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The Fallout from Wentworth

It takes a brave pundit to predict the outcome of the Wentworth bi-election just days before the votes are cast, but the actual outcome, either way, will be less interesting than the swing away from the government, the fallout from which, will be what determines its fate between now and next May.

A loss in Wentworth will mean the loss of the government’s one seat majority in the lower house. That, as proven by Julia Gillard, is manageable, depending on PM Scott Morrison’s negotiating skills.

Mind you, Scott Morrison is no Julia Gillard when it comes to securing passage of vital legislation through a hung parliament, but having said that, the government could survive a loss as it limped toward a May 2019 general election.

A narrow win in Wentworth, however, throws up a far more interesting situation. The government would retain its paper-thin majority, but at what cost to morale?

The ramifications of falling from what was a 17% comfort zone to a 2-3% nail-biting margin or thereabouts, is a frightening prospect for a party that has dozens of seats sitting on much smaller margins.

While a loss would precipitate a tremor of a most significant magnitude through the entire party, a narrow win would be just as scary, as various members are forced to consider their individual fates in a not-to-far-away general election environment.

For many, it would be the beginning of a downhill slide in confidence and poise from which they would be unlikely to recover. Morale would sink, blame would be apportioned, infighting would escalate and there would be very little effective governing of the nation going on.

One might envisage the press finally beginning to read the tea leaves and paying more attention to Bill Shorten and his highly visible team. Labor, in such a scenario, would begin to dominate the agenda. For the past two years, following their narrow election loss, Labor have barely put a foot wrong.

Various polls have had them as the preferred government for all that time. For the most part, they have been a model of discipline and attention to detail. They have been conspicuous in their policy development announcing well costed, highly detailed initiatives at regular intervals.

Doubtless the anti-Labor forces in the media would soon bear down upon them, spruiking doom and gloom for the nation as they continued to rant and rave, doing whatever they could to bring Bill Shorten to heel. But when you think about it, they have been doing that now for the past five years with little or no impact.

And they have done it because they have nothing to celebrate in their own camp, in the way of any Coalition government achievements. After five years, there is nothing of substance about which either they, or their government, could boast.

The Coalition is, and always has been, a policy vacuum. One suspects that the voters in the Wentworth bi-election have already worked that out and will effectively anoint them as lame ducks.

Let’s wait until Monday until we draw any definitive conclusions about the government’s fate, but the fallout from a loss or a narrow win, won’t give any of them any joy.

 

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66 comments

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  1. New England Cocky

    Bring on the 2018 Federal election so that we may despatch this LNP misgovernment to the WPB of Australian political history.

  2. Stephengb

    It doesnt matter either way, win or lose with a thin margin or lose, clearly it will be the faullt of Labor and that bastard Labor ring in, Turnbull!

  3. Stephen Fitzgerald

    That’s a nice clear minded read – Thanks John.

    Murdock has always considered the Labour leadership as fair game and has denigrated them for as fare back as I can remember. The non-political have been brainwashed into believing Bill Shorten is lacking in some way hence Morrison as preferred PM? How ignorant and blind can some people be and, that’s what we contend with.

    What have the LNP given us that lingers in the mind… Off the top of my head…

    Abusing our children in detention and human rights abuse
    Opposition to the banking royal commission
    Opposition to a national corruption watchdog
    International shame at the treatment of refugees and their new born children
    Turnbull donating his salary to charity – The tax-free Turnbull foundation
    Allocating almost half a billion $$$ to their corporate cronies on the GBRF
    Then there’s the megalomaniacs Dutton and Abbott ousting Turnbull
    Morrison refusing to acknowledge the IPCC report embraced by the UN
    Morrison insisting “we will adapt to climate change” rather than do anything about it
    Morrisons extreme right neo-liberal Christian affiliation to pick up the paedophile vote
    And Morrison fondling a piece of coal in parliament with a goopy look on his face
    Morrisons gay vilification outburst before he was taped on the shoulder and told to shoosh
    Then the policy proposal to beat those on social security to death – And, the list goes on.

