How Labor lost its heartland
Miranda Devine – Wednesday, March 30, 11 (08:23 pm)
YOU can see the wreckage of Labor’s heartland still nailed to telegraph poles on Luxford Rd in Londonderry, 45km west of Sydney’s CBD.
The ALP have taken the west for granted and are still expecting the west will walk back into their harness. They might. But they have sent a powerful message. Also, a little maintenance and they will stay with a large Liberal presence. The Liberals ran a clean campaign and were seen to. Meanwhile people like Nick Lalich and Guy Zangari in Cabramatta and Fairfield were seen to run apparently dirty campaigns .. and they only just won.
Lalich was accusing Dai Le of being in cahoots with Pauline Hanson .. a terrible insult to any reasonable person but a deadly one to a refugee. Dai was gracious in defeat, and so the Liberals may secure that advantage next time .. the local population will not soon forget how they were lied to.
Guy Zangari joined with previous incumbent Tripodi to visit schools for the ALP late last year during pupil free days which seemed to have been set up so the ALP could run. Zangari also released leaflets lying about Liberal policy daily for the fortnight lead in, and on the afternoon before the election there was a mechanical dialing service advising people to vote ALP. For the first time in my life I was sitting in a marginal seat.
The press aided the ALP in these seats, damping coverage of their candidates. I think it would frighten the media if they had not been biased and people had knowingly voted for the candidates on policy and the ALP had done worse.
Wed 30 Mar 11 (11:43pm)
Thu 31 Mar 11 (06:48am)
They did the same in the federal election. Our local Labor candidate rubbished the opposition something fierce. I wrote to the local memeber and let her know the dirty tactics labour were using. They outlined no policy they just rubbished the opposition. They don’t do themselves any favours.
Thu 31 Mar 11 (09:12am)
I witnessed the dirty campaign conducted by labor in Cabramatta, they sent leaflets to every voter showing Dai Le looking like a criminal. They interviewed Mr. Lalich and he replied all is fair in politics. Well next time Mr. Lalich the people of the Cabramatta electorate may wake up to the disgrceful character assassination of Ms. Dai Le. The only bad aspect to this election was that the labor party got ANY seats. Who would vote for unethical parasites. Mr. Lalich will become invisible now he has won the seat back.
Thu 31 Mar 11 (10:36am)
I ran in both elections and the dirty tricks played by the media remained the same. The ALP can rely on them not reporting on local issues during campaigns. This builds up an image of those electorates appearing ignorant (because they are) and being precious about their ignorance.
Thu 31 Mar 11 (12:14pm)
I witnessed the dirty campaign conducted by labor in Cabramatta
Meanwhile, in Wollongong:
Thu 31 Mar 11 (11:20pm)
Yes Ivan, the ALP candidates would say they weren’t responsible for the dirty tricks because they were all following orders. I note Ninos Khoshaba formerly member for Smithfield claimed he was let down by the party .. after he lost.
LABOR: OUR PARTNERS IN GOVERNMENT HATE YOU
Tim Blair – Friday, April 01, 11 (06:20 am)
An extraordinary speech from Julia Gillard:
The Greens do not share the values of everyday Australians and don’t understand the importance of a strong economy, says Julia Gillard …
“The Greens will never embrace Labor’s delight at sharing the values of everyday Australians, in our cities, suburbs, towns and bush, who day after day do the right thing, leading purposeful and dignified lives, driven by love of family and nation,’’ she said.
“The differences between Labor and the Greens take many forms but at the bottom of it are two vital ones. The Greens wrongly reject the moral imperative to a strong economy …
“We happily leave to the Greens being a party of protest with no tradition of striking the balance required to deliver major reform.’’
So why did Gillard sign deals with this pack of values-shunning, economically amoral extremists?
You can’t have your flakes and eat them too, Ms Prime Minister. Her national co-leader is yet to reply:
Senator Brown’s office said he was reading the speech carefully and would respond.
You’ve got two choices, Senator. Either you walk away from the Gillard deal, or you’re – what’s the phrase? – Julia Gillard’s bitch. Trade minister Craig Emerson also launched into the Greens, after senator-elect Lee Rhiannon vowed to continue Greens demands for a boycott of Israel:
Emerson said last night the policy was disgusting and he feared it represented an extremism that would make its way to Canberra.
Dr Emerson told The Australian: “Confirmation by senator-elect Rhiannon of this disgusting policy is reprehensible.”
He applauded voters in the inner-western Sydney seat of Marrickville, who returned erstwhile Labor deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt to parliament over Greens candidate Fiona Byrne, a supporter of an Israeli boycott.
“Good on the people of Marrickville for rejecting this Greens extremism, and I am confident that the rest of Australia will too.”
Why should they when Labor doesn’t? The contradictory messages sent by the government are breathtaking. Here’s another from Gillard:
We are the party of work, not welfare. That’s why we respect the efforts of the brickie and look with ajaundiced eye at the lifestyle of the socialite.
