[pugsville]

It's all happnening m or all not happening, high farce if not high drama.

The Napthine Government is unable to control parliament and the Speaker is just shutting down parliament and it has ceased to function. Former Liberal Geoff Shaw now independent (when not in court for misuse of expenses, he may yet be found guilty and be out of parliament leading to a by election for franks ton) is known to be keen to get rid of the speaker meaning the speaker donest have the numbers, Shaw supports the Government but not the Speaker, Labour misbehaviours to force a vote on a speakers call to get a vote of no confidence in the speaker and most likely the Speakers scalp as generally the speaker resigns when losing a vote (but it is mere convention) the Speaker dones not take the bait, thus is unable to sanction any of the members, Labour behaves worse and the Speaker shuts down parliament.

The Victorian Parliament is dysfunctional. The Government can do nothing in parliament. Geoff Shaw has a history of getting his way, rumoured to have told the Liberals who would not support the Government if Ted Baileu stayed, the premier went, now his got the Speaker in his sights.

How Napthine gets out of this is hard to see, while it remains deadlocked the Parliament cannot function, maybe we'll have to wait to the courts rule on Shaw.

[GandalfTheGrey]

Good grief - Victorian politics is beginning to resemble Papua New Guinea

A couple of labor members were evicted recently, so for now Napthine has the numbers.

I've heard that the speaker has repeatedly refused a vote on the parliament's confidence in him - when it is clear he has lost the confidence. I find this all rather disturbing - how can the speaker wield this much power? He has basically shut down government, since parliament cannot function with him there. What does the constitution say about this? If the speaker unilaterally forces parliament into dysfunction, who is there to put the speaker back in his place? Like I said, its all very PNG. Perhaps the parliament should take a leaf out of the O'Neill government - and simply ignore the speaker

[pugsville]

Dont like Geoff Shaw comes across as a bit of a spiv, but it is limited media exposure not the best for making character assessments.

On the whole misuse of petrol cards thing which seems what they are nailing him to cross on now, has he not repaid the money and by the rules that seem to apply to almost every other politician isnt that the end of it? Why is it a police matter rather than the parliament like Sophie's wedding? I didnt like Hanson either but she went down hard for money issues. Is is that Independents that have pissed everyone off are treated by totally different rules? I dont like either Shaw or Hanson but they do seem to have be treated radically differently from most pollies. Slipper is another that seems to be going down, when others say Peter Reith and the phone card that police action and the courts just never came up. Is it just that Major Political parties are above the law, courts and police or that the police take orders about who to prosecute?

[GandalfTheGrey]

Slipper and Hanson were charged with actual fraud - ie deliberately 'cooking the books' to ensure they didn't pay for something they should have. Presumably Shaw is accused of the same. That is very different to merely claiming expenses (whether entitled or not) in an above-board manner.

[redcarpet]

The VLP is leading in the polls. Victory in the upcoming election looks certain. Hopefully a landslide.
Hung Parliaments are not good, IMO.

[colliric]

The VLP is leading in the polls. Victory in the upcoming election looks certain. Hopefully a landslide.
Hung Parliaments are not good, IMO.

Election is in 11.5 months time....

Thank you Steve Bracks!

November is the perfect month for Elections.

[redcarpet]

Health will be the #1 issue. Seen Mr. Napthine in person in a 'community cabinet' when
the issue came up. All he does is say how much he's increased health funding, etc. Never
admitted there's a 'crisis' in Victorian health.

Reminds me of that The Sun headline of 'Crisis? What crisis?'.