It looks likely that the three remaining independents will make an announcement on Monday, after heading home this weekend to their electorates to consider where they will put their allegiance.
In typical style, Kennedy's Bob Katter jokingly said, his mind was changing "every 15 minutes," however he opposes a mining tax and emissions trading scheme [see Katter's wish list], whereas Tony Windsor says he doesn't trust either Labor of the Coalition on budget measures. Rob Oakeshott wants better tertiary education in regional areas and wants discussion about a price on carbon through an ETS.
The three will release a document today listing reforms that they want for parliament, including a "beefed-up" committee system.
Hardly gripping stuff, as if that will deal with the real issues affecting long-term depressed economies like Cairns and Far North Queensland, that still has a sustained and double-digit unemployment.
8 comments:
Had a laugh today reading where Entsch said "he always knew Wilkie would go with Labor." Wilkie was the spook who spilled the beans on the bloody littany of lies told by Howard about "Saddam's weapons of mass destruction" back in 2003.
At the time Wilkie was telling the media in Canberra that the case for war was fraudulent and criminal, Entsch was parroting Howard and carrying the party line here on rugnut's radio program.
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If the 3 Musketeers untimately decide to anoint Abbott, Labor will cop it sweet, and so will Labor supporters.
But if they choose to back Gillard, they will face a deluge of threats and abuse from Liberal supporters.
We have already seen intimations of this in the behavior of some Liberal MPs.
This is consistet with the behavior of Liberal supporters who threatened and abused Labor supporters at the debate between Turnour and Entsch, and at many polling booths on election day.
I reckon that this fear of retribution will be a very real factor in the independents' decision. They would be very courageous to back Labor.
Ho, Ho, Ho, you stupid, offensive, lying dog of a “real Liberal”, the only thing sweet that’ll happen if Labor loses this election will be the sweet chilli sauce we baste the scapegoats with as Lab-B-Q season starts.
Jim Turn-off will be entree, like the pretzel he is. Anna Bligh will be converted to a sausage sizzle, along with Kevin O’Lemon, Drain Swan, and Karl Biter. The ordinary members will have to bring their own bitterness, but that’s not usually a problem.
As for Liberal supporters threatening and abusing Jim Turn-off, well, it would have been a long wait for the unionists and Labor members to finish up before we began, so the Liberals just relaxed and enjoyed the world’s best politician (Jim Turn-off) run the world’s best election campaign “diversifying the dullness”.
I was told by someone today who overheard some men talking. "If Katter backs the ALP, he's a dead man" said one of them.
I have no doubts the three amigos are receiving all sorts of threats, and I have no doubts whatsoever that they won't forget. Frankly, Katter can back whoever he likes and still get re-elected.
Dear Labia, your abusive comment is a great example of what I'm talking about. The following comes from Ninemsn:
"Two polls on Saturday showed most voters want the independents to back Labor.
Meanwhile, News Limited newspapers report Liberal and National party members could be behind an orchestrated campaign bombarding the independents' offices with phone calls from voters, threatening to dump them at the next election if they side with Labor."
As usual, it is the rabid right that resorts to threats and intimidation when they worry that they may not get their way. The independents would have to be very courageous to back Labor - let's hope they are.
Ooooerrr, in my humble opinion, it isn't going to be a very stable Government, either way. Too many diverse interests represented by too many political groups all trying to work together. It reflects however the changing diversity of interests and imperatives of the Australian people. Good luck, I say, to either Abbott or Gillard.
I have read two different sets of "polls" in the past few days, each stating that the voters in the independents electorates wanted their members to side with firstly Abbott, then Gillard.
Just what is going on? People do not change their minds like that.
The more I think of this Parliament, the more I wonder if it will be a workable one. Reading the independents "wish list" it is patently obvious that all of them have requests outside the major political party's platforms. Can either party, if gaining Government through their support, deliver these requests?
Somehow I doubt it. I think we will see a very fragile Government which could fracture very quickly over some controversial issue like the mining tax or same sex marriage.
The electorate voted with their usual force to oust Labour from power, but fell short of the mark. Independants now hold the balance of power which they should not, as they represent a small minority. If they hold the major parties to ransom, they are no better than the major parties. For heavens sake, make a decision and stop holding the country to ransom also. You are minorities and should stay that way.
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