#ausvotes19 election date 18th May 2019

[STB]

Just an observation - It's funny how throughout the campaign the Greens and Labor ridiculed media outlets stating that News Corp is worthless rubbish, yet the other publications get their tick of approval. The other parties don't dictate which media outlets are the most appropriate news source. It's such a socialist thing to dictate which media is appropriate for news. If Labor and Greens are heading in that direction as per above? Australia will turn into a socialist totalitarian regime. People should be able to choose their media outlet without Political interference.

The thing is though News Ltd (especially newspapers like The Daily Telegraph in Sydney), does tend to take the right wing view in their reporting.  Heck, they even have people like Miranda Devine and Andrew Bolt, two well known right wingers.

The ALP isn't after a socialist totalitarian type state, just wanting to get a bit more equity for those people who are struggilng (like the disabled, unemployed, etc) - and to do that you have to spend $$ to create equity, which means taxes.

I know with myself living with a chronic life threatening medical condition, I often question why I need to live below the poverty line when I'm spending everyday attempting to keep myself alive (I get the DSP).

[timh]

Just an observation - It's funny how throughout the campaign the Greens and Labor ridiculed media outlets stating that News Corp is worthless rubbish, yet the other publications get their tick of approval. The other parties don't dictate which media outlets are the most appropriate news source. It's such a socialist thing to dictate which media is appropriate for news. If Labor and Greens are heading in that direction as per above? Australia will turn into a socialist totalitarian regime. People should be able to choose their media outlet without Political interference.

The thing is though News Ltd (especially newspapers like The Daily Telegraph in Sydney), does tend to take the right wing view in their reporting.  Heck, they even have people like Miranda Devine and Andrew Bolt, two well known right wingers.

The ALP isn't after a socialist totalitarian type state, just wanting to get a bit more equity for those people who are struggilng (like the disabled, unemployed, etc) - and to do that you have to spend $$ to create equity, which means taxes.

I know with myself living with a chronic life threatening medical condition, I often question why I need to live below the poverty line when I'm spending everyday attempting to keep myself alive (I get the DSP).

^ well said STB!

[ozbob]

Admin: Some posts in this thread have been removed. Please refrain from provocation and direct insult.

>> https://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=3.0

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Jackie Trad likely victim of Labor bloodbath

THE Palaszczuk Government would be wiped out in a bloodbath if the federal election results were repeated at next year's state poll.

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad would be swallowed by a rising Green tide in her South Brisbane electorate, while LNP swings up and down the coast could see just three Labor MPs left north of Caboolture.

Analysis by The Courier-Mail reveals Townsville, Thuringowa, Mundingburra, Keppel, Rockhampton, Maryborough and Mackay would fall like dominoes down the coastline, taking out Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk's hopes for a third term amid anger about Adani.

Labor would battle to keep Cairns, Barron River, a handful of seats in Brisbane and lose its newly-won Gold Coast jewel Gaven, with little chance of realising plans to pick up more electorates south of Brisbane to counteract losses in the regions.

The analysis, based on swings and total votes recorded at federal polling booths, and compared to results from Queensland's 2017 election, comes as another Labor stalwart, former minister and speaker John Mickel, urged Labor to better sell its resources credentials.

"We should be pro-mining because we have got a good story to tell," he said.

"It is mining that provides the royalties that pay for the school teachers and the cops and the doctors and the nurses and that cannot be immediately replaced."

Mr Mickel said the majority of coal mined in Queensland was metallurgical coal for steelmaking, and solar could not make steel.

Ms Palaszczuk has been defiant when asked if her government accepted any responsibility for the poll result, saying: "Queenslanders are smart enough to know the difference" between a federal and state election.

But as regional MPs worry an anti-Adani stance will kill them, it can be revealed Ms Trad would be the biggest scalp amid any pro-mining backlash.

LNP preferences already saved her from a Greens onslaught in 2017 but with the LNP resolving not to do the same in 2020, Ms Trad will be hard pressed to survive.

Analysis of her inner-city seat's largest polling booth at West End at the weekend shows an 11 per cent swing to the Greens candidate, who outpolled Labor incumbent Terri Butler on first preferences.

Meanwhile, massive swings towards the LNP north of Brisbane dwarfed a national swing of just 0.5 per cent and would wipe out all but a few of Labor's 12 MPs north of Caboolture.

