Another ALP bash

[Fred]

Labor's Deputy Senate leader Kristina Keneally has infuriated the Government and annoyed some of her ALP colleagues by breaking a bipartisan agreement on terrorism legislation — and then boasting about it.

The Crimes Legislation Amendment Act gives police the power to stop and question people in airports
Labor had advised the Government it would support a Centre Alliance amendment for a review of the bill but indicated it did not support a sunset clause
Senator Keneally said Labor had decided during debate on the bill to "test" the will of the Senate
The ABC understands that the chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS), Liberal MP and former SAS captain Andrew Hastie, took Senator Keneally to task for diverting from an agreement to fully support bipartisan anti-terrorism laws.

The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Police Powers at Airports) Act gives police the power to stop and question people in airports who they believe are acting suspiciously.
It also allows police to bar people from the vicinity of airports for 24 hours.

The legislation was developed in response to a foiled Islamic State plot to blow up a 2017 Etihad Airlines flight from Sydney to Abu Dhabi.

Labor and the Coalition had agreed to support the bill's passage, but last-minute manoeuvring on Monday night saw Labor support a four-year sunset clause to the laws, drafted by Centre Alliance's Rex Patrick.

The amendment's passage was aided by the fact that South Australian crossbencher Cory Bernardi had left Parliament unwell and had not been given a "pair" to cancel out the effect of his absence.

Earlier that day, Labor had advised the Government it would support a Centre Alliance amendment for a review of the Police Powers bill but indicated it did not support a sunset clause. Labor argues this indication was not binding.

But at 8.42pm on Monday night, Senator Keneally tweeted that the Government had "just lost a vote in the Senate".


"We successfully amended the Police Powers at Airports Bill to include a PJCIS review of the legislation & sunset clauses as safeguards," her tweet said.

"As @ScottMorrisonMP says such matters "can't be set & forget" -- now they won't be #auspol."

The Government is furious at Labor's Senate antics and some of Senator Keneally's Labor colleagues are similarly unimpressed.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-17/ ... t/11613724
Now this is why I say we should support the efforts of Albanese to bring reform to the party, remove the corrupt and ignorant element.

Well, Keneally decided to play games with our nation’s security. Is this demonstrative of the ALP culture??? Are they turning into the Hanson party where you can promise one thing today, but because some opposite member didn’t make the coffee the way they like, they can cancel their support???

[Outlaw Yogi]

Now this is why I say we should support the efforts of Albanese to bring reform to the party,

As someone who grew up in a die hard Labor household where party fundraisers where held and subject to occasional visits by ALP MPs like Les Jonson, Rex Jackson and Robert Tickner, I ask "Why bother?" ... Why not just let it (ALP) die of natural causes?

[Fred]

Now this is why I say we should support the efforts of Albanese to bring reform to the party,

As someone who grew up in a die hard Labor household where party fundraisers where held and subject to occasional visits by ALP MPs like Les Jonson, Rex Jackson and Robert Tickner, I ask "Why bother?" ... Why not just let it (ALP) die of natural causes?

I do believe we need to keep a socialist type party in the system. And before people complain, I mean social policy party, not communist party. Think about it, NDIS would not exist today without ALP. Religion would still be hiding the reality of child abuse and universal health care and so on. We can complain about HOW they were introduced with pie in the sky policy creation (make it and they will come).

So if we agree on that, the reason we should consider the ALP is because they are backed by the filthy rich Unions. They will remain a force while there is no decent alternative to providing workers with a voice. Many bag the unions, but in a way, there is a considerable amount of people who need them.

We could discuss the reasons for the Unions failures and thus the reason for the failure of ALP but the reality is we need that balance. The ALP is stupendously bad at economy, budgeting and actually paying for the policy they bring to the table. But they do force the Coalition to consider the human element in economy and policy.

I did not like what Keating did while treasurer but we cannot deny the results. Many suffered economic ruin at the policy but we are where we are today for that policy. As ALP treasure, Keating was one of the few Governments that could manage money. So when the ALP gets decent leadership we should all support that leadership to rid the party of the political opportunist who ignore corruption, criminal activity and just bad behaviour just to get the job. So the party can stand on legitimate social policy for the people and not just pretend…

After all that, they are going to be around for a long time as there is no alternative to step in. So while they are there we should support decent people, not the self-centred scared puppets of the unions…

[Black Orchid]

Excellent post, Fred.