Oz Election Thread #4 - Gillard's Labor

Windsor, Wilkie look to seal deal this week
Updated 29 minutes ago


Tony Windsor (L) and Andrew Wilkie (R) say they aim to make their decision on who they will support this week. (AAP)

Two of the key independent MPs say they think the election deadlock can be broken by the end of the week.

Four independent MPs are currently negotiating with Labor and the Coalition over who will form a minority government.

Two of those independents, Andrew Wilkie and Tony Windsor, say they aim to make their decision on who they will support this week.

"We're entering into a range of meetings this week. I would hope that by the end of the week we should be able to make a decision," Mr Windsor told Channel Ten.

But Mr Windsor also told ABC1's Insiders that "it could take a little bit longer than that".

He also says there is a small chance Australia will go back to the polls.

"I would say there is probably a 10 per cent chance," he said.

"I don't think it is likely, because I think there is genuine intent on behalf of both of the leaders to actually try to make something work.

"If I sense that that intent isn't there or there is undermining going, on or people just want a temporary parliament so they can go back to the polls in six months time, my vote may well opt for the people to make a decision."

Mr Wilkie is also keen to see an outcome, telling Channel Nine that he will make his decision "very soon".

"I would hope to make my decision Tuesday or Wednesday - that's what the people want," he said. ....

Detainees rioting at Darwin immigration centre
August 29, 2010 - 11:25AM

Detainees at Darwin's immigration detention centre have been rioting this morning, lighting fires, brandishing poles and jumping on the roofs of buildings.

The violence erupted about 4am local time when two Indonesian men facing people-smuggling charges climbed a tree at the centre and refused to come down, Immigration Department officials said.

They were joined by other Indonesian men and the situation escalated about 8am, when the rioters set fire to rubbish and mattresses they had piled up in the grounds of the centre. ...<cont>

Get out of Afghanistan: Wilkie
August 29, 2010 - 1:23PM

New independent MP Andrew Wilkie says foreign troops, including Australians, should get out of Afghanistan even though that means more people will die.

But, he says, the issue wasn't among his 20 matters of concern listed in letters to Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

Mr Wilkie achieved national prominence in 2003 when he quit, as intelligence analyst, from the Office of National Assessments to attack the Howard government's reason for going to war in Iraq.

He said the lying was continuing over Afghanistan.

"What is being said by the coalition and by the Labor Party is one of the great lies of this election campaign," he told the Nine Network today.

"Both the Labor Party members and coalition members continue to perpetuate this nonsense that we are only there to fight terrorists to prevent them coming to Australia."

Mr Wilkie said he backed the invasion of Afghanistan back in November 2001 but the US should have stayed to take advantage of a narrow and unprecedented window of opportunity.

"Instead, very bad decisions were made to go off and prepare to do Iraq," he said.

"That created the security vacuum in which the current troubles were born."

Mr Wilkie said he didn't know the solution.

"If we stay, people will die; if we go, people will die. But I do know that peace will only come to Afghanistan when foreign troops are out and I think they should get out as soon as possible," he said.

"That will allow that country to find its natural political level."

Mr Wilkie said he served 20 years in the army, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel with 6RAR which had lost four soldiers in Afghanistan in the past two months.

"That's upsetting for me. That's my old battalion," he said.

"I understand that some times there is a need for the just use of force. I understand that our soldiers are the best in the world and I support them 100 per cent.

"But they are, at the moment, trying to implement a policy put in place by incompetent politicians.

"Let's be honest. Let's say we are there to help the people of Afghanistan and bolster our bilateral relationship with the US."

AAP

My understanding is that we can't go to election until parliament sits.

Q: Can we go straight to another election.

No. The parliament must meet. The only way we can go straight to another election would be for the parliament to meet and be so deadlocked that no full-time government could be formed.

For instance, an election in Newfoundland in 1908 produced a dead heat. No party could form government without appointing one of their own as Speaker, which would have caused the government to lose its majority in Parliament. It seems extremely unlikely this election will produce such confusion.

The convention that the Parliament must meet was confirmed by the 1989 Tasmanian election. ....

Oakeshott wants smear calls explained
By online political correspondent Emma Rodgers
Updated 57 minutes ago


'Rambo-style calls': Rob Oakeshott (right) (ABC News: Jeremy Thompson)

Key independent MP Rob Oakeshott has called on Tony Abbott to explain the behaviour of Coalition MPs who he says are trying to drum up a smear campaign against him.

The Member for Lyne has accused some politicians of briefing journalists in an attempt to run up dirt stories, and says others are making "Rambo style" phone calls to him.

Mr Oakeshott has described a phone call from a Liberal MP, in which the MP told Mr Oakeshott's wife that "the devil" was calling, as "concerning".

And he says the Opposition Leader must explain what is going on.

"Is this a strategic move to try and destabilise this whole process, destabilise government, spend up to $50 million of Australians' taxpayers money in going back to the ballot box?" he told Radio National.

"If that is the game, it needs to be flushed out early.

"If we are operating in good faith, leaders need to either pull in the rogues or explain their strategy as to why they want to destabilise this thing." ..<cont>

Mr Oakeshott said Mr Abbott needed to come clean on whether the calls were part of a wider Liberal strategy.

''If these are Rambo-style phone calls that I'm receiving from loose cannons, that's fine,'' Mr Oakeshott told ABC Radio.

''But what is of deeper concern is ... is this a strategic move to try and destabilise this whole process?

''If that is the game, that needs to be flushed out early.''

Mr Oakeshott also pointed the finger at the Nationals over tabloid newspaper inquiries that were ''trying to run up dirt stories'' on him. ....

High-profile issues on the list include urgent action on climate change, honouring the "word and spirit" of the UN Refugee Convention and increasing all government pensions.

....The Nationals will meet for the first time since the election in Canberra, with newly elected West Australian MP Tony Crook joining the party room for the first time.

Mr Crook, who ousted veteran Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey, has said he was not keen to join the Coalition party room, initially entertaining the idea of siding with Labor until Prime Minister Julia Gillard refused to rule out the mining tax. ..