Apr 21 2008
Newspoll: 61-39
The latest Newspoll shows an increase in Labor’s federal two-party lead to 61-39 from 59-41 a fortnight ago. Kevin Rudd’s lead over Brendan Nelson as preferred prime minister has narrowed marginally from 73-9 to 71-10. No word yet on the Liberal leadership preference questions which Newspoll was apparently asking respondents over the weekend (see the update on the previous Morgan post).
UPDATE: Graphic now available. The favoured Liberal leader is Malcolm Turnbull (25 per cent) ahead of Peter Costello (23 per cent), Brendan Nelson (15 per cent), Julie Bishop (13 per cent) and Tony Abbott (6 per cent). Support for the three proposed leadership teams (Nelson/Bishop, Turnbull/Robb, Costello/Turnbull) divided about evenly, while Turnbull leads Wayne Swan as “preferred Treasurer” 35 per cent to 29 per cent. In spite of everything, Brendan Nelson’s satisfaction rating is a presentable 38 per cent.
April 28th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
BB, save yourself an ulcer, Follow your own advice. Ignore.
April 28th, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Bushfire Bill @#400
If those creeps at Pies’ blog had their way there would never be a change of government. The mere talk of it would bring stern censure, if not a dawn visit from thugs wearing brown shirts.
April 28th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Pies is irrelevant to everybody except those that hate everything except Howard and, he is a joke among his own kind.
He clings to his dark corner of the spider web stewing in his own bitter and putrid bile. The more irrelevant a person becomes the more vicious their attempts - Pies is probably on the verge of being retired as even the demographic he appeals to is getting smaller and smaller.
April 28th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Piers gets a tremendous amount of responses to his topics and does not (recently) censor the replies.
It was the non censorship approach that increased the traffic by about a factor of nine on his blog which saw the entries and popularity increase.
You may not like him, but he is not irrelevant, especially if things get tougher.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Out of 30 posts I have made on his last two blogs two, TWO have made it.
He is censoring.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
In fact this last blog of his one of the right whingers who post there said “It seems like the Rudd defenders have retreated” Nope just being censored.
April 28th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
I have tried to make about 6 comments on Piers blog over the last year or so. All of them critical of his position. None of them remotely offensive or inappropriate, especially not compared the stuff from his hardcore supporters that got through.
Not one of my comments got published, and I have heard way too many similar stories from those making critical comments of him.
He has a very thin and hypocritical skin and censors heavily. No doubt about that.
Just like Bolt, Blair, etc.
Circle jerks.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Re 405, 406. 407 do we need a site where comments that have been rejected. by Piers can be posted?
April 28th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
We already have The Blair/Bolt Watch Project site, may be we need an Akerman Watch site. Trouble is it might make him well known.
April 28th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Hmmm be nice to let people know only some messages get through, easy too, just compose me in Notepad or Stickies and posting twice.
Been trying to get this posted:
“In relation to the Heiner case, the State Archivist has stated unequivocally that her assessment of the records did not reveal to her the existence of any inmate abuse allegations.
http://www.archivists.org.au/asa-position-statement-heiner-affair“
April 28th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
I think there was an Ackerman Watch site a while ago, and it is in the web archives somewhere. But it died from lack of interest, he just isn’t that important.
The best thing to do is just ignore him and let him disappear up his own sad irrelevance. He is beyond redemption.
April 29th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Darryl Mason has a very good blog where he keeps an eye on Fatterman, the Dolt, etc.
http://theorstrahyun.blogspot.com/
Piers Akerman
http://theorstrahyun.blogspot.com/search/label/Piers%20Akerman
Andrew Bolt
http://theorstrahyun.blogspot.com/search/label/Andrew%20Bolt
April 29th, 2008 at 12:04 am
http://www.byronbayinstitute.net/StoogeWatch/PiersAkerman.html
April 29th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Please don’t laugh, this is serious.
Apparently WA Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, the Right Honourable Troy Buswell, he of bra strap twanging fame, reknown tippler, and sometime wearer of viking helmets, has added a new dimension to his stellar reputation as a lad about town and bon viveur.
