If the Liberal Democrats, One Nation and Australian Conservatives merged after Christmas, I would not be surprised. Then expect a few of the hard right of the Coalition to move that direction as well.
There have been suggestions that Pauline wanted Anning to resign during his Senate term to allow Roberts to come back in. As Anning has only recently avoided bankruptcy, a Senatorās salary could be attractive.
There had also been suggestions that Hollie Hughes had been asked to do something similar to allow Nash back in, but she refused. Now sheās off to the HC.
So Lambie is going to resign as she is also a dual citizen.
I cannot remotely fathom why even Hanson would WANT Roberts back. Heās been a national laughing stock since he got elected, and a running sore of Dumb that Hanson keeps being forced to talk about when sheād prefer to be talking about how we should burn Tim Flannery to generate electricity and deport everyone without at least three grandparents named Bruce.
Surely sheād be (quietly) happy to get the useless ā ā ā ā ā ā ā out of the way, and would be better off throwing him under the bus & making nice with his successor?
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You are making far too many assumptions about the intelligence of Hanson. She canāt think to that level in any way shape or form.
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Nothing to do with Hansonā¦itās all about what Ashby wants.
Donāt forget heās the flog who triggered the Slipper fiascoā¦the second Slipper fiasco after he betrayed his electorate so he could wear fancy robes.
The worldās a strange place when I kinda regret to see her leave. Sheās a writeoff on the Islam & climate change stuff, but on other matters sheās actually grown into an occasional unexpected voice of reason and integrity.
Itās taken her years, but sheās NEARLY gotten to the point Ricky Muir did by the end of his career. That guy was a genuine loss to the parliament.
And sheās said sheās not going to try to coax her successor into stepping aside for her, too. Something about āthatās the law and I have to suck it upā. Rare thing, these days.
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Keneally to go up against John Alexander in the Bennelong by election will be interesting.
Funny that HM, but I have a grudging respect for her as well. and her performances in Parliament were good and was honest and straight-forward, which is a rarity in the Senate.
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Whilst I understand the constitutional limitations, isnāt it a bit odd that someone who is entitled to UK citizenship is not entitled to serve in parliament, but politicians must make an oath to the Queen of the UK in order to serve in that same parliament?
Do an audit of all sitting members and sort it out. If that results in yet another election, then so be it. The current set-up is a farce at the moment.
Iām sure thereās a joke in here somewhere about Lambie and a hung parliament. I just canāt put my finger on it.
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Well, hung parliaments are no laughing matter.
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Well, hung parliaments can lead to lengthy sessions.
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It is, but itās the same for everyone. Itās generally a pretty simple matter to renounce a foreign passport.
I just canāt believe the arrogance of anyone who wants to make/change laws, not having even read the laws that apply to them? Theyāll happily cry āunconstitutionalā every second week, clearly a number of them havenāt read the damned thing.
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I still find it a bit weird that itās all about renouncing a foreign passport that theyāve never applied for or used, in some cases in countries theyāve never been to.
Agree that thems the rules and theyāre the same for everyone. Just do a farking audit of everyone in the joint, regardless of what party they are in and get on with the what they are supposed to do; govern the farking country.
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Can be up all night at timesā¦
We have to have an election now surely?
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Hanson seems to be completely blind to what would be considered ālaughing stockā.
I think thereās still enough conservative independents to protect the Libs from supply/confidence votes in parliament, even if the ALP wins the Bennelong by election.
Thereās no way in hell the Libs will voluntarily call an election now, 10 points behind in the polls, and with nasty internal fights over SSM legislation and preferencing One Nation coming up. Theyāll hang into minority govt for as long as they possibly can in the hope that things will miraculously improve somehow. Hell, given that 2016 was a double dissolution election, I donāt think itās even LEGAL for them to call an election til mid next year at the earliest.
The only way thereāll be an election out of this is if the Libs lose enough MPs to 44, then lose enough of the by elections, that they lose a no-confidence vote in parliament.
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I agree. I reckon itās outrageous for another country to say āyouāre a citizen of oursā rather than āif you want, you can apply to be a citizen of oursā. Might have been useful for applying for European work visas but I doubt many Australian-born citizens would hold a passport like this, and vote in their elections.