Straylan and Kiwi politics

WPMUFC said:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03...erals-reduced-to-two-in-lower-house/100016418

@Wibble @Cheimoon

All seats now called: 59 seats in the Assembly

WA Labor: 53 Seats
WA Liberals: 2 Seats
WA Nationals: 4 Seats
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That's pretty out there. Has that sort of division happened before? I suppose it doesn't make much difference in practice compared to a normal majority (or are there laws that require a supermajority in WA?), but it does certainly look interesting. And backbenchers can forget about influencing the party agenda.

How progressive is WA in terms fo policy btw? I don't know how much autonomy Australian states and territories have, but this should allow Labour to really move things forward.
 
Cheimoon said:
That's pretty out there. Has that sort of division happened before? I suppose it doesn't make much difference in practice compared to a normal majority (or are there laws that require a supermajority in WA?), but it does certainly look interesting. And backbenchers can forget about influencing the party agenda.

How progressive is WA in terms fo policy btw? I don't know how much autonomy Australian states and territories have, but this should allow Labour to really move things forward.
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It's a historic win. I don't think it's ever been this lopsided. It put it in perspective, in the space of 2x state elections, over 25% of the population moved away from making the conservatives their "primary" vote and switched to labor. Because of the win, McGowan (leader) has come out heavy on "progressive centrism". However is policies are more schools, more hospitals, slashing public transport fees, more spending on green technology, focus on local jobs etc etc.

State and territory parliaments make laws that are enforced within their state or territory. By defining federal powers, the Australian Constitution reserved—left—most other law-making powers to the states. These are called residual powers. As a rule, if it is not listed in sections 51 and 52 of the Constitution, it is an area of state responsibility. State laws relate to matters that are primarily of state interest such as:

  • schools
  • hospitals
  • roads and railways
  • public transport
  • utilities such as electricity and water supply
  • mining
  • agriculture
  • forests
  • community services
  • consumer affairs
  • police
  • prisons
  • ambulance services
Section 122 of the Constitution allows the Parliament to override a territory law at any time. The federal Parliament has only used its power under section 122 a few times and only in cases where the territory law has created much debate or controversy within the Australian community.
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https://peo.gov.au/understand-our-p...ree-levels-of-government-governing-australia/


The biggest issue for labor in policy terms has been trying to win the Legislative Council because of a ridiculous quota system heavily favouring regional and preference deals that help candidates looking for their 5 minutes of fame. It's also being predicted that Labor will win a heavy majority in the LC to basically mean they have a double majority over the government.

What this also means is that the conservative party has also officially lost their "opposition" status and how lost access to parliamentary resources like money for staff that would come from the parliament. The conservative party has essentially been wiped out in WA for the next 10-15 years.

calodo2003 said:
What do those numbers mean exactly? Is the power of that branch as firmly ensconced in Labor’s hands as it appears, almost virtually? Or are there mitigating factors?
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Yes, the WA Labor party now has a upper and lower house majority over the parliament.

So our Legislative Assembly in WA is essentially the lower house, where legislation is initiated by a state government. So yes, this win is the equivalent of democrats winning 387 seats in the House (just on a state level)

Furthermore, we have a Legislative Council which is essentially for 'legislative review" there are 36 seats, Labor is predicted to win 23 seats. So in US terms, would be the equivalent of democrats holding a 63-37 majority in the senate.

No mitigating factors, the WA conservative press are running newspaper headlines of "TOTAL CONTROL" and some of their conservative TV lunatics are calling us the North Korea of Australia. It's essentially a government with a heavy government majority.
 
WPMUFC said:
It's a historic win. I don't think it's ever been this lopsided. It put it in perspective, in the space of 2x state elections, over 25% of the population moved away from making the conservatives their "primary" vote and switched to labor. Because of the win, McGowan (leader) has come out heavy on "progressive centrism". However is policies are more schools, more hospitals, slashing public transport fees, more spending on green technology, focus on local jobs etc etc.

The biggest issue for labor in policy terms has been trying to win the Legislative Council because of a ridiculous quota system heavily favouring regional and preference deals that help candidates looking for their 5 minutes of fame. It's also being predicted that Labor will win a heavy majority in the LC to basically mean they have a double majority over the government.

What this also means is that the conservative party has also officially lost their "opposition" status and how lost access to parliamentary resources like money for staff that would come from the parliament. The conservative party has essentially been wiped out in WA for the next 10-15 years.



