed in military costumes, barked out his plans for his trip to Australia.
"I've come to find Mr Slipper," he said. "The Slipper! Slippery Pete!"
Baron Cohen - who made the mankini famous in 2006 - also appeared to offer Mr Slipper an unspecified job.
"What is his number? I need to hire him," he said.
Baron Cohen is in Australia to promote his new movie in which he stars as Third World tyrant, Admiral General Aladeen, from a fictional country called the Republic of Wadiya.
In real life, he is married to Australian actress Isla Fisher, which gives him a head start on Australian culture.
But his airport escapade this morning can also be taken as proof that Mr Slipper's fame has now gone global.
This is in marked contrast to the assurances from Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr, who has insisted that the Slipper saga was only a "temporary federal issue".
"No one is remotely interested in that here in the United States," Senator Carr said during his overseas travels last week.
The government has been rocked by claims last week that Mr Slipper rorted his Cabcharge entitlements and sexually harassed one of his advisers.
Mr Slipper initially said he would stand aside from the Speaker's chair only until he was cleared of the travel claims.
At the weekend - following a phone call from Prime Minister Julia Gillard - Mr Slipper agreed he would stay away from the speakership until all allegations against him were resolved.
Mr Slipper is not the only federal MP (Moana Pasifika) to achieve international fame at the moment.
Last week, Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten gave a bizarre interview to Sky News, in which he backed the Prime Minister's comments on Mr Slipper without having heard what she said.
"I haven't seen what she's said, but let me say I support what it is she said."
Graham Linehan, writer of Irish sitcom Father Ted, later tweeted a video of the interview with the note, "We feel your pain, Australia."
Inside Shoulder
Nathan Sharpe (72)
great article - wasn't aware of this "blog" until your post - could be good.
His real point - a very good one - is the impact the career politician is having on the way ALP policy is being set.
i think he is spot on - but it should make one wonder WTF has happened in 40 years: Gough went to Knox Grammar School, studied law, was a QC (Quade Cooper) and married the daughter of a Supreme Court Judge (who herself went to Sydney Church of England Girls Grammar School - SCEGGS): hardly the stuff of struggle street. Much of Gough's agenda was up in the clouds and much wasn't. he was arrogant and I still find it hard to believe that the Australian public did not perceive him as that - but he had more idea of the needs and wants of middle Australia than the present mob.
And even if you say well its not like he lasted any longer than the present incarnation will last it can hardly be said that Malcolm Fraser was from a more modest background: Geelong and Melbourne Grammars and Oxford are hardly mainstream Australian paths.
Either way, these men, on opposite sides of the political fence but from (frankly) very similar backgrounds were more in touch with the plight of the average Australian than the current career politicians.
There's a lesson in this.
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