on 26-06-2013 09:36 AM
Thanks for your contribution.
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1782410/Rob-Oakeshott-to-quit-politics
Federal independent MP Rob Oakeshott announces he will not contest the September 14 election.
The man who gave Julia Gillard the final vote to form minority government in 2010 is walking away from politics.
Rob Oakeshott has announced he will not contest the September 14 election, opening the way for The Nationals to recover his NSW seat of Lyne.
"Now is the moment," the independent MP told his local newspaper on Wednesday.
Mr Oakeshott had been considering his future for some months following a bruising three years in a hung parliament.
With fellow rural independent Tony Windsor, Mr Oakeshott gave Labor the last votes it needed on the floor of parliament to form government after an indecisive election in 2010.
He announced the decision after famously making a rambling explanation that lasted 17 minutes.
Since then, he has backed the Gillard government on most issues, but especially for supply and confidence.
His initial stance and continued support for the government was almost certain to cost him his seat at the September election.
"I have done everything I said I was going to do and done the best I can," Mr Oakeshott said, adding there was "no question" the past three years had been the toughest of his life.
He accepted some of his critics would suggest he was running away from the challenge.
"Those who throw opinions around and try to bully and push members of parliament from the sidelines - they're nothing."
Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce, who is contesting Mr Windsor's seat of New England, refused to criticise Mr Oakeshott.
He described him as "a decent man" who had no malice.
"I wish him the best for the future," Senator Joyce told ABC radio.
Mr Oakeshott became the youngest serving MP in NSW politics after narrowly winning a 1996 by-election for the seat of Port Macquarie for The Nationals.
In 2002, he resigned from the party, before being re-elected as an independent the following year.
He claimed the federal seat of Lyne in a 2008 by-election, following the retirement of former deputy prime minister Mark Vaile.
It was the first time the seat had been taken from the National Party in almost 60 years.
on 26-06-2013 11:18 AM
Is that where you put all your intake of food 😮
No wonder you have a grumpy disposition
its known as 'not suffering fools' etc.
on 26-06-2013 11:19 AM
:^O
on 26-06-2013 11:23 AM
LL still waiting answers
1.
2.
They are not difficult questions so an answer would be appreciated, if you can't answer them honestly just say so.
on 26-06-2013 11:24 AM
LL: "hope'' being the right word
joyce is far and away the biggest i**t in the parliament.
windsor was ahead of him in the polls .. f**l got lucky."
LL I enjoy jousting with you, but for once I agree to a small degree with NW apropos "abuse". You can be "robust", but your comments here are just rude.
PS
The biggest fool in the parliament is Thomson, who does not deserve the honorific "the honorable" now, or ever.
Rude ? to wolf ? wolf is nothing but nastiness and rudeness personified.. wulfs existence is based on a platform of hate for crying out loud ..
i find that criticism myopic john.
especially as you say the same about thompson ?
on 26-06-2013 11:29 AM
I've just written thank yous to the two independents. Never before has so much been achieved for rural Australia...and never before have I seen politicians so actively support their electorate without letting party affiliations influence theIr decisions.
on 26-06-2013 11:31 AM
its back to the half-tanked Nationals rubber stamp now.
on 26-06-2013 12:02 PM
LL:"........Rude ? to wolf ? wolf is nothing but nastiness and rudeness personified.. wulfs existence is based on a platform of hate for crying out loud ..
i find that criticism myopic john.
especially as you say the same about thompson ?"
LL, read my post. I asserted that you are being unnecessarily rude today, period. Not towards NW but Joyce actually, in fact your comment about him being "nastiness and rudeness personified." could unusually be addressed to yourself today.
Read my post, again, and let me explain that your: "especially as you say the same about thompson" is not strictly correct, as I only said of Thomson that he is "The biggest fool in the parliament" You saw fit to vent your spleen regarding Joyce by adding that he is "the biggest i***t in the parliament"
The terms you use to describe Joyce LL are hardly apt when you consider that If he wins the seat, Senator Joyce will be in line to take over from Warren Truss as Leader of the Nationals and become Deputy Prime Minister under an Abbott government.
That is scary, but a shrewd move (not foolish) by Joyce.
on 26-06-2013 12:17 PM
JMK: ".........and never before have I seen politicians so actively support their electorate without letting party affiliations influence theIr decisions. "
???? party affiliations, but, but,but, they are independents who sit on the cross bench and are in a position to operate a political thumbscrew, such that:
"The Commonwealth Auditor-General has revealed that cross-bench MPs received nearly double their proportional share of federal health funding last year."
on 26-06-2013 12:19 PM
John I think LL needs some jelly beans 🙂
on 26-06-2013 12:26 PM
LL:"........Rude ? to wolf ? wolf is nothing but nastiness and rudeness personified.. wulfs existence is based on a platform of hate for crying out loud ..
i find that criticism myopic john.
especially as you say the same about thompson ?"
LL, read my post. I asserted that you are being unnecessarily rude today, period. Not towards NW but Joyce actually, in fact your comment about him being "nastiness and rudeness personified." could unusually be addressed to yourself today.
Read my post, again, and let me explain that your: "especially as you say the same about thompson" is not strictly correct, as I only said of Thomson that he is "The biggest fool in the parliament" You saw fit to vent your spleen regarding Joyce by adding that he is "the biggest i***t in the parliament"
The terms you use to describe Joyce LL are hardly apt when you consider that If he wins the seat, Senator Joyce will be in line to take over from Warren Truss as Leader of the Nationals and become Deputy Prime Minister under an Abbott government.
That is scary, but a shrewd move (not foolish) by Joyce.
it was foolish right up until Windsor quit, now its dumb luck.
but i did consider what you said .. and sure enough found others as bad as joyce, if not worse. bernardi , cash.. a bex etc.