What a pity all this stuff is happening at the wrong end of the election cycle.
As I understand it, McKenzie is resigning because she was a member of a club that got a grant, and didn't disclose her membership. That was a breach of ministerial guidelines. She does not otherwise admit wrongdoing in relation to the way she exercised her discretion over the programme, and neither does the Government. I have heard both Freidenburg and Birmingham refusing to condemn the process while at the same time saying the process will change.
Here is Mango MacCallum, not mincing words in The Monthly:
In the end, Morrison and McKenzie, like Abbott, had to fall back on the old and totally discredited line: she didn’t actually break any rules. To which every punter in every pub will reasonably reply that if she didn’t – and this is still dubious – then the rules are a farce and a scam themselves.
The public, and not just those communities and teams who have been dudded through this process – and there are plenty of those – know damn well that if they are caught for the smallest discrepancy by the government, whether the tax office or Centrelink, they will be smashed, humiliated, stripped of their supposedly immoral earnings, and subjected to stringent penalties.
McKenzie, who was caught misappropriating more than $100 million, was not only exonerated but applauded for delivering a program praised, unsurprisingly, by the lucky winners in the marginal seats. Her situation was, as everyone, including Morrison, realised, untenable.
They haven't announced the vote count, so I'm assuming it was close. Mat Canavan was a star bastard for the Govt too, up there with Dutton for his right wing ratbaggery. Its significant that McCormack lost his support.
That said, you were right and I was wrong about Shorten.
I think, if there was another spill, that Littleproud would nominate, and with the support of the women in the party room, likely win. Barnaby just has too much baggage and even the LNP nutters couldn't overcome that today.
I think I heard Littleproud say on 7.30 tonight that the reason why regional voters should support the Nats and not the minor parties was that the Nats “cut the cheques”. And how!
(He meant in the sense that the Nats are in the coalition, not thumping the table uselessly outside government, but if I heard correctly, it’s still an interesting choice of words).
Fair dinkum, I just heard Joko Widono reference The Avengers: Endgame to describe the relationship between Australia and Indonesia. I have no idea what he means, but it's probably good, right? He was giving an address to Parliament.
The Australian Dream, which aired on the ABC tonight was harrowing but necessary viewing. The story has been told in film before, but its worth telling over and over and over. It will no doubt be on iview.
Opinions about people can differ. I don't think much of Marr generally, but I know of others who think he's the best thing since sliced bread.
As for Pell - I don't know the evidence in any detail at all. I did find the judgment of Weinberg J much more convincing. People's opinions of Pell differ as they do for Marr. As far as I am concerned, Pell seems very out of touch, very much in the pre-Vatican II school of thinking. What he's like on a personal basis, I have no idea.
My opinion of Pell is coloured by his handling of sexual abuse cases as an administrator. I tend to believe the Jury, because they saw the evidence, but my vitriol is based upon the wrongs I know he did with the Melbourne Response.
I have been reading (extremely quickly) the transcript of today's hearing. I certainly would not be making any predictions one way or the other about the outcome. Walker SC finished his address in chief a couple of minutes before the close of the day's sittings, and given his usual powerful performance (which by itself makes it difficult to predict the outcome).
What a splendid irony. Australia's Minister for Locking People up Indefinitely, having caught coronavirus in the good old USA, is now in "self-isolation" for 14 days. Pity he wasn't forced into quarantine at Christmas Island, where he likes to lock up asylum seekers, and sometimes even people arriving from places where coronavirus is rampant.
Winston Peters, NZ's Deputy PM has suggested the creation of a 'trans-Tasman bubble' between Australia and NZ, allowing the free flow of trade and people between our countries, as both seem to be moving towards a situation where the virus is under control.
I applaud Peters' initiative, but I believe the simplest way to implement this is to simply allow New Zealand to join the Commonwealth as two new states. One state would consist of NZ's immigrant population throughout the new Commonwealth of Australasia, and the other of Indigenous people throughout the same Commonwealth.
I appreciate that I have not fully thought this through, but I am very keen to have Ms Adern as our first Prime Minister.
Not quite the "simplest way", and past efforts have never got any distance at all past the idea that it was worth exploring. The Trans-Tasman community type arrangements that Peters suggests would have more legs.
I have a vague recollection, probably wrong, that at some stage there were more Maori in Sydney than in any NZ city.
Andrew Forrest pulled a swifty and invited the Chinese consul general to Victoria to a presser with Greg Hunt and others without telling them. Forrest is hugely vulnerable to eddies in the Australia China relationship.