    Thanks Alex Turnbull for jumping in to stick it up them. Oh dear – In reality, it should be a landslide lose for the Liberals – Can’t wait for the corporate flunkies to be drawn and quartered on Saturday.

  4. SteveFitz

    Oh yeah – I forgot about the Liberal Party cutting funding and trying to censor the ABC + attempting to sack journalists because they didn’t like the editorials. Imagine what they would do to us, and freedom of speech, given half a chance.

    There was also the Liberals giving the military call out powers to quell riots with shoot to kill authorisation. Typical extreme right neoliberal insanity and one wonders what they are expecting and why?

  5. lawrence winder

    “For many, it would be the beginning of a downhill slide in confidence and poise…” Poise, poise? This ruling rabble has and always has had all the poise of small town thugs.
    Bereft of morality as much as they are wanting in imagination they will maintain their “confidence” as they know they have 75% of the media at their beck and call and an emasculated ABC too frightened and IPA’d to report. Witness the insouciance of that serial neer-do-well, Stuart Robert…..oi, if only has name was Dastyari or Slipper!

  6. New England Cocky

    Breaking news 0630 hours 161018: Today’s Liarabral Prim Monster Scat Morriscum is proposing to move the Australian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, following leech like the Trumpery policy to buy political financial patronage from the NY Jewish community.

    Both Muddles Turdball and Asbestos Bishop rejected this US policy in favour of the preferred historical Two State policy, hence the removal from their Ministeries.

    The presence of Murdoch in Australia just days before the Liarabral Dutton Morriscum Liarabral political coup removing Turdball is relevant because Murdoch is reported as being in daily contact with Trumpery and so removed Australian obstacles to this Zionist policy. Consequently, this support for the Trumpery policy will be trumpeted as acceptance by a vassal state and used as propaganda to improve Republican financial fund raising among the NY Jewish community for the mid term US Congressional elections.

    The local benefit is obviously the Jewish vote in Wentworth, where there is a large Jewish population and this pro-Zionist policy is expected to win their support for displacing Palestinian ethnic persons from their traditional homes in favour of immigrant Jewish persons from everywhere, especially the former USSR.

    Liarabral candidate David Sharma is a former Ambassador to Israel and likely a committed Zionist, which may account for his absence from the electorate during the election campaign. The repeatedly re-run footage of Sharma making a rare appearance in Rose Bay by the ABC misrepresents the fact that other reports from the electorate suggest that Sharma is seldom seen.

    Correction: Murdoch supported the ALP in the 1972 Whitlam election, hoping to get political leverage. He was summoned to the Bar of the Senate in 1974 to answer questions about biased reporting in his mastheads. The ALP has been pilloried ever since in retaliation and revenge. Murdoch is a complex character still trying to impress his deceased father after all these years. Hence his unrelenting attacks on the ABC in his father’s image.

  7. Terence Mills

    Liberal internal polling is showing the Jewish component of the Wentworth electorate (13%) are crucial and they are not happy about the way Turnbull was dumped.

    So, what to do ? I know, let’s follow Trump and Guatemala and recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

    That they think should secure the Jewish vote provided the Jewish voters are sheep and can be easily swayed.

    Morrison is taking his lead from Groucho Marx when it comes to securing votes : Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others”

    Whatever it takes !

  8. Geoff Andrews

    New England Cocky,
    I do wish you’d get Morrison’s name right: it’s Snot Morrison or Snottymo to his friend.

  9. New England Cocky

    @Geoff Andrews: Scat = animal droppings; scum = worthless person; impurities that rise to the surface; refuse; offscourings. Concise Oxford Dictionary.

