John Young: Gillard Politicises Abortion

Jun 13, 2013 Leave a Comment

This article is reposted with permission from the True Believers page on Facebook.

It is written by John Young, a Sydney barrister. In the 1970s and 1980s, he worked for Lionel Bowen, deputy leader of the Labor Party. Bowen was a minister in the Whitlam government and Deputy Prime Minister in the Hawke government until 1990.

Abortion

I am John Young, one of the founders of the True Believers page on Facebook.

In 1979, I was working as Private Secretary to Lionel Bowen, then Deputy Leader of the Labor Party, when a National Party MP, Stephen Lusher, moved a motion in the House of Representatives to restrict the payment of medical benefits for terminations of pregnancy.

In 1979, the House of Representatives was comprised entirely of men. The Coalition was in government and many Australians, particularly women, feared that the Lusher motion would be carried. [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2013 Federal Election, A.L.P., Gillard, Political History Tagged With: , , ,

The Blue Tie Speech: Prime Minister’s Address To Women For Gillard

Jun 11, 2013 17 Comments

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has delivered a speech at the launch of Women for Gillard, in Sydney.

Gillard

The group aims to emulate the Obama campaign by raising money in small amounts to support Gillard’s re-election.

As government ministers appeared to close ranks behind Gillard’s leadership, after a long weekend of speculation about a return to Kevin Rudd, the Prime Minister warned that the 2013 election would be a decision that would determine whether “we will banish women’s voices from our political life”.

In a barbed reference to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, Gillard said: “We don’t want to live in an Australia where abortion again becomes the political plaything of men who think they know better.”

The speech has been ridiculed online throughout the day for its references to men in blue ties.

  • Listen to the blue tie extract of Gillard’s speech (45s)

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  • Watch the extract released by Gillard’s office:
  • Watch the full speech:
  • Women for Gillard Facebook page

Transcript of Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s speech to ‘Women for Gillard’ launch in Sydney.

Thank you very much, can I start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, and pay my respects to their elders past and present.

Apart from acknowledging Clementine for that world-class introduction, I’d like to acknowledge all of the members and board and friends and supporters of Women for Gillard, and especially your national director Clarabella, thank you very much for all your hard work.

And I want to acknowledge too someone who is not in the room with us today but I very much in our hearts, and that is Anna Bligh. Anna showed the greatest courage for the people of Queensland during the greatest tests of her public life. [Read more...]

Filed Under: A.L.P., Audio2013, Gillard, Video, Women Tagged With: , , ,

John Murphy On Rupert Murdoch: We Are Not Frightened Of You

Jun 06, 2013 Leave a Comment

The Federal Labor member for Reid, John Murphy, has attacked Rupert Murdoch in a speech to the House of Representatives.

Speaking in the Adjournment Debate, Murphy described journalism in Murdoch’s News Limited newspapers as “tripe”. Murphy said “it fits Mr Murdoch’s political and business agenda to knock this Labor government”.

He said: “Everyone knows you twist the political agenda to suit your business agenda and in so doing you crush and corrupt our democracy. We are not frightened of you and we will not surrender to your massive media power.”

Murphy was first elected as the member for the NSW seat of Lowe in 1998. Following a redistribution, he became the member for Reid in 2010. Now on a margin of 2.7%, he is facing defeat at this year’s election.

  • Listen to Murphy’s speech (5m)

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  • Watch an extract of the speech (34s)

Hansard transcript of John Murphy MP in the Adjournment Debate in the House of Representatives, June 6, 2013.

MurphyMr MURPHY (Reid) (16:33): On 11 June 2013, Mr Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation will hold a special meeting for shareholders to vote on amendments needed to authorise the company’s plan to break into two separate publicly traded entities, dividing its newspaper and book publishing assets from its television and film business. The publishing unit, which will retain the News Corporation name, will include Wall Street Journal owner Dow Jones and Mr Murdoch’s other newspapers, including the New York Post and The Australian. The film business will be called 21st Century Fox and includes News Corporation’s 39.1 per cent stake in BSkyB, the 20th Century Fox film and TV studio, the Fox broadcast network and cable channels including Fox News. The split will most likely take effect on 30 June 2013, the end of the company’s fiscal year. Mr Murdoch will serve as chair of both companies and the chief executive of 21st Century Fox, Robert Thomson, former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, will be chief executive of News Corporation. [Read more...]

Filed Under: A.L.P., Audio2013, Backbenchers, Media, Video Tagged With: , ,

2013 Federal Election: How Many Seats Will Labor Lose?

Jun 02, 2013 3 Comments

An election defeat of historic proportions seems to be looming for the Gillard Labor government.

As a rule, I’m more interested in trying to explain an election result after we know the outcome. However, let’s take a stab at predicting the result.

I don’t regard these predictions as particularly startling or original. They are based on the published opinion polls, assorted news items and anecdotal reports. In some cases, I have local knowledge. In others, I’m influenced by historical results. Often, I’m just guessing. Don’t take it too seriously.

