Is the Senate real? Have you touched it? Have you licked it?
Sure, there’s an edifice, a room draped in a loud, garish red decor but does the institution itself exist? Perhaps more to the point, should it?
These existential puzzles have arisen after four politicians this year – two from the Greens, one from Pauline Hanson’s One Nation and one from Family First have been sent packing. They are persona non grata. If they thought they were senators they now know they were not and their representative careers have been or will soon be stricken from the record.
Section 44 of the Constitution stipulates the following of any person wishing to take a seat in the federal parliament:
Any person who:
(i) is under any acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power; or
(ii) is attainted of treason, or has been convicted and is under sentence, or subject to be sentenced, for any offence punishable under the law of the Commonwealth or of a State by imprisonment for one year or longer; or
(iii) is an undischarged bankrupt or insolvent; or
(iv) holds any office of profit under the Crown, or any pension payable during the pleasure of the Crown out of any of the revenues of the Commonwealth; or
(v) has any direct or indirect pecuniary interest in any agreement with the Public Service of the Commonwealth otherwise than as a member and in common with the other members of an incorporated company consisting of more than twenty-five persons;
shall be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a senator or a member of the House of Representatives.
Full column here.
Is Falsesinski elgible?
Not bad Peter not bad at all.
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/hooray-the-right-wing-is-embracing-the-spirit-of-eureka-20170724-gxh8n5.html
Another “Barry Crocker” Negative Newspoll for current PM Turnbull, Mr Insider. That makes 16 or 17, who’s counting, as he closes on the Negative Newspoll “Champeen” one ex ousted PM Tony Abbott who collected 30 in a row before being shown the door by his own party. The Major party’s have both picked up some points from the Greens etc and no surprise given the poor performance of some of these “coves”. Its Onward and “Out” for Turnbull, clearly no one in Electorate Land listening to this chap!
http://tinyurl.com/y9bf6mze
And if the Senate didn’t exist would we have to invent one?
JtI, ‘dust bronchitis’ is the same as Melbourne’s ‘thunderstorm athsma’ that struck early this year. During the 1930’s a drought settled over the Great Plains and 7000 people died of ‘dust pneumony’ over 8 years, and 3.5 million left the region. Some communities became overnight ghost towns It may have been America’s worst natural disaster. The cause seems to be the introduction of the gasoline powered tractor. Farmers deep ploughed ancient grasslands and ruined the ecology. This region is described as semi arid having <20" rain annually. With the deep rooted prairie grasses gone wind erosion blew the topsoil away. Estimates of the lost soil tally about 12,000,000 tons, enough to fill in the Panama Canal. There are now about 25 fires burning across California, with 16,000 firefighters attending.
btw You should have been a travel agent mate. Swimming pools, movie stars. What was I thinking?
Belinda Neal expelled from Labor….shame
Belinda Neal, now there’s a blast from the past! But to be expelled from the Labor party for “unworthy conduct”? Someone is having a laugh. With that stain on your CV there is only one place to go and that is the Unions.
On other matters, I see the heat in the Tour de France has finished so let the battle begin.
EPL kicks off in a few weeks folks, here’s the link if you want to sign up http://www.footytips.com.au/comps/Insiders_EPL&p=34049719EPL
I’m in but have no idea what I’m doing and will need lots of prompts.
It helps immensely to not know what your doing, I might add that Macca said he had no idea last season and he wiped the floor with us.
I should be win it then. Go that team.
Roll up Roll up
Those without a clue
If it’s good enough for Jack
It’s good enough for you
So get on board
And join Tracy’s Insiders EPL crew
Phew!
And unlike the afl you can pick draws. And for those with really no clue, no need to pick margins for those games.
You’re not a poet and don’t we know it!
I’m in – cant do any worse than my AFL effort!
If I am not too late I will give it a go. I have no idea about the game but who cares. JTI has my email address.
Just catching up with the weekend sport. What on earth happened at the ‘Gabba? Blues must have forgotten to tighten the wheelnuts.
Why is Soliola not in jail? If he did that down Fortitude Valley on a Saturday night he’d be in front of the beak facing serious time for a coward punch.
On topic, the last (only) time I can recall a major Party controlling both Houses was under Howard. After vowing not to misuse the power, he promptly dropped Workchoices on an unsuspecting public. That didn’t end well and cost the Liberals government. Without the Senate, we still would have got Workchoices. If the result is the same either way, there’s no point having a Senate.
The first half was like the bad old days. They gave a better account in the second half but by then it was too late. By gee, they miss Pat Cripps.
When Slater hit the ground unmoving I was holding my breath & couldn’t believe that thug only went on report. Crazy reffing.
“I think you can only get sent off in the NRL if the players head comes completely off and rolls into touch.” Beau Ryan
Terrible incident. Appalling work from the refs. And Ricky Stuart had the front to imply the Raiders had been hard done by.
