cods wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2014 at 6:22pm:


ALP Members control the ALP and those Members include unionists and Unions.  They actually have elections to decide who are the Office Bearers of Unions, and the ALP even has an election (among its Members) to determine who is their Parliamentary Leader in the event of a challenge.

Unlike the LNP which is the bitch of Murdoch and Gina.

And, I have to say that both party structures offer much better than PUP at the moment, which really has no proper system to facilitate Member involvement.  If that continues, PUP will disappear.  Clive cannot do it by himself, and no-one either asks him to or expects him to.

But.....unless he facilitates proper Member involvement at local levels and upwards, he is not going to last.

I'm not saying he resists that, but, as yet, it has not happened.  Probably understandable given the pace at which events are unfolding all over the Country.

Seems Palmer spent up big at the latest elections and came up zippo.... 
The people have woken up to this bloated charlatan and shown him and his party the door.  Even ON lasted longer than PUP.

I personally think Clive Palmer's PUP is a bit of a novelty of the last federal election and will probably be never heard of again after the present MP's finish their terms and fail to be re-elected.

They  were more of a protest against the major parties in the last federal election imo, I also doubt they will win a senate seat in the WA senate election.

Near as I can tell PUP never existed prior to about July, 2013.

Grendel wrote on Mar 16^th, 2014 at 10:36am:


You are always right.

So far as I can tell PUP did not run in South Australia. In Tasmania they polled 5.0% of the vote, which is similar to what they polled nationally at the Federal election. They are a chance to win the last seat in Braddon.

The Nationals ran in both states, apparently for comedy. In Tasmania they polled 0.8% of the vote and in South Australia they polled 0.1%.

Grendel wrote on Mar 16^th, 2014 at 1:49pm:


PUP is not yet registered in SA, but I believe there were candidates who ran as PUP Members.

The mention there of Carl Judge reminded me of a recent development.  He is the sitting Qld State Member for Yerongpilly (a Brisbane electorate.)  He was elected as an LNP candidate, but resigned and joined PUP with a bloke Alex Douglas, also an LNP renegade who joined PUP.  So, PUP has two sitting Members in  the House, neither having been elected as PUP candidates.

One of the most controversial LNP pollies in Queensland is Jarrod Bleijie, a young Lawyer of SFA experience who Newmann made Attorney General.  He has been in constant conflict with voters and the Legal Profession over some well publicised pieces of legislation, (including the Bikie stuff,) and even though his seat, Kawana, (here on the Sunshine Coast ~) is blue ribbon LNP, it has been held by Labor, and Bleijie is seen as very vulnerable.  PUP polled well in the equivalent Federal electorate of Fisher, won by Mal Brough for the LNP in 2013.  He is also on the nose through (a) a pretty ordinary prior representation in an adjoining LNP electorate centered around Caboolture, currently held by Wyatt Roy, the youngest Member in Canberra, and (b) some grubby involvement in the Slipper/Ashby affair yet to be resolved in the Federal Court.

So......it seems Carl Judge has established that he might not retain Yerongpilly if he runs in the next State election as a PUP candidate, because ~ he has been endorsed as the PUP candidate to stand against Bleijie in Kawana.  Kawana and Brisbane are separated by about an hour's drive.

He has the advantage as being of LNP dna, as is PUP of course, has Parliamentary experience......but he will still be seen as a 'blow in,' by the locals, as was Palmer's LNP opponent, Ted O'Brien in September last year.

Oh ~ it will be a fun ride!