His latest alleged exploit puts a new perspective on Mr Latham’s description of John Howard as an arse licker, and opens up a vast opportunity for some wag to coin a new epithet, challenging even Mr. Latham’s descent into the depth of vulgar phrasiology.
You see, the Honourable Member has been accused of publicly sniffing the recently vacated and still warm seat of an Honourable Liberal Memberette, much to the consternation of some, if not all, of those present.
The mind boggles, but at least we can take some solace from the fact that it is not alleged he was drunk at the time…
April 29th, 2008 at 12:20 am
Thanks for the link 413Thomarse. I think we can see why they gave Piers the flick.
“We are a left wing think tank originally formed to see the end of John Howard. Mission accomplished. Obviously there were many punters out there who were thinking along the same lines. Congratulations to Australia! We may now resume normal transmission.”
April 29th, 2008 at 12:38 am
Pies is irrelevant and I wonder just how long they will keep him. His obsession with nonsense, ignorance and plain old bitterness are just a little too far out. He is that sort of unpleasant uncle they keep locked away in a little dark room in one of the highest towers of a castle, only accessed by one narrow stone stair case. Maybe he escaped from a 1930s black and white movie.
April 29th, 2008 at 12:43 am
This should make some of the worriers feel a little more relaxed.
Budget to commit $13bn to water projects
Federal Water Minister Penny Wong says next fortnight’s budget will contain plans to spend just under $13 billion on water projects over the next 10 years.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/29/2229747.htm?section=justin
April 29th, 2008 at 1:26 am
My booboo, it wasn’t a memberette’s seat, it was a staffers. And, as Mr Buswell himself says he isn’t going to comment on unsustatiated, anonymous rumours (even to deny them), we’ll have to wait and see what futher transpires …..
See the video on the West’s webpage.
April 29th, 2008 at 1:40 am
Fulvio,
Ch 9 Perth’s midnight rplay of the 6pm News is on shortly so we’ll see which of the two stories between Sniffwell and Burke’s latest email “scandal” gets more coverage.
I note the Sniffwell story was leaked by people inside the Liberal Party itself - it seems they are still not happy about him being elected leader.
April 29th, 2008 at 9:52 am
It looks like the state pres of the Fiberal Party isn’t denying the report - in fact he has basically confirmed its correctness if this quote is accurate:
“It’s not appropriate behaviour we’ve been through this before with bra strapping and it’s all over, it’s all finished.
“I mean I’ve seen people especially in my life with the Victory Life church they change daily you know.
“You see different people emerge and I’m sure in this case Troy’s realised the error of the ways and has certainly indicated to me that he’s changed.”
I’m not sure what the second paragraph means - it might be intended to suggest repentance.
All I can say is that the WA Fibs must be totally bereft of genuine talent if people like Buswell can rise to the top.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/28/2228870.htm
April 29th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Col. Moe Davis, the former chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo military tribunals admits the whole process is “tainted by political influence and evidence obtained through prisoner abuse.”
He also says this about David Hicks:
Davis testified that he had “inherited” the Hicks case from a previous prosecutor and would not otherwise have charged him because he wanted to focus on cases serious enough to merit 20 years in prison. The Hicks case did not meet that test, he said.
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/n4l282271-guantanamo-hearings/
Meanwhile the real war criminals and corruption facilitators not only remain free but continue to be media ‘darlings’
April 29th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Just got an email from Pies
“Your inability to supply factual material renders your submissions unpublishable.”
Ummm I replied, you just don’t like the facts I supply.
So one rule (’factual evidence’–that Pies is comfortable with) for the lefties and another (spew bile & venom & hatred and be as Off Topic as you like for the right whingers)
I will send a complaint to the Daily Terror and to the Press Council.
April 29th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Speaking of talent and integrity, Gary Clark, husband of former MP Jacki Kelly and one of those charged with distributing the fake leaflets in the last election campaign, has just pleaded not guilty in court. It was just a harmless prank after all?
April 29th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Andrew Bolt on Troy Buswell.
April 29th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Some of those posters have no clue
Attending a Strip Club is slightly different to snapping bra straps and sniffing female body odour.
April 29th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
For once I agree with Bolt. This repugnant individual (Buswell) should now take a long walk off of a short plank and allow the party to try and recover some degree of respectability with the WA public.
