Non-AFL chat thread part 2

[Pugz89]

Death, taxes & the storm beating the bunnies in Melbourne

Paps started the game in ripping form. Looks like the Storm are gonna be thereabouts yet again. The most consistent club across any code in Australia.

 

[random__hero]

Their first 20mins was ridiculous

 

[LittleG]

Jandakot - electorate in WA.
19.5% swing last election
19.6% swing this election

That is 39.1% swing to Labor in 2 elections. Wow!!!! Truly an astonishing change in voting.
Many people say there are rusted on red & blue voters, I think the actual numbers of rusted on are 30% at each end. The rest are swinging voters.

 

[dogwatch]

Tidal waves don't beg forgiveness.

 

[LittleG]

Tidal waves don't beg forgiveness.

Love it!

 

[ossie_21]

Paps started the game in ripping form. Looks like the Storm are gonna be thereabouts yet again. The most consistent club across any code in Australia.

Wildcats say hi

 

[Mattdougie]

Jandakot - electorate in WA.
19.5% swing last election
19.6% swing this election

That is 39.1% swing to Labor in 2 elections. Wow!!!! Truly an astonishing change in voting.
Many people say there are rusted on red & blue voters, I think the actual numbers of rusted on are 30% at each end. The rest are swinging voters.

Why such a swing in that area?

 

[LittleG]

Why such a swing in that area?

Bad government then good government.

 

[Mattdougie]

Bad government then good government.

Good government? Is there such a thing ?

 

[LittleG]

Good government? Is there such a thing ?

Ok fair point.
Better government?

 

[dogwatch]

I've never seen any Australian election result like this, even in the ACT which has mostly been solidly Labor/Green. It's just extraordinary and probably unprecedented in Australian political history.

No matter how competent Mark McGowan has been and whichever side of politics you are on this is surely a bad result. Here's why:

Western democracies rely on the existence of a substantial and viable opposition to ensure that the government is held to account and that there is robust debate on all contentious issues. Yet this election will mean:

• The non-Labor primary vote was over 40% but it will deliver only about 10-12% of the seats in the lower house.
• The Liberal Party and even the Nationals may be reduced to non-party status meaning they lose lots of benefits including the ability to employ staff (presumably when they say this they mean staff funded from the public purse). This severely hampers their effectiveness as a robust and credible opposition.
• The reduced numbers of parliamentarians and support staff means they can't do very much homework on the government or bring forward new initiatives - it will all fall to a very few people.
• While the conservative parties will no doubt claw back a number of seats at the next election they can't seriously present as an alternative government when the next election comes around. It will take at least two terms (8 years) to challenge. Maybe longer.
• Lots of Liberal careers have been swept away by this tsunami and many of them won't come back. That lack of continuity will damage them for years to come - maybe for a decade or more. They simply won't have a well of talented, intelligent and capable people to draw from. They'll need to rebuild from the ground up.
• While all this is going on the Labor government can push ahead unchecked, possibly even with a majority in the upper house (it's a weird upper house electoral system over there). That unchecked power is a real threat to both the electorate and to Labor itself. The threat to the electorate and to the usual checks and balances should be obvious. However in addition, members of the government will be impatient to capitalise on their once-in-a-lifetime overwhelming majority by pushing for things they couldn't normally get (and the public wouldn't normally agree to). They may become unruly and undisciplined. It's a common problem after landslide wins.

Let's just hope Mark McGowan has a lot of integrity, commitment to the general good and can keep them all under control.

 

[LittleG]

I've never seen any Australian election result like this, even in the ACT which has mostly been solidly Labor/Green. It's just extraordinary and probably unprecedented in Australian political history.

No matter how competent Mark McGowan has been and whichever side of politics you are on this is surely a bad result. Here's why:

Western democracies rely on the existence of a substantial and viable opposition to ensure that the government is held to account and that there is robust debate on all contentious issues. Yet this election will mean:

• The non-Labor primary vote was over 40% but it will deliver only about 10-12% of the seats in the lower house.
• The Liberal Party and even the Nationals may be reduced to non-party status meaning they lose lots of benefits including the ability to employ staff (presumably when they say this they mean staff funded from the public purse). This severely hampers their effectiveness as a robust and credible opposition.
• The reduced numbers of parliamentarians and support staff means they can't do very much homework on the government or bring forward new initiatives - it will all fall to a very few people.
• While the conservative parties will no doubt claw back a number of seats at the next election they can't seriously present as an alternative government when the next election comes around. It will take at least two terms (8 years) to challenge. Maybe longer.
• Lots of Liberal careers have been swept away by this tsunami and many of them won't come back. That lack of continuity will damage them for years to come - maybe for a decade or more. They simply won't have a well of talented, intelligent and capable people to draw from. They'll need to rebuild from the ground up.
• While all this is going on the Labor government can push ahead unchecked, possibly even with a majority in the upper house (it's a weird upper house electoral system over there). That unchecked power is a real threat to both the electorate and to Labor itself. The threat to the electorate and to the usual checks and balances should be obvious. However in addition, members of the government will be impatient to capitalise on their once-in-a-lifetime overwhelming majority by pushing for things they couldn't normally get (and the public wouldn't normally agree to). They may become unruly and undisciplined. It's a common problem after landslide wins.

Let's just hope Mark McGowan has a lot of integrity, commitment to the general good and can keep them all under control.

This is actually good for democracy, IF they control the upper house.

