Speaker
When Tony Abbott’s parliamentary tactics team met at 8.30 on Tuesday morning, the line of attack for the first day back after the break was obvious.
After a fortnight of moralising by Labor’s “handbag hit-squad’‘, the duplicity of the Government downplaying degrading text messages by the PM’s handpicked Speaker Peter Slipper, was too rich to ignore.
What the Abbott brains-trust needed to decide was how best to proceed.
Continue reading "Slipper meets a predictable end, despite the fireworks" »
The transition in the Speaker’s office from Peter Slipper to Anna Burke was swift, but the distance in style and demeanor was huge.
She is known by colleagues on both sides to be down-to-Earth, a dedicated local member without unnecessary frills.
Ms Burke, only the second woman to be Speaker of the House of Representatives, will never be associated with the robes and processions introduced by her image-conscious predecessor.
Continue reading "Bringing the Speaker’s chair back down to Earth" »
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Stan says:
@Reg Whiteman In 1996, Albert Langer was jailed for telling people how to vote. In a meantime I hope that Pauline will come back with a system of direct demoracy, that will show us how smart or how illiterate are the oi oi oi. Read more »
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Bho Ghan-Pryde says:
Nick, I do not see why Gillard’s performance should set back any chance of there being another female PM in the short term. Plenty of men lie and cock-up on a grand a scale as Julia and some have been PM - for example her immediate predecessor. I am sure… Read more »
Peter Slipper left the Speaker’s office tonight and the Opposition was left with a troubled sense of victory in the campaign to get rid of him.
Mr Slipper bid farewell to his former friend, supporter and wedding guest Tony Abbott, the man who had halted the parliamentary schedule today to demand that he be removed as unfit for office.
He said he held no rancour towards Mr Abbott. Others in his family might not be so generous.
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Emilly says:
roger,This article () makes the point that both ends of the exmrete on the climate change issue have profited (Bob Brown, Greens; Tony Abbott, Liberal) whilst those who sought a middle way (Turnbull, Gillard) have lost:“Climate change has been good for business for some political leaders. Not surprisingly, those who… Read more »
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ruru says:
Right on youdy beaudy All those morally outraged Libs just arsed off their high horses. Hilarious. Read more »
There’s a story about Tony Abbott excitedly returning home from parliament and informing his wife Margie that John Howard had given him the important tactical position of Leader of the House.
He was promptly told, and I’m paraphrasing, well you’re not the leader of this house honey, take the garbage out. For someone with a problem with strong women, the Opposition Leader has spent his whole life surrounded by them.
A growing list of Government MPs have today joined a chorus of complaint about Abbott’s dealings with the acting Speaker of the House of Representatives Anna Burke. Burke threw Abbott out of Question Time yesterday, after Abbott just couldn’t bring himself to obey her order to withdraw a sledge “unreservedly.”
Continue reading "Abbott - woman trouble, or trouble with a woman…" »
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jasperjen says:
Me thinks he has a thing against bombastic women who abound in the Labor Government and not Capable women I am a woman who does not find him unlikable and as stated in the Media MsGillard has a problem being liked by both sexes . Read more »
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BobL says:
Dear me, all the tory loving bloggers are out in force. The complaint that Abbott has a problem with competent, successful, powerful women pales into insignificance when compared with the absolute gutter language used by the tories against the PM. “Me thinks you do protest too much.” The truth hurts… Read more »
From the time of The Punch’s launch the then-Speaker of the House of Representatives was a bit of a Punch mascot. A favourite with some of our more politically-obsessed, Question Time-viewing readers.
Harry put up with a lot. During the tedious 17-day post-election negotiations over who would form government in the hung parliament, Julia Gillard offered Harry’s job to Rob Oakeshott. To cheers Harry clung on to the Speaker’s Chair - for a while.
When the PM saw an opportunity to put Peter Slipper in the chair, thereby removing an opposition vote and shoring up her tenuous position ever so slightly, she pounced.
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Viva says:
Tony, you need to stop commenting about yourself on the internet. It isn’t seemly. Read more »
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William says:
@marley Peter Slipper is not and has never been a member of the ALP. He was a Coalition MP for 18 years because Liberal supporters like you voted for him for 18 years. Read more »
Journalists who report on politics for a living see plenty of hypocrisy. We’re seeing plenty now from Julia Gillard.
She asserts that Peter Slipper should not be sidelined until sexual harassment allegations are dealt with by the courts because he’s entitled to the presumption of innocence. It’s the same excuse the prime minister uses when she refuses to intervene in the Craig Thomson affair and says the Labor backbencher accused of grossly rorting union credit cards still has her full confidence.
Yet when Wikileaks infuriated the US Government by publishing a stack of leaked diplomatic cables, Gillard immediately accused editor-in-chief Julian Assange of acting illegally. There was no presumption of innocence for him.
Continue reading "Gillard’s hypocrisy on the presumption of innocence" »
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Happymonkey says:
Laurie attacks Gillard from the Left. Not surprising. How come there is no mention of the Government’s hypocrisy in dealing with CDRE Bruce Kafer? Read more »
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andye says:
@JTZ - are you another person from a parallel universe where the GFC never happened? Read more »
The public view of the Gillard Government is it’s shielding a man who took union money to pay for prostitutes and another man who tried to get a male staffer into the cot.