April 29th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
422 Thomarse - keep at them Thomarse.
April 29th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
[For once I agree with Bolt. This repugnant individual (Buswell) should now take a long walk off of a short plank and allow the party to try and recover some degree of respectability with the WA public.]
But who will they replace him with - Rob Johnston, who almost had the numbers is a loose cannon and is known to have an obsession with people having sex with animals, amongst other things.
April 29th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
#423 Socrates, the following report has Kelly’s husband pleading guilty …
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=145&ContentID=70370
Thomarse #422, good on ya, keep fighting the good fight against the hateful fatterman.
April 29th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Re #429: Sorry, not Kelly’s husband; Chijoff’s husband…
April 29th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Sniffwell puts on the tears, but won’t resign. If he did this in the Private Sector he would be up for Sexual Harrassment and be sacked from his job.
[TROUBLED Opposition leader Troy Buswell has broken down in tears during a media conference over the chair sniffing scandal, admitting his behaviour “was unacceptable”
Mr Buswell had to compose himself before telling the media in Mandurah this morning that his behaviour had been unacceptable.
“I acknowledge that my behaviour in late 2005 in relation to this matter was unacceptable,’’ Mr Buswell said.
“The issues of last October caused me to take stock well before they were made public and I’ve attempted personally to draw a line in the sand.
” I had the support of my colleagues at the leadership change. I have the support of my colleagues today — we are collectively focused on moving forward.
“These have been difficult issues for me to deal with and very difficult issues for my family to deal with.
“In taking stock I believe I have put in stock changes to my behaviour and my character to enable me to genuinely move forward.”
Mr Buswell said his leadership would not be discussed at the next party meeting.
Clearly upset at the effect the incident had on his family, he said: “She’s (Buswell’s wife) very understanding and very supportive of me in attempting to change my behaviour.” ]
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,23615760-948,00.html
April 29th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
So we’re responsible for paying for his life while he ‘rehabilitates himself…maybe’.
I would have thought being a decent human being would have been one of the core criteria of his job.
To coin the Big Brother catch phrase - ‘I don’t think so’
In the real world this would be labelled as a clear case of over promotion ans gross misconduct.
If he worked for a reasonable organisation he’d be given the opportunity to resign. Otherwise it would have been the usual treatment: a senior member of the organisation would have accompanied him to his desk, logged the items he chose to remove, and escorted him from the building.
It’s no wonder the general public has dwindling respect for politicians. I like the way he’s managed to drag his colleagues down with him by claiming their support. If it’s actually true then they all deserve a ‘fresh start’ somewhere else.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Can you imagine the response of the right wing blog masters if this had been a Labor man going through this humiliation? They wouldn’t be showing any mercy. Hell they went haywire over Rudd supposedly eating his earwax.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
[Can you imagine the response of the right wing blog masters if this had been a Labor man going through this humiliation? They wouldn’t be showing any mercy.]
They’d want him sacked yesterday and be kicked out of the party followed by criminal charges being laid, hopefully resulting in Gaol time - and being placed on the Sex Offenders Register
April 29th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
meh!.. sniffing chairs is sooo 2005
April 29th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Does Buswell have a screw lose? Why on earth would you do such a thing if you’re a public figure? Are the WA Liberals that short on talent that he is the best their got? I’m puzzled….. but then again they do things differently in the West.
April 29th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Thomarse, thanks for the link to the Byron Bay Institute, some great articles by one of my favourite writers, Mungo. Have bookmarked, a gem!
April 29th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Hmm, there are reports that Matt Birney may be asked to be leader AGAIN !!!
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/comments/0,21590,23618493-948,00.html
April 29th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Can someone tell me what the ALP was thinking when they choose their candidate for Gippsland? I can understand standing a candidate who has just joined the party if they are good, but after seeing their candidate on the 7.30 Report, I can’t see why this seemed like a good idea in this case. His major platform is independence of local government, so I am not sure how he’ll cope with the party rules.
April 29th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
If the Labor members of East Gippsland had any sense they would should not help him during the election and on election day. Why should they when their views are not being heard.
April 29th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Frank
Great comment on the Birney story that Butwell was looking for a new seat.
