http://ambit-gambit.nationalforum.com.au/archives/003125.html

The other major area of concern for urban Liberals will be the numerical strength of the National party. For many years the National party has maintained good links with the CWA, NFF and other community associations to the extent that I honestly believe that they DO have a larger membership than the QLD Libs. The extent to which this membership is active is somewhat debatable.

Most urban Liberals that I know would prefer a constitution based on “one person, one vote”. It doesn’t seem to me that this principle or concerns about accommodating the sheer size of the Nationals membership have been adequately accounted for.

Equally, I have heard from the Nationals side that there is disquiet about the proposed constitution particularly in terms of its effect in disempowering local members in decision making processes. This is a constitution done on the run by power brokers out of touch with their respective broader membership. The election of Brough will put the handbrake on this “shepharding” of members.

I don’t think it is the deathknell for a merger but it will lead to a lot more analysis of the propososed constitution and some hardball playing for the Liberal side. The wildcard in all this is the “ballot” already sent to party members last week BEFORE the convention. How the results of this ballot will be spun is anyone’s guess – but I think it might be the first bushfire that Brough has to put out.

You might be interested to know that Clive has promised $100 million to help the Aborigines in WA but to the best of my knowledge, not one red cent has actually been placed on the table.

Promises, promises, …

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/queensland/merger-delays-weeks-not-months-brough/2008/06/01/1212258631738.html

This from Hansard 30/04/08 explains why Palmer was turfed out by the liberal Party.

Mr MICKEL: In 1975 he was a member of the Liberal Party, but in that year he decided that he
wanted a cowboy outfit for Christmas so he bought the National Party. Why was he drummed out of the
Liberal Party? It was for alleged electoral irregularities in the movement’s 1975 presidential election.
The businessman who has bought the National Party was drummed out of the Liberal Party because he
was a vote rorter.
Opposition members interjected.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! While I really do not want to throw anyone out of the chamber this morning,
some members are acting as if they very much want to be. I call the minister.
Mr MICKEL: Not only was he a vote rorter; he could not tell the truth because what he said to the
papers was, ‘How could they expel me when I had already resigned?’ What did the minutes show? The
minutes showed acceptance of his resignation as grants development chairman but not acceptance of
his resignation from the Liberal Party. How do we know that? The Liberal Party minutes of 29 August
1975 show exactly that.
The other thing is that he says he was drummed out. They were concerned about the validity of
Sunshine Coast delegates to council. Why? Because the Sunshine Coast branch had been closed. In
other words, he put delegates in there from a closed branch. It gets better. Those from the Sunshine
Coast branch were falsely made out as to addresses and were invalid because no money was received.
In other words, what we have got is a perpetual vote rorter now running the National Party.

http://publicpolity.wordpress.com/2008/06/01/brough-in-charge/

The question mark relates to the likelihood that whatever emerges from the process now won’t be the Borg’s desired model.

I find it amazing that both these parties who opposed an open, transparent and successful council amalgamation last year on a huge scale are showing us their own inability to amalgamate just two entities.

Clive Palmer was kicked out of the Liberals in Queensland for turning up to a State Council meeting in the 1970’s with votes of delagates from the Cooroy branch of the Libs which no longer existed.

In 2008 he offered a couple of helicopter rides and use of a hundred seat DC9 aircraft to members of the shadow opposition in Queensland and they were so impressed the alleged 10 000 members consisting mainly of stud Bulls, stud rams, race horses and the odd goat sold the National Party to him.

Under some form of pyramid selling apparently their sometime sparing partners the Queensland Liberals learned that there was plenty of money to to had for running the next state election if they switch sides and allowed themselves to be taken over by the National Party.

Then there was another back flip by the Libs in voting yesterday which will delay the whole process…

Given the harm both parties have done me over the years, I have no love for either Nationals or Liberals …. however, if we are going to continue having a bipartisan parliament [not yet proven to be an especially good thing] then the Liberals need to change from being a cagefull of rich destructive brawling monkeys …. and the Nationals need do something more, anything at all, than just wait around for another Peter Beattie and another issue like council amalgamations to rescue then from well-earned oblivion.

The Pineapple Party might be the way to go …. on the good old Aussie principle of give it a burl mate, suck it and see, put a quid on it sport, etc. What do we have to lose? If nothing else, the Pineapple Party would brighten up the pages of Queensland political history – however long the new party lasts.

If it doesn’t work then the survivors might care to join the Australian Democrats or The Greens or the Australian Labor Party …. which then begs the question of why they didn’t do that in the first place.

And Anna will comfortably beat either of the ananas in pyjamas.

Certainly. Back to square one. Another false dawn.

BTW can anyone explain how Clive Palmer fits into this jigsaw?

Our Mal is only partial to pineapple on his terms.