By-elections of the 44th Australian Parliament (2013-2016)

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/04/labor-wa-senate-candidate-joe-bullock-says-party-cant-be-trusted?CMP=twt_gu

The ALP was apparently worried that people had forgotten about its useless infighting amongst its moronic factions, so Bullock decided to publicly cuss out his running mate, declare that he didn't actually vote Labour that much and that Tony Abbott was an alright PM. Does the ALP have the world's worst political discipline ever?

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If the Labor Party isn't ideologically pure enough for you social libtards then you should join the Green Party.

It's less about "idealogical purity", it's about extremely basic party politics. Polticians shouldn't publically bicker with their own running mates. The public have little interest in your petty internal politics and the press are very interested in turning you into a soap opera. This was a gross miscalculation by Bullock, who will probably be forced into a grovelling retraction of his views.

I'd say the same thing if Pratt had publicly said "Joe Bullock is a tiny willied troglodyte. You should probs vote Green".

(Also speculating upon an opponent's sexuality is bad enough, let alone one of your allies)

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If the Labor Party isn't ideologically pure enough for you social libtards then you should join the Green Party.

It's less about "idealogical purity", it's about extremely basic party politics. Polticians shouldn't publically bicker with their own running mates. The public have little interest in your petty internal politics and the press are very interested in turning you into a soap opera. This was a gross miscalculation by Bullock, who will probably be forced into a grovelling retraction of his views.

I'd say the same thing if Pratt had publicly said "Joe Bullock is a tiny willied troglodyte. You should probs vote Green".

(Also speculating upon an opponent's sexuality is bad enough, let alone one of your allies)

Pratt is not Bullock's "ally", or else Bullock wouldn't have dumped her from the number one spot on the ticket. Bullock has the high ground here: he is an official in Australia's largest union and thus wields power within the party to an extent that Pratt and her liberal allies could never even dream of commanding. It is within his full rights to say what he said and the ALP would never reprimand him or else their funding would go down the drain. His union is the largest power block within the ALP.

Sorry I don't want to get into an argument, but I'm super confused by your position

Even if you don't like someone in your party, it's not good politics to publicly bash them, especially in parliamentary democracies. You are jeopardising your own party by turning off voters. Surely you can agree that it is utterly awful PR for the lead Senate candidate to be ambivalent towards his party, supportive of the opposing party leader and outright dismissive of his own running mate. Even people with "socially conservative" views are turned off by that sort of nonsense. You may see a socially conservative hero valiantly turning back gay marriage, but Murdoch will simply report that the "faceless men" are strangling Labor from within.

And as far as being the "largest power block" in the ALP; well power doesn't last forever. If this sort of thing carries on the Labor leadership will undermine the influence of the "faceless men" by introducing internal reform. One member one vote might become the rule and unions will lose their ability to preselect candidates for safe seats. Of course, his union does have leverage because of funding, but don't think that the ALP won't cut loose if Bullock becomes electoral deadweight.

It's sad talking about the ALP because I think they have many talented people in both Right and Left factions. But their internal democracy is sadly dire; and held back by useless factionalism and petty personal disputes.

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I'm thinking about 60% chance of 2 Labour, 1 Green, 3 Liberal, but a still significant chance of 2 Labour, 1 Green, 1 Minor party of right, 2 Liberal.

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Have one of these: http://www.abc.net.au/news/federal-election-2013/results/senate/wa/ been placed on the ABC website yet? They were fun

(also lol ALP, you suck)

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Good news:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-07/shorten-urges-change-to-alp-rules-remove-union-requirement/5370652

Hopefully Shorten's legacy will be democratising the ALP. It will be painful, but it's better than this sort of ery happening again and again.

(I find it kind odd that in the British Labour Party the unions are more left-wing than the membership, but the ALP the unions are right-wing and the membership are the "mad" lefties.)

Is anyone else deeply disappointed that the preferences lottery didn't elect some raving weirdo crossbencher in a strange single issue party? I hope the Australian Sports Party enjoyed their admittedly brief national spotlight.

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IMHO Labor's problems were:

* Complacency. The whole campaign was based on the idea that the state and federal government are both kinda pants; and somehow unsatisfied voters would magically be attracted to Labor, sort of like how Scottish Labour hubristically assumed disenfranchised Lib Dems would automatically vote Labour. ALP (and the LNP) also swallowed the media idea that the Greens and PUP were dead.

* Messaging. Say what you like about Tony Abbott's LNP - they are masters of controlling issues. "Scrap the tax. Stop the boats. End the waste" - all pithy ways to control the narrative, and it made the ALP elite look like scrabbling nerds when they replied with a few paragraphs on how the carbon tax isn't really a tax etc etc etc. This election the ALP decided to get all hypothetical about potential cuts on the budget, which I don't think is particularly great a negative ad.

* Bullock. I'm sorry Hifly, but Labor would probably have just clawed the last seat if it hadn't been for his comments. It was a terrible thing to leak, as it reminded voters of the ALP of Rudd vs Gillard, Left vs. Right - and why would anyone vote for a party that hadn't changed. His admission that he thought Abbott was a great PM also broke any ALP message that Tony is the worst thing evehh.

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She's just throwing a hissy fit and forgetting that she was preselected to the number one spot using the very same preselection methods in 2007 (and thus owes her entire political career to this factionalism), that over a third of the caucus don't support same-sex marriage, as well as the fact that the SDA is the party's largest donor so they naturally ought to have a right to preselect who they want under the ALP's own rules.

The rules that should be changed, stat.

That said, Pratt should have stayed above the fray. I can't blame her, cause it is essentially Bullock's fault she lost her job, and it quite funny watching a party collapse in on itself like a concertina; but it's quite alarming that the ALP has this extraordinary tendency.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shop,_Distributive_and_Allied_Employees_Association#Criticism

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I suppose because it is pretty much the first green party in the world; that Australia depends on it's natural beauty for tourism much more than europe and the divisided and unisnspiring ALP.

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By-election expected in Queensland state parl.

http://blogs.abc.net.au/antonygreen/2014/05/queensland-set-for-another-by-election.html

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Two more "victims" of ICAC in New South Wales resign their seats: Tim Owen, Newcastle MP and Andrew Cornell, Charlestown MP.

Both were gains in the 2011 wave, and seem to have been reliable Labor seats.

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By-elections - that's what Baird says at least.

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The two safe pick-ups should be even safer, because the Liberals have pussied out decided to "atone" themselves by not running. Nationals are considering running in their absence, even though both seats are perhaps the opposite of National territory.

Oh, and another by-election in Northern Territory will be called in the Darwin suburb of Casuarina. Formerly a CLP seat, but fell to Labor in 2001.

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Extraordinary by-election result in Fisher atm. 8% swing towards a long-term incumbent minority government in a seat that hasn't gone Labor in three decades?? That's almost impressive...

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Bump, for the Canning by-election caused by the death of Don Randall. This has been held by the coalition since the 90's but could be vulnerable (notably in a so-so Year for the ALP 2010, their star candidate almost won the seat).

This is mostly a suburban seat, but incorporates a swathe of WA's second largest city Mandurah.

The Speaker (whenever a new one I'd announced) should call the date.

The late MP's daughter is believed to be front runner for the Liberal selection.

Clive Palmer (lol) confirms PUP will run.

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Tess Randall will not run, front runner for Liberal selection is former soldier Andrew Hastie

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Interesting that the greens slipped a bit, even as the carbon tax fades away and their new leader attempts to reach out.