April 29th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Speaking of Buswell, it was only last week that the WA Liberals started running these ads.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RvKJ3NTDrhA
April 29th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
B. S. Fairman. I personally cannot comprehend how a political party of any persuasion, can allow some one like this to survive, let alone go on leading a major party.
April 29th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
436
B.S. Fairman Says:
April 29th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Does Buswell have a screw lose?.
…..
He is, amazingly, the best of the bunch. It’s as if he’s the guest in a Seinfeld episode: “Just one Sniff”.
They are not much good for much, but at least we get a laugh from them!
April 29th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
WA Labor should be able to sniff out a good story. This story really is on the nose. The guy will be the butt of many jokes. I wonder how safe his own seat is!
April 29th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
437
Basil Fawlty
No probs! I had a fascinating time last night finding stuff like that!
April 29th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
I know the story leads to many puns, but what do our WA pollbludgers think are the chances of him going because of it?
April 29th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Wong vs Tony Jones…(again)
Does Tony just not want to talk about the big issues?
What’s with all the hypotheticals?
Why is he soooo damn keen to drive wedges into water?
He’s going to ask her about graffiti, or why she personally didn’t buy a bigger spade to fill in irrigation channels last week at Bunnings. Good grief.
We’re a long way from dotting I’s and crossing T’s Tony you dolt - we’ve had 12 years of people not even admitting they were part of the problem. The key policy movement is toward inclusiveness of all stakeholders - not the apportionment of blame.
There’s no Watergate Pulitzer in water policy. Give it up.
April 29th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Has Sniffergate been featured on Lateline ?
I reckon WA Poltics is defined by 2 things - Brian Burke on the ALP side, and Troy Buswell for the Libs.
No wonder the WA Nationals have walked away from the Coalition and have no plans on forming one in the future - Expect Buswell to lose his seat in a 3 cornered contest.
April 29th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Sniffer! Get a job at the airport! Though sadly, the dedicated dogs may be contaminated by association.
April 29th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
The wowsers are at it again. Thinking a distasteful pseudo-sexual act is sufficient for resignation.
Can’t see the fuss over this Sniffergate thing.
Plenty of worse things than that have happened in this big wide world.
April 29th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
The public must be getting totally bored with politics by now, that we have had our campaign, election, Rudd’s tour, 2020, the US elections and so on…people are totally full. The May budget will be just about the limit of it before people switch off entirely, content that Rudd is in charge and seems ok.
Sniffing chairs is kinda embarrassing. Well at least he waited for the person to vacate the chair first (I hope). Hope she hadn’t had a meal of baked beans before hand.
April 30th, 2008 at 12:03 am
I SNIFF the strong SCENT of defeat in the air for the Libs in the upcoming WA State election.
Many SEATS maybe at risk, with many ARSES on the line for the Liberal Party. West Australians may finally give the state libs the BUM’s rush over this affair, while the Labor Party comes out of it SMELLING like roses.
Thank you, Thank you.
April 30th, 2008 at 12:09 am
451
I certainly don’t consider myself a wowser BB, but I do think that it’s unacceptable behaviour.
Do you seriously think you could get away with that in private industry?
I agree that plenty worse has happened. I’m not sure that the bar should be that low though.
April 30th, 2008 at 12:10 am
I’m a wowser, then, BB.
Such behaviour is enough to wonder at a person’s fitness for office.
Standards, BB!
Whilst it is not the lowest of behaviour we have been forced to endure. Same as, however. It doesn’t really matter whether its sniffing chairs, gaoling without trial, detaining without reason, deporting because you feel like it. All the same.
Complete disrespect. Indicative.
April 30th, 2008 at 1:01 am
onimod at 448. I am just as annoyed at Tony Jones. But I am filled with anxiety about the Murray Darling. And the Murray, as far as SA is concerned. Whatever Labor does, common sense, tough action and water are the imperatives.
The political thing is the absolute neglect of these imperatives, the neglect of which is assignable not only to the Howard Government, which helped drive it out of office.
Sanguine, that Government, but all Governments, it seems. The people have been far ahead in perception of the looming disaster.
This Government has to pick up on the very, very hard tasks. I hope that they can and do. And I hope that the people can handle it. As we must.