I am on my phone but Forrest is reported to suggest that an inquiry into the beginnings of Covid be delayed until after the US election to avoid the politics. Sounds like a great idea to me.
I applaud Peters' initiative, but I believe the simplest way to implement this is to simply allow New Zealand to join the Commonwealth as two new states. One state would consist of NZ's immigrant population throughout the new Commonwealth of Australasia, and the other of Indigenous people throughout the same Commonwealth.
I appreciate that I have not fully thought this through, but I am very keen to have Ms Adern as our first Prime Minister.
No way! Find a decant Aussie - there must be one somewhere, though heaven knows your recent history of Prime Ministers scarcely reflects it.
As for NZ becoming part of Australia - bite your tongue. I have no desire to be part of a country that treats asylum seekers and its own indigenous people so badly. Also the repatriation of people who are considered undesirable, even if they have no ties at all here is inexcusable.
NZ isn't perfect by any means, but if it became part of Australia we would be swallowed up,lose our unique identity and probably treated like 3rd rate citizens.
This is one thing I would hit the streets to protest loudly and not necessarily legally.
Peters was simply talking about the fact that there's a possibility of opening one border while keeping others shut. Not some sort of new general arrangement beyond the coronavirus circumstances.
It's not as if Australia and New Zealand don't have a myriad of special arrangements with each other anyway.
I have been wondering about the Covid 19 app, which I downloaded on its release, overcome with national pride and singing God Save the Queen for old time's sake while I waited for it to be installed.
I am wondering whether it will compromise my privacy more than the Clash of Clans app I have on my phone, or even the facebook ap?
The answer is no. Every IT person who's either been reported on it or whom I personally know has basically said it's doing things in a proper way. It doesn't even record your location.
I applaud Peters' initiative, but I believe the simplest way to implement this is to simply allow New Zealand to join the Commonwealth as two new states. One state would consist of NZ's immigrant population throughout the new Commonwealth of Australasia, and the other of Indigenous people throughout the same Commonwealth.
I appreciate that I have not fully thought this through, but I am very keen to have Ms Adern as our first Prime Minister.
No way! Find a decant Aussie - there must be one somewhere, though heaven knows your recent history of Prime Ministers scarcely reflects it.
Wondering what a "decant Aussie" is - something to do with pouring oneself from one container to another?
I certainly do like Jacinda Ardern a lot better than most world leaders. Notwithstanding the fact that leading a country with about twenty odd people in it might be a bit easier than leading a regular-sized one.
Coming back to Oz politics - I do hope that this astounding discovery that balancing the budget is not all government is actually for will continue to inform the way we are governed after this quarantine is over. At least the raving, brainless neoliberalism of Tony the Mad Monk is not in issue - I shudder to think what would have happened if he had been at the helm when the corona came in.
In other news, and not unrelated to the unlamented Tony - in what must surely be evidence for the existence of a benevolent God, the angry little turd Alan Jones has retired.
I certainly do like Jacinda Ardern a lot better than most world leaders. Notwithstanding the fact that leading a country with about twenty odd people in it might be a bit easier than leading a regular-sized one.
And some of us are very odd indeed!
I think she's done a good job overall. In her first 3 years as PM she has had to deal with the shooting at the Mosques, the White Island deaths and now COVID 19. On September 19 (the Anniversary of Women's Suffrage here) we will see if she get's another 3 years.
Oh, and Simon Toad, I'll willingly donate Winston Peters, if you're desperate.
Peters will possibly flip to supporting National, given the change in leadership of the National party. It's a more natural fit for him than Labour, and it is after all where he started - but given his opportunist history, if it gets his party into some kind of power sharing he will go where the power is.
I live in an electorate adjacent to Eden Monaro, where the by-election is underway. One of our local MPs asked PM Morrison in Parliament: what did he propose to do to alleviate the plight of the dozens of women, from Yass (where there is no longer a materity unit) who have given birth while on the hour-long drive to the nearest hospital in Canberra. His response: we have located funding to upgrade the road.
This strikes even me (a man) as tone deaf to a legitimate concern of women in the Yass area, all of whom are voters in the marginal electorate of Eden-Monaro - a view that many of these women are expressing forcefully.
I haven't had a chance to post anything on the branch stacking scandal in the Victorian ALP, but I heard Dutton support Anthony Byrne over the fruity texts the bastard Sumyurek revenge-leaked over Byrne letting the Age bug his office. I think it is the first decent thing I have ever heard Dutton say.
