Who will be our PM tomorrow? — Someone politically correct or a leader of free men?

UPDATE: Scott Morrison won 45 to Dutton 40.

Hours from now the Liberal Party members will decide whether Peter Dutton, Scott Morrison or Julie Bishop will be PM.  Dutton is aligned with Tony Abbott, but Morrison seemingly and Bishop definitely, with Turnbull. I doubt Bishop has a chance. Morrison has not pinned his colors to the mast on climate change but the ABC is pushing for him according to Andrew Bolt — so we know who threatens the most sacred cows. Go Dutton.

Likewise, Fairfax are telling readers not to vote for Dutton: “In sunny Kooyong, Liberals find the thought of PM Dutton ‘appalling’“. So they managed to find a few people who don’t like him and turn that into a story.

Malcolm Turnbull is, as usual, being statesmanlike, thinking only of the Party:

Malcolm Turnbull promises a scorched earth for his Liberal enemies

He’s promised to resign and force a byelection in his seat. Tossing bombs as he leaves. On the plus side: no more Malcolm in Australian politics. Not unless the member for Goldman Sachs joins the Labor Party.

Will the new leader of the Liberals take the easy and obvious winning path of Abbott, Trump Dean, serve the people and stand up to the namecallers? Send a message to your local Liberal Party MP. Ask them today.

Apologies for minimal posting. I’m currently out of the office. Posting from a car in the dark parked by a road where I can get at least one bar of internet access.

I’ll leave it up to more informed commenters for the moment…

 Commenter TdeF on Duttons eligibility and what the allegations tell us about Turnbull–  :

The Dutton Child Care centers do NOT receive Commonwealth payments. These go directly to the parents.

Yes you could argue that the money is an indirect payment, but what money isn’t? The parents would have to pay the bills regardless of how much subsidy they receive. It might affect their choices. It might increase prices. Fundamantally though every decision a minister make can be traced logically back to impact income he has outside parliament.

At the same time Dutton has also been very careful to excuse himself from decisions which might directly impact payments in which he has an interest. He will be cleared.

However this reflects very badly on Turnbull who was obviously aware of the potential for illegal membership of the parliament and said nothing to disrupt his one seat parliament until he benefited personally from the prosection of a minister. On both counts, it is Turnbull who acted in his own personal interest in what he now alleges was a potential crime.

That sort of thing gives lawyer like Turnbull a bad name. For ethics I would back a policeman against a lawyer every time.

(h/ to Dennis too)

8.9 out of 10 based on 85 ratings

396 comments to Who will be our PM tomorrow? — Someone politically correct or a leader of free men?

  • #
    Komrade Kuma

    My money is on ScoMo. I think Dutton lacks the polish and the conflict of interest thing will nag. (probably BS) but so much of politics is BS fencing.

    The reality is that the LNP is a broad church and does not have the rigid raditions of the ALP so they had better start to get along. The arrogant so and so know as M.T. Rumble took it way to leftard for comfort and was warned weeks ago re the NEG etc.

    We shal see.

    1026

    • #
      Graeme No.3

      Reportedly Greg Hunt, member of the Black Hand and author of the secret carbon tax legislation (snuck in just before the last election, is in line to be Dutton’s Deputy.
      Looks like the Church isn’t that wide and bound by self interest.

      71

      • #
        OriginalSteve

        “In politics, nothing happens by accident.
        If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way”

        – Franklin D. Roosevelt, US President

        Which leads me to the next point – it would seem this theatre, which is what it is, is nothing more than setting up Labor as the next govt. Lets be honest, your average voter doesn’t bother to see the devious machinations like we do, so said punters would only see what appears to be a bumbling mess. Your average votyer doesnt realise the whole mess is designed/engineered to create an apetite for change.

        As such – J’Accuse – not only has Little Red Mal destroyed the liberal party, he has handed his commie Comrades in Labor a win through tapping into your average voters lack of intelligence and distaste for a poltical mess.

        As such – well played, Comrade Mal, but your legacy will be one of making even champagne socialism look, exposing your globalist pay masters, infusing much long term toxicity into this fair land, depriving generations of families from being able to pay their bills and destroying opportunity.

        Your impact on this world shall read:

        “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
        ( Mark 8:36)

        Vale, Australia.

        100

        • #
          sophocles

          O’Steve says: @ #1.1.1:

          it would seem this theatre, which is what it is, …

          It’s been fascinating to watch from over here in the SI (= Shaky Isles). Real Entertainment: Games Grown Ups play. Some of the grownups weren’t at all grown up, but, that’s the way of it. It’s not over yet: the front bench shuffle and the settling into the traces is yet to come.

          And then it all happens again next year with the election.

          Life sure hasn’t been boring. 🙂

          10

        • #
          Greg Cavanagh

          Turnbull has always been a Labour man, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s doing all of this on purpose to destroy Liberal, and once again let the brainless Labour party back into power. There is a special place in Hell for people like Turnbull.

          41

          • #
            AndyG55

            I doubt even Hell would want Turnbull, there’s only so much waffle even the Devil can take. !

            62

            • #
              Komrade Kuma

              Turnbull would bring on a leadership spill in no time at all. He would probably promise to align Hell with Heaven or suchlike but actually just create a new kind of hell.

              I imagine Satan has already discussed this possibility with The Almighty and I assume they have agreed on a strategy.

              I’m not across the details as neither are on Twitter and nor am I.

              10

    • #
      ColA

      It’s done – PM Morrison and DPM Fydenberg!!

      30

      • #
        Sceptical Sam

        And Komrade Kuma picked it at one.

        Good call.

        I can live with ScoMo. Anybody would be better than Turnbull.

        The muddlehead’s mess can now be put right.

        The Libs now have a fighting chance of keeping shifty Shorten out of power.

        32

        • #
          Komrade Kuma

          Thankyou Sam and I totally agree with your broader summation. I am surprised you don’t have a bunch of red thumbs down for saying so.

          I think ScoMo will be able to cut through with some straight talking about the facts of life, the economy etc. MT was always a bit too PC and formulaic and just suffered from the ‘beltway elite’ perception as they would say u=in the US.

          20

      • #
        Ian Hilliar

        So it will be business as usual. Turnbull leaves the building, but his Minions soldier on.

        30

        • #

          Write… telephone…email. don’t let Morrison get his
          feedback, (instructions) from yr Get-Up, yr ABC, or yr
          – Malcolm – behind – the – scenes.

          Jo, apologies, been late with the chocolate. Anon…
          Must support forums fer open society.

          30

    • #
      Ian Hilliar

      Scott Morrison trained as an economic geographer. No more to say……..

      40

      • #
        Peter C

        “Economic Geographer”

        That might actually be a reasonable preparation for political life.

        And he brought a lump of COAL into parliament! I hope,that still means something.

        20

    • #

      Writing from the US,
      I have to say your Australian politics
      are more exciting than in the US,
      even with Donald Trump here,
      (he does generate a lot of excitement —
      I’m defining liberals going berserk here
      as “excitement”.)

      I have to put in a good word for
      former Prime Minister Tony Abbott,
      a rare politician who recognized
      the coming climate change catastrophe
      as a fairy tale, and had the courage to speak up:

      Some quotes from an Abbott speech in London,
      in Fall 2017 are just amazing, especially coming
      from a politician (after all, the climate
      change crisis boogeyman may be a fake crisis,
      but claiming it exists is a great way to justify
      more government power over the people
      ( which most politicians love! )

      Abbott delivered his lecture
      to the London-based
      Global Warming
      Policy Foundation (GWPF),
      a climate sceptic think tank.

      Measures to deal
      with climate change,
      which Abbott said
      would damage the economy,
      were likened to
      “primitive people once killing goats
      to appease the volcano gods”.

      “There’s the evidence
      that higher concentrations
      of carbon dioxide
      – which is a plant food after all
      – are actually greening the planet
      and helping to lift agricultural yields.”

      “In most countries, far more people
      die in cold snaps than in heatwaves,
      so a gradual lift in global temperatures,
      especially if it’s accompanied by more prosperity
      and more capacity to adapt to change,
      might even be beneficial.”

      “Contrary to the breathless assertions
      that climate change is behind every weather event,
      in Australia, the floods are not bigger,
      the bushfires are not worse,
      the droughts are not deeper or longer,
      and the cyclones are not more severe
      than they were in the 1800s,” Abbott said.
      “Sometimes, they do more damage
      but that’s because there’s more to destroy,
      not because their intensity has increased.”

      “More than 100 years of photography
      at Manly beach in my electorate
      does not suggest that sea levels
      have risen despite frequent reports
      from climate alarmists that this is imminent.”

      My own climate change blog:
      http://www.elOnionBloggle.Blogspot.com

      00

  • #
    TdeF

    The media are certainly having a ball. Bolt is ballistic with Turnbull’s Narcissism. Others who backed Turnbull regret it now. As for Julie Bishop throwing her fascinator in the ring, it’s her last chance after standing right behind four assassinated Liberal leaders (one twice). You have to wonder if that is a coincidence? Scott Morrison thinks he cannot remove the GST on the electricity ripoff as the States need the cash, which says something else.

    More Gun and Fames tomorrow, as Bristow would say.

    261

    • #
      TdeF

      Julie Bishop says she does not want to be another man’s deputy, despite the great salary. We all agree. Her men have a short lifespan and any boat sank quickly with the endless leaking. The denials were as glib as they were unbelievable.

      Now she has what she has always wanted, a chance to be in the spotlight in her own right without any policies or ethics which offend anyone. Another partying globalist happier in New York under
      disco ball or in Paris than in Adelaide. The biggest decision of the day is the right outfit for challenging. It’s a tough one. Pants suit.

      422

    • #
      glen Michel

      What is it with Croweater Liberals? Pyne,Bishop and Birmingham. Into the wilderness with them, naked and unarmed.

      320

      • #
        TdeF

        Agreed. Faux Liberals. All the trendy SA politicians are to the left of Che Guevara. A state where most of the professionals are marxist school teachers.

        220

      • #
        MudCrab

        Far suck of the sauce bottle there, Glen.

        Bishop was only born in SA. We can blame WA for her post-birth antics.

        70

      • #
        James

        LINO’s. You could tell that Payne was no good from the start. He worked for a sitting MP, then used the resources in his office to run against him and then win the seat. Birmingham never impressed him. I knew them both from my Liberal Party days, before I revised that Australia was a basket case and left the country!

        00

    • #
      GD

      As for Julie Bishop throwing her fascinator in the ring

      Classic!

      130

  • #
    Deplorable Lord Kek

    Dutton or bust.

    200

  • #
    John of Cloverdale, WA, Australia

    Today, Peta Credlin called Bishop, Turnbull in a skirt. Haha!

    570

  • #
    Thumbnail

    I wonder if Dutton does not get up as leader, how many conservatives will abandon the party and join with a Bernardino-Latham-Hanson alliance?

    290

    • #
      Komrade Kuma

      Sorry to be some sort of realist but that is how the DLP got going and look what that did to the ALP.

      Watching the Senate cross bench antics and swip swopping of ‘allegiences’ (naming rights) over the past few years I reckon that option will be an even more bizarre theatre of the absurd perhaps only comparable to a new Palmer Party.

      If you think that is a noble outcome then good on you. If you think that is good for the country then you may need medication.

      23

    • #
      angry

      WILL NEVER VOTE LIBERALS WITH TURNCOAT CLONE MORRISON!

      52

  • #

    Julie Bishop is the back stabber, gobal socialist that leak from cabinet when Tony Abbott was PM. I hope that Dutton dumps her. Morrison is a turncoat, he should lose his position as treasurer an go to a small outer cabinet position like Veteran Affairs. Pyne needs to be dumped as does that large women Payne

    412

    • #
      Ross

      On NZ radio news this morning we had an Aussie journalist saying Bishop is the one as she is popular with the people. The journalist obviously thinks the people want the status quo.

      70

      • #
        Dennis

        We had our girlfriend experience and that didn’t turn out good.

        70

      • #
        el gordo

        “…she is popular with the people.’

        She is popular with female Labor/Green voters, but more than likely Julie will quit parliament and seek a job at the UN.

        160

  • #

    We have had enuff of careerists of late and yore,
    poor fellow our country, no more Mme Guillotines or
    Turncoats undermining our great southern land.

    220

  • #
    pat

    23 Aug: ABC: Dutton government could see dramatic policy shifts for business
    By business reporter Michael Janda
    As the challenger to the status quo, Mr Dutton took to Melbourne talkback radio earlier this week to lay out his policy platform.
    “I think people sent very clear messages about their discontent in certain areas, including electricity prices, and I think it’s important for governments to let people know that we’re not only listening but acting on their concerns,” he told radio 3AW…

    Energy remains the bloodiest battleground, with his advocacy of a royal commission into electricity and fuel prices…
    These companies have seen their share prices smashed this week on fears of such an inquiry, increased regulation and the possibility of being broken up to enhance competition.
    AGL’s share price has fallen from nearly $22 on Monday to $20.39 at the end of trade today. This fall included a $0.63 final dividend that new shareholders are no longer entitled to, making the real fall equal to about 4.5 per cent this week.
    The fall for Origin Energy has been similar, from around $8.70 to $8.26.
    Fuel refiner Caltex has fallen from around $33.42 to $32.82…

    ***Mr Dutton will also not rule out withdrawing Australia from the Paris climate agreement.
    “My judgment is that we do whatever reduces power prices,” he told 3AW…

    While the current administration can hardly be described as an enthusiastic supporter of carbon reduction, it has remained committed to the Paris targets.
    “All of these things are basically ensuring that there’s an emissions reduction target (of 26 per cent) that sits within legislation,” said Treasurer Scott Morrison earlier this week, discussing the Government’s National Energy Guarantee (NEG).
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-23/morrison-v-dutton-policies-effect-on-business/10157492

    120

  • #
    Sceptical Sam

    Dutton is the only hope for a resurgence of the traditional Liberal Party.

    ScoMo is a good talker – which is typical of an advertising executive. Flim-flam is his strong point.

    Bishop? You’re joking Julie. Seriously?

    344

    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      SciMo got it.

      OK. I think we can probably live with that.

      The Libs now have a fighting chance of keeping shifty Shorten and his green socialist comrades out of power.

      30

  • #
    PeterS

    Who cares? The party is dying thanks to Turnbull. The poison pill has been swallowed by the party. The civil war is still raging within it. I doubt Dutton can save it. It will take a much stronger man many years to revive the party.

    241

    • #
    • #
      ghl

      PeterS
      If the Libs get policy right in the refugee, immigration and AGW areas, they will win the next election. The Turnbull cabal will leave politics after Turnbull to seek their rewards elsewhere. 3 years could do it.
      Turnbull will try to destroy the party on his way out but will have limited success if they hold firm.

      00

  • #
    PeterPetrum

    Posting in the dark?

    That’s where we all are at the moment, Jo. Frankly, there is only one person that can lead the Liberals out of the darkness that we have been plunged into – and he is not standing.

    I despair.

    220

    • #
      TdeF

      He will be just as effective. He is across so many issues and has so much experience Dutton does not have and in so many portfolios. If Abbott is prepared to back Dutton, he has his reasons and has thought it through. Putting this country back on its feet will take a mammoth effort, $800Billion in debt. So many mad projects underway. Kill the NBN. Go satellite and get our own satellites, not cables.

      Personally we need a great Foreign Minister, not another EU/UN/Clinton lickspittle. See how fast the US is coming together. Rein in the ABC, drain the swamp, turn on the power. First kill the RET, get rid of the world’s greatest Carbon Tax ripoff and watch the lights come back on. Tell the French to keep their submarines and get a warranty return on four massive desalination plants. New and unused and unusable. A lot of windmills for sale too.

      423

      • #
        Rosco

        Every country including Australia needs a solid cable backbone to its internet and communications network and no satellites can provide that.

        The NBN has been a political football and lets all remember the communications minister that gutted it and hope he is gone ASAP.

        Turnbull has no honour and no reason to exist in our political spectrum.

        He knifed the member whose seat he stole, he knifed Brendan Nelson, he knifed Tony Abbot, he basically achieved nothing as PM and now he is crying foul over being held to account for his failures.

        He has enjoyed the privileges of PM only because he had the support of his colleagues and he repays their years of tolerance by stating he is going to destroy them in a petulant outbreak.

        Good riddance to bad rubbish I say – a narcissist such as him MUST be removed at all costs. His actions mirror Erdogan and Xi Jinping in his dictatorial outbursts – Except they are competent !

        PS the laws surrounding childcare payments were amended and as I understand it the parents no longer receive the money but they choose their childcare provider. It is in line with payments for the NDIS and aged care “packages” – the recipient chooses a provider to manage their payments. The money goes to the childcare centre directly.

        Does this mean the parents or the childcare centre has the relationship ?

        This undoubtedly “muddies” the waters on whether on not Dutton has “any direct or indirect pecuniary interest in any agreement with the Public Service of the Commonwealth …”

        Dutton’s position is entirely different to Bob Day’s situation of disqualification but ….

        151

      • #
        Ross

        Agree TdeF. Abbott could be much more effective in Cabinet without being PM.

        In NZ we had the Key/English combination for 9 years ( which were difficult years after the GFC and with two major earthquakes smashing our 2nd largest city). It worked well because Key was the very intelligent, affable sales/front person and English was a very experienced talented politician who was happy to get on and do the hard yards behind the scenes.
        I am not suggesting it has to be the same in Aussie but just that to get things done and done well you do not have to be the PM.

        100

        • #
          Andrew

          If English did the work behind the scenes on the world’s best govt I’m even more disgusted that Winston Penis gifted minority govt to Jacinda Ocasio-Ardern.