April 30th, 2008 at 1:10 am
Well, BB, it is not so much that act itself that is the issue, it is the hypocrisy of it that this is really all about. I mean, aren’t the conservatives supposed to be the bearers of (absolute) moral standards in our society? They certainly never pass up any opportunity to tell us that they are, and that we should follow their noble example.
So when it turns out they are not, I say give ‘em hell over it. In this case, for about a week. Then forget it. The damage will have been done, and Troy SniffSeat will never recover.
April 30th, 2008 at 4:52 am
The Liberals in Brisbane city Hall have just given us the best example of voodoo economics and planning in Australia’s history with the release of the revised plan for the much despised Hale street bridge fiasco. Now the Liberals announce a massive scaling down of the project but with increased costs, increased rates for the ratepayer. can someone explain how such a ludicrous thing can occur. surely if a program is scaled down it becomes cheaper. Or were the maths and the planning always dodgy? The whole proposal is so dodgy it should be scrapped immediately.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/50-million-hale-street-blow-out/2008/04/29/1209234826717.html
April 30th, 2008 at 8:23 am
I’m not saying that what Whatshisname did in WA wasn’t gross, but we’ve all done those kinds of things in the heat of the moment. I’d like to see anyone on this blog claim otherwise. I’ll be the first to put my hand up as being a sinner, but I hope I’ve benefited from my mistakes and made proper restitution to anyone I’ve offended.
Life (if youse will excuse the philosophy) is a series of good and bad behaviors. We learn from the bad, and hopefully the good outweighs the bad.
I guess I’m annoyed that a few disgruntled Lib apparatchiks can simply release the news of a questionable act or a You Tube of the event and expect - accurately in this case - that the public will react with moral horror. The ease with which minor sexual or social mishaps can be morphed or manipulated into public indignation is what disappoints me. This is what happened in the Brogden and Andrew Bartlett cases.
The incident inthis case was between the bloke and the woman in question and she has apparently forgiven him for it. No harm was done (it wasn’t a violent act), so the consequences are essentially personal. It was closer to a faux pas than a hanging offence (in my opinion) and I think politicians - or anyone for that matter, male or female - should be allowed the odd transgression before community opprobrium winds itself up into full high dudgeon… as long as the path to redemption is generally in the forwards direction for the transgressors.
If there was a pattern of this kind of behavior it would be a different matter. But that’s not alleged as far as I know.
April 30th, 2008 at 8:36 am
459
Bushfire Bill
So making rational and convincing arguments
Your spoiling all the fun
April 30th, 2008 at 8:36 am
err, So=Stop
April 30th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Andrews is distancing himself from the AFP investigations into the Haneef affair which begins today. Mick Keelty will be left to carry the can - unless of course he rats on the Rodent and his minister. Keelty is in this position because he was willing to act as a mouthpiece for the former toxic government - serves him right:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23620701-601,00.html
“Mr Andrews will tell the Rudd government-ordered inquiry into the bungled case, which opens today, that Australian Federal Police did not inform him of evidence debunking allegations against Dr Haneef’s second-cousin Sabeel Ahmed - allegations that had led to the subsequent terrorism charge against the Gold Coast doctor.
The testimony of Mr Andrews to the inquiry, headed by retired NSW Supreme Court judge John Clarke QC, will raise questions about whether the AFP ignored the vital information or, in fact, if it was ever passed on to Australian investigators after it is believed to have been discovered by British police, days after the failed London nightclub and Glasgow airport bombings in June last year.
Mr Andrews’ evidence to the inquiry will effectively leave AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty on his own in explaining the detention and charging of Dr Haneef, given that the case against the Indian-born doctor fell apart soon after his arrest on July 2 as he attempted to board a flight out of Brisbane for his native Bangalore.”
April 30th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
New NSW Newspoll available today - except that its more of the same…
PRIMARY VOTE LABOR LIBERAL NATS LIB/NAT GRNS OTHERS
March 24 2007 39.0 26.9 10.1 37.0 9.0 15.0
Jan - Mar 2008 34 34 5 39 14 13
Mar - Apr 2008 35 35 3 38 14 13
* 4 percent “uncommitted” and 1 percent “refused” excluded
But story in the Tele does suggest that Morris is heading for a train wreck over electricity privatisation:
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23620033-5001021,00.html
April 30th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
The Ruddster is continuing to raise the bar:
Rudd puts public fat cats on notice
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23622244-601,00.html
With attutudies like this he just might receive free and fearless advice from the public service - something that Howard and Co neither welcomed nor tolerated.