  10. SteveFitz

    Thanks NEC – O.K. So the Liberals with preferences have got…

    The zealots vote – Rebel against the Romans – I mean the Labour Party – 13%
    The religious vote – Vote Liberal of burn in hell vote – 6%
    The ignorance and mistaken donkey vote – 3%
    The good policy vote – 0%
    The bad policy vote – 1%
    The scratch my back, top end of town, corporate vote – Crap! – 14%
    The Murdoch told me Bill Shortens a moron vote – 2%
    The we support coal and screw the environment vote – 3%
    The shoot the refugees out of the water vote – 1%
    The holiday house on Jupiter and let’s orbit Alfa Centaury vote – 4%

    That’s still only 47% and the others have the rest. It’s a close race and Alan Jones intends to project Snottymo’s most appealing looking onto the Opera House and if anyone objects he’s going to chuck another hissy fit. Should be a fun day with all the balloons and sausage sizzle’s and stuff.

  11. Phil

    How the gutter press works itself into a lather trying to present Australian politics as an endless battle between two leaders aka the US presidential model. This gutter media and political minder cult of packaging party leaders with a personality and appearance profile demeans our system of government and democracy.

    The Liberal Party desperately needs time out of power – and out of parliament in fact. It needs time to reflect on how it fell so far and lost all credibility.

  12. Matters Not

    Morrison’s gambit (shifting the embassy) might be the case of having two bob each way.. Yes it may reinforce the Jewish vote BUT there is also the real and present danger of a reaction that will prove to be counter-productive to Sharma. Entertain also the possibility that the reaction might become violent. If so – then enter Dutton stage right always ready to fuel the flames of any violence. Perhaps a rehearsal for the main event?

    Be interesting to see Phelps’ reaction. She, of course, is a convert to Judaism, married to Jackie Stricker-Phelps who grew up in a liberal European Jewish household. Yes – interesting times.

  13. helvityni

    Excellent post, John Kelly,

    ( I had an excellent evening, both the Drum and the Q&A were to my liking, In the words of Julia Baird ) It was was good to see the nice American bloke, Jeffrey Sachs, attack James Paterson….

    Listening to Cormann (Insiders) drone on and on about Laibor’s sins and shortcomings back to year one, I realised that we don’t need Labor party at all; we can just ask Mathias…

    PS. Who are the people in the above photo, I only recognised two…?

  14. helvityni

    lawrence winder, ‘Stuart Robert…..oi, if only his name was Dastyari or Slipper!’

    or Emma Husar ?

  15. Keith

    helvityni

    I liked Q&A also last night Jeffrey Sachs was great value, as was the community representative. It was clear that on climate change Paterson was out of his depth. He stated that Australia is only responsible for few emissions in comparison to other countries. But, Australia exports huge amounts of coal, the emissions produced by those exports comes back to bite us and other countries. The image showing James Hansen says it all ..

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jun/19/james-hansen-nasa-scientist-climate-change-warning#img-2

    The question from the Army veteran made me quite cranky .. the LNP are happy to send young people off to war, but not willing to provide much support when veterans return. The Department of Veterans Affairs keeps cropping up as hindering provision of assistance to veterans, rather than, helping them.

    I received an email earlier headed .. put the Liberals where they put you.

    A sentence from email reads .. “What’s more, this is the most extreme, anti-worker government in a generation, with Eric Abetz, Michaelia Cash and now Kelly O’Dwyer all trying to demonise and destroy unions and stop us doing our work.”
    But, they did not need to send the email, for me it is a matter of giving Liberals my last vote anyway.

    Hopefully, many people will give Sharma their last vote on saturday.

  16. Klaus Petrat

    Bit late to comment now, but I 100% concur with the statement of an LNP without policies. An empty, ranting, angry, racist shell.

    However, I hear this morning that Morrison contemplates to follow Trump lockstep. What a brilliant idea.

    Move Australian Embassy to Jerusalem.
    Exit the Iran deal.

    All for Wentworth and their Jewish citizens. All for expediency. This bloke Morrison is a liar, a thief, a narcissist and cruel.

    He will do anything (lying, throwing mud, whatever helps) to have a strong win.

  17. silkworm

    Good background material on machinations leading up to Wentworth by-election: on how Phelps is a faux independent, how Morrison has studied Labor’s faux independents of the past, and how Labor is shunning their own candidate Tim Murray.

