Split Thread: Australian speaker Harry Jenkins resigns

[Alan]

We have a new Speaker.

Quote:

A day of extraordinary political drama began when Labor Speaker Harry Jenkins announced his resignation.

The move pitched Mr Slipper into the spotlight, with the Labor Caucus wasting little time in nominating him for the Speaker's role - a move which will effectively give Labor one more seat in the House of Reps and lessen its reliance on independent and Greens MPs.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott hit back by threatening to throw Mr Slipper out of the party if he accepted the job.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-2...peaker/3691680

[Wildy]

Instead of arguing about something that we've argued ad nauseam why don't we instead discuss the latest news about the speaker of the house resigning and most likely soon to be former Liberal MP Peter Slipper being elected in his place. Of course the ALP has made sure that the deputy speaker is one of their own so they've still made sure that the position is paired.

Considering how a certain opposition leader is complaining about the ALP not following convention is a little laughable considering his stance on pairing.

In other news on this issue Christopher Pyne decided to act like an idiot in parliament and as Malcom Farr wrote on news.com.au was later told to shut up by the new speaker as well as kicked out a bunch of coalition members.

[lionking]

Abbott made to look like an idiot yet again.

[Alan]

I think it was Pyne, more than anyone else.

[lionking]

Originally Posted by Alan

I think it was Pyne, more than anyone else.

It was more Abbott ranting on about what a shameful day it was etc. As if he wouldn't have done something like this at the drop of a hat.

[Wildy]

Originally Posted by lionking

It was more Abbott ranting on about what a shameful day it was etc. As if he wouldn't have done something like this at the drop of a hat.

Well being the cynical person that I am I'd have thought that if Abbott had the chance to do this he'd get two ALP members into the position of speaker and deputy speaker and then ignore any pairing conventions.

[Hallo Alfie]

Pretty clever of her wasn't it? She screws the morons Greens and the coalition in one hit.

I can't help having the feeling that this will come back to bite her ample behind sometime, somehow.

[wombatwal]

Where was the leader of the opposition.
Got right under his watch.
ABA ABA.

[wombatwal]

Originally Posted by A.A. Alfie

Pretty clever of her wasn't it? She screws the morons Greens and the coalition in one hit.

I can't help having the feeling that this will come back to bite her ample behind sometime, somehow.

You hope.

[wombatwal]

TONY Abbott has declared that if someone from the Liberal or National parties takes the job of speaker then he or she will be expected to resign from their party. Following an emergency meeting of the coalition party room, the Opposition Leader said his colleagues had agreed that none of its members should accept a nomination from the Gillard Government for the Speakership.
"And any of our members that might accept such a nomination would henceforth be excluded from our party room and expected to resign their membership of the parties,'' Mr Abbott said.
The Opposition Leader said it was up to the government to provide a replacement for outgoing Speaker Harry Jenkins.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new...-1226204632930
What a hopeless leader, he had no idea, he did not look after his own team. Bring back Turnbull.
ABA ABA.

[Wildy]

wombatwal, if I understand things correctly Slipper has already resigned from the coalition after he was appointed the new speaker.

[wombatwal]

Originally Posted by Wildy

wombatwal, if I understand things correctly Slipper has already resigned from the coalition after he was appointed the new speaker.

Yes, I think he did. But I think Jenkins resigned before Slipper did. This got right under Abbotts guard. I was at work when all of this happened, so not 100% sure of the time frame.
This has made the lower house much more stable, with some small breathing room for Labor.
Gillard has totally "outboxed" Abbott on this one.
Smartest PM in a long time.
ABA, ABA, bring back Turnbull.

[lionking]

I heard on the news that Albenese only approached Slipper at 8am today when Jenkins announced his retirement. And Jenkins prides himself on his integrity, so there's no way he would be part of any grand conspiracy.

I'm an avid listener to Question Time, and Jenkins was the best Speaker in my time of following parliament. Slipper is a very poor substitute, but who cares.

ABA.

[amb]

The wonder of it all is how can this rabble, from both parties keep a straight face when addressing each other as the......"honourable menber" .

[bit_pattern]

Originally Posted by lionking

ABA.

ABA?

[wombatwal]

Originally Posted by bit_pattern

ABA?

Anyone But Abbott.
ABA

[wombatwal]

I have been a masochist this morning and listening to the toxic ravings of the conservative shock jocks on radio station 2GB this morning, plus the ravings of the people ringing in.
Alan Jones and Ray Hadley are frothing at the mouth over Slipper. Hadley spoke to a local newspaper bloke in Slippers electorate talking of Slippers rorts.
These conservatives are pathetic. Where were they last week, last month, last year, 2 years ago outing Slipper. They were nowhere to be found. Of course they would not out a fellow conservative. Weak as water these conservatives. The Liberal party has only themselves to blame for all of this. Abbott should do the honourable thing and fall on his sword.
They are trying to blame Labor for all of this. Pathetic, they took hold of this dopiness by Abbott and used it to their political advantage, would you blame them.