I don’t think that standing on a sporting field should be a defence against a charge of assault. Soliola’s act had nothing to do with the game and everything to do with physically crippling the opposition playmaker. I don’t doubt he was told to do it. Soliola should face charges. We are constantly told one punch can kill, so to do this dog act renders Soliola into such a lowlife he’d need a parachute to jump out of snakes arse. Storm should sue him if they lose Slater for a week.
JtI. Sooner or later the Canberra faithful will tire of paying for Stewart’s slipshod mouth and send him packing. I wonder how much Club money he has squandered in fines. He’s not a good coach. His record is patchy at club and Origin level.
Maybe they should have stayed and defended their country instead of running……
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/movies/the-french-are-annoyed-over-the-movie-dunkirk-and-their-lack-of-representation-in-the-wwii-film/news-story/39bd06c4f9572fa894d7881d8138ecfd
They did provide the cover for the withdrawals at Dunkirk Razor – at quite a considerable cost.
There were 140,000 French, Polish and other nationalities were withdrawn along with the Brits.
The bravery of the common soldier cannot compensate for the stupidity of the Generals and politicians.
I see somebody is wanting a Battle of Poziers day – I think having specific days for battles that occurred over 100 years ago is asking a bit much.
filthy piece of stereotyping razor…really low..get help
This is what you get when you knock up a business case on the back of an envelope.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/telcos-refuse-to-guarantee-nbn-speed/news-story/34b5ecd34b654682cb74caefd7dc2277
Nothing to do with the FTTN verse FTTP all about money and bandwidth.
Telstra couldn’t confirm even if I could be hooked up, although NBN said yes. And then they couldn’t get the potential speed at my place from NBN’s database. “Clowns the left of me, jokers to the right.”
Shorten will fix it.
Tax the rich and subsidize the NBN
Like the business case for Duttons Super Ministry, the unfunded 60 odd billion tax cuts to the big end of town, the 5billion we are spending keeping LEGAL refugees caged up on distant islands, the 190billion Poodle Pyne brags about he is going to spend on Defence, the mad railway through the guts of the country to save Country Party seats…I could go on.
Duttons Super Ministry actually stacks up. I don’t think it will work, similar to overnight live export bans, but there’s a case for it. The POMS battled the IRA and now radical Islam using the model.
Ah the live exports lies again. The export industry had dropped significantly in the months before the ban. The lies have been flowing thick and fast for years on that one. There was a very good analysis done just recently on the lies about the export ban. The industry, the coalition and anyone who continues to falsely make these claims has no integrity left. The facts do NOT support the lies told for years on that subject.
Could you provide those facts, Dismayed so as to clear up the matter and restore some integrity to this site??
Well I know for a fact and from personal experience Dismal you are talking bullshit. Show me the analysis! Lots of cattle starved to death and people blew their brains out because of it.
It is going to be fascinating watching Labor rewrite history between now and the next election.
Milton open your eye and look somewhere besides a Newscorp publication..
Aware of the size Apologies. Actual data on Live cattle export ban.
The critical facts — which no mainstream media outlet has reported accurately as far as Crikey can determine — include these:
1.It was a terrible year for the beef industry in 2011. Many graziers went into receivership or asset management. This was due to the devastating drought followed by a severe wet season;
2.Total live cattle exported in the first quarter of 2011, according to the ABS (file 7251.0, table 6) dropped to 142,000. That was the lowest since December 2007. That collapse — down 34.8% on the previous quarter — occurred two months before the live cattle ban;
3.Immediately after the ban, the industry improved dramatically across the board. That’s shown in detailed statistics from the Livestock Export Corporation — which the media have curiously ignored;
4.Sales volumes to all countries shot up straight after the ban. For the first four months of 2011 (January to April) cattle exported worldwide averaged 50,305 head per month. For the last four months, September to December, the average was 70,323. That’s up 39.8%;
5.The market did not “come to a standstill until September” as some graziers claim. Sales were $31.8 million in June, $33.3 million in July and $35.0 million in August. It then boomed in September to $74.2 million;
6.The September volume, just six weeks after the ban was lifted, was the fourth-highest monthly tally on record at 83,926 head;
7.Just examining sales to Indonesia, for the first four months of 2011, volumes averaged 30,452 head per month. After things had settled, September to December, volumes averaged 43,227 per month. That’s up a whopping 41.9%. In the same year;
8.Prices also rose significantly straight after the ban, which is the most intriguing thing. The average price for all live cattle exports for the first four months of 2011, was $838.82. The average for the last four months, September to December, was $950.71.
9.September’s total dollar value sold to all countries — $74.2 million — was the third-highest ever. November’s tally of 57,786 cattle yielded an average price of $1202, a new record; and
10.The proportion sold to Indonesia throughout calendar 2011 comprised 59.55% of all sales worldwide. That compares with 59.55% in 2010 — almost identical.
You Labor guys can distort the facts like there’s no tomorrow. Do you really believe what you write?
Well if those figures are correct Dismayed then they are revealing and compelling.
B’man we have seen the business case for the inland rail. It states the project does NOT stack up and will never repay it cost to be built. The only way it can be financial is if your write off the cost of building and look only at the cost of running after it is built. Another scam by the Nationals to shore up marginal seats.