    “A vote for Phelps is a vote for the Liberals”

    The Weekly Notebook – a vote for Phelps is a vote for the Liberals

  18. RomeoCharlie29

    I think the Jewish population of Wentworth might be smarter than Morriscum obviously thinks. I wonder if the knee-jerk following of Trump on the Recognition of Jerusalem and cancellation of the Iran deal will actually be positives for him. I suspect most would be educated moderates who would prefer a fair deal for Palestinians rather than the extremes of the current Israeli murderer government. Hope I am right.

  19. Ian Hughes

    This: “After five years, there is nothing of substance about which either they, or their government, could boast.” Says it all really. 5 years wasted. What was the point?

  20. New England Cocky

    The New Daily on Indonesian reaction to the Prim Monster’s br-in f-rt this morning to boost Zionist support in the Wentworth bye-election.

    https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2018/10/16/scott-morrison-embassy-jerusalem/?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=PM%20Update%2020181016

    @Ian Hughes: The point was Rupert flexed his ego and demonstrated that he controlled Australian politics for the benefit of foreign owned multinational corporations including US banks to which he is beholden for cheap finance to keep The Australian without making a profit since the first day of publication some 50 years ago.

  21. Michael Taylor

    Ian, I’m not sure if it was wasted. They set out to destroy as much as possible. They succeeded. 🙁

  22. David Bruce

    It is not just policies which are missing from the LNP governments; there is complete blindness about where Australia should be in five, ten or twenty years’ time! This lack of vision not only restricts policy making for the LNP governments, it alienates the younger generations. Many of the careers (or jobs) of the future haven’t been identified yet. With the introduction of AI, automation and intelligent networks, many traditional careers will be replaced, if we survive climate change.
    The LNP claims new technologies will make black coal more white, yet I don’t see any LNP policies which might contribute to that outcome. The LNP claim to be better financial managers than Labour, yet Labour has provided the leadership in the past to make the hard decisions about Australia’s future. Maybe Shorten and his team deserve the chance to provide the leadership this country really needs?

  23. SteveFitz

    “History will judge the nations that fail to stand by human rights and international law” – Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela

    Thanks NEC a timely reminder of where the Liberals, led by that maniac Morrison, are coming from and, the consequence. Once we knock these morons on the head we realy need to push for human rights protection, being written into Australia law, to protect the innocent.

  24. paul walter

    Further complicated by the news just out that
    Michelle Guthrie is suing the ABC (hence the government).

  25. SteveFitz

    Good on her – Governments that try to impose censorship need to be held to account – One problem, our law is not about justice! With our pathetically corrupted adversarial legal system there’s usually two losers and one winner. The lawyers have probably already got their heads together, to work out how much they can make out of the deal.

    Who stole justice?

  26. Josephus

    I really resent the assumption that Jews all think the same way, as though the Bundist movement had never existed. How about reading a bit and educating yourselves instead of reverting to prejudice. I would think many Jews would reject the mindless stereotypical thinking of our moronic PM.

  27. SteveFitz

    Not all of us have the capacity to wade through the Tanakh and the Torah is somewhat unorthodox. The average non-Jewish bloke will get a feeling about where Jews come from within the researched work of James Michener – “The Source”. It’s a great read and goes somewhere to explain how the Jewish faith has manages to survive down through the ages. It’s a powerful social doctrine and you would feel proud to be part of it.

    Personally, I’ve always had this feeling that Jews were favoured with some degree of intellect and, there may be a few who regret putting in their postal votes early, after the ensuing LNP white supremacy and consulate debacle. No prejudice here, my parents were old school, and I feel a small bit like part of the tribe.

  28. SteveFitz

    Josephus – Lighten up, your in Australia. Playing around and having some fun, at other people’s expense, is part of the Australian way – It builds comradery. And, encourages you to have some fun back at our expense. Indecently, my wife buys her gold findings from companies owned by Jews because she knows she will get a fair deal. So, your good reputation precedes you. Now, go and read Good Vibes, have a meat pie with tomato sauce and wash it down with a VB. Then get back to me with a couple of well placed insults.

  29. SteveFitz

    Oh dear, it is a tangled web we weave, and this arena is full of surprises.

