The only question is why it took Morris Iemma so long to see what everyone else could see plainly. Apparently Paul Keating had a hand in the decision.
Update: Trevor Cook:
Costa is a loud-mouth political bully who screams and screeches like a two-year old when he doesn’t get his way. He held several portfolios without distinction. He is basically a blow-hard and ineffective politician who has spent his miserable career doing damage to the union movement, the NSW Government and the people of this state.
Update: Via Amanda in comments, there’s speculation that Iemma will be toppled too when caucus meets.
Update [dk.au]: Iemma resigns. Daily Telegraph
So, Barry O’Farrell and the Coalition rained on Morris Iemma’s privatisation parade. Now, the Dilemmster announces that he can still privatise the retailers and generation sites without parliamentary approval.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Iemma’s original argument some high sounding blather about the sovereignty of the people’s representatives in Parliament assembled and governing in the people’s interest not those of the unions and the party machine? Internal ALP democracy was supposed to give way to parliamentary democracy.
Pathetic. Contempt for his own party, the people of New South Wales and democratic institutions.
Hat tip: Chookie in comments.
Poor old Morris. He can’t take a trick. After cunningly switching the introduction of the electricity privatisation bills to the Upper House (to avoid the chance of a symbolic defeat in the House that actually determines government and presumably to unleash the persuasive charm of Michael Costa), now he’s finding to his surprise that his troops in the Liberal Party won’t do his bidding. Wtf? But it’s the logic of NSW state politics at the moment. Confused columnists at The Australian are also decrying the Liberals for doing something which is a political no brainer - going with public opinion rather than propping up Iemma. The “business community” might be unhappy, but on that see this post from Andrew Elder, who I think reads the politics somewhat better than Tim Dunlop does. Dunlop seems to have partially swallowed the “test of O’Farrell’s mettle” theme. I think it’s perfectly sensible, and indeed appropriate, for an opposition to oppose highly unpopular legislation which is misconceived anyway.
Update: A new post on Iemma’s latest move - dispensing with parliamentary democracy altogether.
Elliott Bledsoe reminds us not to take men wearing robes all that seriously. Make sure you look at this photo very carefully indeed.
Note: If you don’t like what you see - tough - it’s now legal to be annoyed.
Continue reading ‘World Youth Day: The dark side of the force?’
What the hell is with the New South Wales government? Down here in Victoria, our state government is at least trying to grapple with serious issues like how we’re going to move ourselves around our rapidly growing state capital. Meanwhile, in New South Wales, the government seems to be far too busy fighting itself and the NSW union movement to do anything much. Not to mention backbenchers publicly slagging off the entire front bench.
About the only policy output coming out of them right now seems to be Treasurer Michael Costa running his mouth off at the Garnaut Review in The Oz. As typing is not activism points out, it’s moronic.
Is there any prospect whatsoever of the NSW Labor Party getting itself sorted out and concentrating on dealing with that state’s considerable economic and social problems at some point between now and the next election?
Well, hasn’t it been a busy week or so for NSW Minister John Della Bosca and his wife, Federal backbencher MP Belinda Neal?
Of course, for the last few days we’ve only been hearing about her, despite Della Bosca’s documented history of multiple traffic offences leading to a revoked driving license and allegations that he was part of the alleged drunken and abusive behaviour in a Central Coast nightclub last weekend.
Last month Della Bosca’s licence was revoked for six months following a series of speeding offences, after which he reportedly swore at a newspaper photographer for taking pictures of him riding a bicycle.
Yesterday, he refused to speak to irate teachers who invaded his office to vent their fury at the Government’s decision to change the rules under which school principals hire staff. [source]
Perhaps the newspapers are a bit bored with Della Bosca’s temper, plus although people like to lampoon him he’s simply not that easy a target for anything more (such as collecting a political scalp for the editor’s wall), due to the degree of power he wields in the NSW Labor party. But his wife doesn’t have the same powerbase behind her, and besides - a woman with a filthy temper, there’s a news story with legs - cue hordes of gleefully chortling editors. Neal’s excesses have made the international newspapers now, which gives us a very pithy summary of the key points that are being latched onto for the news cycle: Continue reading ‘Power couple politics NSW style and the alleged disciplinary double standard’
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