          10

    • #
      Binny Pegler

      Abbott’s natural position has always been the the strong right arm, of a more charismatic and articulate leader.

      51

  • #
    TdeF

    From Malcolm’s address

    “It’s important that before the party meeting is held, we have access to the advice of the Solicitor-General on the eligibility of Mr Dutton to sit in the Parliament..
    This is a very, very significant point”
    “who is not capable of validly being a Minister or exercising any of the powers of a Minister. So you can understand how important this issue is”
    “But it’s a very important point”

    Funny, it wasn’t last week.

    381

  • #
    pat

    23 Aug: news.com.au: China has slammed Peter Dutton and compared him to Donald Trump in a scathing editorial
    THE rest of the world is tuning into the Turnbull government’s drama — and the Chinese media had some choice words for Peter Dutton.
    by Gavin Fernando
    WORRIED about how this ongoing Canberra squabble is making us look on the world stage?
    Good news! Other countries are “WTF”-ing us as well.
    China’s state media has taken a cheeky swing at possible prime minister Peter Dutton, describing him as “a low version of Trump” in a scathing editorial…

    “This Dutton can be a regarded as a ‘semi-Trump’,” the editorial said.
    It described him as “notorious”, saying: “He believes that climate change is fabricated and mocked the island residents in the Pacific Ocean who are facing the loss of their homeland by climate change…
    “We can imagine the consequences he will bring to Australia if he is in charge of the country. This is the most embarrassing situation in Australian politics. If such a person is to take charge of Australia, what outcome can be expected now?”

    The editorial has not been included on the English-language version of the newspaper’s website…
    The Global Times has a history of being critical of Australia…

    And it’s not the only Chinese outlet to criticise the events taking place in Canberra right now.
    The Communist Party’s People’s Daily has described Australia as being where a “foreign government which annoys China from time to time has collapsed”, according to The Australian.
    The ongoing spill has made international coverage elsewhere, including the New York Times and Al Jazeera…
    https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/media/china-has-slammed-peter-dutton-and-compared-him-to-donald-trump-in-a-scathing-editorial/news-story/3d46b682db4b4c434a24fd4ce3cbe238

    51

    • #
      Deplorable Lord Kek

      A Trump-like populist is exactly what is required.

      363

    • #
      NB

      Poor China. I guess they worry that Australia might be considering working to make Australia greater. Just for China, let’s fill our parliament with Sam Dastardlies.

      120

    • #
      Binny Pegler

      Now there’s a reconmendation, if ever I heard one!

      60

    • #
      yarpos

      I love the way China is so sensitive about their dear leader and any criticism of their actions , yet happy to dish it out when they feel like it. Says a lot about the character of the political leadership.

      150

    • #
      Andrew

      Glad we dodged that bullet and appointed someone not vetoed by PRoC – I’d hate for us to do something to offend them.

      (While some might read my kowtowing as sarcastic, I saw genuine comments using this article as an argument for NOT picking Dutton666.)

      00

  • #
    John Watt

    The interesting thing is how Turnbull tolerated Dutton as a minister for so long with the Section 44 dilemma in full view ,but only when there is a threat to Turnbull’s position does this issue become relevant. As one commentator put it…an act of narcissistic bastardry. Also Graham Richardson’s claim that Turnbull came cap in hand to Richardson some years ago pleading for a Labor Senate position has gone unchallenged. Conclusion Turnbull has a gigantic ego and not much principle. Unfortunately the reality of the impact of Turnbull’s energy illiteracy has only just dawned on the Liberals. Too late. This sort of turmoil simply hands the job to Shorten. Any chance of a Bill Shorten /David Evans meeting before Oz slides into energy oblivion?

    340

  • #
    pat

    23 Aug: AFR: Chinese media describe Peter Dutton as a ‘low version of Trump’
    by Michael Smith
    Diplomats say Chinese officials are bemused by Australia’s string of leadership changes since 2007, and the political brinkmanship…

    Labor, which has also struggled with its relationship with China in the past, has been stepping up criticism of the government’s management of ties with Beijing and hopes to resolve tensions in the bilateral relationship if it wins power at the next election.
    https://www.afr.com/news/policy/foreign-affairs/chinese-media-describe-peter-dutton-a-low-version-of-trump-20180823-h14dfg

    23 Aug: Lowy Inst: The Interpreter: Daniel Flitton: How Peter Dutton changes Australian foreign policy
    There will be pressure for Dutton to follow Trump in withdrawing from the Paris Accords…

    70

    • #
      TdeF

      That’s the problem when people really vote. Things change. The Chinese have only had four leaders in fifty years. They die in office. As for elections, you have to be kidding. Still, at least they are observing democracy at work. Good and bad.

      ‘Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…’

      Winston S Churchill, 11 November 1947

      140

      • #
        NB

        ‘They die in office.’
        Lots of people die when they are in office.

        30

        • #
          sophocles

          NB @ # 15.1.1 says:

          Lots of people die when they are in office.

          And sometimes it’s even from Natural Causes! 🙂

          10

      • #
        Binny Pegler

        They are moving toward democracy on a local level. Mainly as a way of handling blatant corruption, must people find national/international politics way over their heads. But when they see the local mayor and his mates (who they went to school with) wallowing in the trough they get really pissed off!

        30

  • #
    TdeF

    I am told just now by a Taxation professional that there has been a very recent change to the payment of subsidies for Child Care centres which could impact the Dutton elegibility.

    That would be news and would need to be addressed for a man who has been validly in parliament for years and the rules have been changed, possibly to affect him on a technicality. Possibly Turnbull was is aware of this and is playing a nasty game as in #12 and #14. So he was happy to have Dutton’s support as a minister. Now he wants Dutton debarred from parliament as ineligible. All in the space of a week.

    Dutton would need a reasonable time to rearrange his affairs to accommodate a recent change which could impact his position. What matters is his position at the time he nominated and was elected. It would be a denial of natural justice for the rules to change to make a sitting member ineligible. Still that’s Malcolm. Lawyer’s ethics.

    It might backfire on Malcolm though. He might find himself replaced by Abbott. That would make for a very unhappy retirement.

    270

    • #
      Phillthegeek

      Tdef, stop talking through your bottom. A legitimate question backed by reputable legal advice (not some dude on an internet forum) has been asked. The ONLY body that can answer that question is the high court and it needs to be referred to there for resolution.

      Yup, it could scupper Dutton as an MP. Small loss to the Parliament that.

      And if S44 doesn’t get him…….the au pair will. 🙂

      doGs but i love watching alleged “conservatives” eat themselves with such focused enthusiasm. Its like some kind of gruesome zombie movie . Roll on the entertainment guys and gals. 🙂

      524

      • #
        TdeF

        How do you do those clever smiley faces? Decorative. Artistic. Too bad you don’t have colours.

        70

      • #
        Deplorable Lord Kek

        Dutton has advice from a prior solicitor general that he is not in breach of s44.
        As for the au pair, nobody cares.
        Dutton cuts immigration and watch the leftwing meltdown.

        201

        • #
          NB

          We just need someone who likes eating popcorn during left meltdowns.

          80

        • #
          Phillthegeek

          As for the au pair, nobody cares.

          Dead as Mutton may well care deeply if it turns out he mislead Parliament over it (the ex-BorderFarce head is checking that apparently), and he gets pinged for mis-use of ministerial discretionary powers…..twice. 🙂 They are all done, stick a fork in em, let the juices left drain and send Igor out for the mango butter. 🙂

          313

          • #
            el gordo

            Lets not rake over the entrails, best get on with the job of forming a new government.

            What do you think of Hunt getting Environment and Kelly for Energy?

            10

      • #
        el gordo

        Phil if Dutton is told to wait weeks for a High Court decision then democracy has failed.

        Better to have Dutton in the big seat and resolve the issue over the break, then if it goes against him he’ll have to change the law to make it ok.

        But that is nothing compared to pulling out of Paris and abolishing the RET, the MSM will go ballistic.

        53

        • #
          Phillthegeek

          then if it goes against him he’ll have to change the law to make it ok.

          Have you been into tDefs embarrassment pills eg??

          Its S44 of the CONSTITUTION. Wot, we are supposed to go through the whole referendum process just to retrospectively make a dick like Mutton able to sit in parliament??

          34

    • #
      Phillthegeek

      For ethics I would back a policeman against a lawyer every time.

      Seriously tDef, get help.

      You do realise that daS UberPotatofurher was a QUEENSLAND cop??

      816

    • #
      TdeF

      You have to wonder whether Malcolm knew something in confidence? Or another minister. This really smacks of skulduggery, betrayal.

      Dutton was completely in the clear until very recently and the High Court does look at when they nominated and were elected. When section 44 has been used to disqualify, this is the critical issue, not something which has happened after that time.

      As said, it would be unjust if the circumstances had changed and put Dutton in a position of potential compromise and the situation would have to be rectified in principle, but you can expect Malcolm is using it to delay the proceedings. Turnbull’s sudden righteousness though is intolerable. It is now ‘very, very important’. It wasn’t last Friday.

      171

      • #
        Phillthegeek

        High Court does look at when they nominated and were elected. When section 44 has been used to disqualify, this is the critical issue, not something which has happened after that time.

        tDef, can you stop embarrassing yourself. Nominations and when they were elected was relevant to S44 in the context of citizenship. This is about pecuniary interests.

        If the law changed after your Lord Dead as Mutton was elected, well, he would have been in a position to know 🙂 and should have ensured he was compliant with the law as it then stood.

        Look, do the world a favor and get him to engage you to argue his case.

        Turnbull’s sudden righteousness though is intolerable.

        Yeah feel that way if you must. But, how you feel about it doesn’t invalidate the question.

        713

      • #
        Komrade Kuma

        Mr M.T. Rumble is a dog, just a treacherous dog who has his jaws around the bone..

        60

      • #
        Analitik

        Turncoat probably has built up files on every Coalition member more conservative than him (ie all of them), ready to feed to his press contacts when the situation requires it.

        One ABC reporter insisted Dutton’s possible pecuniary interest conflict has been uncovered by the press but why wasn’t it found until JUST AFTER the challenge. Pure coincidence according to likes of Philthesocialist.

        50

    • #
      Rosco

      Your source is correct – I said so above in response to your previous comment.

      Unfortunately Dutton was privy to the cabinet discussions about the changes and did not declare an interest and leave the discussion and voted for the changes.

      I assume his actions were entirely innocent but Turnbull is using this against him and it is possible Dutton has breached the law on this alone even if he is considered to have no section 44 problem.

      Nothing simple here – will the Liberals have the guts to excoriate Turnbull at all costs as they now have to ?

      He may still be PM at the next election if they don’t.

      50

    • #
      Bushkid

      That thought had already crossed my own mind, TdeF. I certainly wouldn’t put it past Turnbull.

      10

  • #

    Well, I listened to a couple of minutes of Turnbull carrying on like a flustered social studies teacher setting punishment homework. All I can say is that we’ve been too soft on this slithery non-entity.

    He could own all of Wolseley Road with a mega-yacht parked at each address…and he’d still have the class of a dropped lamington.

    310

  • #
    Deplorable Lord Kek

    Ousted Prime ministers generally garner some sympathy from the public… that won’t be the case here.

    170

  • #
    toorightmate

    The really scumbag union officials always want to have things decided WITHOUT a secret ballot.
    Turnbull now joins the ranks of scumbag union officials.
    Most of these scumbags are fairly fast on their feet when debating. This is not one of Mal’s fortes – even if he is the smartest man in every room he enters.

    172

    • #
      Rosco

      You need to soften your hate – we should recognise the REAL enemy here – the elitists who support Turnbull and wish to lord it over the rest of us.

      The Royal Commission into the Unions found virtually nothing whilst the Royal Commission into the Banks and financial services has found loads of criminality and disgusting behaviour.

      I despair over the stupidity of politicians who want to gut our economy over CO2 without even considering that if we emitted nothing it would make no difference within a few months as India alone will demonstrate as they fire up a few new power stations – never mind China, Japan and Germany building even more.

      We need to stop being divisive and unite to defeat this absurdity – if we don’t the alarmists will win – their message has had an amazing resurgence lately.

      132

      • #
        toorightmate

        1. It is NOT hate, but it certainly is gross dislike.
        2. The Royal Commission into the trade unions found plenty and the Turnbull government completely ignored it.
        3. If you reckon the likes of Eddie Obeid, Dan Andrews, Julia Gillard, Bruce Wilson, Bull Shitten, John Setka and John Maitland are not the problem, then you have a big problem.
        4. How well is “unification” with the far left in USA, Canada, Germany,
        France and UK working?

        20

  • #
    pat

    “carbon” reaches 10-year high writes FakeNewsBloomberg. it’s carbon dioxide emissions, as Rachel & Jeremy well know.

    CAGW policies don’t raise the price of electricity! ***The result has been some of the highest power prices in years in Britain, France and Germany.

    “an important milestone”, “EU has finally got it right”, plus much more pain to come is the hope of “carbon” tracker, predicting “50 euros a ton in 3 years”:

    23 Aug: Bloomberg: Carbon Reaches 10-Year High, Pushing Europe Power Prices Higher
    By Rachel Morison and Jeremy Hodges
    The cost of fossil-fuel emissions rose to its highest in more than a decade in Europe, surpassing 20 euros a ton ($23) and ***adding to the cost of electricity across the continent.
    Carbon emission permits have more than quadrupled from less than 5 euros since the middle of 2017 after European Union governments agreed to cut away a surplus that had depressed prices since the financial crisis that started in 2008. Utilities and industrial polluters need the certificates to cover greenhouse gas emissions they produce.

    The move is a reminder that governments across the region are determined to curtail the emissions blamed for global warming, starting with shifting the power industry away from using coal and toward cleaner fuels such as natural gas and renewables.

    ***The result has been some of the highest power prices in years in Britain, France and Germany.
    “This is an ***important milestone for the EU emissions trading system and something that seemed like an impossibility just a year ago,” said Jahn Olsen, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “There was a feeling that the recently finalized reform was the ‘last chance saloon’ for the ETS. The recent price movement is a strong indicator that the EU finally got it right.”…

    Market measures the EU plans starting in 2019 may push prices to as high as 50 euros a ton within the next three years, Carbon Tracker, a climate-change research group, said Tuesday. The forecast added to recent predictions of further market gains from Berenberg Bank to German utility RWE AG, Europe’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.

    Higher emission costs can make it more cost-effective for power generators to use natural gas, which requires only about half the allowances needed to burn dirtier coal. That demand may push up gas prices, currently trading at the highest level for the time of the year in at least two decades…

    With carbon, the EU has worked to control supply by putting surplus permits into a market stability reserve. That may turn the current glut to a “serious” deficit, according to Berenberg analyst Lawson Steele, and keep prices rising in the coming months…
    “The recent, almost panicked, buying points to high speculative engagement that should be followed by a significant correction,” analysts at Commerzbank AG said…

    China is drawing more cargoes of liquefied natural gas, paying a premium to the rate European utilities would pay. The result has tightened supply in Europe, driving month-ahead gas prices to the highest since December.
    Environmental restrictions encourage utilities to burn more gas than coal. Germany, France and the U.K. are all working on targets to phase out coal use completely in the coming decades. In the meantime, using those fuels requires utilities to buy carbon emissions permits, and analysts expect those prices may well head higher…

    Carbon Tracker predicts prices of 35 euros to 40 euros a metric ton on average from 2019 to 2023. Market rates may hit 50 euros in the winters of 2021 and 2022…
    Benchmark carbon futures have more than doubled this year, outperforming oil’s 9.7 percent gain and the 3 percent advance in the S&P GSCI commodities index.
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-23/carbon-reaching-20-euros-a-ton-in-europe-raises-price-for-power

    40

    • #
      TdeF

      Carbon dioxide emissions? They all go in the ocean. All the trillions and 350,000 windmills has had no detectable impact on CO2 growth.

      Still, getting $50 a ton for carbon dioxide is a fantastic result for Brussels.
      That’s $25 a person per year breathing tax.
      Then farts are even more expensive because of the higher methane hothouse factor!

      In China the EU breathing tax would be worth $40Billion a year. Too bad they wont play.

      111

      • #
        TdeF

        In little Australia, the EU breathing tax would be worth $625Million a year. Who gets this money?

        150

      • #
        NB

        ‘350,000 windmills has had no detectable impact on CO2 growth’
        Almost true. It takes quite a lot of industrial activity to build 350,000 windmills. That is a lot of CO2. But, of course, that makes not a smidgeon of difference to the weather.

        171

        • #
          TdeF

          True. The pay back period in CO2 from most manufacture is close to eight years, so in the short term CO2 goes up. No sign of that either.

          70

          • #
            Bobl

            Add battery storage, losses and Co2 debt from transmission infrastructure, the cleared land under them, plus the operating CO2 of the businesses that run them and come back and tell me that break even is 8 years.

            10

    • #

      “Carbon Tracker predicts prices of 35 euros to 40 euros a metric ton on average from 2019 to 2023. Market rates may hit 50 euros in the winters of 2021 and 2022…”

      This is probably the real business our political leaders have been engaged in these last few years: setting up the ultimate trading desk where the product is as fictitious as the money. Price is what the banksters fancy, demand is what they say it is. And now that the Posh Left has learned to bleat “market” there’s no problem getting approval from the ABC bubble people and the Fairfax-perusing classes. As Julia would say: Big business is on board with the green economy!

