matty wrote on Jun 23^rd, 2011 at 11:55am:

The party should lead the way and put someone else in his place or are they just trying to be seen as a party that has resolve around their policies. People should villify the party from now instead of just the man at the head of it.

THE Family First senator Steve Fielding has left Parliament so opposed to Tony Abbott that the Coalition was accusing the government yesterday of secretly offering him a job. The government vehemently rejected the accusation, saying it was absurd.   

In his second-last day in the Senate, Senator Fielding cast his crucial vote to defeat Mr Abbott's bill to establish a plebiscite on the proposed carbon tax.   

As the division in the Senate was under way, Liberal senators taunted Senator Fielding, accusing him of having been bribed and demanding he state what job he had been offered.


Later in the day he voted to defeat a push by the Coalition and Nick Xenophon to reverse the government's ban on bank exit fees.

Recently he shocked Mr Abbott by voting down his private member's bill to water down the Queensland government's Wild Rivers legislation which protects pristine areas of Cape York from development.

Senator Fielding, a Victorian, was elected to the Senate in 2004 with a tiny proportion of the primary vote but a large swag of preferences.

In his valedictory speech late yesterday, the sometimes eccentric Senator Fielding said the Democrats founder, the late Don Chipp, had guided his decision to enter the Senate, saying they both shared a distaste for the Greens. With the Greens deputy leader Christine Milne sitting behind him, Senator Fielding said he sought out Chipp: ''Like a prince who sets out on a quest to find his princess, I set out to find someone who knew a senator''.

When he first contacted Chipp, the Democrat asked: ''You're not some kind of nutter, are you?''

The pair met and Senator Fielding said Chipp told him the Democrats had broken his heart. ''Then why don't you adopt me like a son?'' he told Chipp.

''We shared a common view that the Greens should never be trusted with the balance of power in Australia.''

Senator Fielding took credit for being first to warn John Howard about the political risk associated with Work Choices.

Senator Fielding recounted his struggle with dyslexia, a condition he admitted to publicly after being often teased for fumbling his words.

He also wept as he told of how his wife Sue became seriously ill in 2008, right at the time he was struggling with the pressure of deciding the fate of the $42 billion stimulus package.

Senator Fielding says he doesn't know what he will do after politics.

Time will tell won't it. If he turns up with some plump govt job in due course . . . .
He certainly was vocal on many many occasions as an opponent of carbon pricing etc so logic suggests he would have supported the people having a direct say.
On the other hand, he might have rightly judged that it would fail downstairs anyway so what would be the point.

I think I more or less indicated that it would have been a waste of time, although many people consider it not too high a price to give the people a direct say. After all, we are talking about a multi-billion financial arrangement which is likely to have an adverse effect on many people. But I can't be bothered arguing all that once more.

Personally, I think it will be very interesting to watch Mr Steve Fielding Career path over the next 12 months. Don’t be surprised if he finds employment with someone who has very, very strong Labor Party connections or interests.

I think this particular Plebiscite was doomed to failure, and more interesting public opinions on euthanasia, continuing tax payer support for ex-politicians, and asylum seekers in Australia would have fruited much more value than the carbon tax

Although, I do understand why Abbott wanted to press home his advantage, considering Gillard DID go to the 2010 election telling the voters that a Government led by her WOULD NOT introduce a carbon tax.  No matter how anyone tries to fudge the words around; that was a blatant lie.

Therefore, I believe based on that lie, the public should be allowed their democratic right to vote whether or not THEY want this carbon tax, and THAT should be decided at a general election. 

I personally don’t think you can get any fairer than that?

You want a  carbon tax - vote for Gillard & the Greens

You don’t want a carbon tax  - vote for the Liberals & Nationals

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I seriously doubt it - and I suspect that he's more interested in remaining in politics at some level than he is in taking up a Govt appointment...

Had he facilitated Abbott's stunt, then he would have become the focus of the public ire for doing so...

What I suspect happened, was that Abbott arrogantly presumed Fielding would go along with the Plebiscite stunt (as he had generally done in the past) and therefore sprung it on Fielding when it was sprung on the rest of us...

Meantime, it would seem that Abbott had shown Xenephon the respect and courtesy of seeking his support up-front...

culldav wrote on Jun 23^rd, 2011 at 4:07pm:



NONE, unless they were already going under.
Lets face it this Carbon tax will have been in for a MAXIMUM 1 year I reckon 6 months is closer to the mark.
For one well projected change to force a business to close within 6 to 12 months it had to already be doing it hard or the owner/manager is a fool & it would have closed regardless.