Only Speaker Curtis Pitt, first-term Cook MP Cynthia Lui and Gladstone's Glen Butcher may survive in the north.

Seven other regional Labor MPs would face wipe-out including the seat of Mackay, held on an 8.3 per cent margin.

Even before Saturday's vote, MPs with seats close to the Adani Carmichael coal mine were feeling the heat and forced Ms Palaszczuk into an emergency meeting to vent their anger at the Government's handling of the mine.

Communities Minister Coralee O'Rourke was one attendee who faces electoral oblivion amid a dramatic reversal of two-party preferred votes in booths across the two federal seats overlapping Mundingburra.

Labor MPs in the neighbouring seats of Townsville (0.4 per cent) and Thuringowa (4.1 per cent) face the same swings and a plunging primary vote.

Across the region, booths that were solidly Labor in 2017 were flipped deep into LNP hands on Saturday off preference flows from minor parties.

A drop in One Nation's primary vote in Herbert – which covers the most densely populated areas of Thuringowa – saw the LNP's primary soar and, if replicated next year, would turn Thuringowa blue.

Hopes of swapping regional losses for Gold Coast gains look shaky with Labor losing ground there at the weekend. In Brisbane, Labor would likely lose marginal Aspley after varying swings of up to 10 per cent were recorded toward the LNP in the overlapping federal electorates of Lilley and Dickson.

Housing Minister Mick de Brenni, who holds Springwood by 3.6 per cent, will face a scare after federal Labor frontbencher Jim Chalmers kept Rankin but recorded swings of up to 10 per cent against him at different booths.

Labor could hold onto Mansfield, Redlands, Ferny Grove and Redcliffe, but MPs will still be nervous.

Game. on.

[ozbob]

From: https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/federal-election-2019/joel-fitzgibbon-says-he-warned-against-labor-s-coal-message-20190520-p51pa0.html

[Stillwater]

With such a strong showing by the LNP in the federal poll in Queensland, the speculation is that strong performers will be rewarded with Ministerial posts in the next Morrison Cabinet. That could translate into more influence and greater focus on Queensland issues in the years ahead. Rapid regional rail to Maryborough anyone?

[techblitz]

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/palaszczuk-the-warnings-been-delivered/ar-AABCbET?ocid=spartanntp

If Peter Dutton was the happiest, and most relieved person in the room at his election party on Saturday, Deb Frecklington wasn't far behind.

The State Opposition Leader would have needed to suck a bag of lemons, to wipe the smile from her face.

She'd just watched, and rejoiced, not just in the Morrison Government being returned,but celebrated all Queensland MPs being returned, and winning two Labor seats.

And tellingly, in regional marginal seats, that the Shorten Opposition expected to win, Labor was belted.

They won nothing, and the sitting conservatives are back with safer margins.

That's what sent alarm bells ringing for the Palaszczuk Labor State Government.

It means, astonishingly, Labor holds no Federal seat north of the Hornibrook Highway.

Nothing.

And it puts the pressure on their state MPs at next year's poll.

The crucial issue was the multi-billion dollar Adani coal mine, in Central Queensland.

The LNP's support for the project, and its thousands of direct and indirect jobs, was crucial.

And so was Labor's flip-flopping.

It's message was confused and conflicted, muddied by its support for jobs, and the environment.

Voters put jobs first.

And they were incensed by the Bob Brown-led caravan, that swept, unwanted, into regional towns, demanding the coal mine be stopped.

They saw that as outsiders telling them what they could, and could not have. That the environment was more important than their jobs and livelihoods.
The former Greens leader won't be on Bill Shorten's Christmas card list.

And, with the mine delayed by the Queensland Government, by what's perceived as a constant shifting of the goal posts with demands to satisfy additional environmental and water management plans, pressure is mounting from traditional Labor supporters, and from within, to act.

Many are pointing the finger at Treasurer, and deputy Premier Jackie Trad who's under enormous pressure from the Greens in her inner Brisbane seat.

She just held on last election, and faces the Greens' wrath if Adani goes ahead.

Senior former state Labor ministers have come and delivered the Premier and her Government massive backhanders, demanding she show leadership and make some tough decisions.

They insist she has to stick to core Labor values and put the workers and jobs first.