      110

  • #
    pat

    Carbon Pulse so excited, they’re giving this article away for free:

    Updated 23 Aug: CarbonPulse: CARBON FORWARD 2018: Why investors have learned to love EU carbon again
    By Ben Garside
    Investors have piled into the EU ETS over the past year as prices have tripled, with buyers hunting the lucrative returns predicted amid another doubling of the carbon price seen in the years to come.
    Carbon Pulse is gathering carbon traders, analysts, regulators, and a host of other experts in London from Oct. 16-18 for the third annual Carbon Forward conference – an event geared to helping emitters and investors navigate the evolving European and global carbon markets.

    Carbon Forward 2018 will devote an entire day (Wednesday, Oct. 17) to the EU ETS, which has seen prices hit a 10-year high of nearly €20 this month amid renewed attention from investors, with Bloomberg dubbing EUAs the year’s best performing commodity.
    And the most bullish forecasters have now started to predict that EU carbon prices could average €35-40 over 2019-2023 as the supply-curbing MSR accelerates coal-to-gas power switching among utilities.
    “The bull-run still seems to have been driven by the convictions of ‘buy-and-hold’ market participants,” said analyst Trevor Sikorski of Energy Aspects in a report this month, partly attributing the rise in EUA prices to the entry of these new participants.

    For the first time, Carbon Forward will devote an entire session to investors, taking a deep dive into speculator motives and what buyers should look out for in the coming months and years. This will include technical analysis, trader insights, and investor strategies.

    A series of post-2020 reforms to the EU ETS agreed late last year are widely seen as the match the lit the fuse sparking the latest rally. European lawmakers finally passed long-awaited legislation to bolster the scheme, including regulations to set up a Market Stability Reserve (MSR) to withdraw excess permits from the market, and measures to further reduce supply next decade.
    But despite the year-long bull market, many participants are choosing to stay away from the market’s daily spot auctions or exchanged-based dealing in the underlying EUA futures favoured by many of the larger utilities, factories, and airlines covered by the ETS.
    Instead, they prefer trading in options, believing that the instruments offer them additional protection against the violent price swings that have become commonplace in the 13-year old market.
    “By trading options, you can weather the storm much better,” said Tobias Munk, a veteran energy commodity options trader who a month ago started his own trading firm Munk Trading AG out of Zug, Switzerland.

    “In the past year, options have really come back to life in the carbon market, and there doesn’t seem to be any let up,” he told Carbon Pulse, adding that volumes had increased tenfold over the past three years.
    “When carbon prices were in the doldrums – around €4-6 – you would see around 2,000 lots a day traded, lately we’ve seen as much as 25,000 lots a day. The volume comes from speculators … They are driving it, they see this market as interesting,” he added…
    “As carbon goes up, it becomes a real product again with real supply and demand dynamics … Before there was just oversupply,” he said…

    However, at least one long-term investor is known to have piled in last year when prices were a fraction of today’s levels, in the hope of earning triple-digit returns.
    Per Lekander, formerly an analyst with Swiss investment bank UBS and now a fund manager at hedge fund Landsdowne Partners, last September said he bought up 10 million EUAs in spring 2017 at average prices below €5, betting that the election of Emmanuel Macron as president of France had secured the future of the pan-European ETS as the bloc’s flagship climate policy…

    Over the past year several traders, brokers, and analysts have also noted an increased interest in carbon, with investment bank Morgan Stanley and brokers Marex Spectron both restarting their emissions trading operations after many years…
    Tobias Munk, Per Lekander, Trevor Sikorski, and Clive Lambert of FuturesTechs will all speak during the EU ETS day at Carbon Forward 2018.
    http://carbon-pulse.com/57426/

    10

  • #
    pat

    18 Aug: UK Sun: GET ON WITH IT Half of Brits want to leave EU on March 29, with or without a Brexit deal
    The mood of the nation is hardening after two years of bitter rows and fruitless negotiations since the historic referendum result
    By David Wooding
    Nearly half of Brits think we should leave the EU on March 29 with or without a deal, a Sun on Sunday poll reveals…
    An overwhelming 62 per cent say they have not changed their minds…
    Almost half — 48 per cent — think the political classes are deliberately making heavy weather of Brexit in the hope it will convince the public to change their minds…
    Most people — 55 per cent — are against a second in-out referendum, according to our poll…
    Ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said the poll had “nailed the lie” that many people regret voting Leave…

    (scroll down) Brits cool on global warming
    BRITAIN’S sizzling summer was not the result of climate change, according to most Brits.
    Nearly half of adults believe the weather goes in cycles and that heatwaves come around from time to time.
    Barely a third of voters believe the human race is responsible and that we will have more extreme temperatures unless we act soon.
    Our poll found that a majority of 18 to 24-year-olds blame global warming for the hottest British summer since 1976.
    But in every other age group, most people think it has little or nothing to do with climate change.
    Six in ten over-55s believe it was “just another hot summer”…
    https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7047947/british-voters-give-brexit-verdict/

    at Desmog, all the critics comes out against “The Sun” poll, but only a mild criciticism of the “Client Earth” loaded questions poll, along with plenty of defense from “Client Earth” itself!

    22 Aug: DesmogUK: The Sun on Sunday Attacked for Misleading Climate Change Polling
    By Mat Hope
    Most people think this summer’s hot weather was due to climate change. Or, confusingly, most people think climate change had nothing to do this year’s searing summer.
    You were likely greeted with one of those headlines on Monday morning, though which you saw largely depended on which newspaper you happened to pick up.

    In a poll that mainly focused on Brexit and party politics, Deltapoll, on behalf of the Sun on Sunday, slipped in a question on climate change. The results led the tabloid to present a bright blue box claiming “Brits Cool on Global Warming”, with most respondents apparently believing “Britain’s sizzling summer was not the result of climate change”.
    This was in stark contrast to a poll by YouGov on behalf of environmental lawyers ClientEarth, which found 82 percent of respondents thought climate change was responsible for causing heatwaves now and in the future…

    IMAGES: Coverage of the DeltaPoll poll in the Sun on Sunday (left) and coverage of the ClientEarth/YouGov poll in Energy Voice (right)

    The hot weather appears to have led to a race to weaponise climate change polling, so who to trust?
    Well, according to academics, Deltapoll’s effort, reported by the Sun on Sunday, was “one of the worst climate change questions” ever seen…
    The issue is that the climate question is “multi-barrelled”, (Stuart Capstick, Research Associate at Cardiff University’s School of Psychology) said, with multiple answers embedded within each of the two options presented.
    “For example, the first answer has embedded within it: did climate change cause the heatwave, is climate change human-caused, will this continue to get worse, unless a lot is done.”
    “How am I supposed to answer if I agree with the first two points, but not the second two?”
    Nick Pidgeon, a professor also at Cardiff University, agreed the question was poorly presented…
    “The Sun on Sunday question is about one of the worst climate questions I have ever seen”.
    And worse than that, neither of the two options presented actually reflect the balance or nuance of what most scientists are saying, according to Leo Barasi, a polling expert and author of The Climate Majority…

    But a rapid assessment by scientists found this year’s heatwave in Northern Europe was as much as five times more likely to have occured thanks to climate change…
    And the level of uncertainty around one-shot questions that appear in surveys that are largely about other issues mean the result may not be reliable anyway, Zorzeta Bakaki, a lecturer at the University of Essex, told DeSmog UK…

    In contrast to the Sun on Sunday poll, a YouGov poll commissioned by environmental lawyers Client Earth and released the same day found a very large majority of respondents attributed the recent heatwave to climate change.
    While the experts generally agreed that the YouGov polling was more reliable, there were a couple of factors that may have driven up the number of people agreeing that climate change was responsible for the heatwave.
    For example, because it appeared in an environmental survey, people were less likely to want to appear to be “skeptical”, Bakaki said. And the question is framed in such a way so as to passively “inform” respondents that weather and climate change may be related, she explained.

    A ClientEarth spokesperson pointed out that the method YouGov had chosen deliberately tried to minimise “social desirability bias”, where people give answers that make them look good. And they said the poll had deliberately only included options that reflected the scientific literature, but had also provided people with the option to say that none of the suggested impacts were due to climate change (which 11 percent agreed with).
    “We wanted to investigate public sentiment towards the deeper issues of climate change and ask detailed questions around who should pay, how the government should respond, the role of the financial sector and how we power our future,”, they said.
    “The YouGov survey proves that the British public are engaged with the issue of climate change and overwhelmingly support concerted action from the government and want to see those responsible held to account.”…
    https://www.desmog.co.uk/2018/08/22/sun-sunday-attacked-misleading-climate-change-poll

    30

  • #
    pat

    ultra FakeNewsCNN:

    22 Aug: CNN: Australia is devastated by drought, yet it won’t budge on climate change
    By Angela Dewan; CNN’s Ben Westcott contributed to this report
    The vast majority of Australians accept human-induced climate change is real and scientists have linked the current record-slashing drought to global warming, yet the subject is still highly controversial in Australian politics, and climate change skepticism is still given political space…

    Turnbull is now facing a renewed leadership challenge from MP Peter Dutton. If Turnbull loses, he would be the third (FOURTH, INCLUDING TONY ABBOTT, CNN) Australian prime minister to be ousted over climate policy in the past decade…
    “The history of Australian politics is that climate policy has proven in the past to be so controversial that it has resulted in prime ministers losing their jobs,” said Bob Ward, policy director at the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics.
    “Australians can see for themselves what’s going on at the moment. They’re facing a series of weather events linked to climate change — droughts, heatwaves, fires — and Australia’s scientific communities have been telling politicians for a long time what’s going on.”…

    Instead of talking about global warming, the ruling Liberal Party’s conservative faction, that has long resisted climate action, has framed the debate around electricity prices…
    A study published in the journal Nature Climate Change (LINK) found that Australians who identify with the country’s conservative party are more likely to be predisposed to climate change skepticism.
    It also found that link between political leaning and climate change skepticism was typically present in countries with strong fossil fuel industries, including the US, Australia, Canada and Brazil, indicating the power of industry lobbying.

    Much of that lobbying happens through think tanks funded by the mining and energy industries, said John Cook, from the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University…
    “The broad picture in Australia is that in the ’80s the issue was much less polarized. It was in the early 1990s that conservative think tanks began attacking climate science for ideological reasons, because the consequence of climate change meant regulating industry,” Cook said.
    That combination of ideology and climate change skepticism is most apparent in former prime minister Tony Abbott…

    Much of Australia’s coal is exported to China, to fuel the Asian powerhouse’s rapid development. But even China is starting to wean itself off dirty fossil fuel and is looking increasingly to renewable energy…
    https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/22/australia/australia-climate-change-policy-intl/index.html

    21

  • #
    pat

    FakeNewsSciAm:

    22 Aug: Scientific American: As Climate Scientists Speak Out, Sexist Attacks Are on the Rise
    Female researchers have faced everything from personal insults to death and rape threats
    By Scott Waldman, Niina Heikkinen, E&E News
    One scientist was called Climate Barbie.
    Another was described as an “ugly fake scientist.” A third had an erect penis drawn on her car window while she was in the field researching sea-level rise.
    Such is the life of ***many female climate scientists in 2018…

    Some suggested that it coincides with rising societal tensions over gender and race, laid bare by President Trump’s political rise.
    “There is a huge underlying fear of change, and that’s spawned the whole ‘Make America Great Again,’” said Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University.
    “When was America great?” she added. “Back when women were in the kitchen and others knew their place, and so because of that, the whole climate change thing, the whole idea that humans could actually interfere with the planet’s climate and that fossil fuels were the way that we got great way back in the day, that’s what underlies all this, and that’s why there is such a mix between gender and climate denial, because it’s all coming from the same perceived threat to identity, and position and power and rights.”

    Online harassers have called her a “sad, little mediocrity,” an “ugly fake scientist” and an “old thin-looking hag.” They’ve gone after Hayhoe for sharing her climate research and for her outreach to the evangelical Christian community.
    The verbal and written attacks derive mostly from men. That’s probably not a coincidence. Studies show that climate skepticism is a male-dominated perspective…
    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/as-climate-scientists-speak-out-sexist-attacks-are-on-the-rise/

    20

    • #
      Hivemind

      “One scientist was called Climate Barbie.”

      Climate Barbie isn’t a scientist; she’s a politician in Canada. But in a more inclusive sense, any time that a scientist becomes an activist, they stop being a scientist. Just look at Hanson, being arrested in an environmental protest.

      51

    • #
      ColA

      There is nothing scientific and certainly nothing American about those posts; that shows where that organization has been flushed!

      11

    • #
      Andrew

      Oh noes – someone got called Climate Barbie?? This is unprecedented – being called a nasty name on social meeja! We have to immediately implement global censorship to prevent this happening again.

      00

  • #
    Hivemind

    “The Dutton Child Care centers do NOT receive Commonwealth payments. These go directly to the parents.”

    I’ve seen the claim that Dutton receives Commonwealth money again and again. It had never occurred to me before that it was simply false.

    100

  • #
    Richard Ilfeld

    A scapegoat has emerged. A left leaning talking head is blaming Trump for the Australian political crisis, as
    well as the hurricane in Hawaii…withdrawing from Paris don’t ya know. I think a better model for OZ is antibodies
    fighting a cancer. I might even shout “go white cells” if I didn’t think it would get me thrown in jail for racism.
    Does anyone else find the lack of a sense of humor on the left frightening?

    180

    • #
    • #
      RicDre

      “Does anyone else find the lack of a sense of humor on the left frightening?”

      Question: How many Socialists does it take to change a light bulb?

      Answer: That’s NOT funny.

      140

    • #

      Being a science ‘n evidence type myself, I still can’t forgive President Grant for the Kohala Cyclone that hit Hawaii back in 1871. Some blame King Kamehameha V, but I reckon those Yankee Republicans could have done something. Maybe sign a paper in France. Or something.

      They remind me of that Prime Minister Billy Hughes, who let the Mackay and Innisfail Cyclones happen back in 1918. He’d be in Paris shortly afterwards for the Versailles Treaty. You’d think he could have signed some papers while he was there to stop more cyclones.

      But nobody listens to us science ‘n evidence type dudes at Jo Nova. They’re all too busy talking about how Turnbull, Frydenberg and Bishop must go.

      140

    • #
      GD

      Does anyone else find the lack of a sense of humor on the left frightening?

      Just watch any of the ABC’s so-called comedy shows, such as Tom Ballard’s ‘Nightly’ show.

      About as funny as a fire in an orphanage

      90

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        GD:
        Thank you for the invitation but NO. I stopped looking at the ABC a few years ago, even the Garden Show.

        70

        • #
          Graeme No.3

          GD:

          In fact I was so distraught at the (prolonged) departure of our glorious? leader? that I resorted to the glass that inebriates. You know the sort, the bottle pops on opening and the contents sparkle. I even missed watching the ABC News? – I presume they were lamenting the loss of their beloved.
          I must say that I can now face the brighter future having passed the Slough of Despond.
          “This miry Slough is such a place as cannot be mended; it is the descent whither the scum and filth that attends conviction for sin doth continually run, and therefore is it called the Slough of Despond: for still as the sinner is awakened about his lost condition, there ariseth in his soul many fears, and doubts, and discouraging apprehensions, which all of them get together, and settle in this place; and this is the reason of the badness of this ground”.

          10

  • #
    Michael Reed

    Hi there Richard ,
    I have noted this for a very long time now .Comedy and comedians have always been
    able to lampoon (with a lot of raised eyebrows at times ) any “sacred gods”.However
    the left side of politics and greenies only give the go ahead on comedy that lampoons
    only skeptics as they are “dumb deniers “and they and their remarkable hubris just
    know better !!!! It’s a really sad state when political correctness rules over creativity
    and basic freedom of expression.
    Cheers Mike Reed

    120

  • #
    Just Thinkin'

    My latest message to my federal member, Andrew Wallace.
    After personally telling me about secret ballot stuff.

    Well Andrew,

    Thank you for your replies.

    I see that Mal has set another ambush.

    this is ALL about Mal…..

    If I can’t be PM, then no one in the Liberal Party will be.

    Throw out a few distractions to take everyone’s mind off

    the main item. Hence the UN Party Queen and the order

    follower. NEITHER has Australias best interest at heart.

    Just more of the same.

    If you lot don’t get behind Mr Dutton, then yours, and ours, goose is cooked

    and say Cheerio to our Australian way of life.

    And the other labour party is standing on the sideline rubbing their

    hands together.

    Have a pleasant day.

    Remember, Australia, and the rest of the free world, is watching you.

    And, it shows how desperate the opposition is that they wreck Mr Dutton’s office.

    We have some great people in Australia, eh.

    Cheers,

    Me

    130

  • #
    Mark M

    Greg Hunt might be Deputy PM.

    Turnbull government orders CSIRO U-turn towards climate science

    “New Science Minister Greg Hunt has ordered a major U-turn in the direction of the CSIRO, reviving climate research as a bedrock function just months after the national science agency slashed climate staff and programs.”

    https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/turnbull-government-order-csiro-uturn-towards-climate-science-20160803-gqk2pr.html

    50

    • #
      Mark M

      Correction, technically that (Deputy PM) belongs to the Nationals …

      30

    • #
      Dennis

      Minister Greg Hunt signed the Paris Agreement in New York during April 2016 and ratified it in November 2016.

      50

    • #
      Mal

      He is another climate warmist. He has to go.

      90

      • #
        el gordo

        I want Greg Hunt as Environment Minister because he has to explain to the electorate why we are building new coal fired power stations.

        Further, he would invite Jennifer Marohasy in for a chat and discuss that audit of BoM.