For once I agree.
But there again Dismal, the case for the NBN never stacked up. Yet you support that “nation building exercise”.
So how come the railway does not fall into the same category?
Ah, maybe it is who proposed it?
The NBN always stacks up because it will be the driving force in medicine business ans efucatiln….why spend 190billion kn war toys…the NBN is much more important and will give a return….rusted out plsnes subs frigates wont
Bassy, I don’t think anyone doubts that if it had been properly costed and planned, it would have stood a chance of a successful roll out. It may have taken a while longer to produce a costed plan but at least it may have been more efficient and effective resulting in a speedier rollout. IMO
it was rushed through after a thought bubble to save a teetering givernment. Not good enough.
Bassy, the LEGAL refugees are the ones wallowing in camps all around the world – milllions of them.
NOT the few that can afford a plane fare to Indonesia and then an equally expensive boat trips to Australia. 5 years later the vast majority are still on welfare costing goodness knows what.
The railway is long overdue and will take thousands of trucks off the roads.
It is not illegal to arrive by boat and seek asylum. Who sed dat? Abbott through gritted teeth when Leigh Sales questioned him as to why he kept calling boat people “illegals”. You can arrive by plane, boat, parachute or submarine and ask to be assessed and it is NOT illegal. Do some reading mate.
I think you should look up the stats on the over stayers who came in by plane Bassy.
Eventually they are found out and the penalty is one very big red card on future entries.
62,000 over 50 years is not bad compared with 20,000 in 6 months in the last days of Julia.
Agree and agree
On economic grounds alone the islands should be closed down at a saving of billions…why? The imprisonment has not ‘stopped the boats’. It has always been the turnbacks. Those jails are kept going for political reasons only. Refugees have committed no crime. The refugees should be settled in Oz and the turnbacks continued. Dutts needs to stop lying.
Costs breakdown per person per day:-
To house them:- $38 a day
To school them:- $84 a day
To imprison them:- $394 a day
To keep them on Nauru:- $1,927
I recall JTI writing about hill billy heroin some time ago.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/health/prescription-opioids-are-killing-more-australians-than-heroin-australian-bureau-of-statistics-20170720-gxf5wa.html
Huge in the US and coming to a street corner near you! Heroin is so yesterday.
A business case like that required by the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund or is it the Development fund who knows but it is Utopia for the Nationals $5 billion to spend by the directors of Mining companies on behalf of QLDers and the rest of Australian Taxpayers. Business case like the 2 other multi billion $dollar slush funds the National extracted out of the Libs for ongoing support. The coalition wrecked what should have been the biggest Productivity enhancing infrastructure project this Nation has seen. Have we seen the business case for the Snowy 2 announcement?. Just like your blokes did in about 1907 trying to block the roll out of lines because the inland telegraph had just been completed you and yours are still trying to stifle the nation.
If the greatest infrastructure project was the NBN how was it wrecked? Your old bullshit argument is now obsolete.
Good summary here. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/stuck-in-the-nbn-slow-lane/news-story/540ff6a0d059cb318ad025f5d856f30c
Thanks for the link JTI. A heap of information I didn’t know. Project doomed from the start but not helped by the Coalition.
“Productivity Enhancing” infrastructure project. You really don’t comprehend the written word do you. The project was not doomed from the start. It was sabotaged by your man abbott from the outset then deliberately wrecked as he said he would.
Who would have ever believed the energy cartel was gaming the system.? Oh that’s right everyone except the coalition and its supporters. The NEM is a Federal government responsibility. The coalition have failed the people of Australia. No Surprises. This just highlights the deceitful attacks by the coalition on the cheapest form of energy. Renewables.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/rio-tinto-rails-against-market-power-of-east-coast-electricity-generators/news-story/1f8892377179521fd7e63436fadaff00
It seems dutton’s statements continually differ from other international agencies. Too many times we have seen duttons comments at odds with others. It is pretty clear he has an issue with facts. No Surprises.
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/united-nations-claims-government-had-agreed-to-resettle-some-refugees-in-australia-under-us-deal-20170724-gxhi1o.html
No surprises the UN cannot come up with any evidence. Not a single note, email or agreement. Not the first time the UNHCR has lied to further ideology and will not be the last.
No surprises dutton would verbally mislead people. He has shown over and over again he is not a person to be trusted. I will take the word of the UN over dutton every day of the week. He has proven again why he does not have the integrity to be a leadership role.
The UNHCR’s allegation is Immigration officials made the undertaking, not Dutton.
Ok Dismayed. Given your statement above and Jack’s clarification do you now concede that Dutton is in the clear?
The Mixed technology roll out is not the only thing stuck in the slow lane. Much better analysis than the ideologically driven opinion pieces you continue to put up.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/stuck-in-the-nbn-slow-lane/news-story/540ff6a0d059cb318ad025f5d856f30c
You should read that article again and not cherry pick the bits that suit you.