Rumours swirling that lower house Liberal MP Julia Banks, who holds a marginal Victorian seat at 51% at the last election, may hold dual Greek citizenship.
Constitutional crisis, anyone?
The Deputy Prime Minster of Australia (who said you get the politicians you deserve? )
Gives interview
âMy grandmother is English. Iâm working on the presumption Iâm not English,â Mr Joyce told reporters.
âIâve never been to England.'
However just a few weeks agoâŚ
and
A short time later the deputy prime minister clarified, stating on twitter.
âApologies but thereâs a lot on my mind - to correct the record from my press conf (sic), I have been to England, but am not a citizen.â
1 Like
Sheâs in my electorate! Imagine if there was a by-election here (which had been a labor stronghold until last year)âŚ
2 Likes
Is Shorten Australiaâs Trump? Laurie Oakes thinks so.
Peta Credlin for PM? You know, sheâs never had a fair hearing because of the fact Bishop never liked her (Bishop is utterly useless, but dresses well, and speaks in enough cliches and generalities that she gets by), so we had constant bitching about Peta from Turnbull sympathisers and others during Abbottâs time in office.
However, the more I see of her, the more impressed I am - what a shame Kelly OâDwyer canât be booted from the safe seat of Higgins and Credlin installed as the Liberal candidate in the run up to the next election.
The Libs shouldnât wait for Labor to make Tanya (who thinks Africa is a country, not a continent) leader after Bill Shorten flops again - the Libs should immediately seek an avenue for Peta into the House of Reps.
Why Shorten is given clear air for even MORE of his policies this weekend, I have no clue. How useless is Turnbull and his team?
Clamping down on the use of trusts though, I totally agree with. The tax system shouldnât be geared in favour of those who have the capacity to seek legal/accounting advice.
His war on the capital gains tax discount, not so (it means property passed for no consideration still incurs a tax of hundreds of thousands of dollars, which is plainly unreasonable when no revenue has been raised in the transfer - just an utterly moronic policy). His war on negative gearing, I am more receptive to and only hold reservations of how this may affect housing prices - the value of peopleâs biggest asset canât be allowed to just sink without massive ramifications for the economy.
My point was that it is crazy that it has even been discussed!
Why should OâDwyer - a popular local MP who fought off a challenge from the Greens, be forced to give up her seat? If the Libs are so keen for Credlin to get in, either put her in a marginal so they have an opportunity to gain another seat or find a seat where the local MP is getting close to retirement, Menzies and Kevin Andrews comes to mind as suiting her better.
1 Like
She was parachuted into Costelloâs old safe seat with great things expected of her - sheâs turned out to be a lemon.
Good on you, a cabinet minister. From memory het preselection wasnât quite so cut and dried.
Well, my opinion.
Well, there will always be views one way or the other, so who knows the reality - what the fact it âwasnât so cut and dryâ points to is more the fact she was being parachuted and there was pushbackâŚ
Ms OâDwyerâs sole rival for Higgins - after several other aspiring candidates were told by the Costello grouping not to run to ensure that she had a clear shot at the seat
Mr Dignum noted that there had been a strong campaign to stop anyone from contesting the seat against her.
Kelly OâDwyer, 32âŚ[a] confidant of Mr Costello
But there was no sitting member contesting. Why throw out a cabinet minister just to get Credlin in, extraordinary thought processes at work there. And surely, Costelloâs opinion ought to have been respected as to whom would replace him? If she was no good she wouldnât have won the by-election and subsequent elections.
Yeah it was just a half-serious suggestion. Point is she needs to be put into a safe seat immediately, and be groomed for a top job, as she is actually one of the impressive female stars on the conservative side of politics (as opposed to going nowhere Kelly OâDwyer).
From the evidence at-hand Credlin is, rather than impressive, really an appalling power-crazed meglomaniac totally unsuitable for an environment requiring teamwork.
1 Like
The âevidenceâ being Niki Savvaâs craporama behind the scenes hatchet job of a book, giving a voice to every pro-Turnbull player around.
I prefer evidence such as actually listening to what Peta has to say. And comparing with what someone like Kelly OâDwyer has to say. The difference is stark.
I mean, seriously, which professional person is actually like this in the real world? Itâs such a lazy cliche description of someone - and by that, you should know immediately that others are briefing against her with an agenda.
You prefer to take the word of the woman who earned the hatred of LNP ministers she disrespected; one person over many. Yeah, thatâs logical.
A post thatâs worth responding to in a more relevant thread.
Realistically, I do think another referendum on an Australian Republic will happen at some point in the future. Peopleâs opinions can change/evolve over time and we are almost at the point where there would be eligible voters for a future Republic Referendum who werenât even born when the last one was held.
But at the same time, I wouldnât expect Australia to go to another Republic Referendum while Queen Elizabeth II is still alive.
While I certainly donât expect the Queen to live forever, itâs well worth remembering that her mother lived until the age of 101. For all we know, Elizabeth II might stay on the throne for another decade or perhaps even longer (knowing that people are generally living longer lives right now than they ever have before).
For those wondering where I stand on this issue, Iâm not entirely against the idea of Australia becoming a republic in the future. But IMO, the Australian public would have to think very carefully about what type of republic they want because of the many extremely significant implications (some of which are obvious, others less so) a âYesâ vote could have.
Of course thereâll be people whoâll completely disagree with me, but as usual Iâd be rather interested to hear what others think.
2 Likes
Very true, but it does mean that there is a degree of uncertainty about the future of the monarch that wasnât there 20 years ago. The republican movement would probably make it a referendum on King Charles III rather than the monarchal system itself which could cause some squirming among all but the staunchest royalists.
Nor am I. I always used to consider myself a monarchist but my views have shifted somewhat over the last few years. You are right though, there are many different forms that a new system could take and my vote would probably be swayed quite easily by the final proposal.
I would not be in favour of a popularly elected President but I also have concerns about a system in which the parliament or government of the day directly appoints their regulator (though I know that this is basically what happens today anyway).
The other issue to consider is what happens at a state level. Do we maintain State Governors in some form alongside the new Federal Head of State?
2 Likes
This is simply Shorten wanting to create a wedge issue for Turnbull and make him look weak; that heâs âheld hostageâ by others in his party.
We all know Shorten said just a couple years ago that he was not in favour of a referendum because he had other things he wanted to achieveâŚnow suddenly itâs a first term priorityâŚplease!