In an update on the Liberal’s heavenly dream team, Annabel Crabb at the ABC (HT to Sensai’d) reports that it has been Bishop that has been bashing Abbot, not Abbot who has been bashing…. erm, the Deputy. The pope would not be pleased.
This is, at least according to Turnbull, who has accused Bishop of disloyalty and gross hypocrisy in joining in very holy-sounding union with Abbott. Personally, it would have been far more interesting were the one informal vote in the Turnbull/Abbott ballot to end up belonging to Bishop.
As Malcolm Turnbull followed sumo’s Asashoryu’s lead in hitting the canvas, Tony Abbott’s TIE fighter emerged from the party room the new leader of the Liberal party. Malcolm Turnbull must surely be cursing that one informal vote that possibly made him lose the spill to Abbott 42-41.
At the end of the Howard Era, the talk was of a new Abbott-Costello comedy duo to head the Liberal Party. But now, with the spill that Abbott called over, and the results on Turnbull’s shirt like a blob of mustard after a lunch at The Grill, the new team to beat (NB and not the team to be beaten?) is an Abbott/Bishop combination.
But is it truly a match made in heaven? It certainly sounds like the start of a bad joke: “Abbott says to Bishop:….” Starting with the rejection of the government’s ETS proposal, the move signals a strengthening of the “far right” (as much as I hate such labels) in the Liberals. In contrary to the centripetal trend that most political scientists would observe in a two-party system, where both parties converge on a moderate, centralist policy platform, are we about to see the Liberal party offering social and environmental policy options that echo Howard, and economic policies that echo Menzies?
Of course, I am indulging in a little hyperbole, but Turnbull, as much as I may have criticized him on this blog for his debt truck and the like, had the foresight to realise that Rudd’s team was not a bunch of left-wing wingnuts, but socially and economically were deeply conservative on a number of fronts. So the months ahead will prove interesting indeed. In their struggle for “differentiation” to find an alternative policy platform, I hope for sake of the Abbotts and Bishops of the Liberal party that the path they are taking turns out to either widely shared or accurate.
A new little series of quotable quotes that celebrates the tendency to never let the “national interest” or “global good” stand in the road of partisanship. This episode goes to Tony Abbott:
“Why should the Liberal Party give up the job of being an effective Opposition just so that Kevin Rudd has a trophy to take to Copenhagen?
The last few days have proved to be an interesting day at both poles of the pacific: politics in Australia, and sumo in Japan.
While on Thursday in Canberra, Liberal Party leader Malcolm Turnbull tried hard to avoid a spill in party ranks, sumo yokozuna (champion) Asashoryu went into his bout with a season all-win track record, tied with the other yokozuna and rival Hakuho.
The sumo ring leaves very little room for diplomacy or delicate politics. And of late, Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership has been described as having similar qualities. Backbencher Dennis Jensen has described his attitude as a “scorched earth” policy, as he has pushed ahead with unfettered by challenges from within the party and wholesale resignations, in a manner that Annabel Crabb has imagined his colleagues as wondering “why doesn’t he die?”
Newspoll from The Australian out today with the detail at Pollytics.
It is interesting that LNP voters consider Hockey to be the best candidate to lead the Liberal Party. So it’s lucky that Hockey has Turnbull’s back, as he told him as late as Saturday night. But on Sunday, The Australian reported there were strong signs that Hockey was prepared to put his ‘right foot in and shake it all about’ and was having a chat and playing footsies with Dutton as a potential deputy leader.
Today, @Latikambourke reports that Liberal sources have confirmed Hockey will contest. Even if he is the least competent public administrator.
While strong opposition can make for good government, I’m sure most will agree the leadership spill has been a blast and it is not over yet….
There’s Tony Abbott (warning: NSFA*) who sees no evil. Climate change? What climate change?
And Kevin Andrews may even be willing to selflessly offer himself up for further ridicule…..
