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Australian Politics (5 Viewers)

Lentern

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I really warmed to Laurie during the national ALP conference. The night before, I caught the last Western Line train of the night home. I got in and collapsed in my seat, pissed as a newt. I looked ahead of me at the only other person in the carriage - Laurie, looking my inebriated equal.

The first day of conference was, as portrayed on the television news, unexciting. They showed Alan Griffin drifting off, Tanya Plibersek doing sudoku, Maxine McKew reading the paper. What they failed to show was Laurie. He went into the foyer of the convention centre, and went and sat himself down in a chair. Sometimes people went and sat and spoke to him, more often than not he just sat by himself looking lost in thought/hungover. He was in this seat for about two hours, and when Kate Ellis walked by, and everyone's head turned, Laurie was more than happy to join the leering. It was no surprise to me when he later came to Emily's List Drinks.

So a fond farewell to Laurie! He will be missed by all, except people like Lentern who dislike people with a personality getting involved in politics.
There are two things I will never forgive Laurie for. One is all the ranting he did about the evils of boatpeople and the need for them to respect the Australian way. The other is convincing Mark Latham to nominate for the leadership. It was an absolute joke that Michael Hatton got the flick to make room for Jason Clare. Hatton was working tirelessly for multiculturalism and was forever trying to get the republic back on the parties agenda while Laurie sat there looking glum cursing Whitlam for making the ALP all trendy and progressive and thinking fondly of the days of Calwell.
 

Iron

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lolplate Latham.
Apparently as leader he suspected that Rudd was leaking info to Laurie Oakes, so he set a trap and fed Rudd alone some bs polling data which was published by Oakes the next day. Believing that the leak was found, Latham planned to demote Rudd from foreign minister to minister for the south pacific (assuming a Labor win)
 

Lentern

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lolplate Latham.
Apparently as leader he suspected that Rudd was leaking info to Laurie Oakes, so he set a trap and fed Rudd alone some bs polling data which was published by Oakes the next day. Believing that the leak was found, Latham planned to demote Rudd from foreign minister to minister for the south pacific (assuming a Labor win)
Well it's good to know the old conviction politician thought settling scores to be more important than putting the best men in the most important jobs. I can just imagine what a Latham ministry(as opposed to shadow ministry) would look like.
Gillard- Treasurer
Sawford- Foreign Affairs
Ferguson-Defence
Carr-Education
Fitzgibbon- Health


Oh well, with Quick, Sawford, Ferguson, Latham and Fitzgibbon all finished there are only a few of them left now.
 

Iron

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lol wild storm and parliament blackout during qs on climate change. That shit was nuts
 

Iron

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Who watched 7:30 report last night? I only saw highlights, and malcolm got has ass handed to him.

I feel the end is near.

edit: available here The 7.30 Report - ABC
Omg that was amazing. Seriously, this country will collapse when Kerry retires.
Cant believe Turnbull at the end! Never seen him so close to esploding, or caught. The last kick-arse interview Kerry has done like that was with Nelson a few days before he was dumped. I agree that Turnbull's days are numbered!
 

AlleyCat

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Who watched 7:30 report last night? I only saw highlights, and malcolm got has ass handed to him.

I feel the end is near.

edit: available here The 7.30 Report - ABC
i watched it.
he was being unresponsive and hostile and then threatened to end the interview if o'brien didnt stop asking about grech being a liberal mole.

i used to like him, actually.
his days are numbered imho.
 

Iron

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yeah that's the first time i've seen the armour come off Turnbull. I'm jaded.
 

Lentern

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Omg that was amazing. Seriously, this country will collapse when Kerry retires.
Cant believe Turnbull at the end! Never seen him so close to esploding, or caught. The last kick-arse interview Kerry has done like that was with Nelson a few days before he was dumped. I agree that Turnbull's days are numbered!
Well it took you long enough but I'm glad you've finally come around. Would you care to finally care to admit that high flyer personality spells death for a leader of the opposition?

 

Iron

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Worked for Hawke and Whitlam...
 

Lentern

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Worked for Hawke and Whitlam...
Whitlam lost more elections than he won and the liberals were eating their young by 1972. Hawke was only leader for a month before the election and with all the Hayden having done all the hard yards allready all he needed to do was avoid getting drunk for six weeks and the election was his. A drovers dog could have won that election dont ya know.
 

Iron

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Yeah but as soon as you start making exceptions like that, your theory becomes pretty useless.
This is how I lost passion for politics. There's no value in precedent; it's a pointless thing to study because the knowledge can seldom ever be applied with any use in the profession.


History is much more sensible. Just one fucking thing after another
 

Lentern

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Yeah but as soon as you start making exceptions like that, your theory becomes pretty useless.
This is how I lost passion for politics. There's no value in precedent; it's a pointless thing to study because the knowledge can seldom ever be applied with any use in the profession.


History is much more sensible. Just one fucking thing after another
The formula is probably too complex for any of us to figure out but it must surely exist. Take for instance the reason we instinctively know that Bill Heffernan(were he a lower house mp) could never ever win a general election against a sitting prime minister.

Personality I said before more in response to Spiny's comment. I more think that if a politician in opposition comes across as someone whose instincts tend to get the better of their conscious thought they will not be trusted. But obviously that is just the first line of a very complex formula.

By the way I actually think very highly of Turnbull, his initial period as opposition leader was just brilliant. Considerate, strong,conscientious(apparently), distinguished, composed,genial, unrivalled verbal dexterity... He was just leader at the wrong time and now his inability to make ground in the polls is forcing him to veer off course when he was allready on course. The only other figureI believe that might be a more balanced, complete package politics wise is Blair.
 
