What a great start to an election campaign. :E

What are the odds on her not getting to 14 September?

The odds on a vote of no confidence in the Lower House must be improving.

CT has to be convicted and receive a sentence of at least one year before he has to quit Parliament, and that's not likely to happen before Sept 14th. I imagine he'll be bailed, but if he isn't, that should put a cat among the canaries when it comes to any division or a vote in the lower house.

No reason for him not to be bailed on a white collar crime but, as labor has previously had to prop him up to avoid bankruptcy, I wonder who'll stump up for him this time.

White collar crime agreed, but, is he a flight risk? Given his track record of dishonesty could they, perhaps, deny bail? Just a thought.

Good of you to dump the ALP Fleigs, but please, please don't give your vote to the Greens!:=

Time to resurrect the 'none of the above' box. :E

Wonderful "10 Green Bottles" cartoon here from Pickering.

Bets, anyone, on who'll be the next "green bottle" to topple?

http://www.hotink.com/wacky/mfiles/m-ani.gif

And if you're not having doubts about the Crime Minister and the rest of her sorry second rate team HID then you probably need looking at.

Yes. Vote Independant! What could possibly go wrong?

:p:p:p

Yup, I can see that may have appeal for some as a way to register a protest, but for the benefit of the country I think they need a strong majority government in both houses rather than an ineffective minority coalition. Hopefully the LNP will prevail, as the only alternative is the ALP. We have had seven years to see what a complete and very expensive mess the ALP have made of their chance to improve Australia but they have, instead, dropped the ball and only looked after their own, pathetic, careers. Above all, the Greens have to be sent packing!

They may not see it but there is a strong case for ALP supporters to vote LNP this time, to ensure the next Parliament can actually work, (you listening Fliegs?!) abstentions and wasted votes simply don't do it.

Amen to that, with k nobs on, parab.

My dream would be to see the Greens get no new seats in the Senate on Sept 14th (or before :)), no new seats in the Lower House, their remaining Senators giving Abbott an excuse to call for a double dissolution, that the lot of them turfed out into political history, just like the misbegotten Democrats, never to be heard from again.

How I'd love NOT to see the imbecilic Sarah TwoDads ever asked to offer her inane opinion on ANY subject ever again - or at least not until she has had some life experience, which she quite obviously has not had to date.

I've said this before para, but a lot of the ALP's problems stem, IMHO, from not being true to their cause. Minority Govt. means they have compromised & disenfranchised their core supporters.

In the spirit of Glasnost, I would have to admit that the LNP doesn't really float my boat either but, as a voter in a hardcore ALP safe seat, it really doesn't matter what I think. :(

I don't think the current movers and shakers in the federal ALP are true to the cause either. While the minority government has made that abundantly clear, I think the Greens and Independents have been a handy scape goat for the ALP, when in truth their senior pollies agreed with more Greens stuff than they disagreed with.

There's something sinister going on here, courtesy of the Red Witch.

It would seem that under standing orders, once an election date has been set (and that box has been ticked), the government is not obliged to have a by-election if and when Thomson is forced out of parliament.

How sneaky is that! :yuk:

But then because he sits on the cross benches, the coalition would be unlikely grant him a pair if he is absent through court appearances.

Not quite: I think you'll find that he has to be convicted of an offence for which the sentence is one year or more. As we all know, no judge these days passes the the listed sentence :rolleyes:

Don't we have to wait for the GG to issue a writ before an election date is officially "set"?

Has she done that yet, or don't things like the constitution matter when the GG is so tame and it's all nice and cosy in the Labor soap opera bed-hopping family?

Let's hope JG is another one escorted away from her office in the back of an unmarked cop car, the sooner the better, let's just get this over with.

Yes, I think you're right on the refusal to offer a pairing, Ovation. You're also correct in what you say explaining why Eileen named the election day yesterday. Quite obviously she'd been given a 'heads up' by someone in Vic Pol that he was to be arrested today. Parliamentary practice has it that the Speaker, if a by-election becomes necessary after an election date has been set, should delay that by-election until the general election. Of course, that tradition did not allow for, or expect, an eight month delay between the election date being announced and the election day.

Eileen has shown herself yet again to me the master (mistress?) political manipulator. God only knows what ploy she'll come up with between now and August to delay the election, perhaps for some time beyond November. Some kind of "national emergency"? Before anyone laughs at such a stupid suggestion, remember how many other parliamentary traditions the woman has thrashed since she stole power thanks to the misnamed 'independents'.

Waiting for Rob Oakeshott to acquire some serious medical problem necessitating his retirement from politics... say, around September?

Oh Clare, I think there are more than a few people looking forward to witnessing that particular scene. If her behaviour to date is anything to go by, the level of hubris surrounding JEG is such that if it ever comes to that, (highly unlikely), she'll almost certainly 'do a Thomson' and not go quietly, so we can only hope some cop tips off Channel 7 again, as they apparently did today.

Former general turns firepower on Smith

I do, like you all, believe, CT is criminal scum, (BUT he hasn't had his day in court) ............for the constabulary however to tip off the media, is really very ordinary. No need, it just caters to the lowest common denominator, reality TV watching, Today Tonight kinda crowd....very ordinary, but not too unexpected I suppose...

Para, please do rest assured in this, that I have none, and have never had any inclination to support the greens in any way shape or form whatsoever, EXCEPT, for Bob Browns refusal to support politician pay rises....And that is the only exception (Gawd, if the Greens ever saw what I do with certain waste materials.... :uhoh:...but that is another story!)

As for am I listening? Well yes indeed I have, and I have observed.....for my family and I, the horribly tragic realisation is....the ALP are likely the lessor of two evils. :uhoh::{ ...but lets see what policies are put on the table, and how trustworthy both sides are....(equally untrustworthy!)

As a minister in the howard gummint, and by his own admission, the member for Warringah, is a bullsh!tter of the first order and he'll certainly give the red bogan a run for her money in the honesty stakes, and that is saying something!....just don't want too much "It's worse than we expected", that only works for so long...:hmm: Only need see the way he shifts his eyes away from a 'reporter' (usually downward movement) and utters Aahh....to see his level of honesty. Jooliar is a whole lot better Politician, the B!tch can hold a gaze, look squarely in the eyes....and tell bare faces lies, Tone is transparent, his lies light up like little sparklers! :hmm:

Interesting to see Buster write that he is a voter in a 'hard core ALP seat', not the sort of place I would expect Buster to reside, but then again I live in such a safe LNP seat, the ALP don't even bother here (Last candidate resided 60-70k away?)

The Man in the Hat......saves me voting in favour of either dishonest juggernaut of a political party, both beholden to the big end of town, and increasingly indistinguishable...

Oh how both sides must laugh at us over a Dom Perignon from the comfy chairman's lounge eh? Leigh & Alan know how to play them both.....:sad:

Interesting Fliegs? I've lived in The Broadmeadows area for all but 6 years of my life. Even went to school with Eddie! This seat, Federal, State, and mostly local has been held by the ALP for all that time. This is Boganville my friend, and these are the red witches people I live amongst!

We don't all fit the stereotypes, and don't all live the high life to maintain a conservative outlook. I struggle like many other middle class in this country now. Unloved by Pollies, ignored by Centrelink, and trampled on by the likes of Murdoch & Fox...


Middle class sucks!