Nsw
WHEN Abraham Lincoln famously said that a house divided against itself cannot stand, he didn’t have the Liberal Party in mind. But had he been born 250 years later, he may well have.

Although, in the case of the Libs it’s more of a church than a house. Tony Abbott and Barry O’Farrell may be breathing a sigh of relief after the party’s NSW upper house preselection vote on Friday which saw David Clarke, the so called head of the party’s “religious right” fend off a challenge from the less religious right.
But what will concern them is that Clarke won by only 14 votes, which means in real terms that 7 more people voted for him than David Elliot, the former Australian Hotels Association executive being backed by Clarke’s former staffer Alex Hawke.
What a great moment in history - NSW now has a woman premier and a woman deputy. How inspiring for the young women of NSW, who last night were told by Kristina Keneally “you can do anything.”

Eight year old girls can now listen to Ms Keneally’s story about how when she was their age she rang a radio station to put the local bishop on the spot about altar servers and think to themselves “wow, girls really can make a difference.”
“I’m a 40-year-old working mum,” Ms Keneally said last night. Oh blah ... I can’t even pretend to be excited about this.
Continue reading "NSW’s first woman premier - a defeat for feminism" »
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newcastleboy says:
To Newcastle Lady, who says she doesn’t want to vote Liberal: you don’t have to, choose someone who is preferencing someone other than Labor. I’m really envious of Maitland, all the infrastructure they’ve got, because they’ll threaten to change their vote once in a while (the last time we did… Read more »
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LAWSON says:
Not to mention…[meeting with carcass] oops…. may-be she was very tired and accidently pronounced the word wrongly?? or maybe… Ms Kristina Keneally meant to say caucus…...NO,NO, NO I go with the first spelling. Perhaps she is really telling the truth,i.e. to say that…she is carrying out the job of politics,… Read more »
As NSW Labor once again bury and dig up another leader in their pet cemetery of a cabinet to lead its army of walking dead, we see that Malcolm Turnbull has begun a bit of haunting of his own.

Yesterday’s cracking yarn by Annabel Crabb revealing angry emails sent by Malcolm Turnbull to Julie Bishop, accusing the deputy opposition leader of being hypocritical in her support for Tony Abbott, is evidence of the dangers of having an angry Malcolm Turnbull on the backbench. Combined with blogs and newsletters arguing that Abbott’s stand on the ETS is unworkable, one gets the feeling that Malcolm Turnbull could be dropping political cluster bombs from the backbench for a while yet.
So here’s a proposal that some NSW Liberals are seriously beginning to talk about: make Malcolm Turnbull the next Liberal Premier of NSW.
Continue reading "Cut the crap and make Malcolm the NSW Premier" »
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DocSniper says:
If Mr Malcolm Turnbull MP wants to win in a land slide and become the next NSW Premier, All he has to do is just one thing. Form a royal commission/Inquiry into the department of communities,Child safety. That department has run rampant for far to long, from Fabrication to manipulation,Perjury… Read more »
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Tony says:
Jim, I don’t agree. Everything MT built (and he did it very well), he built using existing existing processes, policies and tools with his own self interest in mind. Now I’ll make this clear, MT is very clever and has done very well for himself. Take the ETS ammendments for… Read more »
If Ralph Waldo Emerson was right when he said: “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,” then the Australian Greens must hold the bragging rights to having the biggest brains.

For no other political Party has the ability to be so inconsistent when it comes to public policy than the Greens.
Two recent incidents, which received huge media attention, demonstrated this perfectly.
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Disaffected says:
So that’s your best shot, Daniel. Put words in a bloke’s mouth, eh. Hows that for sleaze. Tough luck. Did I so much as mention NSW politics? No. Kindly don’t pass off your words as mine, you poxy shill. Read more »
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DWest says:
I thought the Liberals got their political / internet censorship inspiration from the #1 Nanny State, Communist China. I love how just the mention of greens makes the conservatives lose their sh*t. Hilarious. Read more »
It is a year since Frank Ernest Sartor was perhaps the most despised man in NSW.