Why?
Gerrymandering - country voters get a greater percentage of upper house seats....

One of their legislative aims will be to fix that imbalance. Greens will provide those votes, to pass that legislation IF needed.


Remember it’s all swings and round abouts. The Liberals will be back and probably be in government again in 8 years.

 

[LittleG]

Democracy is better served by using a democratic district system like Tasmania.
We have a 1 seat 1 member across the rest of Australia. That isn’t the best system.

 

[dogwatch]

This is actually good for democracy, IF they control the upper house.

Why?
Gerrymandering - country voters get a greater percentage of upper house seats....

One of their legislative aims will be to fix that imbalance. Greens will provide those votes, to pass that legislation IF needed.


Remember it’s all swings and round abouts. The Liberals will be back and probably be in government again in 8 years.

Agree the upper house gerrymander needs fixing.

That doesn't change my view on the rest of it.

 

[dogwatch]

Wow. Mark McGowan has over 80% of the primary vote in his seat Rockingham and probably over 85% on a 2-party preferred basis.

Nobody gets those sorts of numbers.

 

[LittleG]

Wow. Mark McGowan has over 80% of the primary vote in his seat Rockingham and probably over 85% on a 2-party preferred basis.

Nobody gets those sorts of numbers.

You do when you close the borders, have your opposition back Clive Palmers bid to reopen borders and then concede you will lose prior to people voting.

 

[bobs head soup]

I've never seen any Australian election result like this, even in the ACT which has mostly been solidly Labor/Green. It's just extraordinary and probably unprecedented in Australian political history.

No matter how competent Mark McGowan has been and whichever side of politics you are on this is surely a bad result. Here's why:

Western democracies rely on the existence of a substantial and viable opposition to ensure that the government is held to account and that there is robust debate on all contentious issues. Yet this election will mean:

• The non-Labor primary vote was over 40% but it will deliver only about 10-12% of the seats in the lower house.
• The Liberal Party and even the Nationals may be reduced to non-party status meaning they lose lots of benefits including the ability to employ staff (presumably when they say this they mean staff funded from the public purse). This severely hampers their effectiveness as a robust and credible opposition.
• The reduced numbers of parliamentarians and support staff means they can't do very much homework on the government or bring forward new initiatives - it will all fall to a very few people.
• While the conservative parties will no doubt claw back a number of seats at the next election they can't seriously present as an alternative government when the next election comes around. It will take at least two terms (8 years) to challenge. Maybe longer.
• Lots of Liberal careers have been swept away by this tsunami and many of them won't come back. That lack of continuity will damage them for years to come - maybe for a decade or more. They simply won't have a well of talented, intelligent and capable people to draw from. They'll need to rebuild from the ground up.
• While all this is going on the Labor government can push ahead unchecked, possibly even with a majority in the upper house (it's a weird upper house electoral system over there). That unchecked power is a real threat to both the electorate and to Labor itself. The threat to the electorate and to the usual checks and balances should be obvious. However in addition, members of the government will be impatient to capitalise on their once-in-a-lifetime overwhelming majority by pushing for things they couldn't normally get (and the public wouldn't normally agree to). They may become unruly and undisciplined. It's a common problem after landslide wins.

Let's just hope Mark McGowan has a lot of integrity, commitment to the general good and can keep them all under control.

The only thing close I can remember was Campbell Newman restricting Labor to single figure seats in Qld a few years ago.

The commentary at the time was that new leader, the grossly inexperienced Annastacia Palasciuk didn't have enough sitting members to form a cricket team let alone a shadow cabinet and that Labor were irrelevant in Qld.

Her performance since that time has been really quite extraordinary.

A cautionary tale for both sides. Things can change quickly

 

[LittleG]

So glad my loved ones or I, didn’t get shot today.... apparently that is what happens to protesters!

#bighouseofshame
#bothpartiesatfault

 

[Virgin Dog]

So glad my loved ones or I, didn’t get shot today.... apparently that is what happens to protesters!

#bighouseofshame
#bothpartiesatfault

We live in a time where our Prime Minister tells protestors to be grateful they're not shot in the streets.

On a somewhat related note - how good was the look Albanese gave Dutton in parliament today? Such a gutless piece of dirt

 

[NBates]

So glad my loved ones or I, didn’t get shot today.... apparently that is what happens to protesters!

#bighouseofshame
#bothpartiesatfault

I think that only happened because Jen told him we don't shoot protesters in this country.

 

[NBates]

We live in a time where our Prime Minister tells protestors to be grateful they're not shot in the streets.

On a somewhat related note - how good was the look Albanese gave Dutton in parliament today? Such a gutless piece of dirt

Damn. Missed it

Sent from my SM-A505YN using Tapatalk

 

[Dogs 13]

Doug Parkinson gone suddenly, only 74. One of our greatest voices.

One of the best Beatles covers ever.

 

[Virgin Dog]

Damn. Missed it

Sent from my SM-A505YN using Tapatalk

Second half of the below video, when Dutton approaches the mic

 

[NBates]

Second half of the below video, when Dutton approaches the mic

It's funny, but unfortunately it seemed to work as Albo is gobsmacked and stopped talking (unless he kept going past the end of the clip).

I can't believe how bad the Govt are handling this - yesterday's a standout.

 

[Bont2Bruce]

A volcano erupted in Iceland on the weekend. The drone footage is spectacular:

https://www.mbl.is/frettir/innlent/2021/03/21/horft_ofan_i_augad/