There's still just short of 18 months before the state election.

But Annastacia Palaszczuk won't want to let the bleeding go on for too long.

The warning's been delivered.

[ozbob]

In terms of magnitude the outcome of #ausvotes19 is not that massive, it is just it came against the apparent perception that Labor was in front, and seems more spectacular because of that.  I am pleased that blue will have a small working majority in the lower house, and the Senate has less crossbenchers to distort outcomes. I would have been pleased if red had endeded up with a small working majority in the lower house.  Hung parliaments are just conducive to even more policy failure.

Another way of looking at the results:

https://twitter.com/TomaszAndraszek/status/1130450636212805637

[ozbob]

I bumped into Peter Dutton at BNE one day and had a brief chat.  He seemed perfectly normal and rational to me.   

It is a tough game politics ...

[Stillwater]

Labor slightly ahead in Lilley (Wayne Swan's former seat), but if it falls to LNP, there virtually will be no red electorates in Queensland north of the Brisbane River!

[techblitz]

https://www.facebook.com/MarkLathamsOutsiders/posts/2714738928567429

LABOR NEVER LEARNS

I wrote this about Bill Shorten and the ALP two years ago, in May 2017. It was all so clear, but Shorten and his team ignored commonsense and have now paid a heavy political price (as they should have).

Please have a read:

I have a theory about Labor Governments. From the high-water mark of the Hawke years, they are getting progressively worse.

In the 1980s, Bob Hawke set the gold standard for Labor, combining economic openness and fiscal restraint with an effective social safety net. It's been downhill since then.

The Keating Government lost touch with the electorate by focusing on low-priority symbolic issues, such as the Republic, affirmative action and arts funding.

This was a nascent experiment with identity politics, which ended badly for Labor at the 1996 election.

The Rudd Government (2007-10) did some good things in its first 12 months but then fell into chaos with unsustainable deficit budgeting and policy gridlock on climate change.

Julia Gillard's administration was even worse, a rolling pantomime of scandals, broken promises and a leader clearly out of her depth.

With opinion polls pointing to the likelihood of a Labor victory at the next election, we have to ask: what about a Shorten government?

After the failings of the Rudd/Gillard era, Bill Shorten needed to take his party in a different direction: to rediscover the benefits of economic productivity, balanced budgets and a unified Australian society.

There's much work to be done in bringing Australians together: in making us one people, not a series of warring racial, gender and sexuality tribes.

The new Opposition Leader needed to give fresh life to the Hawke agenda, to return Labor's core values to the time of its most successful period in government.

This was what I told Shorten when we met over lunch in Liverpool in 2014. I told him to stand up to the Left faction and assert his leadership around what was right for the party and the nation.
Either he's a poor listener or I was a lousy advocate, because he followed none of my advice.

He took the line of least resistance, caving into the Left on economic issues and the primitivism of identity politics.

Little Billy is a lost cause. By every indicator, he will lead a Labor government worse than Rudd and Gillard – as impossibly dreadful as that might seem.

On economic policy, Shorten has given up on growing private sector incomes through productivity reform.

He has drunk the Kool-Aid of "Inclusive Prosperity" – an economic theory brought to Australia by Wayne Swan.

When I first heard of Inclusive Prosperity, I thought it must have been a strategy for growing the economy and then using social policy to give people greater opportunities in life.

It actually works the other way.

Shorten and Swan believe that increasing social spending can make Australia more prosperous – tabbing up extra debt and deficit as a viable financial strategy.

At the launch of Labor's economic policy in Brisbane last year, Shorten said, "Fairness is not a dividend of prosperity, it is a foundation for sustainable growth".

What planet is this bloke from?

The only sustainable pathway to economic growth is through people working smarter and harder, making Australia more efficient and internationally competitive.

We need lower taxes, greater financial incentive and higher productivity – not another madcap era of Swan-inspired spending, notched up on the national credit card.

Labor has redefined bulk-billing rates as an arm of economic policy.

So next time you take your kids to the doctor, according to Shortenomics, it's not about curing a virus or rash, it's a new form of wealth creation.

This is a zany and dangerous doctrine, from a party unfit for government.

Four years ago, Labor's Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen wrote a book, Hearts and Minds, in which he declared his support for open economic markets.

But he no longer talks that way.

