Sure, he came second. In other words, he lost :}. Slag the process all you like (everyone in the party does, for various reasons) but that's the process. Abbott only won leadership of the Coalition by one vote, but he won and that makes him the PM. Turnbull fans like to run the same argument, but it's equally fatuous wrt the Coalition. The rules are the rules and the game is the game.

Given that Albanese didn't get the job, I don't think he's flash enough to come in from behind and depose Shorten at the moment for the reasons listed above. Changing leaders is too big a hassle to end up with another middleweight. As previously stated I'm not a fan, and IMO appearing on the ABC show was not a good move for a shadow minister or an aspiring leader, if that's what he is. While the ABC is often criticised for being Labor friendly (and there are grounds for that criticism), The Killing Fields has been about as Labor friendly as a kick in the 'nads. The show has rated its little socks off and generated a lot of tea-room debate, which is good; it shows that 1. at least one network can create a great doco people will watch without relying on cooking, dancing or DIY home improvements :bored: and 2. Australians are still interested/engaged in politics. However, it hasn't helped Labor.
Actually, I don't agree with you on that. The ALP is a lot more sexist than it likes to admit; most of the female rah-rah stuff around preselection etc is window dressing to keep the latte types happy. Additionally, after Gillard (and Bligh in Queensland) I think the next time the party puts their faith in a Left faction female leader, we'll all be posting comment from our nursing-homes.
Of course it's worth discussion, but at the end of the day that's an internal issue for the party to deal with. Presumably you're not a member :E;). My understanding is that the Coalition have no member vote for their leaders whatsoever? If so (naturally I'm not a member:E) then their members don't have much influence on the leadership choice either.

Within Labor there have been some recent reforms to the voting structure to give the R&F more power, which the right have fought tooth and nail. While the Murdoch press likes to report that it's the evil left opposing reform, that's mainly because their few Labor sources/commentators are sqaurely from the right. The right claim that they'd like the branches to have more power, but IMO that's because they know damned well that it's a lot easier to stack a branch (or threaten its president) than it is to stack a union. Their preference was to leave everything unchanged with no direct R&F participation at all.

So much for being a centrist.

You forgot Carmen Lawrence, Joan Kirner and even Christina Keneally. And Clare Martin in the NT a few years ago.

Whatever happens with the ALP leadership, you can't deny that it's good entertainment!

If I could play devil's advocate for one moment, I think it has to be said that at least with Keneally (NSW) and Alphabetchook (Qld) - (but not, I'll accept, with Lawrence and Kirner) - the Labor Party putting women into the top jobs could be quite accurately described as handing them a poisoned chalice. Some would say, a poisoned chalice with a ticking bomb on a very short fuse attached to it.

Certainly that was the case with Keneally. After the NSW Labor Right installed then sacked Carr, then Iemma, then Rees, no-one was willing to take the job in the face of the looming electoral defeat. Then someone remembered the girl in the office.

'Hey, Kristina, are you busy?'

She wasn't. Still, her short term as Premier has enabled her to build a career as something of an icon and commentator. She didn't do a bad job of a doomed gig, and while she was always her masters' (NSW Labor Right) voice, she appeared to have a slight will of her own. At least she's not regarded as a Labor hack like career politician Carmel Tebbutt, former deputy premier of NSW.

Looks like they've fooled you too, Hempy.

The ALP exists as a tool of the Unions, who represent about 13% of the total workforce. The Unions are a there for protection, but not the kind you might think. It's a protection racket enshrined in legislation that allows employers to buy industrial peace.

If you disagree, follow the antics of your "protectors" at the Trade Union Royal Commission Michael Smith News where they are digging themselves into a very deep hole. The overriding picture is dirty grubby deals with lots of under the table cash, threats and intimidation, violence, contempt for the law, fraud - the list is extensive and the players are many.

Unions do good work too, but, as with the Spanish Inquisition, any good work by ordinary nuns and priests is overshadowed by the self-seeking antisocial behaviour of those nearer the top.

Unions are a tool of a bygone era. They had a valuable input to our society and positive change. But like all these things, they became corrupt with time and become obseesed with ideology and power.

Sadley the side effects of that is, there are some industrys that still need them, but their causes are overshadowed by the corrupt major unions. The vast majority of industry relises the importance of the worker and productivity.

Safety has improved more under various worksafe and mines department legislation than it ever did under unions. Ironically its usually the worker winging about too much safety now. There are still rouge companies outthere, but their being breed out.

I remmeber the corrupt Pilbara days of unionisim, and frankly since we got rid of them conditions etc have impoved significantly.

An interesting (to put it mildly) development at the TURC that has the potential to (shall we say) "change the dynamics" of any Labor leadership change.

News - THINGS THAT SLIP OUT IN THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT - The Pickering Post

Kristina Keneally is believed to have had some dubious dealings with NSW property dealers, some of whom are thought to have organised crime links, it is quite possible that when the call came Kristina didn't have much choice?

For those in denial about the honesty and integrity of people who claim to represent "working Australians". Fresh from the Trade Union Royal Commission.

http://pickeringpost.com/kyola/resou...ticles/mct.jpg

Some people have all the luck, wish she had some dubious dealings with me:E

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I can't help feeling that that little bombshell dropped in the TURC on Friday naming Mr Coutts(-Trotter)- the one solitary instance where someone COULD remember in an ocean of amnesia - might not have been a deliberate move by Labor's right wing dirty tricks department to cruel the leadership pitch for the ultra Left Tanya.

While I can't condone the gutter tactics, I have to admit that if this is so, I hope it proves to be successful. I shudder to think what would become of this country if Plibersek ever became Prime Minister.

What did anyone remember MTOW? All I see is a witness agreeing that the words being quoted to him are the same words on the piece of paper in front of him. The text has now been introduced into evidence.

Website blocking bill has passed the senate.

Let's hope this doesn't cost much to administrate (just kidding, it's a government program so it's going to cost millions just to draft the regulations and each site needs to be added to the blacklist by court order). My understanding is that the site blocking can be completely bypassed using a VPN from just $40 per year per household, or even for free using a web proxy.

Silly move really, average joe only learned how to pirate in the first place because legal content was such a pain to access. Had the content been easily accessible, torrenting would be something only nerds knew how to do.

Now, rather than get with the times and accept the reality of doing business in the internet era, content providers have kicked another own goal by providing yet another incentive for people to learn how to circumvent the "legal" process. You don't win these customers back until the free, legal access methods are easier to live with, on balance, than pirating. :rolleyes:

Great to see our overlords are still kowtowing to lobbyists though.

Have to agree with you on that one Chuboy. Having lived in the ME for many years, where it seemed every second web site was blocked, as simple $40 outlay fixed the problem.

It's easy to get around, and a complete waste of time trying to block web sites.

Meanwhile, in other news, 'community leaders ' are complaining that the government is only spending $40 million over 3 years on programmes to deradicalise disaffected youth.

4o million...give me a break.

I suggest just rounding up all these poor poor people who, for whatever strange reason, find living in Australia so hard, and just give them a one way ticket to any country of their choice.

I bet it would cost a lot less than $40 mill.

And make sure that they can never come back!

I suspect that there would be ways and means of ensuring a non-return.:hmm:

I think that maybe, just maybe the ALPBC went too far on last nights Q and A.

I think they just might find themselves in a little bit of do-do over this.

Watch this space.

Cough cough, spit choke, sadely I have to as well.:(. trying to prevent anything on the web is a pain in the @rse and there will always be away around. Save the effort you really want to stop.


On a positive note the average jo bloh will lean more about web technology:p