I'm also quite pleased with this scandal. It gives Andrews a chance to mold the party in his image. I think he might well turn into a new and better Henry Bolte.
Andrews and Gladys are major contributors to Scottie boy's present image of knowing what he's doing. They're doing the hard work, he's doing the news appearances saying what he's told to say.
I live in an electorate adjacent to Eden Monaro, where the by-election is underway. One of our local MPs asked PM Morrison in Parliament: what did he propose to do to alleviate the plight of the dozens of women, from Yass (where there is no longer a materity unit) who have given birth while on the hour-long drive to the nearest hospital in Canberra. His response: we have located funding to upgrade the road.
This strikes even me (a man) as tone deaf to a legitimate concern of women in the Yass area, all of whom are voters in the marginal electorate of Eden-Monaro - a view that many of these women are expressing forcefully.
Neither roads nor hospitals are actually federal government responsibilities. Shouldn't these women be expressing their views forcefully in a NSW election?
Any Eden-Monaro candidate who promises them a maternity ward is not in a position to deliver. And the fact that anyone is making it an issue in the current election campaign just tells me that folks don't understand federalism anymore.
Today's the day when the Federal Treasurer is due to announce if and in what way the Jobkeeper and Jobseeker allowances will be extended beyond September.
These allowances were brought in when, against their long-standing ideological bent, the the Liberals were forced to recognise that the millions who are now effectively unemployed are not all undeserving layabouts who should be punished, but are victims of the coronavirus and measures to combat it and may starve if not paid by somebody.
The big question to my eye is: will Jobseeker payments ("the dole") revert to being below the poverty line, which is where they were before the virus.
And a second question: PM Morrison has postponed parliament from sitting for several more weeks, ostensibly because of interstate travel restrictions. OK, but why cannot Parliament meet online (e.g. over zoom or similar) as almost every other workplace in the country is doing? .
After all these are decisions warant public discussion as they will largely determine the economic path of Australia for the next year or two at least
But so far, we've been given precious little to inform that conversation. FWIW, I'd say that the proper course is to keep them at the present level for at least another 6 months - there's every sign that a second round is just around the corner. I'm expecting that the loosening of restrictions which has been happening in NSW will be reversed by the end of the week.
I live in an electorate adjacent to Eden Monaro, where the by-election is underway. One of our local MPs asked PM Morrison in Parliament: what did he propose to do to alleviate the plight of the dozens of women, from Yass (where there is no longer a materity unit) who have given birth while on the hour-long drive to the nearest hospital in Canberra. His response: we have located funding to upgrade the road.
This strikes even me (a man) as tone deaf to a legitimate concern of women in the Yass area, all of whom are voters in the marginal electorate of Eden-Monaro - a view that many of these women are expressing forcefully.
Neither roads nor hospitals are actually federal government responsibilities. Shouldn't these women be expressing their views forcefully in a NSW election?
Any Eden-Monaro candidate who promises them a maternity ward is not in a position to deliver. And the fact that anyone is making it an issue in the current election campaign just tells me that folks don't understand federalism anymore.
Huh? Health policy and funding may not be strictly state or federal matters, but both sets of pollies have their fingers all over it.
Of course folks don't understand Federalism. What do you expect of people? They have lives to be getting on with. Its only arseholes like us who have the time or inclination to bother with the details. People can still contribute.
Today's the day when the Federal Treasurer is due to announce if and in what way the Jobkeeper and Jobseeker allowances will be extended beyond September.
These allowances were brought in when, against their long-standing ideological bent, the the Liberals were forced to recognise that the millions who are now effectively unemployed are not all undeserving layabouts who should be punished, but are victims of the coronavirus and measures to combat it and may starve if not paid by somebody.
The big question to my eye is: will Jobseeker payments ("the dole") revert to being below the poverty line, which is where they were before the virus.
And a second question: PM Morrison has postponed parliament from sitting for several more weeks, ostensibly because of interstate travel restrictions. OK, but why cannot Parliament meet online (e.g. over zoom or similar) as almost every other workplace in the country is doing? .
After all these are decisions warant public discussion as they will largely determine the economic path of Australia for the next year or two at least
I'm not too worried about Parliament not meeting. National Cabinet is meeting, and there are plenty of other ways politicians can be trusted to bring our leaders to account. It is an extraordinary situation in which the Executive really must be free to think, canvass the views necessary, decide and act. The only question is, do we trust the members of the Executive, including the National Cabinet to act in the national interest, and do we trust them to judge the national interest correctly.