[bit_pattern]

Abbott really blew this one, his strategy to wreck the parliament has really come back to bite him on the arse

Quote:

And while the LNP gets most of the blame for driving Slipper into the arms of Labor, Tony Abbott’s relentless and hugely effective wrecking tactics over the past year would have also played a role in deterring Rob Oakeshott from throwing his hat into the ring yesterday and, potentially, delivering a humiliating defeat for the government. You can’t help but think the opposition signing up to parliamentary reform (and concomitant “group hug”) in September last year and then promptly welshing on the deal had its consequence in Oakeshott knocking them back yesterday.

The deal the Coalition signed up to last year — which, indeed, still sits on the Liberal website  — explicitly provides for a non-government speaker, despite Christopher Pyne’s claim yesterday that a non-government speaker was some sort of new Labor outrage. It also provided for pairing the speaker, which the opposition decided, on the basis of advice from its in-house legal hotshot George Brandis, was unconstitutional.

Oops. Pairing would have negated the impact of Slipper’s defection. Too late.

http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/11/25/...botts-tactics/

[Legend]

Originally Posted by Wildy

In other news on this issue Christopher Pyne decided to act like an idiot in parliament and as Malcom Farr wrote on news.com.au was later told to shut up by the new speaker as well as kicked out a bunch of coalition members.

Before I watched that clip yesterday I never thought I could hate Christopher Pyne and his idiotic accent any more.

I'm going to miss Jenkins though, he was hilarious and managed everything pretty well.

[Damien Evans]

Damnit, there goes the only thing of notability about our Division, because there's no way there'll ever be interest in Scullin on election night, even with the new boundaries.

[wombatwal]

From todays UnAustralian.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nati...-1226206614183
The dirt is flying now about Slipper.
This is only showing up Abbott and the Noalition.
Where was this dirt last week??
In a locked cupboard in Noalition HQ I assume.
ABA, ABA

[a_unique_person]

Originally Posted by bit_pattern

Abbott really blew this one, his strategy to wreck the parliament has really come back to bite him on the arse

Abbott is incapable of long term planning. Not the sort of person you would be wanting to lead your party into Government.

As for his inability to assess a situation correctly and react accordingly.

Quote:

Michael Gordon IT WAS a throwaway line, but it summed up the end-game of a political strategy that was all about blasting Julia Gillard out of office, as quickly as possible. ''See you next year at The Lodge for drinks,'' a cheerful Abbott told reporters who attended the Opposition Leader's Christmas drinks at this time last year.
Whether it was achieved by wooing one of the independents who helped Gillard form minority government, or blasting out a Labor MP accused of behaving badly, or fuelling speculation of an imminent challenge to Gillard by Kevin Rudd, didn't matter.
Abbott was one vote away from the prime ministership and - courtesy of his relentless assault on Gillard's integrity and Labor's ineptness - a country mile ahead in the polls. His was a ''government-in-waiting'', and it all made for a very disciplined party room.
A year on, Abbott's Coalition is still mightily ascendant in the polls, but the game has changed. The coup that delivered the speakership to the disaffected Peter Slipper has transformed this contest, giving Gillard a two-seat buffer and dramatically increasing the odds that the Parliament will run full term.
That means Gillard has a better chance of building a recovery from the foundations of recent weeks. It certainly means the pressure is squarely on Abbott to come up with a new strategy in the months ahead. No wonder he is crying foul.

He had a plan A, but no plan B, even though it was more likely the Government would last out this year. It appears he is incapable of accepting the fact that his intellect, bravado and bullying may not be capable of forcing an issue the way he wants, and that other people may be just as capable and intelligent as he is. Being a Rhode's scholar does not make you superman, you will still be subject to reality. People are starting to realise that Abbott is not capable of dealing with reality adequately.

[Hallo Alfie]

Originally Posted by wombatwal

From todays UnAustralian.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nati...-1226206614183
The dirt is flying now about Slipper.
This is only showing up Abbott and the Noalition.
Where was this dirt last week??
In a locked cupboard in Noalition HQ I assume.
ABA, ABA

The dirt will stick on both sides I think. Abbott was just about to get rid of him, that's why Gillard could strike the deal she did; he was gone anyway.

While I accept to a point that the coalition did protect him for some time, it's only because they were to withhold that protection that the door was opened.

We can twist this a million was from Sunday, the problem is now Gillard's and I reckon this only pours petrol on the integrity problem she has with the public. Ultimately she will be hurt more by this than the coalition.

Interesting times indeed.

There is so much fun in federal politics we have a new thread: http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=224562

[bit_pattern]

So is this the new cover-all Aus politics thread? Because I really want to mention the momentous decision by the Gillard government to end the discriminatory asylum seeker policy that punished boat arrivals for their mode of transport.

It's the end of a decade of pandering to the worst elements of our society and trying to out-right the Lib's on an issue they could never win.

Finally, we're putting the Howard era to rest once and for all. It's as though he has been wedging Labor from the grave these last four years. The High Court has forced Labor to grow a pair and come up with an independent policy that might just take the heat out of the inane focus on every new boat arrival.

Quote:

The Gillard government, in a major reversal, will end the discriminatory treatment of asylum seekers arriving by boat as it begins to unwind its network of detention centres, which have drawn international condemnation on humanitarian grounds.

