Discovering that the devil really is in the Tasmanian detail
And Labor learns to spin the ACTU boss’s law-breaking message to: Go on, vote for us!
And Labor learns to spin the ACTU boss’s law-breaking message to: Go on, vote for us!
Bill Shorten’s press conference in Hobart on Thursday:
Journalist: Just on a state level, is Bryan Green the right man to lead the Labor Party at the next state election?
Shorten: Yes.
The Mercury yesterday:
Bryan Green resigns as Tasmanian Labor leader, with Rebecca White named as his replacement.
From Labor senator Anne Urquhart’s press release yesterday:
I also congratulate Rebecca White and Scott Bacon on their ascension to the leader and deputy leader of the Tasmanian Labor Party and acknowledge Michelle O’Byrne’s strong contribution as Deputy Leader for the past three years.
The Mercury yesterday:
Michelle O’Byrne remains deputy leader of Tasmanian Labor.
Labor’s Brendan O’Connor on the ABC’s AM yesterday:
Sabra Lane: Do you support the new ACTU chief, Sally McManus, in her view that breaking the law if it’s unjust is OK?
O’Connor: No, I don’t support that proposition. I’m a parliamentarian. I believe in democracy. I believe that, when you have a bad law, you change it. And the only way to change unjust laws is to change the government.
A developing theme? Shorten’s press conference on Thursday:
Journalist: You’ve distanced yourself from Sally McManus’s comments on 7.30 last night, was she wrong?
Shorten: I don’t agree with her. If you think a law is unjust or unfair, then you change the law. We’re very lucky to live in a country like Australia which has a democratic process. If you don’t like the law, change the government and then change the law. That is the way to do business, not to break the law … There are unfair laws in workplaces, I don’t disagree with that summary. I don’t support the cuts to penalty rates, but the way you best handle fixing up unfair laws is you change the law, and the best way to change an unfair law is to change the Turnbull government.
Take pleasure where you find it. AAP yesterday:
The owner of the garage in suburban Adelaide where South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill traded insults with federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg says the exchange was both “deliciously uncomfortable” and “marvellous to watch”.
You don’t say. Mark Dreyfus on ABC Radio Hobart yesterday:
Leon Compton: I notice that you are the shadow minister for national security. Lot of talk about Russian hacking going on in the US at the moment. Are the Russians hacking us?
Dreyfus: … If I were to know anything about foreign espionage in Australia, I wouldn’t be telling you on air, Leon.
The Today show yesterday:
Karl Stefanovic: What’s your favourite Adele song and just give us a little bar.
Christopher Pyne: I thought at the concert actually the best song she sang was Hello. It was the opening song and it was electric. But it was a great concert, 70,000 people.
Stefanovic: Sing it.
Pyne: No. I haven’t had anything to drink.
Just the one. Malcolm Turnbull on ABC’s Queensland Country Hour yesterday:
Charlie McKillop: Just want to let you know that I had the opportunity to catch up with the boys from The Betoota Advocate last night and they were a little bit sheepish about the fact that they managed to down four schooners to your one when you met at Woolloomooloo the other night.
Turnbull: Yes, but did you notice the way they were carefully shuffling the beer glasses on the table in front of us to make it appear that I was keeping pace with them? It was very clever. But I’m glad they acknowledged I only had one.