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This website is in imminent danger of being shut down. It has been online since 1995, but the personal circumstances of the owner, Malcolm Farnsworth, are such that economies have to be made. Server costs and suchlike have become prohibitive. At the urging of people online, I have agreed to see if Patreon provides a solution. More information is available at the Patreon website. If you are able to contribute even $1.00/month to keep the site running, please click the Patreon button below.


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2016 Federal Election: The Oncers Who Have Become Twicers

Most of the first-term members of the previous parliament have been returned to the new 45th parliament.

Of 42 members elected for the first time at the 2013 federal election, 31 (73.8%) were re-elected on July 2, 2016.

Eight members (19%), all Liberals, were defeated at the election. [Read more…]


Mal Brough To Quit Parliament

Mal Brough, the federal LNP member for Fisher in Queensland, has announced that he will not be contesting this year’s election.

BroughBrough, 54, first entered parliament as the member for Longman, also in Queensland, at the 1996 federal election. He was re-elected in 1998, 2001 and 2004 but was defeated at the 2007 election.

He re-entered the House of Representatives as the member for Fisher at the 2013 election, after winning preselection in 2012. The then sitting member for Fisher was Peter Slipper, who had left the Liberal National Party after he accepted the Speakership from the Gillard government in 2011. Slipper and Brough came into conflict over James Ashby and a police investigation is proceeding into whether Brough and Ashby broke the law in relation to access to the former Speaker’s official diary. [Read more…]


Mal Brough Resigns From Turnbull Ministry

Mal Brough has announced that he has resigned from the Turnbull ministry.

BroughBrough said he had been advised by the Federal Police that their enquiries into the Slipper-Ashby affair may takes “several more months”.

Brough stood aside as Special Minister of State and Minister for Defence Materiel and Science on December 29, 2015. He cited the police investigation as the reason.

Jamie Briggs, the Minister for Cities and the Built Environment, resigned on the same day, in the wake of allegations about his personal behaviour.

Today’s announcement comes as Prime Minister Turnbull is reshuffling his ministry to take account of Andrew Robb’s retirement and Barnaby Joyce’s accession to the leadership of The Nationals, following the retirement of Warren Truss. [Read more…]


First Turnbull Ministry – Revised

This is the revised Turnbull ministry, released today.

If follows the resignation of Jamie Briggs and the standing aside of Mal Brough.

Brough’s duties as Minister for Defence Materiel and Science have been assumed by the Defence Minister, Senator Marise Payne. The Finance Minister, Senator Mathias Cormann, has taken over as Special Minister of State.

Brigg’s duties as Minister for Cities and the Built Environment have been taken on the Environment Minister, Greg Hunt. [Read more…]