Cansdellgate: one-handed applause for Scandell

Applause

I applaud Steve Cansdell for resigning due to his indiscretion with the statutory declaration.

I look forward to applauding him further when he pays for the by-election he has caused with some of the cash he will receive from his parliamentary super and his lifetime pension.

John Williams, Clarenza. 

Source: Letters, The Daily Examiner, 24/9/11

Commentary on the Nats' derby in Clarence

This comment piece appears in today's Daily Examiner.

Walk-up start to a seat

There is a distinct appearance of opportunism in the clamour of candidates seeking National Party pre-selection for the seat of the Clarence.
Things can change between now and when the election is held but, as it stands, it is almost inevitable that whoever gets the nod for the Nationals will be elected to fill the position vacated through Steve Cansdell's forced resignation.
Unless the government steps right out of line, it is difficult to see voter choosing a Labor candidate into opposition or an independent, so National Party endorsement would appear to be a walk-up start to a seat in parliament.
Not that the Nationals are saying that. Predictably, they are saying it will be a hard-fought contest where every vote will count. They don't want people thinking their candidate will be a shoo-in as that can encourage a protest vote.
As of yesterday there were six prospective candidates for the Nationals. We included Richie Williamson in that number despite his equivocation yesterday, because the Nationals listed him as a starter.
Of those, it would be hard to see them go past Mr Williamson, former Maclean mayor Chris Gulaptis or Casino's Stuart George. Although Mr Williamson has the higher profile, Mr George, the son of popular Lismore Nationals MP Thomas George, has the better credentials with the Nationals. Mr Gulaptis is a former candidate, and that will count highly.
But the three other contenders cannot be discounted entirely. Karen Toms is developing a reputation as a hard worker through her position on the Clarence Valley Council, Fiona Leviny has some powerful backers and impresses with her passion and Paul O'Connor, with his legal background, has some influential friends and will be able to argue his case well. It is a healthy position for the Nationals to be in.
We have heard little from prospective Labor candidates to date but it is unlikely they will have the same field from which to choose.

Live Cattle Export: I wondered how long it would take some fool to mention religion

One George Robert Christensen, the climate change ambivalent Liberal National Party MP for the Dawson electorate in Queensland (and a Mackay City councillor/journalist until the 2010 federal election), decided to sink his boot into Islam on the floor of the Australian House of Representatives. Clearly demonstrating just how far the Coalition has sunk under the leadership of Tony Abbott.

This is Christensen on 21 June 2011 according to the Commonwealth Hansard:

These fakers claim that they are out to protect animals, and what do they do? They vote to remove Australia from the situation, which does nothing for the cattle from other nations or from Indonesia that are going to end up at the abattoirs that are not doing the right thing.
It has occurred to me that there is something missing from this blame game. They are quick to blame Australian farmers and the industry, but they have not said anything about the religion that actually inspires the torture of the cattle there. I find that very hypocritical. We have not heard the member for Wills, the member for Fremantle or the member for Page raise that issue. But they are very quick to sink the boot into the farmers regardless of the consequences.

Intent on showing that his political bigotry is not just a passing phase, Christensen went on to tell The Age:

''There are many different culprits in the whole thing, [but] certainly the people who are doing this are not Australian farmers. The people who are doing it are Indonesian abattoir workers and their mates who, they say, are acting in accordance with their religious principles,''

Yes, that is truly an heroic effort and one which will surely assist the current negotiations between Australia and Indonesia concerning the circumstances in which live cattle export may be resumed.

Those who follow Queensland politics will remember George Christiansen was outed in 2010 as a former editor of the Central Queensland University newspaper The Student Advocate published on behalf of the Conservative Students’ Alliance:

As then editor of The Student Advocate, George Christensen had expressed concern that new versions of the Bible were, quote, "removing accusations that the Jews killed Christ". He also told homophobic jokes and stated, quote, "the truth is women are stupid and that's that".

Although Christensen is apparently comfortable with social media, I'm not sure if @GChristensenMP is actually his offical Twitter account. Nevertheless, it might be worth keeping an eye out for George in the twitterverse as he is sure to put his foot in his mouth again and again and again.

Images found at Google Images and Vex News

No wonder the Libs like Clive!

No wonder the Über Mensch of the Liberal Party like Australian mining magnate, rich listee and generous political donor Clive Palmer - he has the same take on 'truth' as Lib leader Tony Abbott.

Clive in The Bulletin on 20th May 2010:
"MINING magnate Clive Palmer will visit Central Queensland tomorrow to continue development of the Alpha coal mining project. Mr Palmer said the project will go ahead despite the Federal Government's proposal to tax the mining industry a further 40%, which he called "rubbish". He said: ''We will go ahead with that project, as finance is already approved, but any further expansion is definitely out of the question, and our other projects won't go ahead." Mr Palmer said two interstate projects, which he said could employ at least 6000 people directly, and up to 50,000 people through mining service industries, have been taken off the drawing board."

