NSW Liberal Chiefs quit- party in turmoil (1 Viewer)

[Ubik]

NSW Liberal chiefs quit

The New South Wales Liberal Party has been thrown into turmoil with the resignation of its president, vice-president and treasurer.


Branch president Geoff Selig, vice-president Rhondda Vanzella and treasurer Robert Webster informed colleagues today of their decision.
Mr Selig had been pushing for reforms to the party, after controversy over the pre-selection of right-wing candidate Michael Towke to the federal Sydney seat of Cook.
Mr Towke was disqualified in a fierce factional fight after being accused of branch-stacking and misleading preselectors by falsifying his credentials. He was later cleared.
It is believed Mr Selig quit after a dispute with right-wing office bearers over his plans to abolish the power of factions to control branches and block members.
Under his plans, all voting power would be removed from the branches and the state director would be given the authority to refuse new members.
Analysts say Mr Selig, Ms Vanzella and Mr Webster have been increasingly marginalised in the heavily-divided NSW Liberal Party.
They say the trio has faced stiff opposition from the party's far Right, which is led by Upper House MP David Clarke, over a number of issues, in particular Mr Selig's anti-branch-stacking reforms.
Analysts have suggested the three have quit to bring matters to a head.
Their resignations will take effect after this Saturday's meeting of the party's state council.
It is expected that one of the two remaining senior office bearers - Scot Macdonald or Nicholas Campbell - will be appointed as acting president within 24 hours.
The move comes two weeks after a new state director, Mark Neeham, was appointed to the party to replace Graeme Jaeschke, who had quit five months earlier.
Mr Neeham was previously the party's state director in Western Australia.
Analysts say the NSW Liberals regard him as a circuit breaker because he is an outsider, though some members object to the prospect of change.
The Liberals' factional disputes created headlines in March, when Mr Towke's succesful replacement in the contest for Cook, Scott Morrison, was denied membership by a right-wing branch in his own electorate.
Days later, the daughter of right-wing state Liberal MP Michael Richardson was refused membership of the Hills Valley branch in his Sydney electorate.

State liberals fuck themselves again.

 

[chicky_pie]

What is it with all these Labor loving trolls making threads tonight?

 

[TacoTerrorist]

^ Yeah all the Liberal kiddies don't stay up past 9.

 

[Ubik]

What is it with all these Labor loving trolls making threads tonight?

Just restoring the balance.

Edit: Hate labor, but this is an actual story unlike the other thread.

 

[loz8888]

hhahah lol, we just like to discuss the seemingly never ending faults with the opposition

 

[Muz4PM]

hhahah lol, we just like to discuss the seemingly never ending faults with the opposition

I guess it would come as a welcome relief after looking at the many faults of the government.

 

[chicky_pie]

hhahah lol, we just like to discuss the seemingly never ending faults with the opposition

I can't believe you're defending Morris DIEmma where state Labor have been in power for longer than Federal Liberal government did and had made NSW a shithole it is now, with education, hospital, shityrail and etc.. btw you ever catch a morning train to Uni or w/e and have the train stopping in the middle of nowhere because some fucking train in front of you stopped working and you're there for 30 minutes stuck in the middle of nowhere?

 

[loz8888]

I guess it would come as a welcome relief after looking at the many faults of the government.

um no not really. i mean, rudds only been in government for 6 months - he hasnt even had a chance to catch up to the 13 years of shit by howard

 

[Muz4PM]

um no not really. i mean, rudds only been in government for 6 months - he hasnt even had a chance to catch up to the 13 years of shit by howard

Maybe given this was a thread focusing primarily on state politics, the comment I made was in reference to the woeful record of the Iemma government.

 

[loz8888]

I can't believe you're defending Morris DIEmma where state Labor have been in power for longer than Federal Liberal government did and had made NSW a shithole it is now, with education, hospital, shityrail and etc.. btw you ever catch a morning train to Uni or w/e and have the train stopping in the middle of nowhere because some fucking train in front of you stopped working and you're there for 30 minutes stuck in the middle of nowhere?

actually no, im not defending iemma - i think he's a fool and ought to be out of power immediately. however, there is no descent opposition at the moment. i dont no who would be better?!! neither, i think.
Iemma and his gov are just laughable - they've done shitall. dont worry, i dont just blindly follow him cos he's labor . i think hes a tool
and yes, i have caught a train in the morning and night - i used to catch it home from school everyday and constantly experienced stuff up. i hate the train system in sydney

 

[incentivation]

Paul Keating as your avatar. Says it all really..