This government now occupies a realm unknown to physics or philosophy.
(Via CL)
THREAT REMOVED
Tim Blair – Friday, April 01, 11 (05:45 am)
War isn’t pretty. The language isn’t nice. But if it weren’t for these bombs and these soldiers, the Taliban would continue killing Afghans and those seeking to liberate them.
PROBLEM IDENTIFIED
Tim Blair – Thursday, March 31, 11 (04:44 pm)
In the ABC’s impeccably-edited Drum, education graduate Stella Young describes her search for work:
After 6 months of meeting school principles …
459 DAYS UNTIL LABOR’S HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY TAX
Tim Blair – Thursday, March 31, 11 (12:16 pm)
Delight in the west:
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been showered with praise by Fremantle residents for her government’s proposed carbon tax during a community cabinet meeting in the West Australian port city.
But that was to be expected at Australia’s only carbon neutral high school in a state electorate held by a green independent MP.
On Wednesday night Ms Gillard chatted with people wearing T-shirts calling for action on climate change and posed for photos in front of a banner which read: “Thank you for the carbon tax”.
And then she flew back to Canberra. In a jet.
(Via Andrew Bolt)
HUMANS DOOMED
Tim Blair – Thursday, March 31, 11 (12:07 pm)
The enemy now understands doors:
WISPS OF WARMING
Tim Blair – Thursday, March 31, 11 (11:57 am)
Reuters reports:
Aircraft condensation trails criss-crossing the sky may be warming the planet on a normal day more than the carbon dioxide emitted by all planes since the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903, a study said on Tuesday.
It indicated that contrails – white lines of vapor left by jet engines – also have big knock-on effects by adding to the formation of high-altitude, heat-trapping cirrus clouds as the lines break up.
The findings may help governments fix penalties on planes’ greenhouse gas emissions in a U.N.-led assault on climate change.
Mere “penalties” sound insufficient.
Slowly, but slowly, Gillard is edged into a war with the Greens
Andrew Bolt – Friday, April 01, 11 (08:23 am)
Political necessity drives her to say it, but Prime Minister Julia Gillard is at least now closer to the mark:
”The Greens wrongly reject the moral imperative to a strong economy,” she said. “The Greens have some worthy ideas and many of their supporters sincerely want better politics in our country. They have good intentions but fail to understand the centrepiece of our big picture - the people Labor strives to represent need work.“And the Greens will never embrace Labor’s delight at sharing the values of everyday Australians, in our cities, suburbs, towns and bush, who day after day do the right thing, leading purposeful and dignified lives, driven by love of family and nation.”
Two problems, though. First, Gillard still hasn’t quite captured the fundamental irresponsibility of the Greens, or their neo-pagan and anti-humanist nature - the qualities which make them such enemies of the Enlightenment.Second, it is precisely these Greens who keep her in power and who have had such a terrible influence on her Government.
There is actually a third aspect of Gillard’s speech to the Whitlam Institute yesterday that is troubling. It’s the essential vacuity of it. So many slogans, so little substance.
UPDATE
Another front opens in Labor’s growing war with the Greens:
GREENS leader Bob Brown is under mounting political and diplomatic pressure to pull his hard-left senator-elect Lee Rhiannon into line as she intensifies her support for a radical boycott of Israel.Ms Rhiannon, who will take her Senate spot on July 1 when the Greens take the balance of power in the upper house, yesterday drew condemnation from Labor and the Coalition after expressing regret that the NSW Greens did not campaign harder for a boycott of Israeli goods and services at last weekend’s state election.
Trade Minister Craig Emerson said last night the policy was disgusting and he feared it represented an extremism that would make its way to Canberra… Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said the Gillard government did not condone nor support any boycotts or sanctions against the Jewish state.
Senator Brown’s office said an Israeli boycott was not Greens national policy…
Ms Rhiannon was quoted on the online news site New Matilda as saying, in the wake of the Coalition’s landslide victory in NSW, that the Greens should have spent more time building support for the global BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement, particularly among academics, Arab communities and social justice groups.
“Months before the election we needed to explain why the Greens backed BDS and we needed to work closer with our allies on BDS - academics, the Arab community and social justice movements in Sydney and Melbourne,” Ms Rhiannon was quoted as saying.
The Greens are the new home for what’s now cutely called anti-Zionism.
UPDATE
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on MTR this morning called Gillard’s criticism of the Greens no more than a “lovers’ tiff” - and suggested it was merely a sham disagreement made to fool voters into thinking she wasn’t as beholden to the Greens as you might well have supposed from this leadership deal:
Or from this announcement of the carbon dioxide tax:
Or from this announcement of the membership of the Government’s Climate Chance Committee:
Reader Max tells me this is relevant
Andrew Bolt – Friday, April 01, 11 (07:08 am)
When did Gillard know her East Timor centre was dead?
Andrew Bolt – Friday, April 01, 11 (06:59 am)
If East Timor’s Prime Minister killed off Julia Gillard’s idea three weeks ago, why did her Government still pretend it was alive at this week’s Bali forum?