    Tenskh – Ecclesiastes 7:11

    “For wisdom is a defense, even as money is a defense; but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom preserveth the life of him that hath it.”

  30. SteveFitz

    Josephus – There is an unwritten law that echoes down through the ages of Judaism. If someone quotes you from Tenakh you are obliged to respond appropriately from Tenakh. In a timely fashion.

  31. MöbiusEcko

    Morrison and Frydenberg in a presser right now. Haven’t learnt a thing and of course attacking Shorten and Labor. Mentioned everything economic but not a single thing on the environment, asylum seekers, government corruption, big business influence, etc. the very things the Wentworth electorate said were their main issues.

    I really hope Morrison the party keep going the way they are and don’t take in the lesson of Wentworth because they are in for a hiding at the next federal election.

    And I was heartened to hear that the same campaign tactics waged against the right in the Liberal party for the Wentworth byelection are going to to be waged against Abbot for his seat of Warringah. Looks like Jane Caro might run as an independent there.

  32. MöbiusEcko

    What a train wreck of a presser. The same old same old from Morrison with large dollops of attacking Shorten and Labor on doom and gloom for the country if Labor is elected. He is going on the same way the people, including Liberal voters, said they were sick and tired of.

    And he is yet to be asked the one question he’s been incapable of answering since he wrested the leadership. Why oust Turnbull?

  33. MöbiusEcko

    We might have counted our chickens before they hatched. The count is getting closer, now 884 between Phelps and Sharma. Morrison crowing about how close it is and that he predicted it. Not that he has learnt a single thing from the backlash against him.

  34. Karen Kyle

    NEW ENGLAND COCKY.

    Boy have you got it wrong. Eighty per cent of American Jews (including New Yorkers) vote Democrat. And the 15 per cent of Jewish voters in Wentworth didn’t make any sort of an impact on the final result. Jewish voters have been shown to vote on local and National issues.Not Israeli issues. After all they are Australian.

  35. SteveFitz

    Thanks Möbius – I was going off track. The pressure to oust Turnbull appears to have come from the coal lobby with a bit of input from extreme right wing Murdoch. Morrison won’t admit to that as he polishes his piece of coal like a cricket ball.

    The best chance to protect democracy is more politicians with an independent conscience and an independent voice. If you are going to run with mainstream political parties there is too much pressure from within and way too much pressure from outside influence. Plenty of great politicians have been sanctioned by their own political parties and then, faded quietly into the night.

  36. DrakeN

    Perhaps the Party concept needs to be abolished; each candidate standing on their own merits, with collusive aggreements being formed after election.
    Of course, that would undermine the ability of of politically inspired financial donors to influence politics to the extent which they do presently.
    Approaching each and every candidate would require the kind of time and effort to which Board directors are demonstrably averse.

  37. Karen Kyle

    Drake N

    Who would consult, formulate and articulate policy?

  38. SteveFitz

    The top 5 coal producers in Australia dug up 450 million tonnes of coal last year @ $132 per tonne = $55.5 billion. So, they have a bit of grunt. Perhaps, even enough to oust a Prime Minister who incidentally, was leaning towards fossil fuel phase out and emission reductions.

    The thing is, our Australian coal goes somewhere towards the balance of trade (350 million tonnes p.a.) and generates around 85% of our electricity. With coal exports tipped to increase 18% by 2040. What the LNP couldn’t come to terms with was how to phase out coal to be replaced with renewables and how to reduce emissions during the 30-year phase out period. Coal producers are having a little issue there as well.

    Look at the circumstantial evidence. From where I stand, the coal industry is about as scrupulous as the tobacco industry and, deserves no sympathy for meddling in Australian politics. That being said, it still doesn’t alter the facts.

    And, the facts are, at this point in time, we need the bastards. Just like the banks – Took big to fail. So, how to move forward? A concerted effort by coal producers to extract the Co2 their product emits, from the atmosphere, with the object being to sell carbon neutral coal to the world and electricity producers.