        80

  • #
    PeterS

    Well today will be a very interesting and important day for Australia. I would not rule out Turnbull remaining as PM given his narcissistic tendencies. In any case he has succeeded in destroying the LNP no matter who might end up as the new PM. Shorten must be very happy. All this was foretold by some people, such as Alan Jones from day 1. Turnbull has managed to split the party into two and there are only three paths out of this current mess. Path 1, a new leader is appointed and he/she has the foresight, determination and will to reunite the party and lead it to victory at the next election against Shorten. Path 2, it splits into two new parties with some probably joining one of the other minor parties resulting in Shorten very likely being PM for many terms. Path 3, muddle along with a weak leader or even Turnbull himself with the same result as path 2. This is a very sad day for Australia.

    80

    • #
      el gordo

      As I mentioned previously, Dutton will become PM and take Australia to a stunning landslide at the next election, ACP and ON marginalised when Dutton drains the swamp.

      Which is why I’m appealing to Cory’s commonsense and ask him to come home or be left out in the cold.

      40

      • #
        PeterS

        I hope you are right. If the LNP have enough common sense they should select Dutton. Today will be the litmus test of whether the LNP has any common sense remaining. Of course we are hoping Dutton is the right man for the job – the jury is still out on that.

        20

      • #
        PeterS

        If Dutton is PM, Abbott is pulled into the cabinet and the renewables/CAGW/climate change nonsense is finally being pushed to the edge of the cliff perhaps Cory would be better off where he is in the Senate to act as a strong supporter to pass the required legislations.

        50

        • #
          el gordo

          ACP could gain those members of the Coalition like Hogan (Nat) who want to jump.

          40

          • #
            PeterS

            ACP should gain a lot more if the select the wrong leader for the LNP. The party is split but it can be reunited with the right sort of leader. Given Dutton’s background he might be the right sort of man. Let’s hope so.

            30

  • #
    Mark M

    For laughs, here is the leader of the Greens reaction.

    Cue the indignity …

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCEFwi4gf18

    00

    • #
      ColA

      I heard that slimy slithering piece of waste on their Aunty this morning accusing Dutton of “Race Baiting” odd that he was doing exactly that!!

      30

      • #

        Yes , ‘their’ ABC, not ‘our’ though charter states, representating
        of us all, and we pay for their not inexpensive upkeep. ABC, I’m
        tired of your on-going,never-ending campaigning for the left of
        politics,( the more left the better.) Yr commentators are NOT
        representative of ‘our’ values but of those ABC, high salaried
        journos’ who voice their own prejudices at ‘our’ expense. Reform
        or dissolution! … I prefer the latter.

        70

  • #
    PeterS

    Signs you’re dealing with a narcissist:

    Selfie obsessed
    They’re likable – at least, at first glance.
    Not all narcissists are loud and proud. In fact, some are quiet and shy.
    They can often be found in leadership roles.
    They always manage to make the conversation about themselves.
    They’re also guilty of name-dropping.
    Not every story a narcissist tells is one of victory. But even in the stories of tragedy or failure, there’s an air of entitlement and victimisation.
    They like nice things.
    Appearance is everything to them.
    On Facebook, they have lots of friends – and not a single bad picture.
    They are strongly averse to criticism.
    Excuses are a narcissist’s best friend.
    They leave a trail of wreckage behind them.
    And in that vein, they may be more likely to cheat.
    A narcissistic person probably has no idea he or she is a narcissist.
    Everything is personal.
    You find yourself resorting to flattery just to maintain the peace with a narcissist.
    Narcissists are not low in self-esteem.
    Men are more likely to be narcissists than women.

    https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/signs-youre-dealing-with-a-narcissist/news-story/e3b338932b5d41ca84751de7f95ee4d1

    50

  • #
    Roy Hogue

    Malcolm Turnbull promises a scorched earth for his Liberal enemies

    Taking Jo’s summary as true, which reading will verify, whatever else that may mean it tells us something about the character of Malcolm Turnbull doesn’t it?

    When a politician want’s his way regardless of anything, he’s a bad deal for everyone. And I think that is what he’s saying.

    He’s a bad deal for us as well as for you and I hope he can be unseated. Id’ like to say overthrown but that implies that he would go a way permanently which seems doubtful.

    I can’t remember when politicians were playing such high stakes poker. Either in Australia or here. It’s depressing to think about.

    60

    • #
      PeterS

      We were warned about Turnbull by a few people from day 1 and from one person in particular (Lord Monckton) even before day 1. Turnbull’s plan was always to convert the LNP into a second ALP party. He tried to join the ALP first but was rejected so that shows his political tendencies. As Alan Jones stated Howard owes us an apology for allowing Turnbull to join the Liberal Party. My only wish is we avoid a crash and burn scenario for the sake of my children and all Australians. It is only possible by preventing Shorten from becoming PM and instigating economic hell. Blocking Shorten is only possible if a new leader is appointed to the LNP who has the will and power to reunite the split LNP with alternative polices on energy, water, immigration and agriculture.

      120

  • #
    Another Ian

    Turnbull’s memoirs desperate for a volcano?

    “Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo caused in part by Indonesian volcanic eruption Electrically charged volcanic ash short-circuited Earth’s atmosphere in 1815, causing global poor weather and Napoleon’s defeat, says new research.”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/23/napoleon-at-waterloo-versus-the-volcano-napoleon-lost/

    40

  • #
    a happy little debunker

    This brouhaha really doesn’t matter.

    Within 10 months we will see an elected Labor government take office and there will be another spill of leadership positions within the LNP (as per protocol, following an election defeat).

    Whomever takes the leadership now, will be judged by that looming loss.

    The next proper leader of the LNP will be the next leader of the opposition.

    40

    • #
      Dennis

      “Word on the street is everybody is sick and tired of all the politicians from both parties …. the people are no happy …. everybody is sick and tired of their cr*p!

      “Interesting times ahead.”

      Message yesterday from a young builder working in Sydney.

      40

      • #
        a happy little debunker

        Remember the old days when you would read the paper in the morning and watch the evening news.

        Made the Whitlam dismissal seem so small & much ado about nothing, by comparison.

        So – what exactly has changed?

        And What is the solution?

        20

  • #
    Dennis

    “Sky News host and former Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Tony Abbott Peta Credlin weighs into the leadership spill telling Ben “I feel overwhelmingly sad.”

    “I felt when Tony Abbott was elected that we would finally return some adults in charge. Well, it was not to be.

    “This circus… has been humiliating as a Liberal and it has been so sad for anyone who wants to see good government in this country.”

    The Prime Minister is sticking to his guns and will only announce a party room meeting if Dutton can prove he has the numbers.

    Peta says Malcolm Turnbull “is breaking the rules, he’s breaching the convention, he’s making it up as he goes along.”

    “In the start of 2015 there was a push against Tony Abbott… there were two names. The requirement under the convention is two names only of members of parliament.

    “When two names put forward a spill motion to Tony Abbott he called the party meeting.

    “Two is the rule.”

    Peta Credlin
    Radio 2GB

    90

    • #
      TdeF

      Peta is right. What is the point of a request for a secret vote on the leadership if it requires a majority of signatures?

      So this is not just about defying convention. This is a dictator changing the rules of his party at whim, Hitler in the bunker trying to bring down the world. Clearly the Liberal party has failed Malcolm and he is doing his Apres Moi, le deluge performance. Petulant, petty, nasty, spoiled. Nothing has changed.

      This from the great collaborator, a man among equals, the great communicator, the trusted Minister who plotted to throw out a far better man. Can’t communicate, can’t delegate, can’t be trusted. He has shown his true colours. Whatever legacy he thought he had, it’s gone now.

      80

      • #
        TdeF

        In all this, Abbott has come through as a man of principle and decency. This despite the nasty and now clearly unjustified removal of a sitting Prime Minister, the demotion to the benches, the stripping of all responsibility. Then taking of credit for Abbott successes, the shelving of Direct Action and the endless internal attempts to force or humiliate Abbott out of the party. Few others would have survived let alone thrived.

        The pleasure of humiliating Abbott soured as Abbott was freed to comment on policy. True to his word, Abbott never sniped and in carefully scripted plain speech exposed the obvious failure of policy but always suggested working sensible policies, as was his entitlement and even duty as a backbencher and loyal party member. Especially the forced closure of coal power stations. Turnbull’s facetious remark that the closing of Hazelwood was a private company matter still rankles as Green party treachery. Turnbull’s attempt to swap preferences with the Greens at the last election was not unnoticed, nor his hiring of Green party activists to his staff. Clearly Turnbull was in the wrong party.

        Now the one punch assailant refuses even to get in the ring for a fair fight. We know who has the glass jaw.

        121

      • #
        Dennis

        The way Christopher Pyne is carrying on there was no PM Abbott dumping, or achievements by the government he led.

        Black Hand faction member and close friend of GetUp.

        80

      • #
        Serp

        Malcolm’s ad hoc version of Kevin’s locking up the Labor leadership.

        20

    • #
      PeterS

      Turnbull’s real character is now on full display – narcissistic. He has one card up his sleeve. He could refuse to call the meeting and remain as PM. I bet that was on his mind yesterday when he demanded to see the 43 signatures before standing down and calling for a ballot. We will see today how narcissistic he is. The protocol though is the party whip can call for the ballot based on just two signatures. Turnbull has to call the spill today or else he will end up blowing up the party.

      70

      • #
        Graeme No.3

        PeterS:

        If Turnbull refuses to call a spill, he will provoke a real fight and lose most of his remaining supporters, and be gone by Monday.
        I assume Pyne will go down with the sinking sh*t.

        50

      • #
        TdeF

        Interesting. That would be Nola Merino from WA, current Chief Whip. Is that a Liberal party rule or a tradition or some other set of rules?

        30

        • #
          PeterS

          Not sure if it’s a party rule but it’s certainly at least a precedent. It worked for Turnbull when he stabbed Abbott in the back so what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

          20

  • #

    Chrisopher Pyne will be looking to Get Up for a job this time, not as a goon squad to spread lies about conservative Australians who he sees as a threat to all that money he can make from the global warming fraud.

    10

  • #
    pat

    behind paywall:

    Warning of more power blackouts in Victoria this summer
    The Australian-8 hours ago
    Victoria is again facing power shortages this summer as ageing, coal-fired … AEMO’s forecast highlights the continuing vulnerability of the …

    24 Aug: SMH: Action urged as Victoria faces summer blackouts
    By Cole Latimer
    The electricity grid operator says there is a one in three chance of power failure in Victoria this summer unless immediate action is taken.
    Its latest Electricity Statement of Opportunities forecast report painted a tough picture for Victoria as the energy network ages and Australia ***faces another record hot summer…

    “Most load shedding is projected to occur under plausible, extreme weather conditions. Specifically, temperatures of 40 degrees or more in Victoria could be the catalyst for extreme, one-in-10-year demand conditions.
    “The projected risk is driven partly by the reduced reliability of ageing generators observed in recent years.”…
    The electricity grid operator added that NSW faced blackouts and low power from 2023, and South Australia in 2024…
    It is already leaning on major energy users to help control power levels in the grid and ensure another blackout-free summer.

    The report laid the blame in part on the east coast’s coal-fired power stations, which experienced a number of generator failures during the most recent summer…
    Since December 2017, there have been a combined 100 coal and gas generator failures, taking hundreds of megawatts out of the grid instantly…

    To avert these potential load-shedding incidents, the Energy Market Operator is working with the Victorian government and major power users to ensure greater control of electricity during peak usage times.
    This includes the reliability and reserve trader mechanism, where major energy users reduce their consumption to ease pressure on the grid demand…
    “The greatest risk to Victoria’s energy supply is the chaos in the federal Liberal government, which is destroying the confidence business needs to plan and invest,” (Victorian Energy Minister Lily) D’Ambrosio said…

    AEMO CEO Audrey Zibelman: “AEMO has commenced work to prepare the power system for the summer ahead, which includes ensuring we have the resources available to manage any range of potential scenarios, such as an extreme heatwave, bushfires, storms and mechanical failures.
    “Close collaboration with industry in the lead-up and throughout summer will be key to reducing the risks of energy supply shortfalls.”…

    The report said that after the upcoming summer, about 5.6 gigawatts of new wind, solar and storage capacity coming online in Victoria under the Victorian Renewable Energy Target, as well as power plant upgrades, would reduce risks of major blackouts.
    The report called for another energy policy to be considered “to ensure ongoing reliability and stability of the power system, such as contemplated by the reliability mechanism of the National Energy Guarantee, for the benefit of energy consumers”…

    ***The electricity grid operator estimates that since last summer, an additional 598 megawatts of renewable electricity has come online. The former Hazelwood power station had a capacity of 1200 megawatts before it was closed by its owners Engie in March 2017
    https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/action-urged-as-victoria-faces-summer-blackouts-20180823-p4zzd4.html

    30

    • #
      yarpos

      598MW of renewables has come on line, except if its night time or the wind isnt blowing. They persist in relating apples and oranges.

      20

  • #
    Robber

    Wouldn’t surprise me if Turnbull is talking to Shorten to see what roles he could play in a Shorten government.

    40

    • #
      PeterS

      I doubt Shorten is that dumb. Turnbull will stab Shorten in the back lie he did with Abbott. No the ALP is much smarter than the LNP when it comes to Turnbull’s character. They proved that when Turnbull was turned down when he first tried to join the ALP many years ago.

      40

  • #
    pat

    behind paywall:

    Power outages in summer a risk to Victorians without new backup
    Herald Sun – 2 hours ago
    Energy market operator warns of ‘heightened risk’ of power outages in … Victoria and South Australia are at greater risk than other states

    more evil coal:

    24 Aug: Adelaide Advertiser: AEMO warns of power blackouts in Victoria and South Australia this summer
    The unreliability of coal-fired power generation could lead to blackouts in Victoria and South Australia, the Australian Energy Market Operator warns. In a report to be released today, the AEMO says it will be forced to seek emergency reserves to manage the power system during peak season to reduce the risk of power shortages. AEMO’s warning highlights the continuing vulnerability of the electricity market after the government this week dumped its signature National Energy Guarantee. ENDS.

    24 Aug: RenewEconomy: Ageing fossil fuel plants putting supply at greater risk, says AEMO
    by Giles Parkinson
    AEMO – in its annual Electricity State of Opportunities (ASOO) report, long a key reference point for energy investment – gives a bleaker outlook on the risk of “unserved energy” – or blackouts and load shedding than it did last year.
    The reason of this is simple and two-fold. It has more clarity over weather forecasts, and it now understands – after more than 100 trips of big thermal units since December 1 – that the ageing fossil fuel fleet is becoming increasingly unreliable and is posing the biggest threat to energy security, particularly in the soaring summer heat.

    ◾“The forecast risk of load shedding in 2018-19 has increased since the 2017 ESOO, primarily because modelling has now factored in a reduction in thermal generation reliability observed in recent years,” AEMO notes. That means it can rely less on ageing coal and gas plants.

    AEMO says new investment in wind, solar and storage, and the key components of its Integrated System Plan will ensure that Australia’s strict reliability standard of 99.998 per cent is not breached in any state in the coming ten years…
    But it is concerned about the risk of outages or load-shedding this coming summer in Victoria, which because of the concern about the state of the coal and gas generators, and the risk of extreme weather conditions, rises to a risk of one in three.
    It uses that to underline the need of the reserve trader mechanism (RERT), that includes demand management and other backup generators that it had in place last year…

    AEMO also notes that the longer term forecasts underpin the need for the recently-released 20-year planning blueprint, the Integrated System Plan…
    Importantly, it notes that the risk of outages is reduced, not increased, by the flood of new wind and solar projects due to be connected to the grid in coming years, particularly in Victoria, where some 5.4GW of wind and solar is needed to meet the VRET, along with some storage…

    ***Interestingly, particularly given the state of the political debate around energy, there are 33 mentions of dispatchability in the 95-page document, and not a single mention of base-load. Which should give you a clue of what AEMO estimates is needed in the future generation…
    https://reneweconomy.com.au/ageing-fossil-fuel-plants-putting-supply-at-greater-risk-says-aemo-31108/

    30

    • #
      James Murphy

      The unreliability of coal fired generation…?

      There has to be something in the water for that level of delusion to be considered reasonable.

      30

      • #
        Serp

        It’s just big lie stuff — the only strategy available — and one must suppose it’s efficacious or would we continue to see it?

        20

  • #
    pat

    poorly dated given Paul is located in Australia. opening para refers to Friday 24 Aug:

    23 Aug: Reuters: Australia faces increased blackout risks this summer as coal plants age
    by Sonali Paul
    The risk of blackouts in Australia’s upcoming summer has grown from last year as ageing coal-fired power plants have become less reliable, the nation’s energy market operator said on Friday, calling for more power investment in the next few years…
    AEMO sees the states of Victoria and South Australia most at risk of outages in the 2018-19 summer, which runs from December through February, with some risk in the most populous state, New South Wales, where a severe drought could deplete hydropower.
    Electricity demand typically jumps over the summer as households and businesses crank up air conditioning…

    The Bureau of Meteorology has not issued its forecast for this summer yet, but has said that temperatures this spring are likely to be warmer than average.

    Unexpected outages at coal-fired plants have forced Australia’s biggest power user, the Tomago aluminium smelter, partly owned by Rio Tinto, to cut output several times this year, as it looked to avoid sharp price spikes when Sydney was on the verge of blackouts…
    “The results emphasise the need for an investment landscape which supports the development of the portfolio of resources required to replace retiring generation,” AEMO said…
    http://news.trust.org//item/20180823130109-haver/

    nothing political about the timing of this report?

