I’ll let you into a little secret. Bill Shorten is on the nose. I’m not talking about general community scepticism or the bounty of the Coalition’s “Kill Bill’’ strategy. There are grave concerns within the party itself, especially at the grass roots level.
To understand this best, we need to go back to the night of March 17, when Shorten stood with his right arm raised in triumph with Ged Kearney at the Northcote Town Hall. A seat Labor feared was lost had been retained despite the best efforts of the right-wing faction of the party.
Batman had once been the jewel in the Labor crown, the safest of seats in the Hawke-Keating era, safer even than Bob Hawke’s seat of Wills which joins Batman at its western fringe. Two decades later it had become an outpost due mainly to the right wing of the party treating one of its great assets as a factional plaything. First Martin Ferguson was parachuted in, then the right dropped in David Feeney after Feeney failed to get a winnable place on the senate ballot.
Full column here.
Razor – from last blog: what, exactly, has Trump achieved re Korea or trade?
He’s come closer to a deal with Nth Korea than anyone else. Kim will come crawling, he has to. As for trade he’s negotiating better deals on free trade agreements across the spectrum. China is a case in point. They folded. He’s a businessman not a diplomat and he’s shaking a tree that hasn’t been shook for a long time and those entrenched in the system are squirming! F**Cking good! Our own Ms Bishop and K Rudd are horrified! Again that must be good!
ridiculous comment as usual razor. You have some serious blind spots. The 2 the 2 Korea’s are better off removing the deliberately inciting idiot trump out of all discussions.
used to like the Lord Raglan, one of Ged’s brothers was at boarding school with me so we used to meet up there, certainly it seemed to be in it’s own time zone, the usual licensing hours and days did not seem to apply at all,
Philip Roth gone, I read a few of his but the only one still on the shelf for re-reading was the first one, a novella called Goodbye Colombus and a few short stories, great stuff.
Portnoy’s Complaint – banned in Australia was the first novel of his I read. Quite an eye opener for a 13-year-old.
As you know JTI, I normally agree with you on most things but not this one. I don’t like Bill Shorten, but whilst he is probably on the nose with the old Labor diehards, I don’t think he is with the younger more progressive voter. I’ve spoken to my family, my students, my younger friends, even some who are slightly LibNat inclined and surprisingly they like him.
The polls show that MT is the preferred PM, but the Federal Coalition is so on the nose with the younger generation that I don’t think they have a hope in Hades in winning the next election.
We may dismiss our younger generation as not important voters but political parties do so at their peril. Bill Shorten, for some inexplicable reason appeals to that demographic.
Hi Penny, re the ALP’s youth vote, seems Bill has been rolling the dice and has come up with a strategy for electoral success via the Bebo SMP. http://www.betootaadvocate.com/…/bill-shorten-makes-bold-attempt-appealing-youth-voter...
Is ‘bebo’ a monkey btw?
Well I talk to young professionals, tradies and a heap of young labor voters through my three sons and they think he’s a tool over coal mining and wonder where their futures lay! His comments in Batman re coal mining will destroy him in Qld. He needs Qld seats.
Boats? He’s gone. Internal polling is the reason the Coalition has a spring in their step. He overreached in Batman because he thought it was tight. BIG MISTAKE!
You live in a shoe box? All you and your coalition have is to continue to use human misery, misinformation, personal attacks, lies and more pork barrelling in the Qld marginal seats. It is NO Surprise you believe this is good for the Nation. Your coalition are the worst government to ever represent this Nation. If your sample subjects actually believe coal is “their” future then they need to look elsewhere for advice. Your advice as been bad for them. Try being honest with them for once and at least let them know it is no longer 1950.
Possibly the same inexplicable reason that they liked Kevin Rudd. And didn’t that turn out swimmingly.
Power Bill Shorten is an opportunist who makes the average sewer-rat look fussy. He would sell his own mother to Somali slavers if he thought it would get him in the Big Chair. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could kick him, but it would be a lot of fun to find out how far that is. In a federal parliament infested with dead wood, he is the hollow heart of the whole rotten tree.
Possibly the same inexplicable reason that they liked Kevin Rudd. And didn’t that turn out swimmingly.
Power Bill Shorten is an opportunist who makes the average sewer-rat look fussy. He would sell his own mother to Somali slavers if he though it would get him in the Big Chair. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could kick him, but it would be a lot of fun to find out how far that is. In a federal parliament infested with dead wood, he is the hollow heart of the whole rotten tree.
Don’t hold back, tell us what you really think.
Well as Bill’s mother died a couple of years ago, that strategy won’t work TBLS, and despite what you think, her death affected him badly. Still if we must bring mothers into it, is Peter Dutton’s mother still alive? Now there’s a bloke who could do a great deal with the Somali slavers. He would of course have to ensure that his favorite au pair was not affected in any of these dealings
My own mother said a few days ago, “Peter Dutton is a Nazi”. Ho hum. A Liberal Minister for Immigration a Nazi? Been listening to that song for the last twenty years. Can’t the so-called “progressives” come up with anything original?
Peter Dutton is doing his job. It is an often unpleasant job. It is a job that attracts a level of hatred and opprobrium from his political and philosophical opponents that few can wear easily. It is a job that I can guarantee you he would rather not be doing because politicians are people who would rather be loved than hated. But he does it because it has to be done.
This is a reality that Labor has not yet come to grips with. They still think they can have a bet each way. They are wrong.
If the alternative is three more years of the LNP then I will take the nasty medicine. The labor party members are hardly likely to vote green or for the coalition so we need not worry about that. Governments lose elections not vice versa, and Abbott was widely hated but he still got a decent majority in the reps.
