2019 Federal Election

[Rorschach]

Not voting doesn't help...

At least with a vote your primary vote helps to finance the party you voted for.

I REALLY do NOT care anymore!

I care.... I care about my country and its future.

[Black Orchid]

I care too. I care for my childrens' sake.

[brian ross]

[Black Orchid]

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has blasted independent Kerryn Phelps’ bill on medical transfers for asylum seekers that could pass parliament with Labor’s support on Thursday, saying the legislation would “completely crumble offshore processing in this country”.

In an extraordinary press conference at Parliament House, Mr Morrison said his opponent Bill Shorten was a "threat" to the safety of Australians and said Labor's support for the bill would turn the offshore detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru into "transit lounges".

The Phelps bill would allow two doctors to authorise a medical transfer from Manus Island or Nauru to Australia, if they believed they could not get adequate treatment offshore.

Labor will only support the bill if there are changes so that the minister still needs to sign off on each transfer, but explain any refusals to the parliament.

Mr Morrison said the Coalition and Labor were not on the same page on border protection, setting up a rhetorical contest over the issue in the leadup to the 2019 election.

"We're no longer joined at the hip when it comes to the Labor Party. I doubt we really ever were. Every single time, they have to be dragged along, dragged along," Mr Morrison said.

He said the bill would see Australia “abandoning offshore processing as we know it”.

"Labor want to abolish offshore processing as we know it, turn it into a transit lounge. They have learnt nothing," the prime minister said.

“They are weak as, when it comes to border protection."

The House of Reps will debate the bill on Thursday - on its very last sitting day of 2018. It would then need to clear the Senate, which also sits for its final day today.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/facing-emba ... the-attack

This is what worries me the most. More and more fighting aged cowardly young men dumped in Sydney with a hug and put on welfare. The very ones who should be at home fighting to make their countries safer for their women and children, whom they have left behind.

Once Bill has had his term Sydney will be lost forever.

[sprintcyclist]

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has blasted independent Kerryn Phelps’ bill on medical transfers for asylum seekers that could pass parliament with Labor’s support on Thursday, saying the legislation would “completely crumble offshore processing in this country”.

In an extraordinary press conference at Parliament House, Mr Morrison said his opponent Bill Shorten was a "threat" to the safety of Australians and said Labor's support for the bill would turn the offshore detention centres on Manus Island and Nauru into "transit lounges".

The Phelps bill would allow two doctors to authorise a medical transfer from Manus Island or Nauru to Australia, if they believed they could not get adequate treatment offshore.

Labor will only support the bill if there are changes so that the minister still needs to sign off on each transfer, but explain any refusals to the parliament.

Mr Morrison said the Coalition and Labor were not on the same page on border protection, setting up a rhetorical contest over the issue in the leadup to the 2019 election.

"We're no longer joined at the hip when it comes to the Labor Party. I doubt we really ever were. Every single time, they have to be dragged along, dragged along," Mr Morrison said.

He said the bill would see Australia “abandoning offshore processing as we know it”.

"Labor want to abolish offshore processing as we know it, turn it into a transit lounge. They have learnt nothing," the prime minister said.

“They are weak as, when it comes to border protection."

The House of Reps will debate the bill on Thursday - on its very last sitting day of 2018. It would then need to clear the Senate, which also sits for its final day today.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/facing-emba ... the-attack

This is what worries me the most. More and more fighting aged cowardly young men dumped in Sydney with a hug and put on welfare. The very ones who should be at home fighting to make their countries safer for their women and children, whom they have left behind.

Once Bill has had his term Sydney will be lost forever.

Yes, the crims overseas will be planning on more boatloads of illegals

[cods]

my problem is with Phelps... what hell would she know????...

come on everyone who thinks they are being smart
voting in independents this is what you get..

now shortarse says the immigration minister can sign off after two doctors claim they need mainland hospital.... on each and every one... of course he has nothing else to do

oh and btw the minister has to tell parliament why IF HE KNOCKS SOMEONE BACK..

yet the doctors do not have to explain to anyone...


what on earth is our govt for???????


may as well give the bureaucrats the keys to the asylum ....