Yes, the WA Labor party now has a upper and lower house majority over the parliament.

So our Legislative Assembly in WA is essentially the lower house, where legislation is initiated by a state government. So yes, this win is the equivalent of democrats winning 387 seats in the House (just on a state level)

Furthermore, we have a Legislative Council which is essentially for 'legislative review" there are 36 seats, Labor is predicted to win 23 seats. So in US terms, would be the equivalent of democrats holding a 63-37 majority in the senate.

No mitigating factors, the WA conservative press are running newspaper headlines of "TOTAL CONTROL" and some of their conservative TV lunatics are calling us the North Korea of Australia. It's essentially a government with a heavy government majority.
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Jesus. That’s unbelievable, especially when considering the razor thin margins that exist here in the states. Are there any parliamentarian maneuvers the losers can use to help their cause or are they basically fecked until a new election? When are the other regional elections? Could their results mirror the WA results?

Sorry for all the questions, but it’s just fascinating to an outsider suffering in gridlock!
 
calodo2003 said:
Jesus. That’s unbelievable, especially when considering the razor thin margins that exist here in the states. Are there any parliamentarian maneuvers the losers can use to help their cause or are they basically fecked until a new election? When are the other regional elections? Could their results mirror the WA results?

Sorry for all the questions, but it’s just fascinating to an outsider suffering in gridlock!
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It actually gets worse for the conservatives, because they came in 3rd, they lose their official "opposition party" designation to the WA Nationals (rural conservatives). Meaning public funds allocated for parliamentary staffing and resources have to be approved by the Labor party (which will likely happen). They have no impact on this next term, and are fecked till the next election. I actually think this result cements the current government for at least another 2x elections, unless they go power mad.

We have had 1x other state election in Queensland. Queensland Labor won a solid majority in their parliament. However, because Australia is stupid and we still kiss the ass of england, Queensland only have one house in their parliament and thus no review. Queensland has a "Governor" that is given "royal assent" over legislation. However, the governor has never stepped in to stop legislation.

There are many issues that have led to good wins for progressive parties, however the dominant factor in Australia and its states has been the response to COVID. If you actually looked after your citizens, you're almost certain to win reelection with a majority.
 
WPMUFC said:
It actually gets worse for the conservatives, because they came in 3rd, they lose their official "opposition party" designation to the WA Nationals (rural conservatives). Meaning public funds allocated for parliamentary staffing and resources have to be approved by the Labor party (which will likely happen). They have no impact on this next term, and are fecked till the next election. I actually think this result cements the current government for at least another 2x elections, unless they go power mad.

We have had 1x other state election in Queensland. Queensland Labor won a solid majority in their parliament. However, because Australia is stupid and we still kiss the ass of england, Queensland only have one house in their parliament and thus no review. Queensland has a "Governor" that is given "royal assent" over legislation. However, the governor has never stepped in to stop legislation.

There are many issues that have led to good wins for progressive parties, however the dominant factor in Australia and its states has been the response to COVID. If you actually looked after your citizens, you're almost certain to win reelection with a majority.
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Thanks is again for the explanations. :) Your system sounds pretty much exactly like Canada - except we still have winner-takes-all elections everywhere, an unelected upper house federally, and no upper house anywhere provincially or territorially. So you're ahead of us. ;)

Sounds great about their policy ideas. Hope that'll move forward quickly now!
 
calodo2003 said:
Jesus. That’s unbelievable, especially when considering the razor thin margins that exist here in the states. Are there any parliamentarian maneuvers the losers can use to help their cause or are they basically fecked until a new election? When are the other regional elections? Could their results mirror the WA results?

S±*orry for all the questions, but it’s just fascinating to an outsider suffering in gridlock!
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The states have all done a good job during the pandemic so, with the possible exception of South Australia, I'd expect all state incumbents to get back in and often with an increased majority if they go to the polls any time soon.
 
One staffer sacked. Weirdly a female minister held a brief press conference to say that she could stay silent any longer - apparently the rape of an unconscious female aid in parliament house who was then left naked on a couch in the office and the most senior legal minister in the country being accused of rape wasn't quite enough - but then goes on to say she felt sorry for the man who was sacked because he loved his job. You couldn't write this shit and be believed.

The PM is coming under serious pressure now and seems to be moving away from there being no chance of an independent inquiry relating to the ministerial fitness of Christian Porter after the rape allegation.