    30

    • #
      Analitik

      Portable generator sales across the rest of Australia will now follow the lead set by South Australia.

      BCF, Rays Outdoors and Supercheap will do well out of this.

      20

  • #
    Kleinefeldmaus

    The cat is amongst the pigeons now – but at least this treacherous A**le is out of it. jus’ say’n
    game over for Turnbull – no dice – no cigars

    30

  • #
    el gordo

    Betting market has Bishop a nose in front of Dutton as they head down to the line.

    00

  • #
  • #
    Dennis

    I am amazed, a woman phoned Alan Jones at Radio 2GB this morning and explained to him the UN Agendas crafted to remove the sovereignty of member nations, including the latest signed by Jewellery Bishop. He was not aware of this and promised to investigate and broadcast a campaign to alert his listeners.

    Another under the media radar.

    90

    • #
      PeterS

      That has been the agenda all along by Turnbull, Bishop and others on their side. Lord Monckton warned us years ago but most people didn’t want to listen.

      70

    • #
      Bushkid

      Some of us already knew about this traitrous act. That is wasn’t headline news across the country is testament to the actual control that the Turnbull/Black Hand people have over the leftist-dominated media.

      When your government sells you out without telling you, there is no other descriptor than “traitor”. Ordinary people do not like traitors.

      80

  • #
    Kinky Keith

    What’s wrong with the world, including Australia, is amply illustrated by comment #1.

    But perhaps that’s not entirely true because it reads like a fairly innocent personal opinion, on the surface.

    Like most of what confronts us today, there is a deeper meaning or purpose that only becomes apparent on investigation.

    When you look back at previous comments you find they all have the same unswerving message: Abbott is a nutter and similar pointed “guidance” for our future use.

    It seems highly likely, at least to me, that the writer is a paid “influencer” pushing solid fact.

    The aim therefore, is not one of contributing to discussion and expanding our understanding, but simply to imprint a few chosen ideas on us poor plebs.

    Good luck with that.

    444 T

    40

  • #

    Tomorrow?

    I thought it is today?

    11

  • #
  • #
    Bodge it an scarpa

    So PETA says “Turncoat has broken the rules”, maybe even the law. Until such time as our lefty politicians are punished for their blatant disregard for what is legally or morally wrong, they will continue to do so and drag Australia down the sewer.

    40

  • #
    PeterS

    The attorney general Christian Porter has confirmed Dutton is not incapable to sit in parliament.

    20

    • #
      Hanrahan

      An interesting aside, Dutton’s family trust owns a local shopping centre just down the road from me.

      RHT Investments owns the dated Townsville shopping centre and aside from establishing a childcare centre capable of housing 85 children, intends to upgrade several shopfronts.

      Townsville Bulletin.

      00

    • #
      philthegeek

      Lol! This just rolls it on and creates some juicy possibilities. We are into a “and the High Court will so rule” situation…..which worked out so well for them last time.

      On this advice, which can be taken as somewhat partisan as the SG is a Brandis tame appointment, unelectable Mutton will run in the ballot and may replace Turnbull.

      Turnbull resigns, and various Nats hit the crossbench. Mutton doesn’t have the numbers on the floor of the house.

      ALP do payback, refuse a pair for Turnbull in the HoR, and refer Dead as Mutton to the High Court (the only body that can definitively rule on this) along with any other Lib/Nats with “questions to answer”.

      Yup, Turnbull is doing the scorched earth thing. But, thats probably what the Libs need to happen if they are ever going to re-build into and electable center right party and dump the silly extremes they have been chasing.

      Really, Australian politics isn’t going to settle down and be practically functional again in terms of the actual policy and governance the electorate deserve until after the next election.

      20

    • #
      angry

      Christian Porter sounds like a lefty traitor…………..

      00

  • #
    Bodge it an scarpa

    During this leadership crisis, I have only turned the TV on once to try to keep abreast of developments. Got sick of all the left wing commentators and so called political experts putting their anti LNP pro labor slant to their opinions, so switched off after an hour or so. Quite depressing when one loses all confidence in the MSM to report anything but fake news on events of national importance.

    50

    • #
      PeterS

      Sky News is the only show to watch for the real news, not fake news. It does give a more balanced view. It includes people from all sides of politics including the left like Graham Richardson. In fact he has his own segment there. It’s actually what ABC News should be like, not the current left-biased fake news propaganda machine it is.

      51

  • #
    pat

    24 Aug: Reuters: Australia’s AGL Energy says CEO Vesey steps down
    by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru
    AGL Energy Ltd on Friday said managing director and Chief Executive Officer Andy Vesey has resigned after almost four years in the role.
    Chief Financial Officer Brett Redman would step in as CEO on an interim basis, the company said in a statement.

    Vesey’s sudden exit comes after more than a year of feuding between AGL and the federal government over the company’s plan to shut one of its coal-fired power plants in 2022 at a time ***when Australia needs coal and gas-fired plants to back up wind and solar power.
    https://www.reuters.com/article/agl-energy-ceo/australias-agl-energy-says-ceo-vesey-steps-down-idUSL3N1VE65E

    40

  • #
    TdeF

    Sky News: ‘Solicitor-General Stephen donaghue has cleared Peter Dutton to be in parliament, clearing the way for him to challenge Malcolm Turnbull for the Liberal leadership. Dr Donaghue has found Mr Dutton is “not incapable of sitting as a member of the House of Representatives”’

    50

    • #
      philthegeek

      Solicitor-General Stephen donaghue has cleared Peter Dutton to be in parliament

      wRONg!!

      https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlUp2V_UcAAcb3E.jpg

      SG has offered pretty heavily qualified advice as to their opinion, but SG is not the HC.

      Will be enough to keep the uncertainty rolling though and cause the “conservatives” pain down the track. 🙂

      20

      • #
        PeterS

        Correct. It appears Turnbull will have to inform Dutton now has to drop out of the race!!!!!! Talk about throwing a cat among the pigeons.

        10

        • #
          philthegeek

          Talk about throwing a cat among the pigeons.

          Hmmm..turnbull seems to have a thing with cats. 🙂

          It appears Turnbull will have to inform Dutton now has to drop out of the race!!!!!!

          Lol! right, like any of them will be listening to Turnbull. 🙂

          I reckon, even though this SG advice is equivocal, Dutton stays in the race. Libs just want power NOW and dont care about any kaos to come. They are all mad and well into a spiral of self harm. Dont expect rational behavior from the alleged conservative driving this, we are well beyond that.

          00

      • #
        PeterS

        Is it any surprise? It’s what Turnbull was looking for.

        00

      • #
        PeterS

        George Williams says the advice is “spot on” and says only the high court can now resolve this question. 🙁

        11

        • #
          Analitik

          Turncoat has become an expert at kicking the can down the road (highlighted by how he had to self fund some of the last election campaign). He must get together with Elron Musk once his time in Federal politics is up.

          10

    • #
      yarpos

      not incapable, I wonder if that is the same as capable?

      10

  • #
    pat

    24 Aug: ABC: AGL Energy chief executive Andy Vesey quits
    By senior business correspondent Peter Ryan
    Updated 10 minutes ago
    Mr Vesey and the AGL board have refused Federal Government requests to extend Liddell’s operation beyond 2022 or to considering selling it, which AGL has seen as unusual market intervention.
    Despite Mr Vesey’s sudden exit, AGL chairman Graeme Hunt said in a statement that “succession planning for the CEO is a matter of key importance to the AGL board at all times.”

    “We thank Andy for his great contribution to AGL.
    “At a time of considerable uncertainty in our sector, he has driven our transformation agenda to meet two key strategic imperatives: to prosper in a carbon-constrained future and build customer advocacy.
    “He leaves the company in a robust financial position from which to continue to lead investment in our transitioning industry and in our long-term growth.”…

    Mr Vesey has also stepped down from AGL’s board ***but will remain employed by AGL in an advisory capacity to the board until the end of the year.
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-24/agl-energy-ceo-andy-vesey-resigns/10159840

    10

    • #
      Kinky Keith

      The Timing of this Resignation Points to a connection.

      Is Vesey trying to tell us something, or do we already know.

      That our President has connections with the Australian Energy providers, Electricity, Solar, Hydro, Wind and Submarines stalking the Great Big Barrier Reef.

      These row, almost simultaneous Resignations tell us something unpleasant about our Governments.

      444 T Return.

      60

      • #
        beowulf

        Watch and see if Mal’s son now divests himself of his Infigen shares as quickly as he bought them when dad was ready to knife Abbott. There could be rats leaving sinking ships in all directions . . . I hope. Now all we need are Zibelman (AEMO) and Schott (ESB) to pack up and go before they inflict more of their renewables zealotry upon us.

        80

  • #
    pat

    24 Aug: ABC: Peter Dutton win would give the conservatives a stranglehold on the Liberal Party’s throat
    The Conversation By Michelle Grattan
    Updated about an hour ago
    Let’s be frank: Mr Turnbull has made a hash of his prime ministership…

    Tony Abbott was on a mission. The ideological hardliners were obsessed with the climate, free speech and other culture wars. Their discordant voices have been amplified a hundredfold by their good mates in News Corp, including Sky, and on 2GB. Events then played into the critics’ hands with the poor Longman byelection result…

    Out on a personal and policy charm offensive, Mr Dutton was already running into flak. His proposal to remove the GST on electricity bills was attacked; his desire to smile evoked cynicism. And the question over his constitutional eligibility to sit in parliament (because of a pecuniary interest issue) was looming larger…

    Dutton’s first hurdle is eligibility…

    Mr Dutton is very unprepared for the job…
    Morrison prepared, Bishop interesting…
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-24/peter-dutton-win-would-give-the-conservatives-michelle-grattan/10159428

    from first tweet to latest:

    TWEET: David Speers: Sky News
    Solicitor General says in his advice: On the facts set out below, in my opinion, in my view is that Mr Dutton is NOT incapable of sitting as a member of the House of Representatives by reasons of s44(v) of the Constitution.

    TWEET: David Speers: Sky News
    Solicitor General’s advice par 9: While I consider the position summarised above to represent the better view, it is impossible to state the position with certainty

    TWEET: David Speers: Sky News
    SG par 9: There is a possibility, consistently with the approach that the High Court recently took in the context of s 44(i) of the Constitution, that the Court might endeavour to create a clearer line in the interests of certainty

    TWEET: David Speers: Sky News
    Solicitor General says it is unlikely Dutton ineligible, but not definitive. Some “risk”, some “uncertainty”, cannot reach “definitive conclusion.”
    https://twitter.com/David_Speers

    meanwhile, Dutton’s office in Qld has been attacked.

    10

    • #
      TdeF

      Great! Michelle Grattan already hates Peter Dutton. That can only be the best recommendation.

      As for Grattan’s “a stranglehold on the Liberal Party’s throat”, where else would you get a stranglehold, on the knee or foot? Grattan is one of the reasons I stopped subscribing to The Age. No journalism, no style, all activism.

      70

    • #
      TdeF

      The Solicitor General has given his professional opinion, as requested by Turnbull.
      Of course it is qualified. He is not the High Court but it does not give Turnbull any reason to halt the election or refer Dutton to the High Court. Also there is no situation or conflict, real or perceived which cannot be easily and quickly rectified. Malcolm though will kick out the stumps and bring the house down if he can.

      If the list of 43 names exists, Malcolm can be removed as Prime Minister by the Governor General at any time. In fact the Governor General would be oblige if requested by any senior Liberal delegation.

      30

  • #
    Crakar24

    Dutton cleared to run, AEMO in discussion with VIC on how to avoid rolling blackouts this summer.

    20

    • #
      PeterS

      Cleared by whom? According to the news only the high court can now resolve this question.

      10

      • #
        Deplorable Lord Kek

        The advice says there is “some risk” the HCA may decide otherwise, but it is unlikely.
        There is always “some risk” a court may act contrary to a legal opinion.

        10

        • #
          Hanrahan

          I’m hearing that the High Court will not accept a referral from the opposition, that it must be referred by parliament [there is precedent]. If Dutton wins the ballot how could that happen?

          00

        • #
          TdeF

          Turnbull has his answer from the Solicitor General. There is now no reason to refer Dutton to the High Court.

          Turnbull’s (implicit) promise was that if the opinion was that Dutton was likely clear, he would not refer.

          To refer him now without any justification except a remote possibility and so stop the election process would be an unforgivable act of perfidy, not only against Dutton but against the Australian administration leaving the country without ministers for at least two weeks.

          How much more damage can this faux Prime Minister do with his tantrums? We will see.

          40

      • #
        Crakar24

        He can challenge turnball yes? No comment on Vic running out of power?

        00

        • #
          Deplorable Lord Kek

          Yes, he can challenge but the left wing faction will use it to try and leverage Morrison or Bishop into the job.

          00

        • #
          PeterS

          If there is any doubt unfortunately Dutton might be “asked” to drop out of the race for obvious reasons. The plot thickens.

          00

          • #
            Deplorable Lord Kek

            44 (v) says disqualifies a person from sitting in the house of reps if they have “any direct or indirect pecuniary interest in any agreement with the Public Service of the Commonwealth'”.
            The advice Dutton has received is that there is no such ‘agreement’.
            He’s not dropping out.

            20

        • #
          Analitik

          Gas supply for Vic ain’t looking good, either 🙁
          Too bad this situation and that described by Crakar24 are currently within paywalled articles.

          Thanks Dan.

          20

  • #
    Jeff

    I always hated the way the Turnbull government drastically lowered the pension asset limit and caused financial turmoil to many part pensioners who were saving and trying to self fund.
    That policy was first suggested by ACOSS, a left wing think tank.
    Left wing Labor would have been proud of it.

    50

  • #
    TdeF

    If the new government move to take back the gift of Liddell, they could look at acquiring shut down Hazelwood too. Or work a deal with owner Enron who still have a $1.6Bn rehabilitation obligation. It would be wonderful to have Hazelwood back on line for Christmas. Victoria’s self inflicted problems would be solved. It would also save South Australia and Tasmania.

    Repeal the RET and the biggest, more reliable and cheapest power would be back! 4c kw/hr, not these massive bills, blown up by compulsory but worthless carbon dioxide certificates.

    30

  • #
    theRealUniverse

    Lets hope it isnt “Julia lets start a war with China” as PM..
    Im hearing some news Dutton has a good chance.

    20

  • #
    TdeF

    Petition makes it to 43. So Malcolm, as he insisted must happen, has been voted out on a public document which could be presented to the Governor General. He has lost the support of his party in writing, despite the reasonable presumption of secrecy. The real vote could be much higher, but it is not needed now. In all but name, he is no longer Prime Minister.

    The Party Room meeting must go ahead or the Governor General could be asked immediately to dismiss Malcolm Turnbull as he has lost the support of his party. With his intransigence, that trip may be necessary. Malcolm’s power comes entirely from his MPs as their elected representative.
    Lose that and he is no longer in charge. It is likely the Chief Whip could call the meeting. It’s a short drive for another Dismissal.

    50

    • #
      el gordo

      Malcolm could say just take the signatures to the GG. I’ll walk away and have a long lunch with some old mates.

      20

  • #
    Hanrahan

    I’ve got Fox in my headphones. If what I’m hearing is true then the liberal party could well split with factions going there own way.

    I have a Nat member but if he was a Lib I would not even give them preferences.

    30

    • #
      PeterS

      That’s one of my predictions if they don’t get the right sort of leader to reunite the party. The LNP is now at a major crossroads. It’s do or die. Personally I prefer die since there are too many lefties in the party who really belong at the ALP or Greens. Having said that I would welcome a strong new leader to bang heads together and reunite the party, or at least try.

      40

  • #
    Crakar24

    Jesus wept we now have a count down clock on channel 7.

    Apparently 19 women are voting for bishop because Dutton is white, male and stale and he has Abbott.

    Therefore if bishop drops out in the first round they will go to Morrison.

    Accusations of thuggary and bullying about this is an absolute joke.

    In addition to all this if bishop or Morrison win then essentially no change in policy direction so what was the point?

    Am ashamed to be an Australian today.

    50

    • #
      PeterS

      In that case if Dutton loses he and a lot of others should immediately resign and join another party, such as ACP or ON. Those lefties in the party can then join the ALP or Greens. We can say good bye and bury the decaying LNP.

      40

    • #
      Analitik

      essentially no change in policy direction so what was the point?

      Getting rid of Turncoat would still be a good start.

      But yes, a sad week. Still it had to happen sometime.

      10

  • #
    Deplorable Lord Kek

    The whip told Turnbull she has seen the petition with 43 names.
    Turnbull has demanded to see the petition.
    Unbelievable.

    40

    • #
      PeterS

      He is clearly hanging on for as long as possible. Narcissist is too polite a description. The risk now is he will not call the meeting and deliberately blow up the party by calling an election and handing over to Shorten the government. Unlikely but will not be surprised if he did. He’s that kind of animal.

      50

      • #
        el gordo

        In all the excitement ….

        ‘AGL chief executive Andy Vesey has resigned from the energy company after a controversial four years in the role marked by a tense relationship with Canberra over energy policy.’

        Andy saw the writing on the wall, Liddell can be saved with him gone.

        70

        • #
          PeterS

          Best news of the day so far.

          100

        • #
          Analitik

          Liddell is the walking dead of Australian coal plants. Hazelwood was in far better condition when it was shut down.

          AGL’s strategy has been for Liddell to self destruct in 2022 from lack of maintenance and to bid for a NSW “renewables power plant” with battery storage (plus a coincidental CCGT “backup” plant at the Liddell site). All maintenance since purchase has been along these lines (ie minimal).