His sole focus is on the political trickery of housing affordability.

The best way of lowering housing costs is by lowering housing demand – cutting Australia's massive immigration program.

But Bowen can't do that as large Middle Eastern ethnic groups have taken control of Labor politics in his Western Sydney electorate.

Bowen's policy is to abolish negative gearing concessions for existing housing stock.

This will produce a flood of negative gearing money into newly constructed rental housing, adding to urban sprawl and congestion.

As a captive of migrant interests, Bowen is set to deliver the worst of both worlds: a continuation of Big Australia immigration numbers driving up housing prices; plus more unsustainable growth on Sydney's sprawling urban fringe.

At every turn, Labor's economic policy is a disaster.

It's not even based on the right premise.

Shorten, Bowen and the other economic shadow ministers, Jim Chalmers and Andrew Leigh, are always banging on about rising inequality.

Yet the Hawke/Keating policy legacy has delivered a fairer society.

Australia's most reliable labour market survey, HILDA at the Melbourne Institute, has concluded that, for the period 2001-14, every measure of inequality actually improved, edging the nation closer to income equality.

Labor is in la-la land.

Shorten and his frontbench have allowed Left-wing nonsense to wreck the credentials of what was once Australia's most credible party of economic reform.

In the culture wars, their thinking is no less damaging.

Shorten plans to import the Victorian Daniel Andrews Leftist model to Canberra.

Instead of treating people on merit, the ALP now judges social issues by skin colour, gender, sexuality and religion.

It has embraced the Human Rights Commission, safe spaces, Safe Schools and Left-wing Islamists like Yassmin Abdel-Magied.

Its policies are based on separatism, on using the power of the state to shield Aborigines, Muslims, women and gays from "privileged white men".

This is destroying the original intent of multiculturalism and Indigenous reconciliation.

Instead of uniting Australians around common values and common cause, identity politics is pushing people apart.

It's breeding fragility, victimology and a feeling that we're only safe in the same room together if we look alike.

Rest in peace, my old party.
Labor is no longer a viable force for economic growth and social justice in Australia.

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> State Labor needs to seize sensible centre

The Editor, The Courier-Mail

THERE are messages for political leaders in every election.

While the Federal poll on the weekend was predominantly fought on national issues, there are implications for the Palaszczuk Government and its LNP opponents.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has so far attempted to play down those implications.

She's claimed on Sunday that her crestfallen comrade Bill Shorten lost the election because of an over-complicated message.

Ms Palaszczuk has insisted that voters wanted jobs and her Government would now redouble its efforts on this front, whatever that means.

However, Ms Palaszczuk would be wise to think deeper about Labor's election shellacking.

It is clear she should act swiftly and decisively to alter the direction of her meandering administration rather than offer more glib, meaningless lines.

With 18 months left before the next state election, Queenslanders have, effectively, put the Palaszczuk Government on notice.

Federal Labor suffered a 3.6 per cent primary vote swing against it in Queensland.

The party's vote was only marginally better than the devastating 2012 state election result that saw state Labor reduced to a paltry seven seats.

Obviously, Mr Shorten's class warfare, wealth redistribution and costly climate change agenda jarred with working class and aspirational Queenslanders.

Federal Labor's bob-each-way approach to Adani's proposed Carmichael coal mine also played a significant part.

Former state Labor ministers Robert Schwarten and Bob Gibbs have publicly voiced their concerns, urging Ms Palaszczuk to approve the mine and reconnect with working Queenslanders.

Many other party figures are privately echoing this sentiment.

What has been forgot by many within the Palaszczuk Government is that they were re-elected with a very lean primary vote and many of the seats they won came courtesy of One Nation's decision to preference against sitting LNP members.

There is also a false belief that the Government can continue to ride on the coat-tails of the Premier's popularity and when the going gets tough all Ms Palaszczuk has to do is simply announce another movie deal or statue of a footballer.

However, the Federal election results show Labor is getting squeezed by conservative forces in outer urban areas and regional Queensland and the Greens in inner-city seats.

And there's a strong likelihood that similar will occur at a state level given Ms Palaszczuk has allowed her Government to be hijacked by a Left-wing and union agenda that is anathema to many voters but will never satisfy the Greens.

The results from Saturday night should buoy LNP Leader Deb Frecklington.