Previously, all attempts at an independent inquiry into Porter’s fitness to sit in cabinet were immediately dismissed as dangerous to the ‘rule of law’. But in response to a question in today's press conference, about whether he has rethought his response to the Porter allegations,#scottyfrommarketing said:

#scottyfrommarketing said:
As I indicated, I have been getting advice from the solicitor general. I have received that advice and are now taking advice through the Department about how that sits with ministerial standards and I will be making further decisions on that matter I will alert you to those when they are made.
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That is a massive change but lets see where it leads.
 
Wibble said:
One staffer sacked. Weirdly a female minister held a brief press conference to say that she could stay silent any longer - apparently the rape of an unconscious female aid in parliament house who was then left naked on a couch in the office and the most senior legal minister in the country being accused of rape wasn't quite enough - but then goes on to say she felt sorry for the man who was sacked because he loved his job. You couldn't write this shit and be believed.

The PM is coming under serious pressure now and seems to be moving away from there being no chance of an independent inquiry relating to the ministerial fitness of Christian Porter after the rape allegation.

Previously, all attempts at an independent inquiry into Porter’s fitness to sit in cabinet were immediately dismissed as dangerous to the ‘rule of law’. But in response to a question in today's press conference, about whether he has rethought his response to the Porter allegations,#scottyfrommarketing said:



That is a massive change but lets see where it leads.
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So how is that pressure coming about? The facts of the case(s) are becoming clearer, and media/popular attention is becoming too large and potentially damaging to ignore? I'm just wondering cause I assume they have a majority in parliament, so could in principle probably bulldoze over anything they want. So I'm curious where the push is coming from.
 
Cheimoon said:
So how is that pressure coming about? The facts of the case(s) are becoming clearer, and media/popular attention is becoming too large and potentially damaging to ignore? I'm just wondering cause I assume they have a majority in parliament, so could in principle probably bulldoze over anything they want. So I'm curious where the push is coming from.
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Even the right wing press are piling in. They are treating is as a political issue to manage away which is pissing people on both sides of politics off.
 
What’s truly amazing is that if Trump has such a scandal in my country, it would have just melted into the other scandals & not caused a blip on the overall radar.

Glad to see indignation from both sides of the political aisle down there.
 
Wibble said:
Even the right wing press are piling in. They are treating is as a political issue to manage away which is pissing people on both sides of politics off.
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Nice. :)
 
I feel like this govenment is the nadir of Australian politics, Scotty is an insult to Australia and we need reform badly in Australia.
 
Yesterday #scottyfrommarketing held a press conference to try to offset the damage. He started ok by saying he realised women didn't feel that he had heard them. He then tried to justify why he took 24 hrs to take rape seriously and only then after his wife had said "what if it were your daughter"? He of course missed the point that a PM shouldn't need a female to tell him that rape was bad or have to imagine it happening to his daughter and tried the "I don't apologise for loving the women in my life" type rubbish while trying to look on the edge of tears. He then blew a fuse when a News Corp journalist questioned him. I think it threw him that even his unofficial propaganda arm had tuned against him. He went off piste and told them to shut up as they had accusations of sexual abuse in their organisation.

Later that evening he was back out sincerely apologising for that outburst as a) he got it wrong and b) whatever issue it was (sounded relatively minor and had been dealt internally by mutual consent) he managed to get the entire press hunting some woman down who had an expectation of privacy and not to be publicly thrown to the wolves live on TV by the PM.

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...-morrison-over-simply-untrue-harassment-claim

At this rate even Australia's covid response won't save him or the government. Or at least I hope so but it could be wish fulfilment.
 
Wibble said:
Yesterday #scottyfrommarketing held a press conference to try to offset the damage. He started ok by saying he realised women didn't feel that he had heard them. He then tried to justify why he took 24 hrs to take rape seriously and only then after his wife had said "what if it were your daughter"? He of course missed the point that a PM shouldn't need a female to tell him that rape was bad or have to imagine it happening to his daughter and tried the "I don't apologise for loving the women in my life" type rubbish while trying to look on the edge of tears. He then blew a fuse when a News Corp journalist questioned him. I think it threw him that even his unofficial propaganda arm had tuned against him. He went off piste and told them to shut up as they had accusations of sexual abuse in their organisation.

Later that evening he was back out sincerely apologising for that outburst as a) he got it wrong and b) whatever issue it was (sounded relatively minor and had been dealt internally by mutual consent) he managed to get the entire press hunting some woman down who had an expectation of privacy and not to be publicly thrown to the wolves live on TV by the PM.