My answer is yes, I trust them. If your answer is no, then you might indeed want to advocate for Parliament to be in session. Parliament drives the political media cycle which influences our opinions. But it is not the only driver, and our media can operate quite well without Question Time.
Obviously, Parliament is about more than holding the Executive to account. But as I understand it, the necessary enabling legislation is in place, and the Executive is free to rule by fiat. If Morrison suddenly starts veering off the medical advice, there are no doubt ways in which the Parliament can be recalled. Evil Simon is now wondering whether the GG can intervene to recall Parliament. That might be fun to watch.
On jobseeker, I understand that it will be reduced to $1200 a fortnight, but haven't seen the detail. I should probably go look at that before commenting.
Just generally, the libs are going to say "What happens during the pandemic stays in the pandemic. We don't talk about it anymore. It was a very bad time and we had to take extraordinary measures." Then they are going to implement a programme of austerity that will make your eyes water. The only money they will willingly distribute will be to business, under the guise of job creation, long form style.
Nothing on God's green earth will induce them to change that position. If you don't want that to happen, your only real option is to influence others to vote them out of office at the earliest available opportunity.
Surely only the National Party would be stupid enough to stake their future on campaigning in favour of hastening the extinction of koalas in New South Wales. And Barilano (the state leader of the Nats) thought he could still have 4 ministers in power while voting from the cross-benches against the government of which they are part . Premier Gladys was right to call his bluff.
I mean, koalas are the cuddly-looking animals that appeal to tourists and children and do no harm to anyone, whereas Barilano supports instead letting increase the population of wild horses ("brumbies") in Kosiusko National Park at great risk to the biodiversity there and to the water supply for Canberra (which relies on water stored in the mosses which the brumbies trample).
Of course folks don't understand Federalism. What do you expect of people? They have lives to be getting on with. Its only arseholes like us who have the time or inclination to bother with the details. People can still contribute.
Maybe now people are beginning to understand Federalism just a little more, what with there being borders....
Surely only the National Party would be stupid enough to stake their future on campaigning in favour of hastening the extinction of koalas in New South Wales. And Barilano (the state leader of the Nats) thought he could still have 4 ministers in power while voting from the cross-benches against the government of which they are part . Premier Gladys was right to call his bluff.
I mean, koalas are the cuddly-looking animals that appeal to tourists and children and do no harm to anyone, whereas Barilano supports instead letting increase the population of wild horses ("brumbies") in Kosiusko National Park at great risk to the biodiversity there and to the water supply for Canberra (which relies on water stored in the mosses which the brumbies trample).
In a stance that surprised no-one but the Deputy Premier, the Premier explained how you can't unilaterally decide that you get to be both a cross-bencher and the Deputy Premier.
Yes, she certainly called their bluff very successfully. Had they not surrendered, their commissions would have been withdrawn by 10 am. And their pay would have stopped also.
There are some subjects on which Jackie Lambie just sounds like a fool. But on issues of better treatment of the poor and downtrodden, she speaks from the heart, based on her lived experience, which is a very different experience from most other MPs.
Moreover, she is prepared to listen, at least some of the time. For example, on Obersturmfuhrer Dutton's proposal to take away mobile phones from those in immigration detention, thus cutting off all their contact with friends, family and supporters, she invited those with views to "vote" on her website, preferably with reasons to support their stance. I was one of thousands to take this opportunity, alerted by one of the refugee activist groups of which I am a member. Result: 95% of those she polled argued cogently against the proposal, and she announced that she would vote accordingly. Therefore the government, not having the necessary support in the Senate, has put that cruel proposal on ice. Unfortunately, they have plenty more cruel proposals up their sleeve.
And in newly breaking news: what about Gladys Berejiklian, Premier of New South Wales. She has successfully projected an image of by-the-book, steady, straight up and down integrity - quantities which are something of a rarity in Coalition politicians (Witness the perfomance of the koala-killing Deputy Premier Barilaro!). Not to mention an image of competence, well supported by NSW performance in the face of COVID-19 (apart from the early the early "Ruby Princess" debacle).
And now she has been caught with her pants down , or her skirts up, in bed with the highly dubious Daryl Maguire, who she forced to resign from parliament 3 years ago when he was exposed in a corruption scandal. In an act which she now admits was "poor judgement", she continued for years afterward in an "intimate friendship" with him.