    Legislate and give them a few years to develop the process subject to harsh penalties. Penalties harsher than extracting the Co2.

  39. SteveFitz

    Karen – Under the LNP government I understand that there are a few incidents where policy was formulated and drafter by the corporates they intend to favour. I believe a collective of independents, with the best academic advise, could come up with something more socially beneficial.

  40. DrakeN

    Does it matter.

    The declared policies before election bear very little resemblance to the actions thereafter.
    “No cuts to Pensions.
    “No cuts to education.
    “No cuts to the ABC…”

    Remember?

  41. Karen Kyle

    I would be very surprised if policy was formulated and drafted by the corporations they intended to favour. Can you give concrete examples? On the other hand I would not be at all surprised to find policy making for the Libs farmed out to the IPA. The IPA had a long list of what they wanted done and some items were ticked off as Tony Abbott delivered. The IPA couldn’t help crowing about having the Government in their pocket.

    Ronald Reagan contracted out all Republican Policy making to the Heritage Foundation the mother ship of Right Wing think tanks in the USA and around the world including Europe. Some of them are affiliated and linked. I suspect the IPA is an egg laid by mum Heritage chook in the US. That way the think tanks don’t have to do any thinking, they just disseminate the ideas to bring them into the main stream. All the ideas come from The Heritage Foundation and other think tanks use and adapt them. If you look at the IPA website you will see that apart from press releases they put out very little serious policy stuff.

    All of the so called “New Right” IR stuff was peddled by these Think Tanks to move them into main stream politics. And the question of who funds them is an interesting one The odd American Billionaire and Gina and Rupert in OZ. They will not disclose their funding sources.

    With the ALP policy is made by committees drawn from the rank and file with help from academics etc, and made also by the Parliamentary Party. The right and proper use of a political party..And at least the policy comes from real people of the ordinary kind and therefore likely to meet real needs. I think that is the only way. What you are suggesting would be a pig’s breakfast.

  42. Karen Kyle

    Drake N

    The declared policies are designed to not frighten the horses. If the Libs campaigned on what they really intended to do they would never be elected.They will say anything to get elected.

  43. DrakeN

    Ergo – better to have no Parties.

  44. Karen Kyle

    Ergo better to hold parties accountable for what they promise. Insist on transparency.

  45. Karen Kyle

    At one point in time in the English Parliament there were no formal political parties.Just loose associations e.g. Tories and Whigs. It was a bloody mess. Formal parties came into existence to solve that problem. And Labour Parties were better organised and run than the Conservatives Socialist Parties ran rings around the rest..

  46. SteveFitz

    Karren – There has been some concerns voiced about the consequences of agencification for the policy process. This touches upon the perennial question of democratic control of the bureaucracy.

    In the real world – Corporates lobby politicians for legislation that favor corporates and corporates donate to election funds in return for favors. I am interpolating that corporates play a part in drafting their own supportive legislation.

    As a loose example, corporates draft their own enterprise agreements to be debated, modified and approved in the Fair Work Commission (FWC). Keep in mind that there are two LNP political appointments in the FWC which infers political influence. This resulted in the 5 hour shift with no lunch break pushed by a supermarket giant.

    Partly, what prompted the call by Transparency International for a federal corruption watchdog is evidence, on the court record, of corporate and political collusion and corruption in the FWC. https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/fae9bc_3407055508f04b1fb48c489663afad79.pdf

    In terms of dictating our labour laws, this suggests that the word from the top is to give corporates whatever they want and the pro-corporate behaviors of the LNP, in recent months, supports this.

    It is important that we take action to protect our elected representatives from corporate influence and corruption. Independents will also be pressured by corporates but, at least they won’t have an entire political party beating on them.

  47. Karen Kyle

    Steve Fitz….The is the world of difference between an Enterprise Agreement and Legislation especially designed to protect corporate interests. Employers can’t write their own Enterprise Agreements. Such agreements are underpinned by an Industrial Award and they are supposed to deliver benefits to the worker over and above the minimum award conditions, or to at least leave the worker no worse off. Political appointments on the FWC is normal. There are also Union representatives on the FWC so it is meant to balance out especially before a full bench.