Asylum seekers who risk their lives to reach Australia by sea will have access to the Refugee Review Tribunal from next year - currently accessed only by asylum seekers arriving by air.

Twenty-seven male asylum seekers were released into the community yesterday on bridging visas, with at least 100 a month to follow.

Refugee advocates welcomed the move as ''a game-changer''. "For 10 years, successive governments have tied themselves in knots, applying different rules to asylum seekers according to where they first set foot on Australian soil … Finally, common sense has prevailed," said Refugee Council of Australia chief executive Paul Power.


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/gi...#ixzz1emAFGccH

[Wildy]

Originally Posted by A.A. Alfie

We can twist this a million was from Sunday, the problem is now Gillard's and I reckon this only pours petrol on the integrity problem she has with the public.

Why is it her problem and how does this become an integrity problem?

Quote:

Ultimately she will be hurt more by this than the coalition.

Why will she be hurt by this more than the coalition? She's basically managed to shore up her own position while damaging the coalition's position. I don't understand how you can come to such a conclusion.

[Wildy]

Originally Posted by bit_pattern

So is this the new cover-all Aus politics thread?

Not as far as I'm aware. I think the idea of closing the other thread was to stop the ghettoisation that formed when the Federal Election thread became a cover-all thread.

[Hallo Alfie]

Originally Posted by Wildy

Why is it her problem and how does this become an integrity problem?

Slipper is now her man, his problems are her problems.

[Wildy]

Originally Posted by A.A. Alfie

Slipper is now her man, his problems are her problems.

Under what logic?

[Hallo Alfie]

Originally Posted by Wildy

Under what logic?

The coaltion have disassociated themselves from him because he was a crook (my word). She promotes him. He is now her man.

[bit_pattern]

Originally Posted by A.A. Alfie

The coaltion have disassociated themselves from him because he was a crook (my word). She promotes him.

That's not true at all. The Coalition tolerated and enabled his alleged crookedness ever since he ratted on the Nat's and joined the Lib's for political gain. It was only once he was promoted were the Lib's were prepared to dissociate themselves from him, Abbott himself counselled against driving him to the cross-benches after the Rudd school tour fiasco, but he beat them to the punch and dissociated himself from them.

[Hallo Alfie]

Originally Posted by bit_pattern

That's not true at all. The Coalition tolerated and enabled his alleged crookedness ever since he ratted on the Nat's and joined the Lib's for political gain.

Generally I agree.

Originally Posted by bit_pattern

It was only once he was promoted were the Lib's were prepared to dissociate themselves from him, Abbott himself counselled against driving him to the cross-benches after the Rudd school tour fiasco, but he beat them to the punch and dissociated himself from them.

Wrong.
The coalition were about to shove him out, he jumped first, Gillard pounced.

You are also dismissing the possibility there was a backroom deal which would firm up my contention. Why was Slipper out with Rudd recently? Speculation I know but it adds to the intrigue.

[Legend]

Originally Posted by A.A. Alfie

The coaltion have disassociated themselves from him because he was a crook (my word). She promotes him. He is now her man.

Do you even know how Australian politics work?

[Hallo Alfie]

Originally Posted by Legend

Do you even know how Australian politics work?

Yep. It seems you are having trouble keeping up though.

[bit_pattern]

Originally Posted by A.A. Alfie

The coalition were about to shove him out, he jumped first, Gillard pounced.

No they weren't. They would like to have been able to but the numbers wouldn't allow it. Instead they were going to roll him at preselection and put Brough into his seat.

[lionking]

Originally Posted by bit_pattern

No they weren't. They would like to have been able to but the numbers wouldn't allow it. Instead they were going to roll him at preselection and put Brough into his seat.

That's right, and if (when) he lost pre-selection he would have gone over to the cross benches. Abbott has been extremely careless in his treatment of Slipper. If he can't handle his own backbench, he is incapable of handling any higher office.

[amb]

According to the Australian this morning, Slippery Slipper is been investigated over many rorts. He may no survive for too long.

[wombatwal]

Originally Posted by amb

According to the Australian this morning, Slippery Slipper is been investigated over many rorts. He may no survive for too long.

That would be the article that I linked to earlier.
It does seem a bit strange that this has now became an issue.
It was not last week.
The conservatives are complicant in their inaction.

[lionking]

Originally Posted by amb

According to the Australian this morning, Slippery Slipper is been investigated over many rorts. He may no survive for too long.

What do you mean by "survive"?

There's no way he will be removed from Parliament.

[a_unique_person]

Originally Posted by amb

According to the Australian this morning, Slippery Slipper is been investigated over many rorts. He may no survive for too long.

He will probably 'survive'. If he doesn't, Labor is no worse off. Don't forget, all these accusations of rorts happened while he was a member of the Liberal Party. Abbott was trying to stop the LNP in Queensland from doing anything. You can be suspicious of just about anything The Australian has to say about politics, it servers merely to mirror what the Liberal Party thinks.

[Legend]

Originally Posted by A.A. Alfie

Yep. It seems you are having trouble keeping up though.

Sorry, where have you pulled that from exactly?