Although there is , as yet, no suggestion of illegal doings on her part (as distinct from his) , will her poor judgement prove to her political undoing?
I thought it might be a case of Sexually Transmitted Scandal, similar to the muck thrown at Julia Gillard over a boyfriend who turned out to be dodgy. But I think the Premier is in trouble.
Comments
What a pity all this stuff is happening at the wrong end of the election cycle.
As I understand it, McKenzie is resigning because she was a member of a club that got a grant, and didn't disclose her membership. That was a breach of ministerial guidelines. She does not otherwise admit wrongdoing in relation to the way she exercised her discretion over the programme, and neither does the Government. I have heard both Freidenburg and Birmingham refusing to condemn the process while at the same time saying the process will change.
Here is Mango MacCallum, not mincing words in The Monthly:
That said, you were right and I was wrong about Shorten.
(He meant in the sense that the Nats are in the coalition, not thumping the table uselessly outside government, but if I heard correctly, it’s still an interesting choice of words).
As for Pell - I don't know the evidence in any detail at all. I did find the judgment of Weinberg J much more convincing. People's opinions of Pell differ as they do for Marr. As far as I am concerned, Pell seems very out of touch, very much in the pre-Vatican II school of thinking. What he's like on a personal basis, I have no idea.
I applaud Peters' initiative, but I believe the simplest way to implement this is to simply allow New Zealand to join the Commonwealth as two new states. One state would consist of NZ's immigrant population throughout the new Commonwealth of Australasia, and the other of Indigenous people throughout the same Commonwealth.
I appreciate that I have not fully thought this through, but I am very keen to have Ms Adern as our first Prime Minister.
I have a vague recollection, probably wrong, that at some stage there were more Maori in Sydney than in any NZ city.
I am on my phone but Forrest is reported to suggest that an inquiry into the beginnings of Covid be delayed until after the US election to avoid the politics. Sounds like a great idea to me.
No way! Find a decant Aussie - there must be one somewhere, though heaven knows your recent history of Prime Ministers scarcely reflects it.
As for NZ becoming part of Australia - bite your tongue. I have no desire to be part of a country that treats asylum seekers and its own indigenous people so badly. Also the repatriation of people who are considered undesirable, even if they have no ties at all here is inexcusable.
NZ isn't perfect by any means, but if it became part of Australia we would be swallowed up,lose our unique identity and probably treated like 3rd rate citizens.
This is one thing I would hit the streets to protest loudly and not necessarily legally.
Tell you what though - we could give you Winston.
Man, that bait took a while to catch a fish
You are absolutely right to be wary of a merger Huia. I would be out on the streets in your shoes too.
It's not as if Australia and New Zealand don't have a myriad of special arrangements with each other anyway.
I am wondering whether it will compromise my privacy more than the Clash of Clans app I have on my phone, or even the facebook ap?
I shall tag @NOprophet_NØprofit and see what he thinks.
Wondering what a "decant Aussie" is - something to do with pouring oneself from one container to another?
I certainly do like Jacinda Ardern a lot better than most world leaders. Notwithstanding the fact that leading a country with about twenty odd people in it might be a bit easier than leading a regular-sized one.
Coming back to Oz politics - I do hope that this astounding discovery that balancing the budget is not all government is actually for will continue to inform the way we are governed after this quarantine is over. At least the raving, brainless neoliberalism of Tony the Mad Monk is not in issue - I shudder to think what would have happened if he had been at the helm when the corona came in.
In other news, and not unrelated to the unlamented Tony - in what must surely be evidence for the existence of a benevolent God, the angry little turd Alan Jones has retired.
And some of us are very odd indeed!
I think she's done a good job overall. In her first 3 years as PM she has had to deal with the shooting at the Mosques, the White Island deaths and now COVID 19. On September 19 (the Anniversary of Women's Suffrage here) we will see if she get's another 3 years.
Oh, and Simon Toad, I'll willingly donate Winston Peters, if you're desperate.
Every time I heard on the news that Jones was giving up radio, I cheered.
We didn't - we'd much rather that he'd been totally and irrevocably sacked.
This strikes even me (a man) as tone deaf to a legitimate concern of women in the Yass area, all of whom are voters in the marginal electorate of Eden-Monaro - a view that many of these women are expressing forcefully.
I haven't had a chance to post anything on the branch stacking scandal in the Victorian ALP, but I heard Dutton support Anthony Byrne over the fruity texts the bastard Sumyurek revenge-leaked over Byrne letting the Age bug his office. I think it is the first decent thing I have ever heard Dutton say.