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spiny norman

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Whitlam lost more elections than he won and the liberals were eating their young by 1972.
As Opposition Leader 1967-1972, even Gerard Henderson acknowledges that Whitlam was brilliant. The 1969 election saw him bring Labor back from having been thrashed in 1966 to just off winning, and the 1972 election still lives on in Australian folklore as no other election does. Whitlam was an incredibly successful Opposition Leader (and given his standing had been too tarnished in the 1975 and 1977 elections, I don't think you can really count either of those).

Your theory's bullshit. The failures of Hewson, Downer, Latham and Turnbull are each incomparable (Hewson and Latham were both quite successful until election week, Turnbull was successful for a couple of months and Downer was successful for a couple of minutes). Nelson, Beazley, Crean, Peacock etc were all unsuccessful Opposition Leaders too, you know.
 

Lentern

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As Opposition Leader 1967-1972, even Gerard Henderson acknowledges that Whitlam was brilliant. The 1969 election saw him bring Labor back from having been thrashed in 1966 to just off winning, and the 1972 election still lives on in Australian folklore as no other election does. Whitlam was an incredibly successful Opposition Leader (and given his standing had been too tarnished in the 1975 and 1977 elections, I don't think you can really count either of those).

Your theory's bullshit. The failures of Hewson, Downer, Latham and Turnbull are each incomparable (Hewson and Latham were both quite successful until election week, Turnbull was successful for a couple of months and Downer was successful for a couple of minutes). Nelson, Beazley, Crean, Peacock etc were all unsuccessful Opposition Leaders too, you know.
If I write out a genuine response are you actually going to read it or just fire back with some moe passionate pie in the sky views about the wonderful inspiration world of Australian politics?
 

S.H.O.D.A.N.

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If I write out a genuine response are you actually going to read it or just fire back with some moe passionate pie in the sky views about the wonderful inspiration world of Australian politics?
No, please do write out your response - instead of mild ad hominem diversions.
 

spiny norman

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If I write out a genuine response are you actually going to read it or just fire back with some moe passionate pie in the sky views about the wonderful inspiration world of Australian politics?
I always read your responses, they just all kind of meld into one big "Blah blah Latham sucks blah blah so does Hewson blah blah bet you like Bronwyn Bishop/Laurie Ferguson blah blah bet you buy into that 'Howard was a conviction politician thing' blah blah Nelson was unfortunate".

Surprise me, Lentern, why don't you start praising someone who's not nauseatingly middle of the road mediocre and start rousing for somebody who actually does make people feel passionate about. And it's not a terrible thing to support someone based on their ideological similarities with you.
 

Rafy

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Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill 2009
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009
Australian Climate Change Regulatory Authority Bill 2009
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Charges—Customs) Bill 2009
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Charges—Excise) Bill 2009
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Charges—General) Bill 2009
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS Fuel Credits) Bill 2009
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS Fuel Credits) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009
Excise Tariff Amendment (Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme) Bill 2009
Customs Tariff Amendment (Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme) Bill 2009
Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Amendment (Household Assistance) Bill 2009

Negatived at second reading Senate divided: Ayes 30; Noes 42
 

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Alcopops bill passed sad face



Heff gives Wong's ETS bill the bird

Controversial NSW Liberal Senator, Bill Heffernan, has been caught on camera making obscene finger gestures towards Labor Senators during heated debate on the emissions trading scheme during today's question time in the Senate.
While on camera the gesture appeared targeted at Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong - who had the call - Senator Heffernan says the "obscene message" was meant for Labor backbencher and chair of the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee, Glenn Sterle, to which he later apologised.

Earlier today all non-Government Senators voted down Labor's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in the Senate.

But the defeat of the legislation did not quell the debate, which was off to a feisty start when Senator Wong confirmed the Government would bring the bill back before the end of the year.

Deputy Liberal leader in the Senate, Eric Abetz, kicked off questions by asking Senator Wong: "Now that the Minister's flawed and rushed emissions trading scheme has been defeated, will the government give a commitment that this legislation will not be reintroduced before the UN climate change meeting at Copenhagen in December?"

Senator Wong used the question to "remind" Senator Abetz of Labor's commitment to a scheme and their pledge to have a deal on the table at the Copenhagen meeting.

"We will bring this back. We will bring this legislation back because, whilst those on the other side want to continue to deny that climate change is real and continue to be divided on this issue, we are firm in our resolve to do the right thing, to do what we told Australians before the last election we would do and to pass this legislation.

"I remind those opposite what happened here today. One of the major political parties kept its election commitment. Labor Senators voted to reduce Australia’s carbon pollution under a cap-and-trade scheme."

This was where Senator Heffernan's middle finger appeared, triggering uproar within the Upper House.

Labor Senate leader, Chris Evans, called for an apology for shouting "rudely and aggressively" at Senator Wong before making the "obscene gesture".

"I apologise to Senator Sterle," Senator Heffernan said.

"He knows I was sending him an obscene message."

Senator Evans responded: "Rubbish! Apologise."

Senator Heffernan later told Rural Press that emotions were running high over the government's emissions trading bill because the Government had "no understanding of agriculture or the impacts of the scheme on farmers".

"Nor does it appear interested," he added.
Heff gives Wong's ETS bill the bird - National Rural News - Agribusiness and General - Political - Farm Weekly

lol Heffernan. Flips off senators, doesn't give a fuck.
 

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