What I find amazing about Wyatt Roy

Wyatt Roy is the LNP candidate for the seat of Longman and he was profiled in the QWeekend magazine on Saturday 10/07/2010. 

He is just 20 years old and has become something of a spectacle since being preselected at the age of just 19.  But it is not purely his age that I find amazing about him, it is his grasp of the political lines and snipes at such a young age. 

He takes his first swipe at the ALP by saying,

“I don't think I would have been the candidate in the Labor Party.  The ALP is faceless men in smoky rooms in Canberra pr Brisbane saying to locals here’s the candidate you’re going to have. There’s no way I could be a part of the political party that does that.”

He then proves his skill as a politician through his rehearsed lines on policy areas:

 

 

Roy has the lines polished like he has been watching Tony Abbott on re-run since being preselected.  Although he does tend to differ from his leader on Climate Change where he suggests an insurance policy is needed.  (Is he suggesting the ETS as an insurance policy perhaps? I doubt it)

So should we look at Wyatt Roy as a 20 year old kid who is looking to break the mould and give us “hope and honesty.”  Or is he just another political hack who is willing to rehearse the lines the leadership set and do anything to gain power. 

Time will tell. 

QWeekend article on Wyatt Roy: 20 Year old candidate for Federal seat of Longman

Here is the full article from the QWeekend on Wyatt Roy.  Very supportive and little critical analysis. 

LNP sends printing to political friends: my problem with it.

My problem with the below story in today’s Courier Mail is is not so much that Michael O’Dwyer’s company is involved in printing LNP materials but the time when he set up the company.  If he was in the printing business before he took over as State director (or in the hierarchy of the party) then I have no problem with it.  If he set up the business after taking on his role as an opportunist to take advantage of his position then I do have a problem with it. 

A LIBERAL National Party heavyweight has been accused of benefiting from campaign expenditure from his own printing companies.

LNP MPs and candidates for the upcoming federal election have been encouraged to buy their election posters from companies owned by state director Michael O'Dwyer.

Company searches show he is the sole director, secretary and a shareholder in Modcons Marketing Services, which owns Phoenix Graphics and Vivid Prints.

Some of the party candidates told The Courier-Mail the LNP head office had arranged the printing of posters, or "corflutes", through Mr O'Dwyer's companies on their behalf.

"What they do is they give you a budget and on the budget line items, they say 'corflutes covered off'," said one candidate.

…

Mr O'Dwyer and LNP president Bruce McIver last night rejected allegations of a conflict of interest, saying a "protocol" was in place.

…

When asked if head office had handed out Phoenix's number to candidates, Mr O'Dwyer said if it had, he "had nothing to do with that at all".

Mr McIver said candidates were given the option of three companies to print corflutes and

Mr O'Dwyer was not allowed to "pay bills or place orders" with his own company. "He has nothing to do with it," he said.

…

Mr O'Dwyer said he was not aware of these complaints, saying he was "at arm's length from it, I don't handle that in here".

David Bonnici: Australian politics is not the West Wing

David Bonnici provides a humours take on Australian Politics and political junkies like me.  But he also provides a genuine analysis of why the Australian Government fails to act more humanely on Asylum Seekers and sadly as he sees it it has everything to do with cynical politics and winning elections.  No I know your shocked by that. I was too.  Here is some of what he had to say:

There is no better example of the absurdity of Australian politics than the asylum seeker issue. The facts are clear. Australia has a relatively small number of people seeking asylum. The number is a fraction of Australia’s migration intake. There is a trickle of asylum seekers not a flood. And the situation is being well managed, though it could be better handled if the government wasn’t afraid to use detention centres on the mainland to process refugee applications. It shouldn’t be as big an issue, but it is because the Liberal Party has made an art form of turning it into a border security problem; while pandering to those concerned that the skin colour of those arriving allows for further fears about the impact on Australian culture. This bullshit could have been nipped in the bud a long time ago. Instead it has been allowed to fester because we have a media organisations that by and large doesn’t question such claims, but happily reports them to suit their own agendas.

 

Via Group Think

Toll roads are not the answer

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman seems to think that toll roads (and tunnels) are the only answer to congestion problems. 

Brisbane City Council is investigating several plans to ease increasing congestion on the stretch, including a twin-lane double-decker tunnel built out into the Brisbane River.

The problem with toll roads, as experienced by the failing Clem7 tunnel, is that people just cant afford them.  How can we afford to pay the proposed amount which is over $4 per visit with all the other cost of living expense rises. 

Governments at all levels need to understand that the increases in the cost of living are beginning to seriously hurt people.  They need to think about this before coming up with great ideas to toll all the roads leading in and out of Brisbane.

 

Source: Toll looming for Kingsford Smith Drive upgrade | Courier Mail

Julie Bishop uses the force

Asylum seeker debate: Honesty urged

Prime Minister Julia Gillard appears ready to fulfil Kevin Rudd's prophecy of a lurch to the right on asylum seekers. It remains to be seen what her final policy will include but at this point she appears to be laying the groundwork for a tougher framework to deal with boat arrivals.

Noted Human Rights campaigner Julian Burnside QC this week called out the Prime Minister to "tell the truth" on asylum seekers. He said this week in Adelaide:

"I challenge her to tell the truth," Julian Burnside QC told journalists in Adelaide on Sunday.

"I challenge her to depart from what Tony Abbott has been doing - Tony Abbott has been lying to the public, creating an utterly false impression about the number of people who come by boat seeking asylum and the reasons that they come seeking asylum.

"I challenge Julia Gillard to point out to the public that at the current rate of arrivals it would take about 20 years to fill the MCG with boat people."

I agree with Julian Burnside QC. I hope that some truth can come through in this debate. But unfortunately I think that fear will win through. Fear of a repeat of a Tampa election.



Source: Gillard urged to be honest on asylum seekers