April 30th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I heard that on Newsradio! Don’t you love it?
April 30th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/father-of-lsd-takes-final-trip/2008/04/30/1209234917556.html
April 30th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
“With attutudies like this he just might receive free and fearless advice from the public service - something that Howard and Co neither welcomed nor tolerated.”
The fearless and frank public servant is a bit of myth, like the “noble savage”, idealised but never found.
Public servants look after themselves, Rudd knows this as he said.
“I should warn you that when it comes to my dealings with the public service, my background probably doesn’t make me more sympathetic – just more suspicious.’’
April 30th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Bill - 39 years old is a bit late to be learning those lessons. In fact I’d say the chances of him unlearning that behaviour at that age is pretty slim without an awful lot of professional help.
April 30th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Umm, actually, Bushie B. it would seem that the high jinks and jolly japes perpetrated on female persons in the vicinity of the honorable leader of Her Maj’s Opposition in W.A., is not an isolated event. Evidence is drunken bra snapping Labor person in October last year - probably only tip of a completely different iceberg! I agree with Onimod, and frankly, another narcissistic personality disordered individual on my couch would be one too many.
Sure people are just flawed humans, but if the W.A. Libs. have nothing better to offer, they’re on wood.
April 30th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Having just the footage of Buswell crying for the first time, Did his mascara run? And why on earth is he wearing mascara?
April 30th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Oh and Brendon Nelson has come out in support of Sniffwell.
Watch his support fall into negative figures, especially amongst female voters.
April 30th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
B.S. Fairman. I admit to mascara dependency, however, Buswell’s psychopatholgy is not something I’d want to explore. Would you?
April 30th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Can someone tell me how Mick Keelty made it this far?
Check out the quote from him on ‘robot criminals’ on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Keelty
Hmmm, reality, who needs it?
April 30th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
472
Harry - just check out the specific language that the Sniffwell used in his press conference and tell me he’s not ‘on-the-couch’ on a regular basis?
Not that that itself is necessarily a bad thing.
April 30th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Sniffwell may be challenged as Leader.
[WA LIBERAL Party whip Graham Jacobs will call for a leadership spill tomorrow after Opposition Leader Troy Buswell’s chair sniffing incident, a senior liberal MP says.
Party whip Graham Jacobs will call for the spill tomorrow morning during a press conference outside Perth’s parliament house, says opposition treasury spokesman Steve Thomas.
If Dr Jacobs has the numbers to support his move the spill motion will be put to a party room meeting next week, Dr Thomas said.
Mr Buswell has been under intense pressure after admitting to sniffing the chair of a woman Liberal staffer in a Parliament House office in October 2005.
The staffer at the centre of the sniffing incident, who has asked not be named, said Mr Buswell, then deputy to former Liberals leader Matt Birney, lifted the chair and sniffed it in front of her and other people “to get a laugh”.]
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,23625563-5005361,00.html
May 1st, 2008 at 11:56 am
Here one of a cast of 1000’s of Political incorrect talk! - :8
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2008/05/01/1209235002632.html
May 1st, 2008 at 7:29 pm
onimod from last night at 474, sorry I didn’t respond, had to check out due to much on today. If Buswell has been in therapy, it’s clearly not doing much good. It reminds me of a cartoon of a woman on the couch, with therapist on chair nearby, saying, ” Miss Brown, my summing up of your problem, after ten years therapy, is that you have more money than sense”. Boom, tish. Or another, of man saying to therapist, “Then she called me an egotist, and went home to my mother in law”.
Love Half Nelson’s support for Buswell. Could his PPM drop to where the MoE is meaningless?
May 1st, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Very VERY, disappointed tonight to see Rudd commenting on the Sydney Harbour tragedy.
Can someone please tell him he is NOT the “Father Of The Nation”, and does not need to punctuate our daily lives with homilies on how our wonderful harbour can bring forth tragedy as well as joy etc. etc.