Clive in The Sydney Morning Herald on 6th June 2010:
"First out of the blocks in the race to cancel spending was Palmer, who, within days of the tax's announcement on May 2, claimed he was going to scrap exploration plans in South Australia. The problem - as Treasurer Wayne Swan quickly pointed out - was that no one in government seemed to know about the plans. ''Mr Palmer has claimed that he has scrapped a project in South Australia that neither the Federal Resources Department, nor the State Resources Department in South Australia know anything about,'' Swan said. And when it was suggested to the former staffer of Joh Bjelke Petersen that the tax might also disrupt his plans to float his privately owned empire, Palmer changed his tune. ''I don't think so....."

Clive in ABC News yesterday:
"In the heat of the public debate, Queensland billionaire and Liberal National Party (LNP) donor Clive Palmer admits he may have overstated the tax's impact on his projects in Western Australia's Pilbara region.
Mr Palmer owns one of the largest deposits of iron ore in the world, carved out in five separate projects.
The investment for the first development was secured before the super profits tax was announced.
When asked about one project Mr Palmer said was "canned", the chief geologist at Mineralogy, Mark Strizek, said the project was still going ahead.
"All approvals are done and we've also submitted the environmental approvals for the other three or four projects there, so they're all in train," he said.
Mr Palmer says he probably phrased it too strongly.
"It should have been ... slowing them down, waiting to see what happens," he said."

That Clive thinks he can tell any old tall tale is well-known, but what is not as well known is that on his personal brag page at Mineralogy he links to media articles he likes about his bankrolling of WA Lib state election campaign ads, mining expansion plans, accquistions, the sports team and anything else 'Clive' which takes his fancy. Of course what is missing from that webpage is any mention that the economy will go into free fall if the Rudd Government introduces a resources profits tax or that company expansion plans are in anyway on hold - he leaves that nonsense he spouts elsewhere well alone.

LNP `poster-boy' Peter Dutton is a dud

170 LNP preselectors have told Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull his front bencher Peter Dutton is not up to scratch.

Senior Liberal frontbencher Peter Dutton suffered a shock defeat in the preselection battle for the safe Gold Coast federal seat of McPherson.

Despite the strong backing of former prime minister John Howard and current Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, Mr Dutton was rejected in favour of local Karen Andrews.

Dutton, the Opposition health spokesman, now faces an uncertain future, having abandoned his own seat of Dickson when a redistribution made it unwinnable.

Read The Courier Mail's report here.

pic credit: smh.com.au

Turnbull and Joyce: exactly who holds the reins?

Ever since John Howard stirred the possum in a classic piece of political mischief, by encouraging the Queensland Liberal National Party's Senator Barnaby Joyce to consider moving from the federal upper house to the lower house, it has been interesting to watch the bull ants scurry about the disturbed nest.

According to The Australian:
"SENIOR Nationals have hatched a plan to breach the constitution of Queensland's Liberal National Party to ensure that a National takes the Senate spot of Barnaby Joyce if he shifts to the House of Representatives.
The move has shaken the Liberal Party, which is guaranteed the spot under the LNP constitution if it is vacated, and threatens to split the recently formed LNP in the run-up to a state election.
Liberal sources said federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull had told the LNP leadership through intermediaries that the plan was unacceptable to him and to the Liberal Party.
Mr Turnbull declined to comment yesterday."

It's all rather amusing when you consider that Joyce and other Queensland LNP pollies are now members of the Queensland branch of the Liberal Party of Australia and up to six of these MPs have a right to sit in the Liberal Party Room according to Senator Mitch Fifield in his recent Finding Our Way Back speech to the Young Liberals.

Indeed Fifield was quite blunt about the type of dilemma that Turnbull now finds himself in:
"The simple fact is if we are not in Coalition, we can’t win. We won’t win. If we are not in Coalition at the next election we may as well not bother turning up. 1987 is a case in point, where the coalition split caused by the Joh for PM push cost John Howard any chance of victory."

Yep, a divorce at this stage will cost the Libs any chance at either gaining power at this year's Queensland election or the 2010 federal election.
Mal needs to take it like a man, because the Nats appear to have the upper hand for now and they know it.

A new hybrid animal sighted roaming the political neighbourhood

Mal (B)rough has taken his bat and ball onto a plane for home, now that the Queensland Liberals and Nats have created that strangest of political hybrids, the Liberal National Party (LNP).

At it's new website the LNP promises:
"Government that is open and honest;
Government that has plans for the future, not just for the next five years but for the next 50 years;
Government that is caring and empathetic;
Government that is in touch and understands what life is like for Queensland families;
Government that builds for the future today, not just talks about it...
And that is what your new LNP will deliver."

A two-man executive currently musters this mob.
X marks the spot of the Draft Constitution and the lengthy amendments are here.

I think that Bleak's daily cartoon in The Australian has it about right.