But she has much work to do to gain the trust of Queenslanders before she can emulate Scott Morrison's success and win over voters in the north and south of the state.

The Federal election demonstrated that governing for this big, diverse state is getting harder.

However, the clear message from Mr Morrison's victory is that those prepared to govern from the sensible centre and pursue policies that appeal to the aspirations of the many can count on the support of Queenslanders.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/political_alert/status/1130671773794443266

[ozbob]

Rail Express --> Election fallout: 6 key takeaways for rail

The Liberal-National Coalition looks set to secure a majority government following Saturday's shock federal election result. Here's some of what it means for the rail sector.

1. Queenslanders want the Adani mine and rail project to go ahead

Queensland was the state where the Coalition staged its historic election victory on Saturday evening. There it made Labor pay for, among other things, its conflicted position on the controversial Carmichael coal mine and rail project proposed by Indian energy giant Adani.

After Labor leader Bill Shorten campaigned hard in the Sunshine State, the ALP hoped to swing a number of seats its way. But the dial instead turned in the opposite direction: No Coalition seats were lost, and Labor actually lost two seats – the urban Townsville seat of Herbert, and Longman, between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.

Despite a Labor State Government, Labor is left with just six of the thirty federal seats in Queensland – and that's only if it holds onto Lilley, where with 77.8 per cent of the vote counted, a 5.1 per cent swing towards the Coalition leaves Labor's Anika Wells clinging to a slim margin.

Labor never specifically said it would prevent the Adani project from going ahead – Bill Shorten said he didn't plan to block it, and Anthony Albanese resisted the loud 'Stop Adani' movement in his inner-Sydney electorate – but the party's environmental agenda wouldn't allow direct support for a new coal mine.

Coal Council of Australia CEO Greg Evans said Labor was clearly opposed to coal, and this was a clear contributor to the election result.

"Anti-coal policies concerning Adani, the suggestion of 'transitioning' of coal workers elsewhere and resisting coal-fired power generation have damaged the Labor Party, and as they reset their policy platform, they need to reverse their anti-coal positions," he said.

"Suggestions that coal workers are second class citizens has rightly been viewed as insulting."

Cathy O'Toole, the Labor candidate who lost her seat of Herbert, said the party's Adani stance had created some difficulties in the lead-up to the vote.

"The reality is we are in a difficult and transitional time across a range of areas and energy and industry is one," O'Toole was quoted by The Australian this week.

"We have to have harmony in that space and we have to understand we need to transition and I would have thought Townsville, of all communities, would have understood putting all your eggs in one basket is not a wise move."

The Carmichael project, which played an equally complex and pivotal role in Queensland's state election in 2017, has been trimmed down from initial plans for 60 million tonnes of annual production and a dedicated, 388-kilometre standard gauge rail line to export facilities at Abbot Point. It is now a more modest, scalable proposal, which would build a 200-kilometre narrow-gauge connection to Aurizon's existing rail network.



Carmichael will likely be a major factor again at Queensland's next state election in 2020.

"There is policy tension between the environmental Left and the industrial Left of the party," a senior Labor strategist reportedly told AFR. "It's having a real impact on the policy agenda and the program of the state government."

2. Queensland will pay for Cross River Rail, and voters don't seem to mind

Queenslanders' rejection of Labor confirmed its State Government will have to foot the full bill for the Cross River Rail project.

Bill Shorten in January committed $2.24 billion in Federal funding for the $5.4 billion project, which will deliver a new underground rail connection through Brisbane's CBD, alleviating congestion across the South East Queensland network.

In contrast, the Coalition has no interest in helping build the rail link.

After Infrastructure Australia in 2017 rejected the latest business case for Cross River Rail, the Coalition, then led by Malcolm Turnbull, said it would not provide funding. A bemused Annastacia Palaszczuk – Queensland's premier – immediately committed to fund the project entirely from state coffers.

After Labor won the state election later that year, the party again urged the Coalition to reconsider its refusal to fund the project. But Coalition ministers, again and again, have reiterated the state will be left to go it alone on Cross River Rail.

If all of the above set the stage for a referendum on Cross River Rail for Brisbane voters over the weekend, the results weren't a good look for Labor's project.