Next thing he’ll be answering quetion on disputed State of Origin tries.
No more, please!
(Faint hope of that, I think).
May 1st, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Catalyst had some pretty stark info on the MD tonight. Acid mud, pyrites ,when a flood comes the pyrites oxidise forming sulphuric acid. Can we really afford to allow all that irrigation in the headwaters of the Darling? Can we really afford to allow dairies living of MD irrigation water?
Think Rudd/Wong/Garret have much more thinking to do and hard decisions to make. The national party will howl the roof down if irrigated dairies are told to shut up shop. Compensation I guess will have to be paid? I always thought $10Bn over 10 years was petty cash. $100Bn this year be more in line with reality.
Akermann is discussing the Stolen Generation. Don’t go there, the half caste kids were happy to go, to leave their family where they were mistreated because they were half white. What a retard.
May 1st, 2008 at 11:12 pm
478 agreed
That was one of the worst parts of Howardism.
I suspect he’ll be doing anything he can to keep things off serious politics until the budget hits. They seem to be leaking crumbs in the hope that the journos won’t concoct a big negative. They’ve so far managed to keep the FOI story under the covers.
there’s obviously very little going on in the Nation at the moment. Who didn’t make a comment on the Harbour today?
5 people a day lose their live on the roads. That’s a tragedy and an outrage…isn’t it?
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:51 am
Tragedy and outrage, I suppose so… but no suitable material for Prime Ministerial commentary.
Rudd should steer away from this or else he’ll be being asked fatuous questions about stray dogs biting pedestrians, cricket controversies, third umpire decisions, trains running on time, driving hoons and potholes in Blacktown streets.
The country should be able to get on well without this kind of trivia eminating from the PM’s mouth. The Federal government does NOT run the country down to the smallest nut and bolt. Permitting local minutae to be put under the Rudd-O-Scope will come back to bite him and his government, as the delving into trivial detail by journalists for comment by the PM becomes more and more irrelevant to national affairs.
I personally don’t give a toss about the Harbour tragedy. I care about the young next door neighbour of mine who was killed instantly at a local black-spot intersection because I knew her well. I didn’t know any of the victims of the Harbour incident. Therefore, hard nosed as this may sound, their fates are of little import to my life.
People die in tragic circumstances every day. I am unlikely to ever be on the Harbour at night with fourteen other people overloading a glorified tinny without navigation lights (as alleged). I don’t like to see, “Sandy was so full of life” headlines as I did yesterday in the Telegraph. Sandy who? Someone called “Sandy” was killed in the accident. The Telegraph treats her as if she was Australia’s Sweetheart, overly personalising the whole situation.
It was the same as the woman who took bribes from developers at Woollongong Council. She had a first name too (which, thankfully, escapes me) and - in terms of this first name - was turned into some kind of heroine because she was swindled into having sex with a millionaire who wanted to get his development up and running under allegedly corrupt circumstances.
Every moment spent commenting on local storms in local teacups by the leader of the country diminishes him. It’s simply a matter of professionalism on Rudd’s part and, in my opinion, it was and will be a mistake for Rudd to fall for this Daily Telegraph approach to minor affairs, “tragic” as they may be in the local news environment.
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:01 am
481 yes indeed
May 2nd, 2008 at 10:02 am
As a post script to my last comment, think of what they did to Latham over the tsunami a coyuple of years back. The man was in agony with pancreatitis, doubled over in pain (although I hear even doubling over doesn’t help much). Yet he - as a recently heavily defeated Opposition Leader - wasn’t given the leeway that such a sick man deserved. No, he had to “comment” on the tsunami. He had to express the Opposition’s “condolences”, as useless as that would have been.
It wrecked his political career, all over a pointless exercise in pretending to be “horrified” and “prostrate with grief” about something over which he had no control and over which he would never have any control.
Latham, at the time, had other, real things to be prostrate over, yet no quarter was given to him by the press.
OK, so you can say there was a hidden agenda to get rid of Latham by hook or by crook. But Howard’s legitimising of this kind of running public heart-on-his-sleeve act made any hatchet job on Latham all the more possible.
Rudd should not fall for this, or else it will get him in the end too.
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
New Morgan thread up.