Of course left leaning Labor members will vote Green! Are you serious UQ?
And their preferences will flow straight back to labor. Turkeys don’t vote for Xmas…
Hard to believe that with all the lines Shorten has been cribbing from the Corbyn playbook he’s still considered part of the right faction.
I’ve mused on that a number of times Dwight and my reading is this; If Shorten goes Albo’s In. So better to have someone whose pretending then the real thing.
All hell has broken loose Mr Insider with the 5 Federal By Elections date to be July 28th which coincidentally is the time of the ALP National Conference (26th -28th July) being held in Adelaide. Penny Wong is livid! Get your peanuts folks this could be a long dragged out argument
https://tinyurl.com/y7knwr8e
There’s not too many who aren’t on the nose IMO.
We need someone who will lead Australia without a leash, but can anybody name one who’d put our interests first instead of giving out millions to their party donors?
We certainly don’t need a chained sop in an expensive suit throwing our hard-earned $$$ at wealthy corporations & blithely ignoring climate change by investing in more filfthy coal mines.
Labor’s leaders both federal & state do a lot of fence-sitting these days, depending on what’s at stake so that’s clearly also weak leadership, however I’ll be proudly supporting the union movement til I drop off my perch so Shorten earns a big tick from this ordinary working girl for Labor’s ongoing effort to fight for the rights of the working-class.
This is their form Bella! Two liars in the same electorate! Shorten lied about all his people not being dual citizens! They bloody doctored a transcript two nights ago re boats! Anybody on this blog calling the coalition liars are akin to the kettle calling the pot grimey arse!
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/labors-byelection-strife-candidate-colleen-yates-quits-over-false-cv-claims/news-story/e0f1793f4b7ae93669f76b4f23e94164
On a LinkedIn page nonetheless. Not as if future employers don’t check your social media accounts. Sheesh.
Its knot rocket science. I have been on about Stan even before he was elected leader. This is the worst govt this country has ever had….by even their own standards…. debt debt and MORE debt (!), unemployment, housing affordability, wages growth, climate, inequality, health and education they are failing dismally when the global economy in buoyant. Against this festering backdrop we have an Opposition leader that cannot even win the leadership popularity poll and is only 2 points clear in Newspoll. Shorten should have lapped Trumble twice over!
Sad Cafe.
Buoyant global economy you say Bassy? As for debt we had none when Rudd was elected. Now we have a tax package which will allow people to work some overtime without getting the arse taxed off them. Those are the people who want to get ahead. Expect to hear the word aspirational heaps Bassy. Also avoids budget creep. Nice long time until the by elections. Perfect for Turnbull to draw bill out on just that point. Oh, and plus the boats. Malcolm’s tails up and Labor are worried. If it wasn’t for Barnaby’s indiscretion earlier in the year bill would be in even more trouble.
“Malcolm’s tail’s up” ??? Haha
Nah mate, it’s an illusion, the guy has proven form as a plutocrat weakling with his tail firmly between his legs.
The Fibs can drag this out as long as they want but it won’t alter the fact that Australians are over their incessant reputation of spin & need change, even if it is Shorten.
BTW net debt has outdone any government in our history on their watch Razor. But is this a “debt & deficit disaster” or a “budget emergency” like Labors??
Well…ah,..no, not according to Jellycoat or his treasury. 😩
Look what they were left with Bella. Swann set all the traps with spending beyond the forward estimates. Guess who had to pay for that. An unfounded, but necessary, NDIS just added fuel to the fire.
razor You just cant stop lying can you. At the 2007 election Gross debt was $58,273. Billion. The PEFO showed debt would top out under Labor’s policy at 12.8% of GDP. Debt is now at 19% of GDP and rising. The coalition have raised spending and debt at higher rates than labor ever did. hillsong Morrison admitted the week before the budget that the NDIS was fully funded. Taxation as % of GDP and actual revenues has been higher in every year under the coalition. Spending has been at a higher % of GDP and in real term every year under the coalition. The Australian called Swans budget the “greatest fiscal consolidation in the nations history”. You have proven for several years now you are not capable of accepting facts and now continue to believe that your coalition are not responsible for the decisions they made. This is by far the worst government this Nation has seen. Polls will tighten but Australians know this coalition are not good for this country.
Are you absolutely sure there was no debt when Rudd came in Razor? No debt at all?
I think that this current government has increased the debt to levels never seen before, but I guess it’s all in the eye of the beholder and the level of spin they think we believe or not ( not in my case obviously )
Malcolm has enough to worry about I would with the bombshell Andrew Hastie lobbed in Parliament yesterday
Wrong as usual. Australia had $50 billion in Gross debt at the time of the 2007 election. you continue to make patently false claims regarding the howard/costello regime. They were the highest taxing highest spending government in Australia’s history until the abbott/turnbull fiasco. You and a handful of other right wing zealots continue to want to use human misery as a political football. This point alone is reason why you and your lot should never been in a leadership role. Your claims on tax are more delusional than the rest of your usual ridiculous comments. Last week you were claiming unemployment was going down and the economy was getting better this week because it sits your argument you are claiming the opposite. No surprises.
What’s a knot rocket?
Some bloke with a vasectomy that lets go at the wrong moment. Thought everyone knew that.
a bot
Bill Shorten is all you say he is in your column, Mr Insider, a show pony lightweight. Sadly for Australia our choice at the next election will be between a hopeless do virtually nothing M.Turnbull and the Master of the Back Flip B. Shorten. We won’t talk about the Greens as they are bloody hopeless, dysfunctional and dead in the water pre election. I shall vote for Bill, no Malcolm, no Bill ohh bugger looks like I may have to join the astute BASSMAN who hasn’t voted since 2007. Strewth