It’s been rough, and it may get rougher still, so Family First will provide a sanctuary. After a party room meeting this morning, the church of Fielding has decided to offer rest for the weary and hope for the downtrodden, with complimentary ‘disinfectant’ for all.
Update. Nielsen Poll.
Elsewhere.
A timeline from Danielle Cronin.
This is supposed to be a contest about the soul of the Liberal Party? The arsehole, perhaps.
*Not safe for anyone.
It was hot and muggy and due to camera dramas I only have a few shots at Queens Park and the march was taken with a camera phone.
Update. Photos from the Melbourne rally at An Onymous Lefty.
Make sure you take time out from speculating on the Liberal Party leadership to participate in the same-sex marriage rallies tomorrow. On the 28 November, there will be rallies held in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth get the details here.
Read about the Senate Inquiry into the Marriage Equality Bill at An Onymous Lefty.
Guest post on Queensland police special branch: “Lest we forget” or “best we forget”?
This piece provides a general overview of the history of the Queensland Police Special Branch and focuses on the special branch files and their controversial shredding which occurred during the week commencing 23 November 1989. This caused much public outrage at the time.We thank Agent 006.5 for this informative contribution and hope he makes contact again in the future.
How can one learn from the mistakes of the past if the public record is destroyed? And do not be mistaken; those 22,000 or so files would have produced ample evidence, at the very least, that the state special branch of the highly politicised Queensland Police Force acted not as a servant of the law, but as an arm of the National Party Government of the day; as, in effect, a secret police (Fitzgerald 1989:61).
Fitzgerald, in suggesting Special Branch acted as secret police for the National Party Government, was expressing sentiments shared by several other critics that the Branch was ‘Joh’s Special Branch’. read more…
There has been some debate recently about publishing certain information on schools, including NAPLAN test results. Myschool will give parents some information to assist in choosing which school would be the best for their child. If I was trying to decide which school to send my precious to, I would be more concerned about which school would be best for their health. So the first ‘list’ I would be reaching for would be the Queensland Schools Asbestos Register. It contains information on confirmed, presumed or removed asbestos at Queensland State Schools and can be viewed here.
The Crime and Misconduct Commission has released its report – Restoring order: crime prevention, policing and local justice in Queensland’s Indigenous communities. Download the report here.
The words ‘restoring order’ are unfortunate and contribute to a discourse of control. It continues on from where Peter Beattie left off with his Five point plan for Palm Island of which the first and absolute priority was to restore law and order. It is as questionable now as it was then, whether the community would have felt much safer after this ‘threat’ of further over-policing. The report states there were two catalysts for this inquiry:
The first was the aftermath of events that followed the death of Cameron Doomadgee (Mulrunji) in the police watch-house on Palm Island, the riots and the other controversy that has followed. The second was the rioting against police that occurred in Aurukun in January 2007 after allegations were made by a man that he had been assaulted by police during his detention in the watch-house.
Both catalysts for the inquiry were brought about by the state ‘restoring order’. So is the answer to restoring order, restoring more order. It may be simplistic, but could the answer lie in the treatment of individuals in police custody? Here, one person died and another was allegedly assaulted in police custody and this precipitated any riot or civil unrest. The findings of the coronial inquest into the death of Mulruji included:
The starting point for consideration of any comments must be by reference to recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. It is reprehensible that the detailed recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody should have to be referred to, so many years after the Royal Commission. The evidence is clear however that these recommendations are still apt and still ignored.
and:
8. The decision to arrest Mulrunji and the evidence of Senior Sergeant Hurley discloses a lack of awareness of, and a failure to take into account, the recommendations of the RCIADIC relating to the arrest of Aboriginal people for drunkenness and public order offences. The Police Commissioner should consider whether this reflects upon police training generally or a need for further training of Senior Sergeant Hurley and the other officers who gave evidence at this inquest.
Arrest should be a last resort and it is time to stop merely having ‘regard’ to RCIADIC and actually implementing the recommendations.
Eleswhere. Andrew Bartlett on Queensland’s CMC, police and Palm Island.
