THE (ir)REGULAR RANT
The minimum read for the maximum knowledge.
What a day, eh!
A lot happened in Australian politics today. Below is a bit of a summary.
Warning - this is a little more editorialised than the last.
1. HASHTAG SCOMO
So – here’s what you missed:
Scott Morrison will be the new PM of Australia
His deputy will be Josh Frydenburg
Turnbull will resign soon
What does it all mean?
The main takeaway from today is that Peter Dutton’s challenge, and that of the right of the party, failed.
Once the meeting was called for 12.20pm, after party whips (assistants) had called around to all 43 names on the list to confirm they wanted to go ahead with a vote, the room elected to hold a leadership spill, 45-40
40 votes against it, or rather, for keeping Turnbull as PM, was higher than anybody expected. Especially given that Fifield, Cash and Cormann came out yesterday to say that they were against Turnbull because the numbers were against him. Actually guys, if you hadn’t been, then the numbers wouldn’t have been either.
Cormann has given a few interviews since the poll and seems to be especially tone-deaf, stating that this week was all about finding ‘unity’ as a party.
Three names were put forward for a new leader and Bishop (yay! A woman!) received the lowest votes. That meant there was a binding, anonymous vote for Dutton or Morrison to be the PM.
Bishop’s lost vote will likely be the end of her political career. I anticipate that she will not recontest at the next election. She is well regarded in foreign policy circles, and by both major parties, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Labor Party (given they win the next election) hire her to represent Australia somewhere in the world…
Scott Morrison won the leadership vote against Dutton 45-40
There is a bit of a summary on Morrison as a leader and person below, but it is worth acknowledging that he started Operation Border Force
ScoMo is a NSW native, which means that it is not since Alexander Downer in 1995 that the Liberal Party had a non-NSW leader. #representative
Josh Frydenberg, Minister for the Environment and Energy was “overwhelmingly” voted as Deputy Leader
Frydenberg was actually the Minister in charge of the National Energy Guarantee, which was the catalyst for this spill. The right cannot be too frustrated with the NEG proposal if they overwhelmingly voted him in as Deputy.
Where are all the women? Yes. Good point. #representative
Morrison and Frydenberg are from the more moderate side of the Liberal Party, so one has to question – why did Dutton force this spill and what has he/the country gained from it?
So what now?
Morrison will be sworn in as the 30th Prime Minister of Australia at 6pmtonight.
He will reveal his Cabinet next week.
With Turnbull resigning – although we don’t yet have a date – there is every chance that the Governor General will actually call an election, as he may not believe that the Liberal Party hold the majority.
That is very unlikely to happen, but ScoMo will have to convince everyone that the Liberal Party is united. He will be fighting hard for Turnbull to stay put as long as possible.
Morrison has already pledged that there will be no election anytime soon (they have up until the end of 2019 before calling for one). Shame – if they were to listen to the people, that’s what is wanted.
Particularly given that a public poll was held on Wednesday night regarding preferred leaders: Malcolm Turnbull (38%), Julie Bishop (29%), Tony Abbott (14%), Peter Dutton (10%) and Scott Morrison (8.6%).
Dutton and Abbott have pledged their loyalty to Morrison and Frydenberg, but only time will tell. Abbott wanted Turnbull gone. It remains to be seen how deep his grudge runs.
Morrison was the swing vote to Turnbull in 2015 that saw Abbott ousted, so he may not be satisfied until Morrison is also gone.
As mentioned above, Morrison comes from the same moderate side of the party as Turnbull. No policies will change. Instead, we have just lost a week of our government representing us/the nation and spending the time and money and energy in-fighting instead.
And what about Turnbull?
He held a press conference at 2pm and provided a laundry list of achievements and thanked all the right people.
I don’t mean to be a hater but passing the same-sex marriage law the way he did it was not an achievement. It cost the country $120M to have a non-binding vote that encouraged the bullying and targeting of LGBTQI Australians, which in turn increased depression and even suicide within the community. Had he been a real leader he would have had the government vote and pass the bill, as all other legislation is done, without all the harm. But again, he caved to the right of the party that fought hard and bitterly to prevent same-sex marriage passing.
