Peter Lindsay's PET program, the longest gestation in history

New Contributor Dee posts:

The Liberals or the LNP have had Peter Lindsay MHR as Canberra's representative in Herbert since 1996; thirteen years consecutively. Now in 2010 as the time for the next federal election comes closer, here is Tony Abbott "promising" that the LNP will deliver a PET scanner "immediately".

The LNP now say "four years is too long to wait" and compare themselves favourably with the ALP's claim that they will deliver a PET scanner in 2014.

This glaring inconsistency will not be missed by any elector in Herbert, so one of the rhetorical questions has to be "how many people do the LNP think they are going to deceive?"

The other hilarious part in all of this is the claim from Tony Mooney's pamphlet that the "Life Saving PET Scanner Delivered for North QLD" - past tense for something "promised" to happen in 2014. Same question about deception applies.

I can hardly wait for the new LNP candidate to promise that the LNP will "flood proof the Bruce Highway" which was always the favourite of Peter Lindsay at every federal election. Never delivered on that one either.

Thanks again Dee and welcome on board.
I too have been noticing the seemingly daily full-page ads in The Bulletin featuring The Monk and his Pet. At $3,500 a pop minimum this strikes me as an 'interesting' tactic this far out and perhaps and indication of how cashed-up the Libs are going into the election - no doubt thanks to the Miners.

Or maybe they're just stupid - spend $3.5 grand a day and not once mention the local candidate's name (what-ever it is) is just plain strange!

What is going on in conservative politics?

First the LNP in Qld started to implode:

07 March - Revelations that four Queensland LNP members fail to ask a question in Parliament

16 April   - Prominent Queensland Young LNP activist Nick Sowden, shows his racist colours in a very public twitter post

05 May   - Beaudesert MP Aidan McLindon and Burnett MP Rob Messenger quit the party

11 May   - Wendy Richardson, Former LNP candidate for Barron River up Cairns way resigns

20 May   - High profile Brisbane City LNP Councillor Nicole Johnston resigns.

20 May   - Federal LNP MP Michael Johnson gets turfed-out of the party for his shady fundraising

Today     - LNP staffer quits John-Paul Langbroek's office over 'dirty political tactics'

And now comes the news that former PM Malcom Fraser has quit the Liberal Party in protest at their shift to the right!
Very weird (and certainly not a good look)
From Paul Norton  commenting at John Quiggin's Blog:

Q: What is the difference between The Simpsons and the Liberal-National Party?

A: One is a dysfunctional family of hilariously comic individuals, the other is a cartoon series created by Matt Groening.

If you’re a wannabe you need to choose your words carefully

I see that Colin Dwyer the wantabe LNP candidate for Herbert (and Mundingburra and Townsville and…) has trouble taking a bit of criticism.

His response to the Retailers Association’s claim that his Townsville Grocery Price Watch site is misleading shoppers because the data is too quickly dated was a little too precious.

Attacking the representative of part of his own constituency (shopkeepers) with comments like the following isn’t very smart:

''This is a typical arrogant Brisbane attitude,'' he said.

''They sit back and wait for us to do something, then come in and say they can do it better.

''Maybe he should come out and do something for the people of Townsville, instead of throwing mud around the place.''

Personally, I thought the Price Watch site was a good idea (and no doubt was good politics) but the Retailers Association’s comments about it being out of date are fair enough – after all it hasn’t been updated since November.

Expect to see more Brisbane bashing from Col – he has form and after all they are very cheap shots to fire.  He just needs to learn to not fire them at his own wantabe constituency

PS: I wonder whether he was one of the 17 people who attended the recent meeting of the North Qld Party in Cairns along with that great retail politician (god! I hate that term), Bob Katter?

More speculation about Herbert

I haven’t seen my hardcopy of The Bulletin yet this morning but judging by their website, the most interesting content is on their feedback page:

Alex E. comments:

A little birdy in the LNP has told me that Peter Lindsay and the Party hierarchy will announce his retirement on 18 February …He also said that Ian McDonald has confirmed that he has no interest in a switch down to the lower house by being Lindsay's successor.

Perennial letter writer and Greens Candidate, Jenny Stirling, later comments that:

My bet is that Colin Dwyer will nominate for the Liberal Party candidacy - he previously ran for the seat of Mundingburra, is an economist and therefore well informed on local economic and development issues...

The LNP rumour about the Prince of Herbert is interesting, but I’ll be surprised if it turns out to be true – unfortunately, as the incumbent, Lindsay is the best chance they have. Although, the bit about McDonald does ring true – he’s smart enough to know that he'd stand no chance and lazy enough to know that the workload in a lower house seat is way beyond what he's used to. (Senators only ever switch to the lower house when they are offered a safe seat and have a realistic shot at the party leadership).

As for Jenny Stirling’s prediction – surely she doesn’t mean that he will nominate for the LNP in Herbert? Col Dwyer might be desperate to get his bum in the leather seats but he would be way out of his league in Federal Parliament.  But then again, I suppose he wouldn’t be the first in that regard!

As for Jenny’s assertion that, because he’s an economist, he’s therefore well informed on local economic and development issues – you have to be kidding!

How will Peter Lindsay vote on the CPRS?