His enemies were massed along Sydney’s north side, from riverside Putney to leafy Roseville, with a rear battalion up in the seaside mining village of Catherine Hill Bay.He considers the year since Premier Nathan Rees dumped him to hand the poisoned chalice of NSW planning to a youthful Kristina Keneally as a well-deserved sabbatical.
But on October 19 he is back in the hot seat, facing a NSW parliamentary inquiry into rezoning plans by developers Ron and Roy Medich, called in the wake of myriad allegations after the murder of their associate Michael McGurk.
Continue reading "Profile: Frank Sartor on being NSW’s most hated man" »
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hoofman says:
Sartor was vocal against ugly high and medium rise development when Mayor of Sydney. When planning minister, he made it easier for these same ugly buildings to go in. Increased density is fine as long as you force the developers to address the visual amenity and provide the facilities for… Read more »
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Chris says:
They gave the man who destroyed Circular Quay the planning portfolio, he then destroyed Ku ring gai. But hey Liberal electorates dont count to a Labor government. Read more »
The NSW Labor Party has taken advantage of the confusion caused by the impending end of the world to install its new preferred candidate as Premier. Upon taking office Godzilla told a press conference this afternoon he was committed to “EAT, KILL , DESTROY” as well as holding underperforming ministers to account.

The Punch received this from some creative individual this morning following Sydney’s freak dust storm. It’s amazing how quickly the viral pictures get made and circulated following a news event with any visual appeal today.
Not being in Sydney this morning I can only assume that the dust storm is in fact real, and not some hoax manufactured for the good of bored web designers.
Update:
Thanks for the photo then Ante, while fellow reader James has since alerted us to this contribution to the Sydney dust storm http://www.flickr.com/photos/ivanaclinton/3945420235/
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Des says:
The present state government is a disaster that’s for sure but, what of the opposition? Godzilla looks really attractive as an alternative to both major parties. One has no policies after a decade or more in government and the other simply has no policies…..aaargh. Read more »
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Biff says:
The Japanese may lodge a protest if we adopt Godzilla as our Premier. Maybe we could allay their fears by giving them Nathan for their next sci-fi movie. Read more »
When The Punch woke up this morning it got a little scared. Sydney looks like it’s about to be swallowed into the bowels of the Earth.

Twitter has gone off with people filing their own pics here.
And News.com.au have an amazing gallery running here. There’s no point asking if you’ve seen anything like this before, as apparently the last time it happened was between the Wars.
Is it a sign? Are we being punished for our pre-GFC greed? Or is it a pre-Copenhagen message - a little taste of what’s to come if we don’t act on climate change now?
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digit says:
looks like 1000 smokey’s have been ripped Read more »
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jimmy says:
no, its adelaide united everywhere!!!! just making our presence felt in sydney an brisbane, we are the reds of australia, fire up united supporters, this amazing since it came from adelaide…. Read more »
Those plotting the demise of the latest NSW Premier - along with those of us simply looking on in resigned bemusement – could do well to tune into the free-to-air premiere of ‘The Wire’ on ABC-2 tonight.
David Simon’s masterpiece, rightly dubbed the ‘greatest TV show ever made’, is ostensibly about the drug trade in Baltimore. While first-time viewers will think they have stumbled upon just another cop show, as they become addicted they will be drawn into the workings of a post-industrial city.
‘The Wire’ is about the connections that bind a city – from the projects to the ports, from politics to education, to the crumbling power of the media. It shows how systems now rule and render good men and women powerless.
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delperro says:
I agree with your position Peter, I think it is one of your finer posts. I agree the narrative about the “great men of politics” is one that constrains them. In fact, I tend to think that not only has this constrained the way we view our leaders, but the… Read more »
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Peter Lewis says:
Stephen, you have indeed out-Geeked me ... As for today;s events, I think Della reinforces the Shakespearean narrative, no? Read more »
To put it kindly, Nathan Rees’ Premiership has been a rocky ride.

His own inexperience has been exacerbated by a decaying Labor Government, no shortage of scandals and a selfish bunch of incompetent Ministers who were focused on personal gain rather than the public good.
To make matters worse, he is about to fall victim to the very same process of which he was once a beneficiary.
Continue reading "Rees should do the decent thing and call the Governor" »
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Timmeh says:
To answer you question Charlie the Nats have 18 MPs in NSW Parliament… ...including 7 of the 8 seats on the north coast. Check your facts next time. Read more »
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Shamim says:
I started drinking and smoking at the age of 19, in 1968 when I started flying. My instructor to introduce me, ” Meet Shamim, he smokes like a chimney and drinks like a fish. But I quit both in 1992; when someone pointed out that I was a slave of… Read more »
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