As for this notion of a 'lack of Opposition' in NSW, that is an absurd myth perpetuated by the distinct lack of media attention given to state politics and indeed, the state Opposition. If the media had the love affair with O'Farrell that it had with Rudd, he would be virtually unbeatable.

As for the '13 years of shit', please elaborate. I mean, it was by no means a perfect government, no government ever is. However it seems that since the election loss, the media and government alike have worked fairly hard to rewrite the political, social and economic outcomes of last 12 years.

 

[loz8888]

Paul Keating as your avatar. Says it all really..

As for this notion of a 'lack of Opposition' in NSW, that is an absurd myth perpetuated by the distinct lack of media attention given to state politics and indeed, the state Opposition. If the media had the love affair with O'Farrell that it had with Rudd, he would be virtually unbeatable.

As for the '13 years of shit', please elaborate. I mean, it was by no means a perfect government, no government ever is. However it seems that since the election loss, the media and government alike have worked fairly hard to rewrite the political, social and economic outcomes of last 12 years.

yes, you're right - it does say it all. he saw howard for the true piece of crap that he really was:

He's like a lizard on a rock, alive but looking dead
* A desiccated coconut
* What we have got is a dead carcass, swinging in the breeze, but nobody will cut it down to replace him.
* ...the brain-damaged Leader of the Opposition...
* But I will never get to the stage of wanting to lead the nation standing in front of the mirror each morning clipping the eyebrows here and clipping the eyebrows there with Janette and the kids: It’s like ‘Spot the eyebrows’.
* From this day onwards, Howard will wear his leadership like a crown of thorns, and in the parliament I’ll do everything to crucify him (speaking of his 1986 leadership)


in terms of the 13 years of shit, John Howard did shit-all for this country.

He did nothing for the Aborigines - refused to apologise for the actions of our ancestors or acknowledge their wrong doing

oh, and what about the countless lies

John Howard Lie #2

"Medicare will be retained in its entirety."
John Howard, February 1996
The Truth:

The Howard Government abolished the dental plan and bulk billing rates have declined by more than 12 percentage points since the Coalition took office in 1996.
John Howard Lie #3

During the 2001 Federal election campaign John Howard promised that his Government's policies would "lead to reduced premiums" for health insurance.
"Heading in the Right Direction", p151
The Truth:

Since the election in 2001, the Government has approved increases in premiums totalling 21 per cent.
Education

John Howard Lie #4

"I can guarantee we're not going to have $100,000 university degree courses."
John Howard, interview with Neil Mitchell on Radio 3AW, 15 October 1999
The Truth:

16 different degrees now cost at least $100,000.
John Howard Lie #5

"We have no intention of introducing a loans scheme with a real or indeed any other rate of interest."
John Howard, in Parliament, 18 October 1999
The Truth:

"Debts accrued under FEE-HELP will be indexed to the consumer price index . . . A loan fee of 20 per cent will apply to FEE-HELP loans for undergraduate courses of study only."
Higher Education Loan Programme, Department of Education, Science and Training Update, March 2004
John Howard Lie #6

"Well, it means that we'll not have deregulated fees. In other words, the Government will always maintain a control over what the level of the fee is." John Howard, interview on Radio 3AW, 15 October 1999
The Truth:

"We do need more money in our universities . . . and some of it should come outside the budget through a managed and sensible deregulation of the system." John Howard in Parliament, 16 September 2003
The GST, Other Taxes and Red Tape

John Howard Lie #7

John Howard: "No, there's no way that a GSTwill ever be part of our policy."
Journalist: "Never ever?"
John Howard: "Never ever. It's dead. It was killed by the voters in the last election".
John Howard, interview, Tweed Heads Civic Centre, 2 May 1995
The Truth:

"The bills before the House will enact a broad based goods and services tax that will be levied at 10 per cent and will start in July 2000."
Peter Costello, Treasurer, A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax Bill), Second Reading Speech, 2 December 1998
John Howard Lie #8

"The GST will not increase the price of petrol for the ordinary motorist . . ."
John Howard, Address to the Nation on the Tax Plan, 13 August 1998
The Truth:

The price of automotive fuel rose 10.4 per cent in the September quarter following the introduction of the GSTon 1 July 2000, and was 23.6 per cent higher than at the same time the previous year.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, ABS@, Time Series Spreadsheets, Consumer Price Index 6401.0
John Howard Lie #9

"There'll be no more than a 1.9% rise in ordinary beer."
John Howard, John Laws Program, 23 September 1998
The Truth:

The price of beer rose 4.8 per cent in the September quarter following the introduction of the GSTon 1 July 2000, and was 8.5 per cent higher than the same time the previous year.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, ABS@, Time Series Spreadsheets, Consumer Price Index 6401.0
John Howard Lie #10

Journalist: "Will the number of pages in the Tax Act be reduced by the introduction of a GST? "
Prime Minister: "Yes it will".
John Howard, interview Alan Jones Radio 2UE, 14 August 1998
The Truth:

". . . the Tax Act has grown from 3,000 to over 9,000 pages and an additional 2.5 million words have been inserted into the Tax Act, since 1 July 2000. Apart from these overwhelming changes foisted onto small businesses, we now have over 2 million businesses registered under the GST, compared to less than 17,000 under the former sales tax regime."
National Tax & Accountants' Association, 15 August 2002
John Howard Lie #11

Kerry O'Brien: "Okay. the pledge of no new taxes, no increase in existing taxes for the life of the next parliament. So for the next three years, not even a one cent increase on cigarettes or beer or wine or petrol, no other indirect tax increase, no tax increase of any kind?" John Howard: "That promise is quite explicit".
John Howard, ABC 7:30 Report, 1 February 1996
The Truth:

By 30 September 2002, John Howard's Government had introduced legislation for 130 new taxes or tax increases during its terms of office.
"Bills which imposed a new tax or increased an existing tax introduced during the 38th to 40th Parliaments", Clerk of the Senate, 30 October 2002
Meetings with the Ethanol Industry

John Howard Lie #12

Labor MP question to the Prime Minister: "Prime Minister, was the government contacted by the major Australian producer of ethanol or by any representative of his company or the Industry Association before its decision to impose fuel excise on ethanol?"

John Howard: "Speaking for myself, I did not personally have any discussions, from recollection, with any of them."
John Howard, Question Time, 17 September 2002
The Truth:

John Howard had met on 1 August the head of Manildra Group [Dick Honan], which makes 87 per cent of our ethanol, and they discussed how to help the Australian ethanol industry.
Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Official Record of Meeting, 1 August 2002
Aged Care and the Pension Clawback

John Howard Lie #13

Interviewer: "Well, if the Budget's in such good shape why persist with things like the pension claw back . . ."
John Howard: "No, no . . . because Glenn there is no clawback. And what happened with those things is that they were paid in advance and we're not taking them back, we're just avoiding paying them twice . . ."
John Howard, interview with Glenn Milne, Sunday Sunrise, 4 March 2001
John Howard Lie #14

"There has been no clawback, there has been no deduction and there has been no deceit".
John Howard, Parliament, 5 March 2001
The Truth:

"The indexation adjustments to pensions and adult allowance rates for 20 March 2001 will have the additional issue of clawback . . . Two per cent of the existing rate will be deducted from the normal CPI adjustment . . ."
Department of Family and Community Services, internal briefing paper, quoted in Parliament, 5 March 2001
The Current Account Deficit

John Howard Lie #15

"I can promise you that we will follow policies which will, over a period of time, bring down the foreign debt . . . our first priority in Government economically will be to tackle the current account deficit."
John Howard, Doorstop interview, Debt Truck Launch, 20 September 1995
The Truth:

Foreign debt was $361 billion at the end of September 2003, an increase of 90 per cent on the September 1995 level. The current account deficit was $11.9 billion at the end of September 2003, an increase of 112.5 per cent on the September 1995 level.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, ABS@, Time Series Spreadsheets (Balance of Payments and Investment Position, Australia 5302.0, Reserve Bank of Australia (H) Bulletin, Current Account)
Labour Market Programs

John Howard Lie #16

"Well, we're certainly going to maintain the existing level of funding for labour market programs".
John Howard, Address to Youth, Macgregor, 20 February 1996
The Truth:

Kerry O'Brien: "Okay. But on 20 February, you said very clearly 'We are certainly going to maintain the existing level of funding for labour market programs'. Now, for all the people on those labour market programs, I would suggest it to them that would have been a pretty core promise and you've broken it."
John Howard: "Well, it is true that we are not spending as much money on labour market programs".
John Howard, interview on ABC 7:30 Report, 21 August 1996
Services for the Bush

John Howard Lie #17

"I don't want to see any further services, government service levels withdrawn from or taken away from the bush . . . I gave instructions for that this morning when I spoke to my office in Canberra, that in any future Government decisions that, in effect, a red light flashes if that Government decision involves a reduction in the delivery of an existing Commonwealth service."
John Howard, Nyngan Community Luncheon, 31 January 2000
The Truth:

The Howard Government reduced the number of Job Network sites by 42 per cent, from 1710 to 986, and the number of outreach services by 65 per cent, from 404 to 140."
Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Employment Services Contract 2003-2006, Aggregate Analysis, March 2003
Job Network Conditional Offers, Aggregate Analysis, December 1999
Children Overboard

John Howard Lie #18

"The Government's position remains that we were advised by Defence that children were thrown overboard, we made those allegations on the basis of that advice, and until I get Defence advice to the contrary I will maintain that position".
John Howard, Sunrise, Channel 7, 9 November 2001
The Truth:

"I left him in no doubt that there was no evidence, that there were no children thrown overboard."
Mike Scrafton, ABC 7:30 Report, 16 August 2004



And along with all of this, Howard was given a great opportunity to to something with the 13 years of economic boom he was handed on a plate..what did he do? Nothing! At least Keating and Whitlam seized their time in power, putting forward what seemed at the time to be radical policies, but turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to this country

 

[incentivation]

If I wanted that spiel I could've gone to the ALP website myself.

The only point those quotes identify is that they're covered in party political spin. (particularly that relating to full fee paying unviersity costs/loans)

I see nothing there that remotely indicates the Howard Government was 'shit' or failed. Each highlights the fact that governments create spin, aren't always true to their word and will attempt to push an ideological agenda in many instances. Surprise Surprise, thats politics.

And on Keating. A late convert to the economic approach of Hawke, and of course would proceeded to take credit for such policies as treasurer (and rightfully so to an extent). A one hit wonder as Prime Minister who was filled with so much hatred and loathing for a man who exceeded his own political sucess..

 

[kokodamonkey]

No one liked Geoff Selig so its no big deal.

 

[incentivation]

Liberals' crisis call for Chika


Article from: [URL="http://www.news.com.au/images/sources/h14_dailytelegraph.gif"]http://www.news.com.au/images/sources/h14_dailytelegraph.gif</IMG>[/URL]

By Simon Benson
May 29, 2008 12:00am

FORMER NSW Liberal leader Kerry Chikarovski is being lobbied to re-enter politics and take over as Liberal state president following the spectacular collapse of the party's hierarchy yesterday.
A senior Federal Liberal MP yesterday confirmed formal approaches would be made to Ms Chikarovski, as party leaders scrambled to limit the fallout from the shock surrender of the party's president Geoff Selig to right-wing elements in the NSW branch.
The party was thrust into turmoil with the sudden mass resignation of Mr Selig, vice president Rhondda Vanzella and treasurer Robert Webster two days before the party's state council was due to meet. They are believed to have resigned in protest over the refusal by the party to adopt their proposed anti-branch stacking reforms.
Federal Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson and State Opposition Leader Barry O'Farrell held crisis talks yesterday after a group resignation letter was emailed to party head office in William St. They were both privately infuriated with Mr Selig's timing.
The resignations of the party's top three internal office holders are a disaster for Mr Nelson, who had only this week begun to restore support within his own party room following last week's internal struggle with leadership hopeful Malcolm Turnbull.
It is believed Mr Selig, who has been pushing for reforms to the party's constitution in the wake of a string of pre-selection disasters - such as the battle over the seat of Cook prior to the last federal election in which candidate Michael Towke was dumped - has been blocked by the party's right-wing bosses.
The party's executive is stacked with right-wing members who believed Mr Selig's reforms went too far.
Member for Cook Scott Morrison - a former NSW state director - said he was disappointed that Mr Selig had jumped ship early.
"As party president you have a duty to see it through," he said.
Sources said the party would let Mr Selig go but would fight to get Mr Webster, a former NSW minister, to change his mind.
One senior Liberal said Mr Selig "was out on his own" with his planned reforms which sought to abolish the power of factions to control branches.

Under Mr Selig's radical proposal, power was to be vested in the state director to be able to refuse new members.
Mr Selig tried to hose down the claims that his resignation was timed to exact damage and that it was in response to not getting his way with reforms.
It is expected that either regional and rural vice president Scott Macdonald or urban vice president Nicholas Campbell would take over as acting president.
Mr O'Farrell said: "I thank Geoff Selig for his service to the NSW Division of the Liberal Party."

Not exactly re-entering state politics as stated, but greater involvement by those well versed in the political process can't necessarily be a bad thing.

 

[Stevo.]

ITT: Libfags BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWW