Power-hungry Pyne is heading for a blackout
Politician uses his personality to play up to the media
THE dam walls are about to burst on Christopher Pyne.
For years, the South Australian powerbroker has plied his trade behind a cloak of personality that has fooled plenty in the media for too long.
But this week we saw allegations that back in 2013 he encouraged someone to run against a Liberal candidate.
We’re not talking about a pre-selection fight; the claim was about getting someone else on the ballot paper at the election to run against the Liberal.
Meantime, his seat in South Australia may disappear when the Australian Electoral Commission redraws the boundaries and there’s no way he’s going to be left without a seat when the music stops.
This time his target will be one of the few women the Liberals have got, Nicole Flint.
We all know politics is a dirty game, but Pyne, like Sam Dastyari on the Labor side, finds a way to make it seem even more nasty than usual.
But like Pyne, Dastyari is never called out by the media because they serve two important purposes. Some personality in front of the camera and all the gossip behind it.
The only problem for those of us sitting at home watching it is, both are a reminder of the problem in Canberra.
Party before the people and personal power above all.
A Bundy good election in Queensland
WE TOOK Paul Murray LIVE to Bundaberg this week as the Queensland election kicks off.
The area is the most marginal seat for the government and is a must win for the LNP if they have any chance of taking back power.
But within moments of landing you can see the x-factor is One Nation.
Their politics play very, very well in an area like Bundy.
While there’s a thriving waterside economy, things are tough the further you go back from the ocean.
Youth unemployment scares people who worry about their kids and the hospital is one of the oldest in Queensland.
It’s no wonder people want to throw a grenade into the system.
They work hard, pay their taxes, love their city and get little more than a flying visit from politicians in return.
People are sick of things not working, being put on the back-burner or shoved into the too hard basket.
That’s not how previous generations did it and it makes perfect sense why many of them are willing to shake the joint up in order to save it.
Enough with the ‘nice guy’ defence
FEDERAL Parliament’s citizenship saga went into overdrive and is now beyond a joke.
How could Liberal Steven Parry sit there as the President of the Senate, sending person after person to the High Court and not think, hang on my Dad’s a Pom, maybe I am too.
Amazingly, over and over again I heard people on TV say in his defence, he’s such a nice and decent man. He’s a good bloke. He’s been a great President.
I don’t care if he’s a nice bloke, or a shocker of a man. He knew exactly what he was doing and the very fact that he knew it would see the end of his time in the big chair with the private courtyard clearly blinded his judgment.
Bad things happen to good people. But when good people do bad things, we can’t look the other way.
Joining Paul on the program this Monday are Janine Perrett, Graham Richardson and Ross Cameron.