          00

  • #
    Crakar24

    He is off spending the money he got from my quarterly bill

    50

  • #
    Crakar24

    A lot of people getting around bishop and Paris commitments here we come perhaps with Morrison by her side.

    And on it goes Turnbull given petition no requesting all 43 declare it is their signature and not a forgery

    20

  • #
    Hanrahan

    Rudd must be laughing his t!ts off, he can no longer be called our worst ever PM. 🙂

    60

  • #

    It’s all very well to say people are sick of politicians and that there are other matters like homelessness etc…

    The fact is that we are about to have our energy system wrecked and politicians must be found who will avert this catastrophe. Think your rights to water and living space won’t come into question next? Agendas 21 and 2030 are not out of a Superman comic. They are actual UN documents.

    There is big money in Big Green, the worst kind of money, which is all syphoning and no producing. Turnbull, who is Bishop in a pant-suit, is drawn by his very nature to this kind of “business”. Bishop has already been described as a be-skirted Turnbull. Frydenberg, a master of playing good cop and cuddlesome middle-grounder, is possibly the worst of the three.

    Turnbull, Frydenberg and Bishop must go. Because Big Green. Because globalism. Because Labor. Duh.

    It has to be stopped, starting today, and those of us who aren’t interested in political personalities and party squabbles will need to find an interest. And every time a commenter pops in with the suggestion that we should talk about other things, go back to being a science blog etc etc we need to take that as a signal that the green blobbers and GetUppers are worried. That’s when we need to repeat – altogether now – Turnbull, Frydenberg and Bishop must go.

    80

    • #
      Crakar24

      Morrison won’t change anything.

      In other news the Muslim in France who stabbed a few people is suffering a mental disorder,……..well yes obviously but don’t call it by its true name

      20

      • #
        AndyG55

        Morrison needs a firm leader to guide him.

        Last time he had one it was Tony Abbott.

        He was lost, under Turnbull, without a firm leader,

        … and I don’t think he is in any better position now.

        30

        • #
          Graeme No.3

          AndyG55:

          I think that his inner cabinet, if selected wisely, will give him a sounding board for ideas. The important thing is that he can make decisions and stick with them. Waverers tend to follow.
          Welcome back, by the way. I thought I might have seen you elsewhere under another name.

          10

  • #
    Deplorable Lord Kek

    Turnbull stalling, so I guess he is not sure that Morrison/Bishop have the numbers.

    50

    • #
      TdeF

      He is insisting everyone who has signed is called to verify their signature? What?
      So Malcolm is suggesting that someone has forged signatures of one or more MPs?

      This document is not necessary to call a meeting. Two signatures are enough.
      Worse, unless someone has forged a signature, Malcolm is fired.
      He does not need to resign. He is no longer the elected leader.

      Still I suppose he will go through the motions, ranting, blaming bullies and underminers and sabotage and the Queen and Abbott, everyone but himself. He could also just get in his car and go home without having a meeting. He never needed the job.

      The fact is, he is just another MP now. His last act will be to deny that responsibility.

      60

      • #
        el gordo

        ‘Malcolm Turnbull has tweeted that as soon as the whips verify the 43 signatures he’ll call the partyroom meeting.’ Oz

        10

  • #
    Crakar24

    Or he can’t bring himself to see the reality of the situation

    10

    • #
      TdeF

      Or he’s buying time for Julie or Scott Morrison to do their numbers, trying to replace himself with one of his co-conspirators. He needed to stall for a day to allow Julie to make the calls. She would be on the phone now. They feel he owes them that for bringing down Abbott.

      30

  • #
    Crakar24

    Ooooooh the count clock has been reset, the rolling joke has been delayed

    10

  • #
    philthegeek

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/aug/24/myth-liberal-base-peter-dutton-liberal-party-glorious-defeat

    Interesting take by Marr. From a “left” perspective but rational based on what we are seeing the “right” get up too.

    00

  • #
    beowulf

    The vote is on at 12:20 EST.

    10

  • #
    Crakar24

    The parade has begun with all the pomp and pageantry you would expect from pruning peacocks. Vote begins now.

    20

  • #
    TdeF

    Sorry, I was wrong. Not a pantsuit but the tight skirt, matching jacket in dark Liberal blue with the big earrings. Walked alone. Playing the don’t need men card.

    20

  • #
    TdeF

    Malcolm has already lost. How many of his supporters will really resign or cross the floor? Or is that like half of Hollywood who promised to leave the country if Trump won?

    40

  • #

    Eye on ball, guys. The distractors will start popping in now. We’ll be advised about how we look like squabblers, right-wing ranters, dying white males etc etc. This means the GetUppers are not liking the situation developing. Like good budding globalists, they sense that shaming us to silence is the best tack…till we can be forced to silence.

    Don’t be shamed, don’t be silent, don’t be distracted.

    Hold the interest on the primary thing at stake here: Australia’s coal industry, Australia’s electricity and industrial potential based on coal. It also concerns our security and our independence based on an abundant and potent domestic resource. This the globalists and banksters know; this they hate. That’s why our coal can be consumed in any quantity after a boat trip to somewhere else, but not here.

    The globalists are better funded and co-ordinated. But they are also weak and self-loathing. Hence their globalism.

    If today is a defeat, we hook in again. Personally, I’m hardly right-wing and I don’t care much about politics. But I’m going to make myself care till these touts and carpetbaggers for Big Green are shown the door.

    90

  • #
    Jeff

    45 vote to spill, 40 against.
    Divided Liberal party.

    10

  • #
    Crakar24

    Jesus Christ 45/40 to have a spill divided we fall

    00

  • #
    Crakar24

    Sorry for the echo

    00

  • #
    Jeff

    Bishop eliminated.
    Morrison v Dutton

    20

  • #
    pat

    2GB reporting Sharri MarksonDaily Tele claims Julie Bishop has been eliminated.

    10

  • #
    pat

    first I’ve seen to hint at a possible connection between Vesey quitting and the AEMO report today.

    24 Aug: 9News Finance: AGL seeks new CEO at tricky time
    AGL has also been feuding with the federal government over the company’s plan to shut one of its coal-fired power plants in 2022 at a time when Australia needs coal- and gas-fired plants to back up wind and solar power.

    On Friday, the Australian Energy Market Operator warned that the south-eastern states face heightened blackout risks over the next few years as ageing coal-fired power plants become less reliable…
    https://finance.nine.com.au/2018/08/24/08/50/vesey-steps-down-as-agl-ceo

    20

  • #
    Jeff

    Turnbull has not resigned yet.
    Maybe he is blackmailing people to vote for Morrison or face losing supply/government.

    20

  • #
    JoKaH

    Bishop Gone

    40

  • #
    Jeff

    Scott Morrison new PM.

    11

  • #
    pat

    PM Morrison. yuk.

    80

  • #
    Deplorable Lord Kek

    Morrison won 45-40.

    01

  • #
    JoKaH

    Morrison Beats Dutton 45-40

    01

  • #
    Deplorable Lord Kek

    Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

    50

  • #
    Jeff

    Turnbull’s threat to resign and cause more chaos probably made the difference.

    40

  • #
    Rupert Ashford

    Same old-same old. Hi Bill…

    40

  • #
    TdeF

    So Scott Morrison over Dutton, 45 to 40.

    On energy, climate change, education, an unknown quantity. Part of the awful conspiracy against Abbott, but half the party did that.

    Charismatic, impressive, no. Solid performer, yes.

    We will have to see how much of ‘Progressive’ Labor/Green is really part of his credo.
    Turnbull in a skirt was knocked out early.

    81

    • #
      TdeF

      He did manage the same Immigration portfolio as Dutton and managed not to get the same degree of acrimony, but he had Abbott as a boss, not dilettante leftie Turnbull.

      40

    • #
      el gordo

      Our colleague Peter got it right, its going to be crash and burn.

      40

      • #
        PeterS

        Crash and burn has always been inevitable. It’s just a matter of how we get there and when. Let’s hope it has been delayed but too early tell. Need more details on the policies and cabinet.

        30

      • #
        Another Ian

        el gordo

        But on the way will likely answer an old question.

        Looks like a dog caught a car.

        Now we’ll see what happens.

        20

  • #
    Jeff

    Frydenberg deputy

    02

    • #
      Deplorable Lord Kek

      Comedic.

      40

    • #
      TdeF

      Awful. Still how much of Frydenberg’s nutty energy policies were Malcolm’s? Again, we will see if there is a sudden shift in the madness.
      Firstly, does this mean the disastrous NEG is still on? Will Morrison take advice from his old boss, Abbott?

      80

      • #
        TdeF

        I mean, will the Liberal/Nationals try to distance themselves from Labor and Turnbull (identical) on energy, climate, immigration, education? A good sign would be making Abbott Foreign Minister. Keeping Mrs Macbeth in the job would be a continuing disaster.

        50

        • #
          TdeF

          Even better, Abbott for Energy minister.
          I suppose he might still keep Abbott out of the cabinet. After all, this government only has six months left.

          60

      • #
        Jeff

        Morrison’s energy policies could well be an improvement.

        21

    • #
      yarpos

      wow, his pension has ratcheted up quickly in recent years

      10

  • #
    Dennis

    Harbourside Mansion’s puppets.

    That’s it for me.

    LNP No.

    70

    • #
      TdeF

      Not so sure. They worked for a Green/Labor boss who has just shown the world how cantankerous he was and how much they worked to make his madness reality. Morrisson performed well under Abbott.

      60

  • #
    philthegeek

    Mr Shouty Happy Clapper ScoMo and FrythePlanet.

    And a close 45-40 vote.

    Plenty for the Left wing of politics to work with with a failed Treasurer as PM.

    Internecine warfare in the NSW branch to ensue.

    Libs Fwarked them selves again. 🙂

    51

    • #
      el gordo

      Morrison once held a lump of coal in Parliament, he is on our side.

      50

      • #
        Hanrahan

        Morrison once held a lump of coal in Parliament, he is on our side.

        I’m willing to wait before passing judgement, but when you speak of “our side” the geek is not on the same side as us.

        60

  • #
    angry

    Now we have a TURNCOAT CLONE(CLOWN) in this Morrison character!!

    Scott Morrison to be new Prime Minister after being named leader of Liberal Party

    https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/the-race-is-on-bishop-to-run-turnbull-out-as-showdown-nears/news-story/5b48d2f4fa017cc30c93a301746f469d

    RIP LIBERAL PARTY !

    Hate this [snip] Turncoat Clone “MORRISON” !

    Another leftist traitor @#$@#$!

    Put the Liberal Party last, just above the greens!

    00

  • #

    Take this as a win for Green Blob.

    But we always knew the hideous thing would be hard to budge, especially with all those leech-like creatures feeding off its unseemly bulk.

    For now, shoot the deputy, but do not shoot the sheriff.

    80

  • #
    TdeF

    Also Morrison is a strong performer and not the enemy of anyone, which is why he was elected.
    Because of his divisive ministry with immigration, Dutton was slimed by the press. I can understand it would take too long to rehabilitate his image.

    So if they are to now work together to fix the mess Malcolm made and get back in front within six months, they need everyone one board. New policies, new directions, new bosses.

    So much depends now on the ministry, Dutton, Abbott and the actual ministries. You can tell the intentions from what happens there. A complete shakeup is needed. Policies, ministries, directions.

    I would not despair until you see the cabinet and the assignments. Especially if they listen to Abbott, which would never be permitted by Turnbull. Whatever Abbott wanted, Malcolm went in the other direction.

    We might see a conservative party reemerge from the ruins.

    The other question is whether the Nationals start crossing sides and people like Julie Bishop throw in the towel too, having missed her last shot at being PM.

    This is not over yet. Tantrums and chairs have still to be thrown in a one seat parliament.

    110

    • #
      Dennis

      TdeF I accept your wise words, we need to wait and see before passing judgement.

      Thank you.

      60

    • #
      Greebo

      So, will it still be a one seat majority? Turnbull promised to resign from Parliament if he was tossed, remember. There will be no problem for the Libs keeping Wentworth. With 68% evenI could stand and win, but bye elections take time, and Morrison will need to convince the GG that he can actually govern.

      10

  • #

    Hurrah the men are free

    44

  • #
    Greebo

    Morrison and Frydenberg! So, up goes immigration and reliance on renewables. Great. Unless they have been foolin’ us all this time.

    I guess Cory keeps my membership after all.

    120

  • #
    Ross

    In rugby terms (I’m a Kiwi) it is like resetting the scrum. This time the conservatives in the Liberal Party just have to push even harder, right from the start.
    Morrison & Frydenberg need to put on notice, from day one, that all LP voters are watching them very closely and nothing should be taken for granted, just because Turnbull has gone.

    80

  • #
    Greebo

    I wonder if Andy Vesey has any regrets right now.

    20

  • #
    pat

    23 Aug: ClimateChangeNews: Struggling climate funds must be renewed, says Uruguay minister
    Promises of climate cash remain unfulfilled, said Eineda de León, who also called for unity in a region split by the collapse of Venezuela
    By Natalie Sauer
    Dwindling funds will hold back action on climate change unless rich countries step forward with fresh cash, Uruguay’s environment minister said on Wednesday.

    Speaking at the beginning of Climate Week in Latin America and the Caribbean, Eineda de León urged rich countries to increase their commitments to flagging UN green funds.
    “The levels of funds announced as part of the Paris Agreement has not been reached. The Global Environment Facility has diminished its contribution. And we still haven’t managed a first reinvestment of the Green Climate Fund,” she said.
    The ambition of developing countries to act on climate change was tied to the replenishment of those institutions, she said.
    Rich countries have promised to send $100bn each year to the developing world by 2020 to help deal with climate change. But they remain well short of that mark…

    One of the financial backbones of the Paris Agreement, the future of the Green Climate Fund is currently in jeopardy…
    “To confront climate change with the idea of investing $100bn a year is like entering a class-5 hurricane with a mere umbrella” Gianluca Merlo, a senior UN figure in charge of overseeing the implementation of the Paris Agreement in the region, told EFE Verde…

    Taking place from 20 to 23 August, the gathering focused on raising funds for climate action, refining countries’ pledges to the Paris Agreement and discussing sustainable transports and cities.
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/08/23/struggling-climate-funds-must-renewed-says-uruguay-minister/

    00

    • #
      Dennis

      Rich countries, eg USA – President Trump will not support Paris Treaty or continue to allow America to be the primary source of money for the UN.

      30

    • #
      theRealUniverse

      Bleed everyone (country) dry with the ‘climate change’ (criminal) scam, the worst scam in history. Give the funds to the usury banksters, to fund the one world govt. Which thankfully for BRICS, SCO, with the AIIB, is very unlikley but they keep trying.

      20

  • #
    TdeF

    Morrison could start by making sure the Black Hand were all in the Loser’s Circle. If there isn’t one, invent one. No ministries for those who took the Coalition from resounding victory and great success on many issues to a one seat parliament in just months. There is also still a logjam in the Senate, not cleared by Turnbull’s half hearted double dissolution over nothing.

    Abbott has laid out the policies which would restore their fortunes. No one in the Senate would refuse to repeal the RET. Stop the ripoffs and we get back what we had, at least before Weatherill started blowing things up, literally.

    80

  • #
    Crakar24

    Just read the moronville messenger and it says one turbine will shut down (480mw) next year then more in 2020

    Third world here we come

    50

    • #
      Crakar24

      Sorry at Torrens island

      20

    • #
      Kinky Keith

      The Wind Turbine removed from ash island in Newcastle and “sold” onwards has left its mark.

      Seems to have been hastily cut off at the base leaving an iron ring about 1.4 metres in diameter sticking up about 10 cms.

      This strongly suggests that a large amount of concrete base is still there.

      Somebody, will sort that out later.

      KK

      20

  • #
    Geoffrey Williams

    This result is like a game of chess where you knock off your opponents queen;
    Only for him to ‘queen’ another pawn on the very next move!
    Did we see this coming? Not until today I think.
    My prediction; Labour will win the next election for sure.
    And they will probably get my vote.
    Let’s hurry up and stuff this country up as a quickly as possible.
    Maybe then people will see the light.
    GeoffW

    20

    • #
      Dennis

      Maybe the good policies Tony Abbott has put forward will prevail when the new cabinet is established?

      30

    • #
      Greebo

      I fear that you are correct. No way I’ll vote Labor, but I’ll give serious consideration to giving them my preferences. Unless TdeF is correct and Morrison was only playing at being a leftie to appease Turnbull, something I seriously doubt. His “immigration is good for the bottom line” idea has me seriously concerned.

      70

      • #
        Dennis

        Ministers often make statements cabinet requires them to make, in this example a rogue PM and Black Hand followers.

        20

        • #
          Greebo

          And that is one of the blights on the nation, and a fairly good argument against the Party system. It really means that there is really only one person’s opinions running the show. Well, in a Turnbull style Presidential government, that is. So like Rudd.

          10

    • #
      theRealUniverse

      The Greens will get Labour to plant windmills in everyone’s back garden, then blow up all the remaining power plants, or any with ‘nasty’ coal as a fuel.

      10

  • #
    Ceetee

    Is he one of us or not? I don’t know enough about Aussie politics to make a call on that. Our gloating lefty media over (in NZ) here sneering about how you guys are the Italy of the South Pacific. I actually think you are more passionate about your democracy than we are. Look at our “Coalition of Losers” government. Also, you allow free speech. We Don’t.

    30

  • #
    Deplorable Lord Kek

    Morrison was Turnbull’s chosen successor, so I would say it is extremely unlikely there will be any substantive change to key policies (immigration and power).