Today is a big day for the Libs in Canberra as they attempt to reach a position on the Government’s proposed CRPS-ETS without blowing themselves apart. But how will the Prince of Herbert vote?

Trawling Hansard and the web for any indication of Peter Lindsay’s position is a near fruitless exercise.

What I did learn is that:

• He was one of just 12 opposition members (along with far-right luminaries such as Nick Minchin and Eric Abetz) who attended a briefing by prominent climate change sceptic Professor Bob Carter organised by Sen. Steve Fielding in August.
• After is 35-day overseas junket earlier this year, he returned supporting the proposition that “no one country should get too far ahead of any other country in relation to its approach to climate change”, failing of course to mention that 20 other countries already have ETS or equivalent scheme or the importance and value of leadership.
• The Prince doesn’t have much on his own official site about the most important issue facing the planet, however I did find that in 2008 he made a release titled "Emissions trading scheme a threat to Queensland" – perhaps indicating that he doesn’t believe Qld to be part of the planet.
• However, I should acknowledge his meaningfull efforts to protect the Great Barrier Reef when, in 2005, he successfully led the calls for the naming a patch of the GBR the “Cowboys Reef” after those important contributors to world peace and a sustainable future for the planet, the NQ Cowboys

I’ve not been able to find anything that indicates whether he actually believes in Global Warming or not.

I did however find a piece in The Oz by Samantha Maiden reporting on a Coalition partyroom meeting in October of this year where The Prince declared his current leader Malcolm Turnbull a “man of steel”. She went on to point out that Lindsay was also “fond of declaring his love for the previous leader”, Brendon Nelson.

And that is the real clue to how The Prince will vote today. Now that he’s decided to try and save the Libs from almost certain defeat in Herbert at the next election, he will do anything to keep the big fridge (and extra postal allowance) that goes with being a shadow Parliamentary Secretary.

As such, my bet is that, as the sycophant he is, he will get in behind whoever looks like winning the vote and being the Liberal leader tomorrow.

Come on Peter – tell us what you really believe

A slow day at The Bully and in Peter Lindsay's office

It’s not often that I agree with Peter Lindsay.

But in his first foray out of the departure lounge since announcing his intention to recontest Herbert in a last-ditch attempt to save the Libs (or the LNP, or whatever they will be calling themselves next year) from what seems will be inevitable defeat in the seat, he has in typical style chosen a State issue to go to the barricades over.

He probably right when in today’s Bully he asserts that the planned Cruise Ship Shed should be built by the State Government and that the proposed 3-way splitting of the $90 million bill between the State, Feds and TCC is a tactic by the State “… to make impossible financial demands on the Council so (it) can blame the council for the project not proceeding” when they rightfully refuse to come to the party. In this last regard, I suspect he’s picked it in one.

I’ve written before about the doubtful logic and benefits of the proposed Ship Shed.

If we are to have the damn thing, my advice to TCC would be to suggest to the State and Feds that we will make do with a measly $60 million Shed, paid for from what they have already put on the table.

Having said that, my advice to the aging Prince of Herbert would be to fess-up and tell us what he thinks about a few Federal issues – like Climate Change and whether he thinks that the Pacific Solution, Temporary Protection Visas and kids behind razor wire should be re-introduced.

After all, Climate Change and not Ship Sheds is the single largest issue that will effect the future of tourism in North Queensland

Peter Lindsay confirms that the Libs are in trouble

So Peter Lindsay has declared his hand and will defend his throne at the next Federal Election.

As I’ve noted previously – the Libs (or NLP or whatever they are this week) would call him back from the departure lounge and his tour of potential retirement villages if they expected the election to be difficult and needed to protect all of their existing seats.

The other interesting thing in Lendl Ryan’s piece in The Bully today is that Lindsay clearly indicates his preference to go up against Tony Mooney – perhaps he knows he’s the only one of the potential ALP candidates that he has any chance of beating.

Ryan, The Bully’s “City Reporter”, has been barracking for Mooney ever since she drew the amazing conclusion that Kevin Rudd’s saying that “I have known him for 20 years” equals a ringing endorsement of Mooney and a guarantee of his preselection

In a second article today, Ryan seeks to convert her conclusion into fact when she describes “a stunning endorsement from Mr Mooney’s close friend, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, earlier this month”.

All that Ryan has successfully done today is confirm that the Libs expect to lose the next Federal election and probably the seat of Herbert as well and that no one can predict the outcome of the ALP preselection process until we know whether the choice will be made by a local plebiscite of members or by their federal Administration Committee

How to get your picture in the Bully #1

You have to admire anyone trying to establish a foothold in a town where Carey Ramm's AEC Group have most of the economic consulting work stitched-up.

The former and possibly aspiring Candidate for Mundingburra has today released a new economic survey for the town  – a welcome addition to our understanding of what’s happening in the local economy and job market.

No doubt it will also be worth a nice photo piece in tomorrow’s Bully (given they are the sole source the report’s data) - which can’t be bad for recognition in either the business or political marketplace.

But really, you’d think that he’d get with the slow death of newspapers and count on-line job adds as well - otherwise the results are meaningless!

Anyone want to take a bet on where the story will appear in tomorrow's Bully or how big the pic will be??