    As for the question of Legal Representation for Woolworths and what happened in that situation, at least you managed to stop it, and although it points to duplicity and nasty behaviour on the part of the Commissioner I doubt that it is corruption in the legal sense. I suspect, but I am not sure that the Commissioner would have to have benefited personally for a charge of corruption to be upheld. He was probably involved with so many cases he forgot what he said to Woolworths and you complaining to the Minister was exactly right because she fixed it and he probably won’t do it again. Because the situation was fixed you can’t make a complaint to any law enforcement agency about it. FWC is the Industrial Law Enforcement Agency. You probably couldn’t take this matter to police because it is not a criminal matter.

    And please don’t interpolate. Writing Legislation is a highly specialised job and it is done by Parliamentary Specialists. Not employers. Not Corporations. The very idea that they could write the Legislation which suits them is absurd.

  48. Karen Kyle

    And if you were in the FWC re an EBA that EBA must have been negotiated by a Union. If you had to appear before the FWC without Union support or Union advise it is probably because you are not a member of a Union.

  49. SteveFitz

    Karen – I was there, I know what went on. My representations to Michaelia Cash were completely ignored and, Ben Davis, her chief of staff was less help. Also, no jurisdiction resulted in no action from the Australian Federal Police, the Attorney General or the Commonwealth Ombudsman. With no corruption watchdog to investigate, no action can be taken on corruption within federal agencies. What’s that telling us? And, what’s it telling us when the Full Bench of the FWC play the cover-up game.

    Corporations involved in Unlawful Workplace Practice have been protected in the Fair Work Commission under the Liberal Government. My case was hijacked by Commissioner Cambridge from exposing Unlawful Workplace Practice to whether or not I had a job and, he dismissed the matter on that basis. You can rant and rave all you like but, the evidence is in with Transparency International and prominent QC’s pushing for protection against coporate and political collusioin and corruption. The same corruption that would prompt a corporate to apply political influence to legislation or a enterprise agreement that concerns them.

    In the lead up to Wentworth we also wonder why the LNP opposed the establishment of a federal ICAC. That leaves us with an uneasy feeling about who’s side the government is actualy on.

  50. Karen Kyle

    Could you please tell me exactly what you mean by corruption in this case? It is not at all clear.

    And is Ben Davis Michaella Cash’s Chief of Staff? Ben Davis is the Victorian Secretary of the AWU. Unless there are two of them.

  51. Karen Kyle

    You said Commissioner Cambridge dismissed your case because you didn’t have a job. The time frame which would enable you to take a case before the FWC must have elapsed. Which means if you don’t have a job you are no longer subject to employment law..

  52. SteveFitz

    Karen, nice of you to take an interest – Thanks

    There are a couple of points in relation to this matter.

    At the pre-hearing conference, the commissioner asked the corporate if they would have legal representation and their rep replied “no”. The corporate was denied their request for legal representation but their lawyers were ushered into proceedings anyway. Both the commissioner and the corporates rep were fully aware that the corporate had been denied their request for legal representation. This aspect of the case was kept a secret from me by both the Full Bench and the commissioner and one needs to ask why? The commissioner hearing the matter proceeded to argued in the corporates favour – i.e. “They could get the Prime Minister here to assist them”. The FWC invite you to challenge unlawful workplace practice. Which I did on behalf of hard working career personnel who, had been bullied and harassed out of their jobs. Unlawful bullying and harassment and unlawful unfair dismissal by the corporate was proven with evidence and signed witness statements. Once again, the commissioner diverted the case from unlawful workplace practice to whether or not I had been offered my job back and dismissed the matter. Both Section 394 and Section 386 of the Fair Work Act 2009 have been stymied by corporate lawyers with a shonky jurisdictional objection. A jurisdictional objection that does not exist at the beginning of the case. And does not come into being until it is created by the commissioner hearing the matter. The commissioner then prompted the corporate to take legal action against me to recover their $30,000 in legal expenses. With emailed evidence already referred to. The corporate rep admitted to the Full Bench, at the appeal pre-hearing, that the commissioner hearing the matter had indeed asked her if the corporate would be represented by a solicitor or barrister. If the corporate rep remembered the question, how come the commissioner forgot and, how come he asked the question off the record? How come the commissioner lied to me during the hearing? I expect that from a corporate representative but not the commissioner hearing the matter.