Also, do not claim refugee resettlement with the US as a success. There are still over 600 people stuck on Nauru in torturous conditions and you are using their lives as examples and while doing so, breeching the UN Refugee Convention.
He also spoke about the “insurgency” launched against him, both from within and from the media, and mentioned how disappointed and frustrated the Australian people must be.
Australians will be just be dumbstruck and so appalled by the conduct of the last week. You know, to imagine that a government would be rocked by this sort of disloyalty and deliberate insurgency, is the best way to describe it, deliberate destructive action.
He wished the best for Scott Morrison, and thanked Christopher Pyne, Minister for Defence Industry, and Marise Payne, Minister for Defence.
He also thanked his family profusely. His wife, Lucy, daughter, Daisy, and grandchildren, Jack and Alice, were all in attendance. Highlight was Jack jumping and stomping and generally acting like the 5-year-old he is.
Shorten has released a statement farewelling Turnbull, highlighting his intelligence and eloquence.
Also worth noting that Arthur Sinodinos turned up for the vote. Sinodinos was one of the key men responsible for putting Turnbull into power, and indeed encouraged him not to resign after he lost the leadership in 2009. Sinodinos has been battling cancer since October 2017 and looked gravely ill today – he has been on leave since December 2017. There were many powerful moments today, but the most moving and memorable was him walking into the meeting with his mate, former PM Turnbull.
Key takeaways
Peter Dutton’s challenge, and that of the right of the party, failed. He did not get the votes after agitating so much. He will not be remembered fondly.
It is fair to conclude that this was a war against Turnbull and his ideals rather than policy, given the result.
Turnbull was not well-liked on the conservative side of the government. Coming late to politics and with an intelligent, sometimes bratty, air to him he found enemies quickly. The parliament has not been unified since he took the leadership from Abbott, due 100% to the behaviour of the conservatives in the government.
With him gone, there is a chance that the Liberal Party may be able to lead properly, but now that they know the power of their fractures, I would be very surprised if the right became amiable and cooperative.
About the 30th Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison
I like lists, and I want to keep this short – it is Friday night after all and it has been a LONG week.
He is the Federal Member for Cook, which is south of Sydney and includes Miranda and Cronulla.
He is against same-sex marriage and tried to change the bill to allow parents to remove their children from classes if “non-traditional” marriage was discussed.
He was the former CEO of Tourism Australia, and often says that he is responsible for Lara Bi
He is a devout evangelical Christian.
Despite that, he was the engineer of Operation Sovereign Borders, created the phrase “Stop the Boats” and started calling refugees and asylum seekers “illegal immigrants”
While he was Immigration and Border Protection Minister, four people died in offshore detention and the Australian Human Rights Commission found that he failed to act in the best interests of children while in the position.
He lied about how Reza Barati died on Manus Island, stating it was the victim’s fault, rather than admitting that he was attacked while in the detention centre by locals and the prison guards.
He accused Save the Children staff of encouraging refugees to self-harm. This was later found to be false. He had already removed them from Manus Island.
He delayed releasing the report that showed sexual and physical assaults on women and children while in offshore detention.
When in Opposition, 48 refugees died at sea by Christmas Island. Morrison questioned the Gillard government’s decision to fly family members to the funeral.
In 2017 Morrison brought a lump of coal into Parliament to mock(?) those concerned about the environmental impact of the coal industry.
I am going to end this/the week on three videos.
I highly recommend that you watch them all.
Firstly – this is our new PM.
Watch this to really understand who he is, Christian values and all.
Secondly – Richard Di Natalie fires up in the Senate yesterday after the government walked off the job.
Watch this to see real passion and to believe that it will get better.
Finally – Chris Uhlmann, political editor for Channel 9 accuses NewsCorp (Murdoch-owned) of waging a war against Turnbull.
Watch this to remember to question everything you read/watch (except the stuff I send, obvs)
Have a lovely weekend all.
Enjoy it, but don't be too relieved that Dutton didn’t win. ScoMo is no angel.
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As of August 24th 2018, 41 women in Australia have been killed due to domestic violence.
That is one death every 5.7 days.