None of these claims has been tested or confirmed by a court, all have been denied. But they have become currency in front-bar political debate and can only hurt Labor.
It has been hard enough for the Government to sustain Craig Thomson on its back bench. It now has Peter Slipper – who has never been a member of the ALP – to manage.
Continue reading "It’s no longer about the majority, it’s about integrity" »
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Karin says:
” It is quite obvious that someone has forged Peter Slipper’s signature,” Wouldn’t be the first time the Libs resorted to sleazy tactics like that.Who can forget Bill Heffernan’s attempt to destroy Michael Kirby’s reputation with forged comcar documentation. And then there was Ute-Gate,another attempt by the Libs to get… Read more »
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Karen from Qld says:
I stand by my earlier comments - your lack of knowledge of Qld politics is breathtaking . You obviously were not following the course of the Qld election otherwise you would have known that Anna made a fool out of herself with her outlandish claims and smear campaign. I have… Read more »
Peter Slipper, draped in black in a manner most young voters will not see outside Hogwarts, has dramatically altered the style of the Speaker’s office.
All occupants of the chair consider the job important. Slipper believes that previously discarded layers of trappings and ceremony are needed to make the point.
Predecessor to this Prince of Pomp was Harry Jenkins, who was more a “People’s Speaker”, a Labor lefty whose natural mode was of informality. But his love of Parliament has been genuine and deep.
Continue reading "New speaker’s slack clobber, old speaker clobbers slackers" »
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Bruce says:
@jf Nobody could maintain such an obvious lie, so it has to be totally uninformed. Read more »
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jf says:
Bruce says:03:44pm | 10/02/12 “Which part of the word Independent don’t you understand? “ Are you really saying that you think that because a member is independent that they can’t be part of the Government. If only you were right and idiots like Oakeshott would be relegated to the irrelevance… Read more »
The ghost of Mal Colston is wandering the corridors of Federal Parliament, and some Labor people with long memories fear the worst.
When Colston ratted on the Labor Party in return for the post of Deputy Senate President 15 years ago, giving John Howard a senate majority on crucial issues, it ended in tears.
Will the same thing happen as a result of Julia Gillard’s decision to tighten her government’s grip on power by making disaffected Queensland Liberal MP Peter Slipper Speaker of the House?
Continue reading "Exterminate! Exterminate! Slipper has target on his back" »
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Martin says:
If you’d have been paying attention, you’d have noticed that Abbott didn’t threaten to expel any Liberal who became Speaker 15 months ago because he wanted Peter Slipper’s vote. The best part about all of this isn’t just that the equation has gone from 75-74 to 76-73, it’s that the… Read more »
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DaveinPerth says:
They have a dirt file on Slipper ? I wonder how many other LNP MP’s are unfit for office? What other Youtube blockbusters are we going to see ? Malcolm Turnbull driving a Hummer ? Bronwyn Bishop’s famous ‘no-makeup’ shots ? Christopher Pyne leaving a certain bathhouse ? Joe Hockey… Read more »
Tony Abbott could have done more to look after Peter Slipper as ambitious enemies lusted after his cushy Queensland seat of Fisher. But he didn’t.
Now the Opposition Leader will pay the price.
Slipper, or Slippery Pete as his nickname goes, has looked after himself by quitting the Liberals and taking up a Labor offer to become Speaker replacing the estimable Harry Jenkins. There is no formal requirement for the speaker to be from the party of government.
Continue reading "Sinking in the Slipper to restore some order to Parly" »
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Claire says:
At least the liberal coalition are honest they not afraid to say before the election they can’t afford to make promisers if they have to pills more debt to give state government who was already deep in debt during the good ecomomy with the rest of world government pilling more… Read more »
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Mr. Grey says:
Slipper was voted in by the people of his electorate to be a voting voice for the Liberal party. To help the Labor party by abstaining from voting the way his voting electorate expected is joining the Labor parties cause and gives labor a clear advantage which is duplicitous. I… Read more »
To all those in the The Punch community who wanted – needed – to believe in the ‘New Paradigm’ politics: sorry, we told you so.
In order to gain the Speakership of our Parliament, one of the Independents will have to consider deciding and neutralising his vote on any issue before it is debated in the chamber. Goodbye quaint notion of MPs working together to discern the national interest through rational parliamentary dialogue. Goodbye the New Naïveté.
In the end, the Independents, like most politicians, believe that everything will be better if only they hold the power. This Independent is after the power of the Speakership, because only he can be trusted with the power of the new paradigm.
Continue reading "Farewell new paradigm, we hardly knew you" »
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Mike T says:
If it came to light that it was unconstitutional after the result then ALL parties are at fault. Just becasue the Libs are the only ones recognising that there may be a problem and are having the appropriate parties review it dosent make them anymore accountable for the error then… Read more »
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MarK says:
Hmmm Harry….let me see. Ah yes. Be a part of the party that was elected to government by the people. You know - be loyal and stuff. get a reward. Or if there is a great tradition in the Labor party of giving plum jobs and critical roles on the… Read more »
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