    What’s that telling us?

  53. SteveFitz

    In addition, Commissioner C repeated 3 times that he likes to maintain an even playing field. It’s in the transcripts. Yeah right, I was up against top corporate defence lawyers after being told on the FWC website that legal representation is not required. Also, at the pre-hearing phone conference and after the corporate rep had departed. The conciliator advised that very few cases are ever won by the worker. My responce to that was: Why? – Well, now I know why.

    There are at least two Ben Davis – One being chief of staff to M Cash

  54. Karen Kyle

    Steve Fitz…..I just wrote you a long reply and lost it. I must go and eat now. I will respond again later.

  55. SteveFitz

    Yeah, same thing happened to me – draft in word then copy past.

  56. Karen Kyle

    I see what went wrong and I see why. When the Commissioner told your Employer they could not use a Lawyer the Commissioner was trying to protect you. That’s why he kept saying he likes a level playing field.i.e. no Lawyers. Because the minute those Lawyers walked in the door the Commissioner knew that the case and you were sunk.

    He can’t stop the employer from using Lawyers. He could only hope the employer didn’t know his rights. And those Lawyers can use any part of the Law, old English Statutes, Common Law…..any Law to knock out the IR Law. And they do. And they win. And no it isn’t fair but that’s the way the law is. The Commissioner can do nothing. He is not a Lawyer. He is IR practitioner. If a legal mistake is made he would probably lose his job.

    In Victoria we try bullying and harassment cases as Occupational Health and Safety issues and not IR.. And they are nearly impossible to prove even in the worst cases. The victim has to keep a diary with bullying incidents rude remarks etc all recorded with dates and times. This will usually stand up in court, but few people think to do it. Unjust Dismissal we try under the Equal Opportunity Act. So the jurisdiction argument may not have been shonky. I hope this makes the situation clear. And I am not a Lawyer, so I hope it is right.

  57. SteveFitz

    Karen – That’s a pretty good argument in the Commissioner’s defence. It still doesn’t explain why the commissioner and the corporate rep both lied to me on the same question. It also doesn’t explain why I was threatened with a $30,000 cost order when you are told on the FWC website that parties to proceedings bear their own costs. I’m sorry but, the circumstantials point to serious corruption of the system and even you have pointed out the flaws.

  58. Karen Kyle

    I suspect the cost order was pure plain revenge on the Employer’s part. By airing dirty linen you damaged his reputation. So now he can bully you. You are dealing with nastiness when dealing with workplace bullies. As for the lie….I presume you mean the no Lawyer lie. Genuine for the Commissioner. Just another strategic lie for the Employer. And it paid of handsomely for him. As for the costs….keep your head down and pay nothing. Hope they will give up. Depends on how nasty they are.

  59. Karen Kyle

    And I am not defending the Commissioner. I am telling you how it is.

  60. Karen Kyle

    Steve Fitz……Postal votes….the Jewish population maybe. They won’t go out on the Sabbath which is Saturday for them. And the more observant among them won’t pick up a pencil and write.

  61. SteveFitz

    Some members of the IPCC have suggested that If we want action on climate change, some countries will require a change of government. It follows that the people who support those governments would need a change of thinking. To the affluent and early voters of Wentworth this is an appeal. There are more important things facing humanity and our home planet than money.

  62. Karen Kyle

    Steve Fitz. See Dollar Sweets dispute 1985 for the first use of Common Law and the first use of non Industrial Courts to break a Union dispute. Industrial Law worked only when all parties agreed to abide by those laws including employers. Peter Costello was the first Lawyer used for the purpose of circumventing Industrial Law. But don’t listen to me. I only had 26 years experience working for the Trade Union movement.

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