I'm also quite pleased with this scandal. It gives Andrews a chance to mold the party in his image. I think he might well turn into a new and better Henry Bolte.
Neither roads nor hospitals are actually federal government responsibilities. Shouldn't these women be expressing their views forcefully in a NSW election?
Any Eden-Monaro candidate who promises them a maternity ward is not in a position to deliver. And the fact that anyone is making it an issue in the current election campaign just tells me that folks don't understand federalism anymore.
These allowances were brought in when, against their long-standing ideological bent, the the Liberals were forced to recognise that the millions who are now effectively unemployed are not all undeserving layabouts who should be punished, but are victims of the coronavirus and measures to combat it and may starve if not paid by somebody.
The big question to my eye is: will Jobseeker payments ("the dole") revert to being below the poverty line, which is where they were before the virus.
And a second question: PM Morrison has postponed parliament from sitting for several more weeks, ostensibly because of interstate travel restrictions. OK, but why cannot Parliament meet online (e.g. over zoom or similar) as almost every other workplace in the country is doing? .
After all these are decisions warant public discussion as they will largely determine the economic path of Australia for the next year or two at least
Huh? Health policy and funding may not be strictly state or federal matters, but both sets of pollies have their fingers all over it.
Of course folks don't understand Federalism. What do you expect of people? They have lives to be getting on with. Its only arseholes like us who have the time or inclination to bother with the details. People can still contribute.
Of course they do - there are votes in having a new hospital and neither wants to leave the field to the other.
I'm not too worried about Parliament not meeting. National Cabinet is meeting, and there are plenty of other ways politicians can be trusted to bring our leaders to account. It is an extraordinary situation in which the Executive really must be free to think, canvass the views necessary, decide and act. The only question is, do we trust the members of the Executive, including the National Cabinet to act in the national interest, and do we trust them to judge the national interest correctly.
My answer is yes, I trust them. If your answer is no, then you might indeed want to advocate for Parliament to be in session. Parliament drives the political media cycle which influences our opinions. But it is not the only driver, and our media can operate quite well without Question Time.
Obviously, Parliament is about more than holding the Executive to account. But as I understand it, the necessary enabling legislation is in place, and the Executive is free to rule by fiat. If Morrison suddenly starts veering off the medical advice, there are no doubt ways in which the Parliament can be recalled. Evil Simon is now wondering whether the GG can intervene to recall Parliament. That might be fun to watch.
Just generally, the libs are going to say "What happens during the pandemic stays in the pandemic. We don't talk about it anymore. It was a very bad time and we had to take extraordinary measures." Then they are going to implement a programme of austerity that will make your eyes water. The only money they will willingly distribute will be to business, under the guise of job creation, long form style.
Nothing on God's green earth will induce them to change that position. If you don't want that to happen, your only real option is to influence others to vote them out of office at the earliest available opportunity.
I mean, koalas are the cuddly-looking animals that appeal to tourists and children and do no harm to anyone, whereas Barilano supports instead letting increase the population of wild horses ("brumbies") in Kosiusko National Park at great risk to the biodiversity there and to the water supply for Canberra (which relies on water stored in the mosses which the brumbies trample).
Maybe now people are beginning to understand Federalism just a little more, what with there being borders....
In a stance that surprised no-one but the Deputy Premier, the Premier explained how you can't unilaterally decide that you get to be both a cross-bencher and the Deputy Premier.
Moreover, she is prepared to listen, at least some of the time. For example, on Obersturmfuhrer Dutton's proposal to take away mobile phones from those in immigration detention, thus cutting off all their contact with friends, family and supporters, she invited those with views to "vote" on her website, preferably with reasons to support their stance. I was one of thousands to take this opportunity, alerted by one of the refugee activist groups of which I am a member. Result: 95% of those she polled argued cogently against the proposal, and she announced that she would vote accordingly. Therefore the government, not having the necessary support in the Senate, has put that cruel proposal on ice. Unfortunately, they have plenty more cruel proposals up their sleeve.
And now she has been caught with her pants down , or her skirts up, in bed with the highly dubious Daryl Maguire, who she forced to resign from parliament 3 years ago when he was exposed in a corruption scandal. In an act which she now admits was "poor judgement", she continued for years afterward in an "intimate friendship" with him.
Although there is , as yet, no suggestion of illegal doings on her part (as distinct from his) , will her poor judgement prove to her political undoing?