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...-morrison-over-simply-untrue-harassment-claim

At this rate even Australia's covid response won't save him or the government. Or at least I hope so but it could be wish fulfilment.
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Damn!

Hasn't the COVID-19 response been going wrong recently as well, or am I completely making things up now?
 
Cheimoon said:
Damn!

Hasn't the COVID-19 response been going wrong recently as well, or am I completely making things up now?
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We have had the odd outbreak but more or less free of community transmission for nearly 2 months. The state governments do most of the hard lifting and the bits the feds do has been less well handled. Economically ok but giving tax breaks to the wealthy and reducing social payments to the unemployed during a pandemic is a bit of a sickener. They were also very slow to buy vaccines which is part of the reason our roll-out has been so slow - only about 1% of the population so far. They also cocked up the booking system and things like supply of needles to GP's to actually give the vaccines.
 
Wibble said:
We have had the odd outbreak but more or less free of community transmission for nearly 2 months. The state governments do most of the hard lifting and the bits the feds do has been less well handled. Economically ok but giving tax breaks to the wealthy and reducing social payments to the unemployed during a pandemic is a bit of a sickener. They were also very slow to buy vaccines which is part of the reason our roll-out has been so slow - only about 1% of the population so far. They also cocked up the booking system and things like supply of needles to GP's to actually give the vaccines.
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Why so slow with the vaccine purchases? Because of the success of limiting the spread of the virus?
 
calodo2003 said:
Why so slow with the vaccine purchases? Because of the success of limiting the spread of the virus?
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We were just a bit slow off the mark and we also bet the bank on the Oxford and UQ vaccines. The UQ one failed and local production of the Oxford one hasn't come on line yet (but very soon).

That aside I have no idea what the excuse is for not being ready to get people vaccinated when they have had so much time to arrange it. Bringing the same lack of competence they brought to last year's bush fires and this year's sexual assault allegations I'd say.
 
sglowrider said:
:(:nervous:
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p10_coral_bleaching.jpg
 
Wibble said:
We have had the odd outbreak but more or less free of community transmission for nearly 2 months. The state governments do most of the hard lifting and the bits the feds do has been less well handled. Economically ok but giving tax breaks to the wealthy and reducing social payments to the unemployed during a pandemic is a bit of a sickener. They were also very slow to buy vaccines which is part of the reason our roll-out has been so slow - only about 1% of the population so far. They also cocked up the booking system and things like supply of needles to GP's to actually give the vaccines.
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Completely misremembered that then. :) Come to think of it, I may be confusing this with seeing Australia do poorly on a graph of the vaccine roll-out recently.
 
Abizzz said:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/25/new-zealand-miscarriages-stillbirths-bereavement-leave

I've never thought about this before (luckily haven't been in that position) but it seems an obvious thing to do. Should the rest of the civilized world follow suit? (I'd like to see it extended where I live where it's dependent on the stage of pregnancy).
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Good move this one. I haven't had to go through this thankfully, but know a family member and friend both did. It really shakes them, and anyone going through that needs to be supported and given time.
 
Seems our federal libs just keep coming out with more and more. They really need a cultural reset, and sadly I can't see Scott being the person to do that. He is far to interested in his own self preservation and has a total lack of understanding of how to deal with emotional/major incidents as seen by the responses to allegations and bush fires.
 
Wibble said:
Now a Lib Fed MP forced to apologise after trolling some of his constituents on Facebook including falsely accusing one of stealing from her charity.

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...08774d1beaa252#block-605d10a18f08774d1beaa252
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In summary,
This is going well.
 
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I will say it again... Australia and NZ are nothing like each other. Different political persuasion, different continental plate, different climate, different attitudes... why is this a joint thread?

Makes NZ look bad by association.
 
UnrelatedPsuedo said:
I will say it again... Australia and NZ are nothing like each other. Different political persuasion, different continental plate, different climate, different attitudes... why is this a joint thread?

Makes NZ look bad by association.
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Being a Kiwi to be honest I was pleased to be included in this thread. If we werent there wouldnt be a NZ politics thread at all. Sweet feck all happens here so it would be a dead thread. At least this way we are on at least one map.
We do have a bit in common though, there is a long historical connection and a huge number of us live over in Aussie and our economy is closely connected to Aussie.
 
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