Some assumptions and explanations:

  • I believe the Gillard government is going to lose and lose badly. I believe this outcome has been certain for the past two years.
  • All of the published opinion polls (Newspoll, Nielsen, Essential, Galaxy, Morgan) have been showing a 4-6% swing against the ALP for most of the past two years. Seats in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia are particularly at risk and the swing is expected to be much greater in Labor areas. Rural and regional areas have turned decisively against Labor. During this year, an emerging view has Tasmania, South Australia and Victoria joining the trend, after having swung toward the ALP in 2010. On this basis, I expect the ALP’s result to be worse than 1996, probably closer to 1975. It could be worse than 1975. I expect the ALP to lose a minimum of 25 seats. CLICK HERE for tables showing the ALP’s federal election record.
  • I don’t expect any members of the Coalition parties to lose their seats. My starting point for the Coalition is 73 seats, including Peter Slipper in Fisher and Tony Crook in O’Connor. Both of these men will be replaced by new members.
  • The ALP goes into the election with 72 seats, including Craig Thomson’s seat of Dobell. Thomson currently sits as an independent. The tables below deal only with those 72 seats.
  • In addition to the 145 seats held by the ALP and the Coalition, another 4 are held by independents and 1 by the Greens. There are 150 seats up for election.
  • The electorate of Melbourne is the only seat I think it is possible for the ALP to pick up. If the Greens member, Adam Bandt, can improve his primary vote, he may win, even if the Liberals preference Labor. This will be one to watch on the night.
  • CLICK HERE to see a colour-coded table of election outcomes in each seat for the past 10 elections.

ALP SEATS MOST LIKELY TO BE LOST (28)

These seats are the ALP’s most marginal. However, it includes some seats once regarded as safe Labor, particularly in NSW. It seems to be generally accepted that the ALP is doing especially badly in NSW, so I have given away all of its rural seats and made a call on others that don’t seem marginal on the swing.

A.L.P. SEATS MOST LIKELY TO BE LOST (28)
No. SEAT STATE MEMBER MARGIN %
1.
Banks
NSW
Daryl Melham
1.5
2.
Barton
NSW
Robert McClelland (retiring)
6.9
3.
Dobell
NSW
Craig Thomson (suspended)
5.1
4.
Eden-Monaro
NSW
Mike Kelly
4.2
5.
Greenway
NSW
Michelle Rowland
0.9
6.
Kingsford-Smith
NSW
Peter Garrett
5.2
7.
Lindsay
NSW
David Bradbury
1.1
8.
Page
NSW
Janelle Saffin
4.2
9.
Parramatta
NSW
Julie Owens
4.4
10.
Reid
NSW
John Murphy
2.7
11.
Richmond
NSW
Justine Elliot
7.0
12.
Robertson
NSW
Deb O’Neill
1.0
13.
Chisholm
VIC
Anna Burke
5.8
14.
Corangamite
VIC
Darren Cheeseman
0.3
15.
Deakin
VIC
Mike Symond
0.6
16.
La Trobe
VIC
Laura Smyth
1.7
17.
Blair
QLD
Shayne Neumann
4.2
18.
Capricornia
QLD
Kirsten Livermore (retiring)
3.7
19.
Lilley
QLD
Wayne Swan
3.2
20.
Moreton
QLD
Graham Perrett
1.1
21.
Petrie
QLD
Yvette D’Ath
2.5
22.
Brand
WA
Gary Gray
3.3
23.
Perth
WA
Stephen Smith
5.9
24.
Adelaide
SA
Kate Ellis
7.5
25.
Hindmarsh
SA
Steve Georganas
6.1
26.
Bass
TAS
Geoff Lyons
6.7
27.
Braddon
TAS
Sid Sidebottom
7.5
28.
Lingiari
NT
Warren Snowdon
3.7

 

ALP SEATS AT SERIOUS RISK (9)

Some of these seats have been marginal and switched parties at various times in recent years, especially when government has changed hands. Whether they are at serious risk or merely at risk is open to debate. Electoral boundaries have altered over time, so historical comparisons are fraught. [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2013 Federal Election, A.L.P., Gillard, Opinion Tagged With: , ,

The Power And The Passion – A Personal View

May 27, 2013 9 Comments

The ABC has screened the first of a two-part documentary on Gough Whitlam, The Power and the Passion.

The Power and the Passion – A Personal View

by Malcolm Farnsworth

It’s flawed. The incorrect details and dates irritate. The interviews are marred by minor-celebrity bilge. The re-enactments are execrable. It’s hagiography, not documentary.

But last night’s first episode of The Power and the Passion is not that bad. Unreconstructed Whitlamites can rest easy. I lapped it up.

One line stands out: Whitlam had to beat his own side before he could win.

Party structures had to change. Individuals had to be surpassed and sidelined. New policies had to be born. The electorate had to be carried along. There was an inescapable logic to Whitlam’s famous sequence: the party, the program, the people.

For me, the program was a reminder of the inversion that’s taken place forty years since It’s Time. For people like me, the ALP has reverted to its pre-Whitlam shape.

It’s an ugly look the ALP has in 2013. It’s anachronistic and electorally poisonous. In New South Wales, it doesn’t even look like a party anymore, just a criminal enterprise. Nationally, it’s a party controlled by narrow cliques at odds with the electorate. [Read more...]

Filed Under: 2013 Federal Election, A.L.P., Gillard, Opinion, Political History, Whitlam Tagged With: , , , ,
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