    20

    • #
      Dennis

      Turnbull and the Black Hands controlled his cabinet, cabinet ministers are required to uphold cabinet solidarity.

      A new approach now, and a desperate need to position themselves for the next election.

      30

  • #
    PeterS

    I’ll wait for details of the cabinet and policies before passing judgement as to whether we have the right leader to reunite the party. Although too early to tell so far it looks good with Abbott and Dutton pledging their support.

    40

    • #
      Hanrahan

      Someone on Fox said it’s not that there are bad relations between Abbott and ScoMo to be overcome before Tony can get back into cabinet, there are no relations at all.

      Turnbull’s hatred of Abbott poisoned his administration from the start. Everything that the liberals could campaign on were Abbott policies, therefore he never spoke about them. Left him with a bare cupboard with “jobs and growth” all he had. You don’t win elections with slogans, at least the libs can’t. ScoMo needs to be a man and agree to disagree with Tony and give him a ministry.

      100

      • #
        PeterS

        It is imperative that both Dutton and Abbott are placed in the cabinet to heal the wounds and reunite the party. Otherwise….

        110

        • #
          PeterS

          …otherwise a lot of the core voters of LNP will not return and Shorten still wins.

          40

          • #
            Ceetee

            I suspect that is the key to keeping Labour away from government if I read this correctly. Funny how the same thing seems to be playing out in the U.K. Keeping a distasteful lefty out of government whilst fighting for the soul of the centre/right or ‘alt right’ as the talking colostomy bags in our western media would have us believe. I blame twitter. It is well named. If you want to know who is being a twit go to the online directory.

            30

      • #
        Sceptical Sam

        ScoMo needs to be a man and agree to disagree with Tony and give him a ministry.

        Given the outcome of the ballot never a truer word said, Hanrahan.

        I think ScoMo will rise to the occasion. He’s a practicing Christian, after-all.

        If not then…. we’ll all be rooned… 🙂

        40

        • #
          Another Ian

          “I think ScoMo will rise to the occasion. He’s a practicing Christian, after-all.”

          Plenty of them practice an hour or so on Sunday – the rest of the time not so much

          60

        • #
          AndyG55

          ScoMo need to be a man and AGREE with many of Tony Abbott’s ideas.

          It is the ONLY way he can win back any of the disenfranchised liberal conservative voters.

          …… Or he could just hand the next election to short-of-brains.

          41

      • #
        Greebo

        Definitely, and only a very senior ministry will do.

        10

  • #
    Dennis

    Bayswater Power Station upgrade secures additional energy supply for NSW

    WEDNESDAY, 28 FEBRUARY 2018
    AGL will spend more than $200 million and create 90 jobs during work to upgrade and maintain the coalfired Bayswater Power Station in Muswellbrook, a key part of our NSW Generation Plan.

    The upgrade is among the investments being made by AGL to replace the 1000 megawatt capacity shortfall AEMO identified could follow the repurposing of our Liddell plant in 2022.

    The Bayswater upgrade will improve the power station’s capacity and efficiency, providing enough energy for up to 100,000 homes – increasing electricity supply without increasing coal consumption or emissions.

    AGL Macquarie General Manager Kate Coates, NSW Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter Scot MacDonald and Member for Upper Hunter Michael Johnsen today announced that the project will now be assessed by the Department of Planning & Environment.

    Ms Coates said AGL is investing more than any other energy company in Australia to increase electricity supply and help put downward pressure on prices.

    “By replacing the original turbines with modern turbine technology, Bayswater will have an additional 100MW capacity, which is enough energy for up to 100,000 average Australian homes,” Ms Coates said.

    “This extra electricity supply will be generated without the need for additional coal use, and therefore without additional emissions.

    Subject to approvals, the upgrade works are expected to commence by February 2019 and span four years, with Bayswater’s four turbine sets proposed to be replaced during planned unit maintenance outages.

    “This will ensure all Bayswater’s upgraded turbines are fully operational by 2022.

    “The project will also create 90 jobs for the duration of each turbine replacement.”

    30

    • #
      beowulf

      Yes 100MW will just about make up for 2,000MW of dispatchable power lost from Liddell, the balance being made up of rubbery promises of solar possibly, maybe, plus 252MW of gas turbines at Newcastle, none of which comes anywhere near 2,000MW.

      Decreasing overall dispatchable power and increasing the % of gas power will certainly not lower power prices. NSW needs about 3GW of new coal generation just to break even and make us independent of our constant lifeline from QLD.

      The re-vamping of Vales Point PS on Lake Macquarie by a couple of small players will help, but is only a proposal at this stage.

      Let’s see Morrison’s colours when he names his cabinet. See if he brings his lump of coal to the PM’s desk. I wonder if Deputy Josh will now suddenly disavow all he has been saying for the past few months and become a fan of coal.

      90

    • #
      Dennis

      UPDATE: The rumour has been confirmed.

      Chris Smith has been told AGL CEO Andy Vesey is set to resign from the energy provider on August 11.

      In a rumour sent into the Rumour Box, the writer says Mr Vesey will leave the company in August.

      “I wouldn’t normally read something like that but the fact that they’re’ got a date indicates to me that maybe this bloke is on the money,” says Chris.

      20

    • #
      yarpos

      “Ms Coates said AGL is investing more than any other energy company in Australia to increase electricity supply and help put downward pressure on prices.” mind boggling unawareness

      Notice the quick segue from GW to MW to powering 100,000 houses (always a classic). The whole announcement indicates that they dont understand the problem they are in nor the solutions they are adopting.

      60

  • #
    MudCrab

    Interesting (as in ‘May you live in Interesting Times’…)

    Not completely sure what I think just yet. Not happy about Frydenburg. Morrison… dunno. He did stop the boats so there is that. Male Bovine Mammary as a treasurer.

    Depends I guess what we considered the successful end game to be? Did we want Dutton in the big chair? Or just Anyone But Turnbull?

    Still, like the comment I heard from someone recently – “All those new locks we are putting on Parliament House? They are to keep them in.”

    20

    • #
      angry

      Frydenburg at work :-

      IT WILL ONLY BE A LITTLE BABY CARBON TAX
      … trust me

      http://pickeringpost.com/story/it-will-only-be-a-little-baby-carbon-tax/8441

      A lying leftist greenie scumbag!

      53

    • #
      James Poulos

      Morrison held up a lump of coal in parliament and I believe he will go ahead and make a path for new coal fired power stations.

      Morrison is probably the best leadership option – he has no blood on his hands so in comparison to Rudd-Gillard-Rudd and then Abbott-Turnbull, he has already broken the mold for successive Prime Ministers in the last 10 years.

      JUlie Bishop would have been a horror story with no one game enough to call her out on her pandering to the UN and the resultant handouts and human rights concessions to refugees and climate change that would have us return to the banana republic days of Hawke and Keating.

      100

  • #

    On a cheerful note.

    Dutton would have been torn apart by the media before he had a chance to bring them to heel, if he even could have done that.

    In the brief, spewful time I spent watching Ch9 coverage to see who won I was reminded of why I cut the cord and just how unlikely Dutton’s survival would have been. The self-important bubble people kept insisting that the popularity they had created for Bishop was an argument for Bishop’s ascension. Their attitude to Dutton was contemptuous by default. But I noticed they were finding it hard to tear into Morrison.

    It occurs to me that Morrison has better chance of keeping out Labor than Dutton or – obviously! – Turnbull. And keeping out Labor is a biggie, because this time Labor has a really prime bunch of cynics all lined up for the next round of pillage, and lots of useful drudges funded and ready to enable them. (Hi, GetUp!)

    The bubble people want Labor/Green and they will twist, fib and distort relentlessly to get them up. They would have been hunting Dutton as a pack by sundown today. I can only guess what the Guardian and ABC would have been like (I mean that literally because I would never soak my brain in that post-journalistic slop for even a minute.)

    That’s the reality. I’m taking second or third best. Because after this lot…Dastyariland, the Dodgiest Kingdom of Them All.

    151

  • #
    beowulf

    Michael Smith is referring to Morrison as “Turnbull with an abacus”. Let’s hope he’s more than that.

    60

    • #
      PeterS

      Let’s try and forget Turnbull. He’s now history. Someone will write a book and explain how the hell such a narcissistic man ever even managed to be in the Liberal Party let alone be PM. What we need now is the new PM to reunite the party and come up with the right policies on energy, immigration, etc. to defeat Shorten. THe only way to reunite the party is to place Dutton and Abbott on the front bench.

      90

      • #
        angry

        We have the leftists in the liberal party to thanks for the turncoat saga.

        Unfortunately, they are still in the party and need to be rooted out.

        92

  • #

    Poor Ol’ King Coal. Poor us.

    Only one man holds creepy globalism at bay and he’s
    in the US. Sauves des meuble! Write, email,telephone
    Morrison, make it very clear that us cits WON’T tolerate
    a rehash of Malcolm’s disastrous globullist policies.
    Paris must fall!

    80

  • #
    Robber

    Will Turnbull be missed for all his non-achievements? I think not. Malcolm who?

    50

  • #
    TdeF

    ACTU secretary Sally McManus has condemned Scott Morrison as “Australia’s biggest supporter of trickle-down economics.

    Now that’s a great sign.

    There was never such an accolade for former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

    I just wanted to mention how much I enjoyed the last sentence.

    81

    • #
      Jeff

      Australian Financial Review endorsed Morrison before the vote.
      I think things turned out OK.
      Dutton had no chance to win an election as PM.

      00

  • #
    TdeF

    The you get that giant intellect Richard Di Natale

    “Once again, a prime minister has been turfed out not by the voters, but by a handful of faceless men,” Senator Di Natale said.

    We saw every face. Everything was on television and in writing, every move they made.

    The only faceless men are the Union leaders in their labor party, the ones to whom all Labor MPs report. The ones who turfed out Kevin Rudd and then Julia Gillard.

    70

    • #
      TdeF

      Really, you have Bill Shorten wishing Malcolm and his family well and you have Richard Di Natale lamenting the loss. Firstly I do not remember the same angst when Abbott lost his job so unfairly. It also tells you that they will genuinely miss Malcolm and that tells you everything.

      140

    • #
      yarpos

      Somone needs to brief him on how the system he is part of works, PMs arent selected by the voters. Perhaps that explains his general state of confusion.

      20

  • #
    pat

    saw some online jokes about Turnbull calling on ex-ABC/now Ch9’s Chris Uhlmann (married to Labor MP) at his press conference today, but Uhlmann wasn’t there.
    it gets mentioned here and, once again, the thread demonstrates how incestuous the FakeNewsMSM is:

    retweeted by Guardian’s Katharine Murphy @murpharoo

    TWEET: Emma Alberici/ABC
    Interesting to see @TurnbullMalcolm inviting specific journalists to ask him questions. First up @latingle @PhillipCoorey and next up @murpharoo who he actually calls Murpharoo!

    replies from:
    The Stable Government Sinkhole: No Uhlmann there? He was called

    Marquis BK: Very pointed in that there were no News Ltd newspaper journos given a question.

    Mandy: Turnbull journo cheerleaders

    Wake up Australia!: Seems to always call on those same 3 lately – especially Coorey & Murpharoo…

    Ian Walton: Of course ABC, Fairfax, Guardian…and then you ABC geniuses wonder why conservatives couldn’t see his brilliance…and don’t get me started on the familiarity between journos and pollies using nicknames…ETC
    https://twitter.com/albericie/status/1032844501801263105

    when I first found murpharoo online the other day, & discovered it was Guardian’s Katharine Murphy – it was on a trending Twitter hashtag page for Melbourne, where several of her tweets were allegedly trending, as the spill saga gained pace.
    near her tweets was another which I didn’t copy at the time, but it was the following, which I can’t access now, but is in google results –

    Trending Twitter Hashtags and Topics in Melbourne, Australia
    Dear #MSM I now invite you all to forensically investigate #Dutton background BEFORE he has the …

    it finished with something close to “BEFORE he has the chance to become Prime Minister”.

    did MSM ever investigate Turnbull? lol. they didn’t even need to do the research. they had a great resource at stopturnbull…

    30

  • #
    Greebo

    Thanks, Jo.

    60

  • #
    pat

    finally re the spill. 3 more votes going Dutton’s way and he would be PM.

    enough doubt remained re Dutton’s eligibility, based on the new SG opinion, which would have been based on changes to the chilcare funding in July this year, to stop a Dutton win.

    Turnbull was in possession of the former SG’s opinion, which Dutton released yesterday, & which cleared Dutton.

    it was known in April Dutton wanted to be PM one day:

    7 Apr: Guardian: Peter Dutton: ‘Some leaders fall into the trap of abandoning principles’
    Exclusive: Minister talks about why he holds on to his convictions, and his desire to be PM – one day
    by Ben Smee
    Peter Dutton, the home affairs minister and possibly the nation’s most divisive member of parliament is blunt about everything – even his own ambition. “Of course I want to be prime minister,” Dutton tells Guardian Australia. He pauses for half a beat. “One day.”
    “I think it’s best to be honest about that, that’s an ambition long-held and is only realistic if stars align and an opportunity comes up.”

    9 Apr: AFR: Peter Dutton positions himself just in case Malcolm Turnbull falls
    Mr Dutton told radio 3AW that such honesty should extend to personal ambition and he would be lying to say he did not one day want to be leader…
    Amid a day of intense introspection by the Coalition following its 30th successive negative Newspoll, Mr Dutton, the conservative’s candidate of choice, said his current unpopularity need not be an impediment..

    re the unexpected changes to funding:

    11 Jul: ABC: Childcare subsidy changes add red tape for families and providers
    By Liam McNicholas
    (Liam McNicholas is an early childhood teacher who oversees professional leadership and practice for Northside Community Service, a not-for-profit that operates four early childhood centres)
    (OPENING PARA) 2013 seems like a very long time ago now. Barack Obama was President of the United States and the idea of President Trump was a punchline in late-night comedy shows…

    Last Monday, the Coalition Government’s revised Child Care Subsidy came into effect. Now, services and families are realising that, far from cutting red tape, the new system could indeed be described as “drowning” in it.
    This probably comes as a shock to anyone who’s listened to the Coalition talk about nothing but cutting red tape for the past five years and more…

    Remember when Scott Morrison, now the Treasurer, was responsible for the sector? He had a lot to say about red tape too…
    “We all know the present system is far too complex and bound up in a lot of red tape both for families as well as for providers and it is very difficult often for parents to navigate, let alone engage in the first place.” – At an industry forum, May 2015…

    The current Minister, Simon Birmingham, is also fond of saying how much he dislikes red tape and wants to get rid of it…
    Let’s take a look at a few examples of the system the Government tells us is “simpler” and “less red tape”…
    The Government should be held to account for increasing the administrative burden on families and the sector…
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-11/childcare-subsidy-changes-burden-families-and-providers/9959456

    Kate Doak, who was on the steering committee for Safe Schools Program, is the “journo” credited with pushing the Dutton eligibility issue with Ch Ten’s Hugh Riminton.

    TWEET: Kate Doak: Re: #PeterDutton – @hughriminton and I have been investigating Section 44(v) of the Constitution for a year now. This story came from analysing the Members Interests register & Hansard regularly. This was no leak, just investigative journalism.
    https://twitter.com/katedoak/status/1031450784431407104

    I doubt they’d been working on it for “a year”:

    TWEET: Hugh Riminton
    Malcolm Turnbull: The issue of #PeterDutton’s constitutional eligibility is “critically important.” Dutton will “have to establish he’s eligible” – putting the onus on his putative successor…
    replies:
    Graeme G: Was he eligble before the rule changed on July 1 tho??
    Wookiee: Apparently yes he was from what I read today. Its the change on July 1 that may have caught him out.
    https://twitter.com/hughriminton/status/1032466214084210689

    TWEET: Hugh Riminton: BREAKING: #PeterDutton’s legal advice “clearing him” of constitutional issues is OUT OF DATE. Look at Paragraph 8. It refers to two Child Care payment systems that no longer exist. From July 2018, as we reported, a new system pays directly to the child care provider. More to come

    some of the above can be found on Doak’s and Riminton’s main Twitter pages. dirty business politics.

    30

    • #
      pat

      meant to also show a challenge to Turnbull in August was also expected as far back as April:

      9 Apr: AFR: Peter Dutton positions himself just in case Malcolm Turnbull falls
      However, as The Australian Financial Review revealed last week, there is talk among conservatives of a move from ***August onwards should the federal budget in May fail to drive a lift in sentiment…
      https://www.afr.com/news/peter-dutton-positions-himself-just-in-case-malcolm-turnbull-falls-20180409-h0yipt

      Turnbull leadership: ‘It comes back to who would replace Malcolm’
      AFR – 6 Apr 2018
      The Right is talking about a move as early as August, by when they reason the impact…

      Malcolm Turnbull: ‘I need to keep delivering’
      AFR – 5 Apr 2018
      a meeting last week are warning of a move as early as August should the May…

      00

  • #
    TdeF

    So far, I am bitterly disappointed with Morrison and Frydenberg. Once again like the dog that caught the car. No agenda. No hope. Really surprised and happy to get the jobs and that’s it. They are close to thanking Turnbull for his help. If this continues, total failure looms.

    Of course they didn’t make this happen, so they have no plan for the future, except to keep doing what they were doing. Which is a total disaster.

    It’s hard to read Morrison. The effusive praise for Turnbull though is a bit much. Now we could well have his proteges. Let’s see if Abbott makes the cabinet. If not, nothing has changed.