Brisbane area seats Bowman, Petrie, Dickson, Bonner, and Forde were all retained by the Coalition with significant swings in its favour. Moreton, Oxley, and Rankin were retained by Labor but also saw swings towards the Coalition. The aforementioned north-Brisbane seat of Lilley remains in doubt, currently held by Labor despite a swing towards the Coalition.

There was a slight swing towards Labor in the seat of Brisbane itself, but nowhere near enough to unseat incumbent LNP member Trevor Evans, and the story was similar in Ryan, which the Coalition holds by a major margin despite a modest swing to Labor.

Labor did manage to build its lead in the inner-Brisbane seat of Griffith.

3. Victoria will also have to go it alone, but voters do care

Victoria's Labor premier Daniel Andrews will no doubt be disappointed in the election result, not just for his federal colleagues, but for what it means for a pair of his pet rail projects.

Andrews' acrimonious relationship with the Federal Coalition began just days after he was first elected premier in 2015. Following through on a key campaign promise, he immediately cancelled the East West Link toll road project and tried to redirect federal funding to his preferred Metro Tunnel rail project.

The Coalition has flat out refused to allow the East West funding to be reallocated, and has refused to commit any separate funding to the Metro Tunnel.

A week before Saturday's vote, Prime Minister Scott Morrison reiterated the Coalition's position, promising to supply $4 billion for the East West Link if the Andrews Government came on board.

Bill Shorten, meanwhile, promised $2 billion to support the Metro Tunnel, which is already deep into the delivery phase.

Additionally, Labor had promised to provide $10 billion for Andrews' more substantial rail vision, the Suburban Rail Loop, which would create a ring of rail around Melbourne, connecting Cheltenham in the southeast to Werribee in the northwest, via Melbourne Airport in the north.

On Sunday morning, however, Andrews woke up to the same challenge he has faced every morning of his career as premier: Liberal National control of Federal money, and a vast gap between the infrastructure policy of his government, and that of the Commonwealth.

Speaking with ABC Radio on Sunday, Andrews again rejected the idea of accepting federal funding for the East West Link.

"This thing doesn't stack up, it's never stacked up," Andrews said. "The money they're offering is nowhere near enough to get it done."

Despite the Coalition's stunning victory over the weekend, the Labor Party gained ground in Victoria, with swings in its favour across most seats, and victory in the newly redistributed seats of Corangamite and Dunkley.

4. An inquiry into Inland Rail is unlikely

Labor's infrastructure spokesperson Anthony Albanese before the election committed to an inquiry into the Coalition's financing decision and the Australian Rail Track Corporation's route selection process for the Inland Rail project.

In a joint conference with NSW Farmers in April, Albanese said Labor supported the Inland Rail project as a whole, but that a number of issues meant an inquiry was needed to renew public confidence in the project.

The inquiry, unlikely to go ahead under the Coalition, would have reviewed claims by NSW Farmers that its members were being 'shut out' of the route alignment process, particularly in Central and North West NSW.

"At every turn, the Coalition Government has refused to conduct an inquiry, preferring to press ahead in the face of deepening community opposition to the project," NSW Farmers president James Jackson said in April.

Albanese is likely to continue his campaign against the Coalition's execution of the project in opposition – with a particular focus on its financing.

Albanese has been highly critical of the Coalition's decision to move Inland Rail's funding off Budget, meaning the project will need to make a return on investment.

"The CEO of the Australian Rail Track Corporation delivering this project, John Fullerton, conceded to us in Senate estimates that [Inland Rail] wouldn't produce a return," Albanese told 2GB host Alan Jones before the election.

"So what [the Coalition] are doing is counting the Australian Rail Track Corporation's balance sheet as a whole, in order to defend this equity injection into the project."

Albanese suggested finance minister Mathias Cormann opposed the equity injection model, "but Barnaby Joyce just pushed on through because he wanted a big announcement".

"This was part of the payoff when Malcolm Turnbull took over, that the National Party would get a couple of things out of it. And this is what Barnaby Joyce wanted. But you've got to get it right. This is appalling. The Government has botched this from day one ... It is very clear that the Government has failed to consult properly. It is very clear that there are real issues with the route going through prime agricultural land [and] the locals aren't being listened to."

