GarryP

Well that's torn it.

Turnbull: double dissolution election will be called if ABCC bill is not passed | Australia news | The Guardian

Having got his fixing of the senate to kill the minor parties, Turnbull is pushing forward with his desire for a double dissolution by recalling both houses on the 18th April to do as he says, or else.

Since 'or else' is what he wants, the budget will be on the 3rd May and the DD on 2nd July.

So three and a half months of campaigning and rampant lying to look forward to.

Swerv-o

Oh joy.

Don't forget there is a legal challenge to the voting changes in play - The HC has yet to rule on the constitutional nature of the changes.


S

Beoz

.... and Turnbull should. The people have had enough of blocking good bills for political points scoring.

Backing union bullying on construction sites is another disgrace by the ALP.

Swerv-o

I have to agree with this - I don't see any problems with re-invoking the ABCC - of course it now just needs the ALP to pass it and Turnbull loses his DD trigger - which would mean not cleaning out the cross benchers.

Interesting to see what the ALP do here...


S

GarryP

Apart from it being blatantly party political witchhunt, of course. And being a secretive star chamber that could jail people for refusing to answer questions to their liking.

I've no problem with a democratic and open federal commission into ALL corruption - union, business, politics, etc., but let's be realistic and understand that such a commission would have higher priorities than a particular union.

I kind of wonder, if they OK'ed this and killed his excuse for a double D, would that stop him? And could they then cancel it (or expand it) in the next parliament?

Oh, and expect a giveaway budget before the election, with another to cancel the giveaway afterwards.

Amazulu

I recently read an article saying that if the CFMEU was broken, construction costs on major projects would fall 25-30% overnight

The CFMEU are Shorten's boss. Expect them to oppose

Amazulu

If a government cannot get it's mandated legislation through then parliament is dysfunctional and needs to be sorted out

DD is the way to do it

Democracy at work

Details

bcworld

Indeed, a hallmark of Abbott in opposition...so we must be looking at 6 years of this type of behaviour now.

Beoz

The stats when Abbott was in opposition seem to suggest otherwise.

'Policy paralysis': Tony Abbott's government the slowest for nearly five decades

Swerv-o

The opportunities for mischief are huge here for the Senate. Nothing to prevent the Senate from adding a Federal ICAC amendment to this ABCC bill. That would provide a huge wedge for the government - and given that the government has managed to piss off most of the cross bench Senators, this is an interesting time to be a senator.


S

GarryP

House of Cards - Ozzie version?

Beoz

So you approve of union bullying and corruption then?

GarryP

What on earth are you talking about?

The tweet is a fictional character, from a fictional political thriller show, commenting on the game playing antics of a real life politician trying to arrange things so he can get what he wants.

The implication is "Frank Underwood" would approve of the machinations of Turnbull and that they would be worthy of the House of Cards world.

It really has nothing to do with the politically motivated attack on a particular union - Turnbull would like to use it as a pretext because he can make political capital out of it; but he has other double D excuses he can use. This is about high stakes game playing in the hope he can win both houses to push through Abbott's policies and survive long enough to not get stabbed in the back.

Beoz

Oh I know this would be eating you up inside, it will crush the CFMEU should it be successful, the organisation that fills the coffers of the ALP and the greens, but really we should establish your opinion on union bullying and corruption first?

GarryP

Again, you are making no sense.

You do realise this has nothing to do with 'union bullying and corruption' - don't you?