    90

    • #
      Deplorable Lord Kek

      Scott “mini-Mal” Morrison

      20

    • #
      PeterS

      Now that the “witch is dead” perhaps his spells will go away and the party will return to being more normal. At least that’s my hope. Time will tell if things are any better for the LNP. It should not take long to figure it out once they start announcing their new policies.

      40

    • #
      Kinky Keith

      My feeling too.

      We don’t seem to have “turned the corner”.

      For me, this turmoil had only one justification, the removal of T and a rapid rejection of Paris, Removal of the RET and any form of electricity cross subsidies.

      Some wanted lower business taxes, but the important thing was rejecting Carbon Penance Payments.

      Cheap, regular supply electricity will maintain existing jobs, boost new industry and help build employment opportunities.

      We need this Reality but I’m not sure whether or not we have jumped out of the frying pan into the fire.

      Turnbull is gone, but aren’t those his deputies Morrison and Frydenberg?

      KK

      60

    • #
      Greebo

      I simply don’t understand why you thought it would be any different. I have followed your posts, and blind optimism hasn’t been in the forefront of my opinion of where you stand.

      There was only one choice that would have satisfied you, and me, and that wasn’t going to happen today.

      A new Opposition Leader will be needed, soon. Very soon. There is only one.

      10

  • #
    Hanrahan

    I’ve just caught up with the signing ceremony and if my ears didn’t fail me the GG was called MR Cosgrove, not Sir Peter. I like the idea of a military General being dubbed on becoming GG. Call me old, but I can’t help that.

    50

  • #
    yarpos

    Now the dust has settled, just remember you have to get out there and shop. Its only two Prime Ministers till Christmas.

    100

  • #
    AndyG55

    Funny thing is, that the ONLY way that Mr Morrison can be elected by the people, is if he starts to adopt more Conservative policies.

    You know, like the one voiced by Tony Abbott.

    A continued leftist approach will hand the dishonourable Short-of-brain the PM at the next election

    Mr Morrison MUST win back the Conservative base to even have a chance of winning an election..

    72

  • #
    Another Ian

    “IDEOLOGICALLY MALLEABLE, MAYBE
    … in ScoMo we must trust”

    http://pickeringpost.com/story/ideologically-malleable-maybe/8492

    “And thank God Turnbull has gone so we can now sleep a little sounder sans nightmares. “

    20

  • #
    RexAlan

    Looks like Julie Bishop might get a place in the cabinet. Back to the drawing board.

    https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_5826247946001

    10

  • #
    TdeF

    There are two litmus tests for this ‘conservative’ government.

    First, is Abbott in cabinet? If not, they are doomed at the next election.
    Without Abbott’s clear plan they have no idea how to beat Labor and they still see their own party as the enemy.
    You would have to conclude it wasn’t just Malcolm the Green Progressive.

    Secondly, do they withdraw immediately from the Paris agreement, unlikely with Frydenburg.

    A single byelection and we have Shorten. I am starting to think it is inevitable.
    A National on the bench. Julie Bishop retiring, as she promised.

    Malcolm even wrecked the election, refusing to have a meeting then stalling outrageously until Morrison could get his numbers up.
    Malcolm even demanded MP’s signatures were verified to buy time, as if signatures would be forged or were even needed.

    In the end, the difference was three votes.

    Now when they lose the election, Morrison and Frydenberg will be history anyway.
    Stay in the appalling Paris agreement and they are gone now.
    It will be a devastating loss, with half the Liberal members will vanish in a whitewash. Guaranteed in Queensland.
    Daniel Andrews will stay in Victoria.

    Until the Liberals and Nationals can find a platform which is actually different to Labor’s, they cannot win.

    We wait for the two tests. If Abbott is not given a front bench position, Malcolm has wrecked the joint in just three years.
    Electricity will keep rocketing up. Blackouts. Endless subsidies. All to the Gods of Climate Change.

    70

    • #
      Deplorable Lord Kek

      It is impossible to take Frydenberg seriously after his advocacy for the NEG… so they made him deputy.
      Just unbelievable.

      80

  • #
    Deplorable Lord Kek

    This is just the old state labour trick of changing the face of the party while the policies remain the same.

    50

  • #
    pat

    ***ABC – don’t you think you should have capitalised “GetUp and go”?

    CCTV FOOTAGE: 24 Aug: ABC: Peter Dutton office vandals caught on video throwing bricks as police release CCTV footage
    By Melanie Arnost
    Andrew Schloss, who works in a disability support centre next door, said it was not the first time Mr Dutton’s office had been targeted.
    “Everything from people dressed up as witches through to the ***’get up and go people’ — a lot of people out here saying ‘free Manus Island’ and so on,” he said…
    VIDEO OF DAMAGE
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-24/police-release-cctv-dutton-office-vandals/10161844

    30

  • #
    pat

    24 Aug: ClimateChangeNews: Ousted Australian PM: This government cannot address climate change
    Turnbull says party is captured by ideologues with views not based in ‘engineering and economics’. He is replaced by treasurer who brought lump of coal to parliament
    By Karl Mathiesen
    Australia’s governing party cannot agree a climate policy because of anti-science forces within, the outgoing prime minister said just moments after being deposed in a party room coup on Friday…

    In a valedictory press conference, Turnbull said his party, which governs in coalition with the Nationals, was unable to implement a climate change policy.
    “I think the truth is that the coalition finds it very hard to get agreement on anything to do with emissions. The National Energy Guarantee is a vitally important piece of reform,” said Turnbull.

    Turnbull said the opposition to action on climate change within his own party was an article of faith.
    “Emissions issues and climate policy issues have the same problem within the coalition of bitterly entrenched views that are more ideological views than views based, as I say, on engineering and economics. It’s a bit like same-sex marriage used to be, almost an insoluble problem,” said Turnbull, who oversaw marriage reform this year despite strong internal opposition from the right.
    “As for what the future holds in terms of energy policy, again you’ll have to talk to Scott about that,” said Turnbull…

    Morrison, ostensibly the moderate candidate, made global headlines last year when he entered parliament brandishing a lump of coal. But he has also said cheap power from new coal plants is a “myth”…
    The election of Morrison diminishes the immediate likelihood of Australia exiting the Paris climate agreement, which observers said was possible under a Dutton prime ministership. Dutton is aligned with Abbott, who has repeatedly called for Australia to follow Donald Trump’s US out of the deal…

    Environmental advocates called on Morrison to immediately clarify his position on the Paris deal.
    Australian Conservation Foundation CEO Kelly O’Shanassy said: “Australia signed up to Paris in good faith. As one of the highest polluters per person in the world, if we were to capitulate on our responsibilities there would be rightful international condemnation and more unnecessary climate damage at home.”…

    Greens leader Richard di Natale said the only option for Australia to develop a response to climate change was to vote the government out of office.
    “They have no climate policy, no energy policy and no economic policy and the paralysis is likely to continue. They are unfit to govern,” he said.
    Di Natale called the Liberals “a bunch of spiteful, backwards-looking, anti-immigration, climate deniers with no economic plan. It’s time to turf them out and make a fresh start”…
    Australia is due to hold elections within the next nine months. The Labor opposition is leading in the polls.
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/08/24/ousted-australian-pm-government-cannot-address-climate-change/

    00

  • #
    pat

    comment in moderation re: ClimateChangeNews: Ousted Australian PM: This government cannot address climate change

    Energy is at the root of Australia’s political crisis
    Financial Times · 20 hours ago

    CarbonBrief re the above: Energy is at the root of Australia’s political crisis
    Scott Morrison is to become the country’s sixth premier in little over a decade, but this political instability “is not the result of economic problems”, argues an editorial in the Financial Times.
    Instead, the paper writes, the troubles stem from “dysfunction in political institutions, a shock jock rightwing media and a shift to a US Tea Party-style populism within the ruling Liberal party”, which has resulted in “an alarming inability to tackle Australia’s biggest issue: energy and climate change”.

    “Even as Australia exports billions of dollars of coal and liquefied natural gas every year to Asia’s fast-growing economies, the government has struggled to keep the lights on at home”, the Financial Times explains. Meanwhile, “progressives and conservatives have fought for almost two decades over how to tackle climate change and shift a coal-dependent energy sector towards cleaner power”, and with this political uncertainty “power companies say they cannot justify long-term investment in new generation or storage”.

    Australia “energy wars” re-erupted on Monday when conservative backbenchers objected to emission reduction targets the Australia signed up to in the Paris Agreement. All this is “especially ill-timed”, as “Australia faces its worst drought in a century and a third of corals on the Great Barrier Reef recently died due to raised sea temperatures”.

    00

  • #
    pat

    24 Aug: Reuters: Shelved Aramco IPO hits at heart of Saudi prince’s reforms
    by Andrew Torchia, Saeed Azhar, Stephen Kalin
    The initial public offering (IPO) of 5 percent of state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco was a centrepiece of the crown prince’s plan to diversify the kingdom’s economy beyond oil by raising $100 billion for investment in other sectors…

    The decision to shelve the IPO raises doubts about the management of the process as well as the broader reform agenda, sapping the momentum generated by Prince Mohammed’s dramatic 2030 Vision announcement in 2016 that helped propel him to power in the world’s top oil exporter…
    Industry sources told Reuters this week that both the international and domestic legs of the IPO had been postponed indefinitely…
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-aramco-ipo-reforms/shelved-aramco-ipo-hits-at-heart-of-saudi-princes-reforms-idUSKCN1L90ZK

    not a hint in the above about renewables, or how the IPO would fund the 9.5 gigawatts of renewable energy planned, nor is there a reminder of the earlier, even more extravagant plans for nuclear & solar. guess they’ll stick with fossil fuels.

    26 Apr 2016: Reuters: Saudi Arabia targets 9.5 GW of renewable by 2030
    by Reem Shamseddine
    KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia – Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia plans to generate 9.5 gigawatts of electricity from renewable energy by 2030, it said on Monday as it approved its Vision 2030 reform plan.
    The plan, a package of economic and social policies is designed to free the kingdom from dependence on oil exports…

    “To build up the sector, we have set ourselves an initial target of generating 9.5 gigawatts of renewable energy,” according to a text of the vision on state news agency SPA.

    In 2012, the world’s top oil exporter said it would install ***17 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2032 as well as around 41 GW of solar capacity…
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-saudi-plan-renewable-idUKKCN0XM2AE

    00

  • #
    pat

    22 Aug: CarbonBrief: Guest post: India’s emissions will double at most by 2030
    by Navroz K Dubash and Ankit Bhardwaj
    (Navroz K Dubash is a professor and Ankit Bhardwaj is a senior research associate at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR)’s Initiative on Climate, Energy and Environment in New Delhi)
    Our paper (LINK), recently published in Environmental Research Letters (LINK), explores these challenges.
    We interpret seven recent studies that project India’s emissions up to 2030 in the context of the country’s energy needs for development. (Therefore, the paper only explores CO2 emissions from energy – 68% of India’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2012.)
    An important motivation for the study is the wide range of existing projections of India’s emissions, which defy clear discussion or policy interpretation…

    All studies project an increase up to 2030, though with a wide range of 12% to 169% above 2012 emissions…
    https://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-indias-emissions-will-double-at-most-by-2030

    20

  • #
    TdeF

    In fact think of the problems facing Morrison..

    A one seat majority
    An intransigent Senate
    Malcolm Turnbull resigning.
    Julie Bishop resigning
    Nationals threatening to sit on the cross bench
    Abbott. Abbott. Abbott.
    Funding the election
    NEG
    Blackouts coming in Victoria.
    Victorian election
    Electoral wipeout in Queensland
    Catholics voting for Labor across the country thanks to Birmingham
    Turnbull’s $444 million gift
    Drought
    Immigration overload
    Paris committments
    The NEG
    Tax deductions
    Policy differences from Shorten, currently none.
    Policy differences from Turnbull, absolutely necessary.

    They need to do something big, fast.

    They could

    1. walk away from Paris in a day. Trump did. Costs nothing.
    2. Put a limit on immigration in a day. Costs nothing.
    3. Restore funding for Catholic schools in day. Really, costs nothing.
    4. repeal the RET. Fix the underlying cause of all the supply problems.

    This would pass the Senate and set them apart from the Malcolm’s Greens.
    It would be the real breakthrough in the massive waste of money on windmills and solar.

    This could be done in the first week. Only one needs agreement from the Senate.
    The conservatives would be thrilled. You would not need the NEG.

    Or they could just sit on their hands, waiting for oblivion.

    Anything other than this agenda and they are cooked. Follow the recipe and they will be heroes.

    80

    • #
      TdeF

      Malcolm would not be happy, but he had three years of total loyalty. He achieved nothing and won an election by one seat, by accident.

      You could also put Abbott in Foreign Affairs. He is superbly qualified and out of domestic affairs. It’s what Julia Gillard did with both Rudd and Carr. Get them out of the country.
      Would Julie Bishop be happy? Does that matter?

      70

      • #
        Annie

        The answer to your last question…no.
        I’m also fed-up with seeing her highly photo-shopped glammed-up face smarming at me from the front of some women’s magazine or other. 🙁

        10

  • #
    Kratoklastes

    For ethics I would back a policeman against a lawyer every time.

    That is not borne out by the data – particularly if you’re talking about Queensland police, and even more particularly if you’re talking about Queensland Police Drugs Squad circa 1990s.

    The list of coppers from the QLD drugs squad who have been nicked for outright criminality is as long as your arm; the RODA (register of disciplinary action) for the entire country’s legal fraternity has less outright criminality over the last decade, than the Qld coppers had in the 90s.

    That raises an obvious question: how many corrupt drugs squad people did Dutton identify, investigate, report or arrest?

    Was the number zero? If so, why?

    Was he so incompetent that he could not see bent coppers all around him in the workplace?

    Or was his apparent incompetence actually evidence of something else?

    How did he finish a 9-year career as a copper with a property portfolio valued in the (small) millions, when his terminal salary was $90k and mortgage interest rates were 17% in 1990 and above 10% until 1996?

    By helping his Dad renovate properties on weekends? Really?

    If only he’d spent the time he supposedly spent moonlighting as a property developer, reading some of the output of the Fitzgerald Inquiry – it might’ve given him a heads up that he was surrounded by corrupt colleagues. He obviously had other objectives.

    Yes, I am glad to see the back of him. His views on climate change are the least interesting thing about him: I’m far more interested in his views on expanding surveillance, undermining individual liberty and bringing the immigration hammer down on people prior to trial and proof… those are far more robust indicators that he’s unfit to be in charge of a national government.

    And he’ll lose Dickson now that he’s no longer ReichsKommissar for the burgeoning Sicherheitsdienst.

    01

  • #
    John PAK

    Over here in the UK no-one cares who is PM of Au and I’d suggest that 20ieth C politics is a little out of date for the 21st C.
    2018 is the climate shift year. From now on we will see radical weather oscillations, decreased agricultural output, economic hard times, political instability and a host of other negative spin-offs that all require a fresh approach to what we term the “Western Economic Paradigm”.
    My guess is that out of the coming turmoil a bright young mind will surface who will be accepted in our collective desperation and we will wax lyrical about the good old days. i.e.to-day.

    00

    • #
      Kratoklastes

      From now on we will see radical weather oscillations, decreased agricultural output, economic hard times

      And when the Chicken Little scenarios don’t pan out, will the entire crew of the Ship of Fools apologise and hand back all the money that’s been mulcted from the productive?

      Snow will be a thing of the past” said David Viner – one of the charlatans whose entire lifestyle is funded by the same mechanism as all priesthoods.. i.e., falsely claiming expertise, and scaring gullible morons by telling them that demons would stalk the Earth unless they perform the correct propitiary rituals (which always have the side effect of enriching the charlatans… odd, that).

      “Children just aren’t going to know what snow is.” he went on.

      This was to transpire “within a few years“. I submit that ‘a few years‘ (18, to be precise) has passed.

      Note that he didn’t spruik “in several decades” or “by the turn of the 22nd century” or any other timeline that made ‘sense’ (within the self-serving conceptual framework that these tax-eaters pretend to use).

      Now think what it means for children to “not know what snow is”; it means snow literally doesn’t exist anymore – otherwise the kiddies could be shown TV footage from the Himalayas, or the Alps, or the Pyrenees, or Ben Nevis.

      Perhaps Viner was assuming that public education systems would continue to do their maleficent work, and as a result ‘children’ as a group would be incapable of knowing about anything that didn’t fall directly on their heads.

      The Independent [sic] “MemoryHoled” that piece (from 2000), thus preventing the median schlub from being exposed to just how lunatic these charlatans can get. (The point of modern MemoryHoling is not to remove the information completely: it is to make it inaccessible to people in the meat of the IQ distribution… which means just making it a bit harder to find)

      I cannot wait for the day that the Cochrane Collaboration finishes destroying the canonical literature of psych[ology|iatry|ometry] (showing that less than 40% of ‘core’ psych studies can be reproduced, and that p-hacking and other bias is rife)… then it can turn its lidded gaze on climate ‘science’ and expose it for the crypto-religious pseudoscience that it actually is.

      10

  • #
  • #
  • #
    Apoxonbothyourhouses

    From GWPF “”Japan’s fifth-biggest utility by sales plans to restart the No. 2 reactor at its Sendai station later on Wednesday, giving Kyushu the most nuclear generation since the 2011 Fukushima disaster led to the shutdown of Japan’s atomic power sector.”

    “Output restrictions can occur when power demand is low and solar power generation is high, such as in the autumn, spring or at the year-end and beginning of the year,” the spokesman said.””

    Either a misquote or I don’t understand but either way …. so leaving a couple of Tuesdays in winter.

    10