EAST Timor’s Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao has rejected the Gillard government’s proposed refugee processing centre, saying it would cause social divisions within the tiny nation.
Breaking his silence on the asylum-seeker plan Julia Gillard revealed eight months ago, Mr Gusmao said Dili would not have a bar of the idea, according to a report in The Economist magazine.
The report says he “finally put the idea out of its misery” during an interview in London on March 7, in the wake of the Gillard government’s insistence the Timor plan remained a live option, despite a chorus of criticism.
“Chief among Mr Gusmao’s reasons for opposing the processing centre is the fact that he would not be able to explain to his poor countrymen why foreign asylum-seekers would be entitled to international-grade healthcare, food, clothing and schooling for their children while so many Timorese are not,” the magazine says.
The bloody Libyan farce
Andrew Bolt – Friday, April 01, 11 (06:31 am)
The UN’s Libyan intervention - allegedly to protect civilians - seems to be drifting aimlessly and uselessly:
At least 40 civilians have been killed in air strikes by Western forces on Tripoli, the top Vatican official in the Libyan capital told a Catholic news agency on Thursday, quoting witnesses.
Meanwhile, the rebels the Americans, British and French jets and missiles are helping are turning out to be a worry - and in no shape top quickly finish this civil war now raging:
The revolution lacks an organised military structure in spite of several attempts to stamp its authority on the volunteer army. Discipline is bad. Few of the fighters have proper military experience and they would need training in the use of weapons such as artillery....
The revolution’s de facto finance minister, Ali Tarhouni, claims that there are 1,000 trained fighters among the rebels but there is little evidence of it on the battlefield where the anti-Gaddafi forces appear capable of advancing only when the way is cleared by foreign air strikes....
The lack of control over Libya’s rebel army also raises questions about how it might behave as an occupying force were it to take over a town such as Sirte which has not risen up in support of the revolution and where the Libyan leader is believed to retain some support.
Incredibly, Barack Obama still doesn’t have a clear idea of just what people he’s really helping in this war:
The Obama administration has sent teams of CIA operatives into Libya in a rush to gather intelligence on the identities and capabilities of rebel forces opposed to Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, according to U.S. officials.
The information has become more crucial as the administration and its coalition partners move closer to providing direct military aid or guidance to the disorganized and beleaguered rebel army…
Several lawmakers briefed by Clinton, Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said they were told that the United States is still trying to put together a full picture of the Libyan rebellion but believes that it does not contain large numbers of radical Islamic militants.
Hanson heaps shame on the Greens
Andrew Bolt – Friday, April 01, 11 (06:21 am)
They were humiliated in last year’s Victorian election:
As I said during Saturday’s MTR election coverage, Victoria’s election marks the start of the Greens’ long retreat from Moscow.
They had gloated about winning maybe four lower house seats, buoyed by polls suggesting their vote would soar to 19 per cent. Instead, they won none, their vote was just 10.6 per cent and they may lose one of their three Upper House seats.
Now the Greens are devastated in NSW. Oh, and humiliated again as well:
PAULINE Hanson is leading the count for the last New South Wales upper house seat.
The former One Nation leader is ahead by about 0.05 per cent of a quota, followed by the Greens’ Jeremy Buckingham and Labor’s Andrew Ferguson.
As for the Lower House:
The Greens were meant to cruise into office in the Lower House in NSW in at least two seats....
Instead, their campaign crashed and burned. ...Julia Gillard’s sidekick, Bob Brown, spent quite a bit of time in Sydney over the past few weeks campaigning for his two most popular candidates, Marrickville Mayor Fiona Byrne and Leichhardt Mayor Jamie Parker.,,,
The Labor MPs who are in coalition with Bob Brown federally are openly cheering the humiliation of these two Greens in last Saturday’s poll.
Ms Byrne was sitting on a primary vote of 45 per cent a few weeks ago and still managed to lose the seat to the incumbent, former deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt.
Counting is continuing in Balmain where Jamie Parker as of yesterday’s deadline was 47 votes behind the incumbent, former education minister Verity Firth.
The Berlusconi secret
Andrew Bolt – Friday, April 01, 11 (06:17 am)
Self confidence is an afrodisiac, and the Italian Prime Minister has bottles of it:
Later, talking to a group of mothers who had been demonstrating against the refugee influx, Mr Berlusconi told a joke: ‘’During a poll, a sample of women were asked if they wanted to make love with Berlusconi. Thirty per cent said maybe. The other 70 per cent said, ‘Again?’’’
It will hurt and achieve no good
Andrew Bolt – Friday, April 01, 11 (06:07 am)
Tony Shepherd on the eight myths of Julia Gillard’s carbon dioxide tax.
On my right to comment on racial division
Andrew Bolt – Thursday, March 31, 11 (05:16 pm)
The latest in my court case today. Sorry, but I must curtail your right to comment in order to better preserve my own.
No comments:
Post a Comment