5. The Coalition's 'fast rail' program will go ahead

Labor's dreams for European-style high speed rail between Brisbane and Melbourne via Sydney and Canberra are on hold for at least another four years, with the Coalition's proposed program of faster rail connections standing in its place.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison in March made a $2 billion commitment to deliver 160km/h rail journeys between Melbourne and Geelong, part of a 20-year fast rail plan.

The plan will include the creation of a National Fast Rail Agency, with $40 million in seed funding to investigate five more corridors for potential investment for faster rail.

The Federal Budget in April identified Sydney-Wollongong, Sydney-Parkes, Melbourne-Albury-Wodonga, and Melbourne-Traralgon, as the first five corridors under the program.

Morrison's plan for faster rail – in the 160-200km/h range – stands in contrast to Labor's desires for a European style line connecting Australia's east coast capitals at speeds of more than 300km/h.

A week before the election Labor promised $1 billion to secure the corridor for high speed rail between Sydney and Brisbane, as a way to start off the full project between Brisbane and Melbourne.

6. Canberra Light Rail's second stage could face delays

The ACT's Labor Government is yet another which has been at odds with the Federal Coalition over infrastructure. Planning for the second stage of Canberra's light rail network, between Civic and Woden, means a detailed approvals process with the federal government, as the planned route crosses through federal land near Parliament House.

ACT chief minister Andrew Barr on Monday said he was unsure how long it would take to get the green light for the next stage of light rail, given the election result.

"It's going to set back the timeframe, there's no doubting that," he said. "Had the election result gone differently on Saturday I was hoping to sit down this week with an incoming Labor infrastructure minister and an incoming Labor territories minister to get on with fast-tracking that project."

Visiting the opening ceremony of the first stage of Canberra Light Rail in March, Bill Shorten promised $200 million for the second stage of the project if Labor won the election.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/cityhall_bne/status/1130695669256114176

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/couriermail/status/1131018454696386561

https://twitter.com/mcberkman/status/1131022565470756864

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/JoshBavas/status/1131022559221129219

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/SteveMinnikinMP/status/1131020288634679296

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/sarahelks/status/1131023796574408706

https://twitter.com/abcnews/status/1131026350465175552

[ozbob]

The Australian --> Trad on the defensive as Palaszczuk calls her bluff

About time. Annastacia Palaszczuk is the only thing a deeply unimpressive Queensland government has going for it and at last she has woken up.

The hiding federal Labor copped on Saturday opened her eyes to what awaits at the state election in October next year unless one of two things happen with the Adani coalmine: either it's built or someone cogently explains how the project could get so far down the track before the plug was pulled.

The drum on Palaszczuk is that she is a centrist leader from the Labor Right who doesn't have the numbers to impose her will on a caucus and cabinet that is controlled by the Left. Her deputy and Treasurer, Jackie Trad, the boss of the parliamentary Left, goes rogue whenever she sees fit — most notoriously in 2017 when she led a cabinet revolt to scuttle a royalty deal that had been offered to Adani.

The Premier called Trad's bluff yesterday. By taking a stand and putting a bomb under an environment department that has instigated one nitpicking delay after another to the mine, Palaszczuk asserted her authority and primacy.

In response, Trad energetically worked the phones, asking right-wingers in the Labor caucus what she could do for them in the state budget she's now putting to bed. The reasonable assumption was that she had something else in mind.

A leadership change? This is virtually impossible under ALP rules in Queensland, which are even tighter than those put in place federally after the musical chairs between Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and back to Rudd in 2010-13.

But there is no such protection for the deputy leader's job in Queensland, and Trad knows it. Her actions yesterday were entirely defensive. Palaszczuk has the numbers where it counts: with the voters. The government's prospects will turn on whether Trad can accept that reality.

[ozbob]

The Australian --> Trad shores up role after federal wipeout

Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has moved to fortify her leadership position in the state government amid backbencher unrest over the Labor wipeout at the federal election.

After Premier Annastacia Palasz­czuk backflipped on the government's hardline stance on approvals of the controversial Adani project, Ms Trad began shoring up support among MPs within her Left faction now fearing they will lose their seats at next year's state election.

Labor insiders said Ms Trad, the leader of the dominant Left faction, was increasingly concerne­d about her leadership position within the government, which only requires the vote of the caucus to change.

A party source said Ms Trad, who is also the Treasurer, used the guise of the upcoming budget to make calls to fellow Left faction MPs to gauge their reaction to the government's Adani stance.

