Rate the crossbenchers

[Tannin]

Very impressive first speech by Ricky Muir!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBFnGnV0Dv8

Best comment on You-tube: "It's like watching Darryl Kerrigan in the Senate."

PS: I picked this months ago:

Ricky Muir (Motorists): 6/10. A decent ordinary bloke who is making a far better fist of a job he never expected to have than anyone predicted. Not afraid of making his vote count, and although he often votes with the PUP, he is his own man. Like Madigan, he has refused to bow down before the leaders of his own tinpot party and remains determined to make the best decisions he can. Worthy of more respect than he gets.

[stui magpie]

^

Strange what can happen when we elect a regular bloke instead of a politician.

Maybe there should be more of it.

[nomadjack]

I think he's a breathe of fresh air...But there's a massive difference between reminding colleagues to show a little more humility and decency and coming up with actual concrete answers to some pretty challenging policy problems which are being grappled with at the moment.

[Jezza]

I find him very refreshing and a great example of how a true representative democracy should function. I don't think I'll agree with everything he says but behind his suit is a man who understands the real world and can relate to wider Australians in contrast to the overwhelming majority of politicians.

For an inaugural speech and for a man with no political background or expertise I found his speech to be very impressive and it was hard not to admire how far he's come since he was first elected as a senator to represent Australian working-class interests.

I think Tannin's description of Muir on page one of this thread sums him up best.

[David]

Well, this certainly makes things interesting:

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-ne ... ited-party

Good news for the government, I'm guessing. This guy is no intellectual giant, and I suspect he will be much more easily swayed now that he's no longer beholden to Clive's shit-stirring ways.

[Pies4shaw]

^

Strange what can happen when we elect a regular bloke instead of a politician.

Maybe there should be more of it.

Of course there should - provided we don't equate electing "regular blokes" with electing morons, since the two are not (necessarily - at least, not in all cases) the same thing. I'm all for having fewer politicians but more people who can read, write and count.

[HAL]

Is that really so?

[stui magpie]

^

Strange what can happen when we elect a regular bloke instead of a politician.

Maybe there should be more of it.

Of course there should - provided we don't equate electing "regular blokes" with electing morons, since the two are not (necessarily - at least, not in all cases) the same thing. I'm all for having fewer politicians but more people who can read, write and count.

Muir can read, write and count, so can Lazarus.

The senate is a good place for people like them to sit as a minority, normal people, provided they're honest (which both seem to be) who can challenge the impact of potential policy on the average person. They don't need to be economists or highly educated, they just need to be honest people with good intentions who are the first who need to be convinced that proposed legislation is good before they give it their vote.

[Tannin]

That's quality thinking, Stui.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/mar/12/glenn-lazarus-quits-palmer-united-party

Good news for the government, I'm guessing. This guy is no intellectual giant, and I suspect he will be much more easily swayed now that he's no longer beholden to Clive's shit-stirring ways.

There is thinking of some quality there too, David, though not good quality. Palmer has spent his whole life as a member of the Liberal Party. He only split from them because he wanted more of the pork out of the trough, and bought himself an election, together with some stooges to go along with his strategy of loudly decrying the worst Liberal policies, getting his face on TV, and then voting for them anyway as soon as no-one is looking. Now that Palmer is down to one single senator, his power is greatly reduced, and the government is in even more trouble. Have you heard Lazurus speak on Pyne's plan to gut the education system?

[David]

[David]

All right, where are we up to?

Rod Culleton is out of One Nation and now out of the picture altogether, apparently:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-23/s ... pt/8144758

Apparently he's going to be replaced by his (equally crazy?) brother-in-law.

Bob Day has also stepped down a couple of months back and is possibly going to be replaced by Kenyan-born Lucy Kiguchi, someone else Family First puts forward, or else Family First will lose their seat altogether.

Pauline Hanson is playing a bad caricature of a Sydney shock jock in parliament, (for instance) accusing multiple Muslim wives in polygamous marriages of rorting Centrelink.

One Nation's Brian Burston is keeping a relatively low profile, presumably under the wise advice of "better to stay quiet and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt".

One Nation's Malcolm Roberts is still crazy.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/ ... sjg86.html

Jacqui Lambie has been remarkably non-crazy since being re-elected. Her one highlight has been comparing Cory Bernardi to a prostitute and then subsequently apologising to all prostitutes.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016 ... di-comment

Derryn Hinch has been writing a tedious "all about me" column for Crikey which would make me seriously consider cancelling my subscription if I had one.

Nick Xenophon is the one guy on the crossbench who seems relatively sane, although I disagree with his protectionist pro-South Australia policies and think his decision to side with the Greens and Labor against the same-sex marriage plebiscite was a bad call. He seems to be keeping his colleagues on a tight leash, because I haven't heard a word from either Stirling Griff or Skye Kakoschke-Moore. No sign of any Palmer/One Nation splits here, as of yet.

https://theconversation.com/politics-po ... nate-67232

And finally, David Leyonhjelm, like half the Liberal Party, has become obsessed with 18C; otherwise, he managed to cause some strife between Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott by revealing that the latter was lying about not making a deal with him about guns.

What do you think about the new crop of crossbenchers? Are they an improvement on the last lot?

[stui magpie]

Jacqui Lambie has been remarkably non-crazy since being re-elected. Her one highlight has been comparing Cory Bernardi to a prostitute and then subsequently apologising to all prostitutes.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016 ... di-comment

Highlight of the year for mine.

Senator Lambie said Senator Bernardi's mock outrage was "like an angry prostitute lecturing us about the benefits of celibacy".

"Before I receive unfair criticism from the sex workers, I apologise to them profusely for comparing them to Senator Bernardi - I know that is a really terrible low-down thing to do," she told parliament on Thursday.

"Prostitutes are far more honest, sincere, humane, compassionate and better bang for buck than Senator Bernardi will ever be able to deliver."

Absolutely nailed it.

[David]

I enjoyed that one too.

By the way, listening to that podcast of Griff and Kakoschke-Moore speaking, they both just sound like decent, intelligent, normal people. What the hell were you thinking, Nick!?

[Morrigu]

Senator Lambie said Senator Bernardi's mock outrage was "like an angry prostitute lecturing us about the benefits of celibacy".

"Before I receive unfair criticism from the sex workers, I apologise to them profusely for comparing them to Senator Bernardi - I know that is a really terrible low-down thing to do," she told parliament on Thursday.

"Prostitutes are far more honest, sincere, humane, compassionate and better bang for buck than Senator Bernardi will ever be able to deliver."

Absolutely nailed it.

BANG!!!

[HAL]

Oops. Too much data.