[Black Orchid]

I don't like Phelps either but let's not forget that she won with the help of Turnbull

Some indies are ok it depends on the platforms that they run on. Phelps has always been for small minority gay rights etc and not much else that isn't obstructionist.

Dick Smith would be one I would vote for as he is very passionate about immigration and sustainability and would give the ALP, Greens and people like Phelps a run for their money. I hope he runs in Mackellar.

[cods]

the senate was there to keep the bastards honest....

it is now the real parliament they have complete control over the govt......

its what i call an ABUSE OF POWER... and yes they do use it.... its wrong..

that why I loath preferences they are distorting what people actually want...

it confounds me....

[sprintcyclist]

the senate was there to keep the bastards honest....

it is now the real parliament they have complete control over the govt......

its what i call an ABUSE OF POWER... and yes they do use it.... its wrong..

that why I loath preferences they are distorting what people actually want...

it confounds me....

I agree

[Black Orchid]

Former prime minister John Howard says Scott Morrison has enough working in his favour to win the next election.

The former long-serving Liberal leader — who won federal elections in 1996, 1998, 2001 and 2004 before losing the prime ministership to Labor’s Kevin Rudd in 2007 — said Mr Morrison had a few things going for him.

“I believe Scott Morrison can win the next election,” Mr Howard said on Tuesday.

“I believe there are a number of things working in his favour.

“To start with there’s no ‘it’s time’ factor. The economy is running well and we still have a huge equity in economic management.

“And the Labor Party once again is starting to wobble on border protection. They wobbled after Mr Rudd was elected, they haven’t changed. They will wobble again if they get elected.” Labor has led the coalition 55 per cent to 45 per cent in the two-party preferred vote in the past three Newspolls, while Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has closed the gap as preferred prime minister.

But Mr Howard, who was speaking at a National Archives of Australia event in Canberra, said Mr Shorten’s tax plans and union links would hurt him.

“I don’t think he’s looking like an alternative prime minister,” he said.

“He will be run by the unions and I don’t think Australia wants a prime minister run by the unions.

“Bob Hawke was not run by the unions and he might have been president of the ACTU, but he was far less subservient to the union movement than Bill Shorten has demonstrated.”

Mr Howard’s message for squabbling Liberals was to stop obsessing about factions and focus on what united the party, not what divided it.

He said focusing on differences wasn’t productive.

“I don’t think a single person in my cabinet you could say was a total conservative or totally small-l liberal,” he said.

“I am a classical liberal on economic policy. I am a classical liberal in being totally opposed to a bill of rights.

“I am a conservative in the sense that I don’t believe in discarding institutions that I believe have served the test of time.

“Everyone knows I am a constitutional monarchist. I have a conservative view on same-sex marriage. That has been resolved. I accept the outcome.”

Mr Howard said the Liberal party’s “Broad Church” took support from libertarians and conservatives, but it wasn’t that simple.

“In most instances, everyone in my party is a combination of classical liberalism and conservatism,” he said.

The Liberal party has been split with debates about its future, after conservatives dumped Malcolm Turnbull from the prime ministership, his seat went independent, and the Victorian Liberals were thumped in a state election.

Mr Howard said the party must maintain its fundamentals.

“We don’t want to obsess about differences we have on particular issues,” he said.

“They’ll always be there. Providing there is understanding, give and take, we can remain a very effective Broad Church. There are so many things that we all have in common.”

Mr Howard, who spent 11 years as prime minister of Australia, listed free speech, individualism, small business, strong borders, and sensible economic policies as values all Liberals share.

But he said the party should push back against accusations it was “far right”.

“What’s far right about having a conservative position on a social issue? It’s not far right. It’s conservative,” he said.