A senior minister told The Australian yesterdaythe government was "hurting with voters" over the Adani issue.

"I genuinely don't care any more, we just need to get this sorted," the minister said.

"It has been going on for too long. Either we kill the project or we get it going, and I'd be now willing to go up there and put the keys in the ignition of the Adani machin­ery to get it going."

A Labor insider said the party "made a rod for our own back" over its handling of Adani and was going through the "painful ­process" of finding a new direction or facing a wipe-out at next year's state election.

"Trad started phoning Left backbenchers about 15 minutes after the Premier stood up," the source said.

"She was phoning around asking how things were, not direct questions about Adani.

"She was testing to see if there is support for a spill (against her)."

Ms Trad later also canvassed Right faction MPs, asking "what they needed" out of the budget.

A spokeswoman said that Ms Trad was "100 per cent supportive of the Premier's announceme­nt" in Mackay yesterday that the state's Co-ordinator-­General would meet with the Environ­ment Department and Adani to formul­ate a timeline for the approvals process of the mine's crucial ­management plans.

State MPs from the resource-reliant regions of Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton and Gladstone­ are understood to have pressured the Premier this week over the party's mixed messages on the Adani issue.

The Premier, who was greeted by pro-Adani protesters when she touched down in Mackay yesterday, will go ahead with a planned trade mission to Japan and the US next week.

Labor MPs told The Australian yesterday there was no question over Ms Palaszczuk's authority within the party.

Long-time Labor powerbroker Bill Ludwig, a former national president of Ms Palaszczuk's Australian­ Workers Union, said Ms Trad had exerted too much power in the state government.

"The Premier is the best thing the party's got going for us, she's the leader and she's got to lead,'' Mr Ludwig said.

"Jackie Trad is lucky to hold her seat, she shouldn't be worried about (being) premier, she should be worried about holding her seat.''

Keppel MP Brittany Lauga, a member of the Left faction, said Ms Palaszczuk's and Ms Trad's leadership positions were safe, despit­e calls by regional Labor figure­ Mike Brunker for both to be replaced over the Adani issue.

Ms Lauga said Ms Palaszczuk had her "full confidence".

Townsville MP Scott Stewart said there was no doubt over Ms Palaszczuk's leadership.

The Right faction had a meeting of its caucus members this week where they affirmed their pro-mining stance and backed a public show of support.

[achiruel]

Just an observation - It's funny how throughout the campaign the Greens and Labor ridiculed media outlets stating that News Corp is worthless rubbish, yet the other publications get their tick of approval. The other parties don't dictate which media outlets are the most appropriate news source. It's such a socialist thing to dictate which media is appropriate for news. If Labor and Greens are heading in that direction as per above? Australia will turn into a socialist totalitarian regime. People should be able to choose their media outlet without Political interference.

And media outlets should report the news, not biased partisan dribble. Labor was quite right to call out News Corp for its poor quality of reporting and quite obvious bias towards the LNP. Of course the LNP don't need to do this, because they're the ones getting all the favouritism.

[Stillwater]

If Ms Plaaszczuk is so adamant about establishing a definite timeline for a decision on the Adani mine, why isn't she insisting on a deadline whereby cancelled train services will be reinstated in SEQ?

[ozbob]

[verbatim9]

^^Which particular portfolio would handle all the propose rail projects as pledged throughout the election campaign?


I guess Michael McCormack Transport.

Mark Coulton for Local Government Bike Paths and Green Bridges

[techblitz]

Almost every right wing facebook page moved hell and highwater as well...meming like crazy to put the spotlight on shorten....if you were to weigh up the commenters on those pages on which party they were going to ditch....labor was an absolute mile in front...

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/alt-right-facebook-memes-pushed-anti-labor-message-20190522-p51pvy.html

A coalition of alt-right Facebook groups working with Fraser Anning's staff and associates of the United Australia Party produced fake news, racist memes and messages against voting for Labor or the Greens, which were liked or shared more than a million times during the election campaign.
Ten of the most-popular alt-right Facebook pages had more than a million reactions to their content and were shared 940,575 times in the seven weeks from April 1 until the election, a Sun Herald and Sunday Age investigation has found.

surprised the Russians haven't been blamed yet 

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/politicsabc/status/1132806932580880384